happy awkward photo day

i just saw this old picture in my iphoto. every single person in it is making the weirdest face ever, and we are not interacting with each other at all. i especially appreciate anna's animal face and julie's seductive face.

p.s. it is not really awkward photo day! GOT EM

Happy Birthday, Laura!!!!!

julie taught me how to do pictures! here is my halloween!

this is me with kendra and my new friend laura from st. paul. she is a grandma. you can't see my camera because it is attached to my belt or my hello kitty headband but you can see my awkward smile and peace signs! i am a japanese tourist! plus me and kendra under a blacklight. so you can see the stupid party i was at where i did not leave the bottom of the stairs and the blacklight.

Split Pea

Remember the Turtle Bread trifecta? Carrot ginger, split pea, garbanzo spinach.

I am cooking tonight and it reminds me of eating the dried up soup mash from the bottom of the pots at the end of the night.

Ugly produce?

Check out this article from the NYTimes. Apparently Europeans are very picky about the appearance of their produce. I think this is ridiculous but I bet it is the same here (although the article makes no mention of US standards): how often do you see bulbous tomatoes or two-pronged carrots at the large grocery stores? Not very.

I bet that is why we have those tiny carrot sticks--you know the ones, sanded down into those uniform little cylinders.


election day via vince

http://pollingplaces.nytimes.com/content.cfm?page=photo_detail&voterID=14298389&photoID=33769289&StartRow=0&SearchNum=1&fromSearch=1

here are the photographs my dad took on election day at our prospect park polling place, approximately 7:30 am. just go through the photo set.

horray for voting and the election and the political process in general.

Klesas

APHORISMS FROM PATANJALI’S YOGA SUTRA
AND TRANSLATIONS
From The Essence of Yoga by Bernard Bouanchaud ; The Heart of Yoga by T.K.V. Desikachar and Light on Yoga by B.K.S. Iyengar



1.2 Yogah citta-vrtti-nirodhah
Yoga is the stilling of the fluctuations of the mind.

1.3 tada drastuh svarupe vasthanam
With the attainment of focused mind, the inner being establishes itself in all its reality.


The way we perceive things today is not the same as the way we saw them yesterday. The situations, our relationship to them, and we ourselves have changed in the meantime.
Yoga subscribes to the notion that deep within us is something that is very real, but unlike everything else, doesn’t change – purusa – meaning “that which sees”. Purusa denotes the position from which we can see; it is the power in us that enables us to perceive with accuracy.
When we practice asana, we carry out actions that are not determined by our habits, and yet are still within our range of ability. We specifically direct our attention to actions or places to which we are not conditioned turning our attention. Through this process, systematically going through a sequence, practicing with our body, our breath and our attention, the mind clears a little. We free ourselves from being bound by habit. With clearer perception, one may decide to make adjustments to his/her yoga practice, relate with a loved one differently, or change how one reacts in a stressful situation.
The practice of yoga encourages unhampered seeing to simply happen. When we feel quietness deep within us we know we truly understand. This kind of understanding can have a strong, positive effect on our lives by leading us to right actions. This true understanding does not occur spontaneously. It comes with practice. It comes in waves of clarity alternating with waves of cloudiness. Overtime there will be less cloudiness and more clarity.
Avidya is a word which describes the cloudiness or false perception.

The Klesas are the “turnings” of the mind which cloud our perception. They are as follows:
Avidya – false perception, ignorance
Asmita – ego
Ragas – attachment
Dvesa – aversion
Abhinivesa – fear

The practice of yoga is a practice in settling these klesas which turn the mind. The mind becomes quiet, the purusa can perceive with accuracy.

“Yoga is not passive. We have to participate in life. “
T.K.V. Desikachar

Halloween 2008

We missed you, Jane.