a haunting urge

Here I am again.  Each year, as the seasons begin to change and fall is right around the corner, my mind quickly turns to Halloween (even though I rarely do anything on Halloween.  We live too far out for trick~or~treaters and dress up parties seem a thing of the past).  But my mind wanders to things of fright as daylight grows shorter every day.  It's nothing new for me to begin reading tales of horror and digging to find my scary stuffed cat and old baby doll loose body parts to drag out.  I used to bring out collected bones and such but leave them out all year for my own freakish amusement.  I have owl pellets in jars, feathers galore, a coyote skull and bones and even a crow skull that I can't wait to see as it has been decomposing for some time now under an old plastic chicken waterer behind the shop.  I unknowingly placed the head of the crow in a spot where Shaun had dumped a bit of oil and grease so I am leery as to what I will find.  A science project in the making.  It seems ok, when cool nights and creepy full moons roll around, to feel the morbidness of it all.

The book I am currently reading, which is a compilation of scary short stories, is by H.P. Lovecraft entitled "The best of H.P. Lovecraft... Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and Macabre".  I have finished one story and will soon finish the one named "The Dreams in the Witch-House".    Lovecraft was born in 1890 and died in 1937 in Providence, RI and actually never made fame of his writing until after his death living in poverty.  Stephen King wrote " H.P. Lovecraft has yet to be surpassed as the twentieth century's greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale."  I can say that I am enjoying the tales as my eyes dance around big words and strange scenes.  I admit I had to look up the word macabre from the title... more for how to pronounce it... and meaning the quality of having a grim and ghastly atmosphere.  Perfect for this time of year.

I also drift back through photos of crafts fairs, my favorite being Bellbuckle which falls on my birthday (October 18th) this year.  The pictures show drops of Halloween here and there with heads, oddities, potions and spells books, witches and crab apples lying about.  Ah... I cannot wait!  I think Aunt Dea should join us for the day!

Maybe it is because I am a fall seasoned baby and Libra or maybe my curiosity just begs me to give in.  Either way, fall is coming.  Deep down I wish we could skip winter and fall straight to spring and that the cold nights of winter's rest would be short and really they are I guess as the years go floating past.  I have always claimed that fall is my least favorite season because winter is right behind it. This post begs to differ.   But as fall brings the death of one year and spring brings forth anew, winter is just stuck in between.

Here's a couple of Eye Spies Widda Mine Eyes for ya. (as one of my dc kids would say)

 I spy... Homer Simpson, a camera lens, 12 dice, a blue moon, an elephant, a pair of glasses, seven pipes and a pair of google eyes.

I spy a pair of crutches, a photo, an oil lamp and a gourd, three bibles, baby shoes, a scared face and sheet music with chords.  

I spy two starfish, two geese, a pitcher, and a black cat with a tail, two thermoses, a tan suitcase, a black hat, Royal Crown Cola and a red fingernail.

Feeling the season too?  Here's more...

Mr Refrigerator Pumpkin Head

2013 post on BellBuckle, TN, Webb School craft fair HERE.

Can't get enough of I Spy??  Here are two more... HERE and HERE

And a little bit of Creepy Thoughts.

webs

On my way into work this morning... my driveway commute... through the thick fog I began noticing spider webs, wet with dew and lit up by the morning glow.  My little camera picked up quite a lot to my delight when I zoomed in further.  The spider's intricate world.  I imagined what their day must be like, sleeping off a good night with a full stomach (or stomachs?), spinning a new web for this evening's catch.  What's on their agenda for today?  Do they know how beautiful their homes look at dawn?

Pretty cool huh?

days of our play care

I have two things to share with you today!  One... it's HOT outside.  It's funny that when the days begin to warm up, in the beginning of summer, the kids complain that it's too hot outside but when we get as far as 90s in September, they are pretty much used to it.  Although they rather like to play in the shade more they still don't complain much... as long as there's plenty of cold water or juice to drink.

Last week I decided to make a big fort out of the smaller swing set to give them more shade to play in.  I used two big white sheets on each side and a vinyl tablecloth on the end that was getting the most sun.  There was a good breeze through the tent and we wound up having story time right there.  Yesterday I made the tent again but it was called a "caterpillar laboratory" since there seems to be an abundance of caterpillars in the yard right now from our walnut tree.

The second thing I wanted to share is a blog that I am pouring over!  It is from a very experienced kindergarten teacher who has wonderful ideas, worksheets and fun projects that are suitable for some of the kids here.  I have two that will start school next year and I feel it's never too early to get them started on real activities and school-type learning.  Click the picture to be directed to her site.  I love it!

yoga

"Yoga is a light, which once lit, will never dim.  

The better your practice, the brighter the flame."

~BKS Iyengar

Over last winter, my sister Mary Evelyn and I, on my Saturday rounds to the library and post office, would venture into a thrift shop in front of the library.  Next door to the thrift shop is a health food store the we had never ventured into at the time.  One Saturday morning last spring, I woke up with my daily journey in mind and knew I was going to pop into the health food store that day mainly to see if they had some almond oil and lavender essential oil.  There was no question in my mind that I wasn't going.  When I arrived I was greeted by a soon-to-be new friend that helped me find what I needed and told me that they had just finished their yoga class in the back of the store.  I was immediately intrigued as I had recently been looking into yoga in the form of videos and library books.  She told me what the class times were and what it took to join them and the next Saