About


  • Thank you for stopping by! Your thoughts are very much appreciated. Though I often try to, I am not always able to reply to each comment on each post. Please know that I read them all and smile!

My Etsy Shop!

In the Kitchen

  • Best Chocolate Frosting
    Here's what's cooking!

The Library

  • <b>Me and Mr. Darcy</b>
    Books and Book Reviews

Music Box

  • Bach: The Cello Suites
    Current Listening...

Garden Path

  • Winter Morning
    Views from a Nordic garden, nature walks, flora & fauna...

Dear Husband's Music!

Charlie's Fan Club

  • Getting a Tan
    Our angel-boy...

Crafts

  • Crystal Earrings
    A variety of creations I 've made...

May 12, 2008

Yoga...a pathway to JOY

Yoga... It has become a household, mainstream word and concept.  But yoga is many things, and much more than a way of exercise.  It is a practice.  It is a way of life.  Yoga in the ancient Sanskrit language means "union".  Yoga seeks to unite the body and the mind.  It is an excellent system of exercises that is useful for restoring and maintaining health.  And it has just as enormous effect on the mind as it does the physical body.  The practice of yoga recharges the body, the brain and the spirit.  It helps bring balance to the emotions and one's inner landscape.  Yoga is a very personal quest that can go far beyond only the great physical benefits of the discipline.  There are eight branches of yoga, many styles of practice as well as moral principles related to the spiritual nature of yoga.  A dedicated practice makes a support system for life, rejuvenation of body, and refresher of spirit.

I have been practicing yoga for almost ten years.  For me personally, yoga is a form or therapy.  A therapy against fatigue, a way to renew energy, maintain health and happiness.  Yoga is also a part of my lifestyle in that I take the benefits of what I learn and discover on the practice mat into my everyday life--to bring more awareness to my life.  Yoga is also a part of my spiritual path and a way to touch the wellspring of my inner joy and bring the joy forth into my daily life.  My practice of yoga and Buddhism flow into each other, each a bridge to the other to becoming one pathway that supports me always.

Over the years my practice has been done mainly at home.  I prefer to practice on my own, where I can focus more closely on the nuances of each practice time and tailor make my own practice sessions within the Ashtanga, or classical yoga, tradition.  I have a lot of ritual within my practice...lighting and burning incense and candles, my sandalwood mala ready for meditation times to count my breaths and calm my mind with the beads passing through my fingers.  Each practice session is one of physical preparation through linked postures, flowing to a restorative, meditative time and prayer. I have a few CD's which offer guided yoga practices.  One of my favorites is Yoga Sanctuary: A Guided Hatha Yoga Practice with Shiva Rea. 

Something new to my practice is something so simple as these new pants!  I made them over the weekend, modeling them slightly after a pair of pajama bottoms.  They are soooo comfortable--I could live in these practice pants!  The fabric is a little different for me--the large floral almost like feminine camouflage with it's swirls of dark colors of chocolate browns, black and the neutral tone-on-tone floral with a hint of a muted lime green.

Dear Husband and I sometimes practice yoga together, working through a series of postures and having some quiet, relaxation time after.  It is a special time...I feel a big sense of connection when we practice together.  It is usually only on weekends we can practice together though, so I am on the mat alone during the week.  And that is OK too.  All is good.  All is JOY

Wishing you all a joyful week...Namaste :o)

May 10, 2008

Happy Mother's Day!

It is Mother's Day weekend in the USA...Wishing all mothers everywhere a beautiful day!

Momma, this one's for you!  Missing you and wish we were home there to celebrate along with you. You've been my mother and my friend since the day I was born...I'm a very lucky girl to have you as my mother. Love you more than you'll ever know...OXOXOXOX

May 08, 2008

Clean...Naturally

This week we've been having a taste of summer--warm temperatures and lots of sun!  Our windows have been flung open to let the sun shine in and to whisk out the last of the winter staleness from indoors.  Here at Chez Pink Purl, there's been a flurry of spring cleaning throughout the house.  Curtains freshly laundered and ironed...ah, smells and looks good!  Venetian blinds dusted and washed.  There's not much about life I ever find dull or boring...But I have to say, washing venetian blinds is not on my list of favorite things to do--LOL!  But washing windows, now that I don't mind.  So every surface, every fiber in the house has been cleaned...All this has been happening since the beginning of the week and we're almost finished.

Many of you know already that I'm a proponent of all things natural, including natural cleaning. A while back I mentioned the book featured in my photo here.  Better Basics for the Home, by Annie-Berthold-Bond, has been my reference manual for years for greener cleaning and living.  I make up my own cleaners, based on recipes in this book, and storing them in spray or squirt-top bottles ready to use.  Making your own cleaners may sound time consuming or messy, but it isn't.  Many of the cleaners you can make easily with things you may already have in your kitchen cupboard--vinegar, baking soda, liquid soap, lemon juice--and take very little time to mix up.  Some pure, essentials oils have natural anti-bacterial properties, and when used properly give added benefits, as well as fragrance, to green cleaners. Did you know plain old club soda makes a great mirror/glass cleaner?  I'm always amazed by this one!  Clean House, Clean Planet, by Karen Logan, is also a good source for safe non-toxic household solutions. Both of these books give a lot of information on how to switch from a chemical-based way of living to a less toxic lifestyle than can easily be gained and maintained.  Our exposure to toxins is astonishing, and most of them occur in our own homes by way of the products we buy and use daily.  With just these few items in this photo I've been cleaning the house from top to bottom on the inside...

Very soon the outside of the house will be receiving some attention, as we can now continue with painting the house exterior, as well as painting the fence that surrounds our property.  This will be a loooong project stretched out over the spring/summer.  Oh, boy...

But it is evening now, and so I will put my feet up a bit before bedtime...My body is feeling that it's been exercised in a different way these last few days--the back, shoulders, feet and hands doth protest!  I'm ready for a relaxing weekend ahead!  So if I'm slow to visit or write, I'm just recovering--LOL!

Happy weekend to you, my friends! :o)

P.S. The creative flow has been on hold a bit this week, what with all the spring cleaning, but one evening I made this new necklace--a silver and amethyst charmer with an asymmetrical style.  It's in my shop now.  Next week I look forward to more time in the craft room!

May 05, 2008

Spring is Bustin' Out All Over!

Ah, spring...She is here at last!  Real spring, you know the kind where the sun has that extra gleam and warmth...Birdsong greets you when you rise...And flowers...Oh,the flowers!...Enchantment at the moment is early spring blooms.  Dear Husband and I spent much of the weekend outdoors.  Some time spent in doing a big clean up of the garden/yard and making the small vegetable patch ready for sowing seeds soon.  And there was time enough to sit out and just delight in some quiet moments in the sun, as well as feasting on the first meal eaten out-of-doors for this season.  Food tastes so much better eaten outside!  Anyway, here's what's happening in the garden...I'll just let the photos do the talking today! ;o) Oh, and Charlie was with us soaking up the sun! The last photo shows him in the stone/rock garden we've been working on--taking a dirt bath!  Happy Days everyone! :o)

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough...

--A.E. Housman