Tropical Mindfulness

    With much gratitude for everyone and everything that have brought me to this place and time, I am sitting looking out over the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of Hawai’i (the Big Island).  I hear the sound of small waves breaking against the relatively fresh Earth of lava rock pools between me and the deep blue sea.  I feel a warm breeze on my sun baked skin. I see a good sized Honu (green sea turtle) is basking on the rocks.  I saw some small, young ones swimming in the small protected pool earlier as well.  Will they also come out to bask? Who knows?  We must wait and see, and be with what is happening right now, right?

      

  Except, I am at this very moment also writing a blog post, so perhaps I should be mindfully attending to that!  I recently listened to a talk on dharmaseeds.org by Michelle McDonald and she points out that if we were completely mindful of everything every moment, our heads would basically explode.  Though she may have put it more eloquently than that.

  

      The reason I started this post, and the reason for the wave photos was because I was feeling very clever after noticing the following:

     I was watching the waves come and go on the beach the first day we arrived here.  I tried to mindfully watch one wave arrive, crest, ripple up the beach and recede. But there was always another wave right behind, capturing my attention.  It proved verrrry tricky to focus on one wave at a time. Just like my thoughts and experiences.  They come so quickly, that I feel lucky to be able to notice one at all.  I try to slow down and notice, but not be harsh or judgmental towards  myself if I cannot.  After all, I certainly do not want my brain to explode.

What are you seeing/hearing/smelling/feeling/tasting at this very moment?


Disclaimer:

It's not like I'm some kind of mindfulness expert, but I have been attempting to be more mindful since beginning my yoga teacher training with Yoga Calm about 5 years ago.  Mindfulness certainly doesn't always make life more pleasant, but it definitely makes it more interesting, and I enjoy weaving it into my yoga teaching and daily life. My starter book was Mindfulness for Beginners by Jon Kabat-Zinn.

Visit my website shadygroveendeavors.com for information on my yoga classes in Eugene, Oregon.

Crafting Season Is Upon Us:

 Keep Your Joints and Mind Healthy For More Enjoyment of Your Craft with Bo Yoga

      Fall brings us shorter, rainier days and the reminder that some major holidays are drawing closer. For me, this means more hours to spin, knit and weave as I snuggle in to my cozy home and happily think of gifts I might still have time to create for my loved ones. Whether you are a fiber fanatic, a paper piecing powerhouse, a jewelry genie, a decoupage diva, a sewing superstar, or a woodworking wizard, you too may relish this time of year. As much joy as I get from my various pursuits however, they all have one thing in common. I find myself sitting for hours in less than perfect ergonomic form; my hands, wrists, shoulders and back get tired if I stay at it too long. Then there is the self-imposed stress of making sure I have just the right thing for each person!

Luckily for me I discovered Bo Yoga in April and have come to love its gentle joint rotations, supported stretching and balancing, and energy work. I have been doing yoga for 20 years and have been teaching it for over a year now, and as much as I still love traditional yoga for many reasons, I have found a special place in my heart for the Bo Staff (Balance Bar) and the Bo Yoga style of teaching. I can take mini breaks from weaving dishtowels, grab my balance bar and move through a few simple Bo Yoga warmups to help relax the stiffness out of my upper body and get the circulation flowing from my toes to the crown of my head. If I’m feeling a little creaky from too much sitting after a long stretch of spinning, I can do a few standing poses with the helpful support of the Balance Bar. Speaking of spinning, one of the most fun aspects of Bo Yoga is you get to spin the Bo Staff sometimes! There is little to no weight bearing on wrists or shoulders in Bo Yoga poses, so you can exercise and lubricate those important crafting joints gently without strain or pressure, leaving you fresh for your next project.

And let us not forget the pressure so many of us put on ourselves to make everything “just right” for the holidays; often crafting into the wee hours and stressing about getting things started or finished. Most Bo Yoga classes include sessions of energy work involving fun and easy vibration/dance and Qi Gong/Tai Chi style movements before final savasana to help balance minds and emotions. I find this aspect of Bo Yoga to be gloriously simple as there are no complex cues to follow, yet deeply moving. The energy work calms and grounds my mind and nervous system, leaving me refreshed and energized to take on the next craft project, or, perhaps, to decide that I have done enough for this year.

 


    Join my class on Monday mornings at Eugene Yoga downtown at 10:30-11:45 to experience Bo yoga for yourself. 

      Bo Yoga is appropriate for all ages and genders of crafty (and non-crafty!) folks. It is a supportive, non-competitive, all levels community. Beginners are welcome, and even the most experienced yogis will find something new to love in Bo Yoga.

You can visit my new website at shadygroveendeavors.com to learn more about my new ventures as a yoga teacher.

 



Don't live in Eugene? 
Check out boyoga.com for more information about this growing trend.

See you at the yarn shops and art supply stores between classes!  

Thread Organized!

 I am not going to write much, in case this doesn't work, because I'm trying to do it from my phone. I saw an idea on Pinterest for organizing your thread spools on dowels, and I was talking to my brilliant husband, Seth,  about it, and he said, "You could use old knitting needles." My job dropped at his brilliance, because I had been wondering how you would keep them from falling off the other ends of the dowels.  I exclaimed, "You're smarter than Pinterest!" He replied that he is also smarter than Facebook. No doubt about that!  Anyhow, goodness knows that I have enough old aluminum knitting needles but I have never gotten rid of for some reason. I also lucked out tremendously, when I walk two blocks to the nearest St. Vincent Depaul, and found the perfect vase: wide all the way down with a nice heavy bottom and tall enough to not tip over. Not to mention it was marked at four dollars but was a green tag 50% off week so it was only two dollars!

OK, back to the computer--couldn't do anything with the photos or video from my phone.  Let's see....

Well, the video wasn't that amazing anyhow.  You get the idea! ;)

Thread Organized!

 I am not going to write much, in case this doesn't work, because I'm trying to do it from my phone. I saw an idea on Pinterest for organizing your thread spools on dowels, and I was talking to my brilliant husband, Seth,  about it, and he said, "You could use old knitting needles." My job dropped at his brilliance, because I had been wondering how you would keep them from falling off the other ends of the dowels.  I exclaimed, "You're smarter than Pinterest!" He replied that he is also smarter than Facebook. No doubt about that!  Anyhow, goodness knows that I have enough old aluminum knitting needles but I have never gotten rid of for some reason. I also lucked out tremendously, when I walk two blocks to the nearest St. Vincent Depaul, and found the perfect vase: wide all the way down with a nice heavy bottom and tall enough to not tip over. Not to mention it was marked at four dollars but was a green tag 50% off week so it was only two dollars!

OK, back to the computer--couldn't do anything with the photos or video from my phone.  Let's see....

Well, the video wasn't that amazing anyhow.  you get the idea! ;)

Thread Organized!

 I am not going to write much, in case this doesn't work, because I'm trying to do it from my phone. I saw an idea on Pinterest for organizing your thread spools on dowels, and I was talking to my brilliant husband, Seth,  about it, and he said, "You could use old knitting needles." My job dropped at his brilliance, because I had been wondering how you would keep them from falling off the other ends of the dowels.  I exclaimed, "You're smarter than Pinterest!" He replied that he is also smarter than Facebook. No doubt about that!  Anyhow, goodness knows that I have enough old aluminum knitting needles but I have never gotten rid of for some reason. I also lucked out tremendously, when I walk two blocks to the nearest St. Vincent Depaul, and found the perfect vase: wide all the way down with a nice heavy bottom and tall enough to not tip over. Not to mention it was marked at four dollars but was a green tag 50% off week so it was only two dollars!

OK, back to the computer--couldn't do anything with the photos or video from my phone.  Let's see....

Well, the video wasn't that amazing anyhow.  you get the idea! ;)

I Am Not a Food Blogger or An Apple Tech Blogger, but I Try to be Helpful

     I have put only one recipe up before if I recall correctly, my pictures are weak and, well,  they aren't even pictures as there is only one.  However, these were fun and tasty and I bothered to write type down my changes and I took a picture, so maybe someone else will make them and like them. 

      AND I figured out how to save a Pages document as a jpg finally!  From Pages you "Export" as a PDF, then open that with the Preview App (NOT the free  Adobe Reader). From there choose "Export" again and you can choose from JPEG, JPEG-2000, OpenEXR, PDF, PNG or TIFF!  So now I can get text documents to show up here.  Yippee!

    I have yet tot see if it's big enough to actually read it when it publishes of course.

● ● ●

       Speaking of clear enough to read, I have looked through both January and August 1944 of the Sunday Oregonian, and neither has the  Arthur A. Allen loom article.  I really think that article is not from 1944 anyhow, as the way they printed back then was VERY tightly spaced--none of those weird little 3 dots to separate different sections.  And though there was a Sunday Magazine section, it didn't SAY Oregon Sunday Magazine at the bottom, which it does on one of my photocopy pages.  Research suggestions anyone?

● ● ●

      WHOA!  I need to apologize for saying that the Website of the Historic Loom Manuals didn't have anything helpful!  SORRY!  

     So, regarding the Thinking of Ideas for research possibilities: after about a half hour of fruitlessly seating for some sort of hit on the Author of the article, I thought, "Oh! Perhaps I should just type in the Title of the Article," and KAPOW:

Can you read the green highlighted part?  IT'S THE DATE! Allen Looms AL1- "Looms for Smaller Rooms". Article from The Oregonian Sunday Magazine. 8-7-49. 3 p. 

It was right at the top, so, I, uummmmm,  didn't read it (classic mistake & bane of every teacher's existence). It even has the page number!

OK, so now I really need to get some real work done so I can head back to the library!

Arthur A. Allen Folding Loom Historical Documents

         I am SO excited.  I sold the loom to a good friend and hand-spinner, so I know it will be well loved.  That is not really why I am SO excited though.  I am SO excited because the good friend and hand-spinner from whom I bought the loom originally is moving to Portland.  That part is sad, but leads to the exciting moment of her finding the paper-work about the Arthur A. Allen Folding Loom which she had promised to give me when she sold me the loom originally.

          It is funny as well as exciting because there seems to be a  history of delaying the forwarding of these documents--she handed them to me in an envelope addressed to her from the then previous owner with a note that says:

     I will have to include a similar note to the new owner! But FIRST I am going to scan and document these things, because when I searched the inter-webs I found nada/zilch/nuffin about these looms except for other people asking for information about them.  

    I think THIS note was from the previous, previous (previous) owner.  Susan Lilly still has a website, at weavingroom.com which I am going to go check out a little more closely very soon to read about her garment construction books, but back to the note:

       I visited the Historic Looms of America Website just now. While they do have much worthwhile information about historic looms, they do not have any information on the Arthur A. Allen Loom posted. I imagine it is just too small a company to have been prioritized as of yet. Hence, I am going to attempt to scan it for you.* I will do it page by page, as I think it will be too small to see in its adorable original 7" x 11" folded into thirds size.  

 

 

 

It really just explains how to warp it.  The rest is up to you. Hurrah!  Golly gee, it never occurred to me to fold it to make reaching the heddles easier while warping.

I have been saving the best for last.  Well, actually I am saving the best until I can go to the library tomorrow and see if I can find this on microfilm to get a complete copy.  This article appears to have appeared in the Sunday Oregonian Magazine in August 1944.  The last bit is missing front this copy, and it is pretty poorly reproduced here, so let's cross our fingers and just check out this teaser:

Hurrah, indeed! 

Hmm just found this link to Popular mechanics as well. Now, there's a rabbit hole....

*No copyright infringement at all is intended.  I suspect I am in the clear, as this is pretty old, and I am surely not making any money from this, but thought I should mention that.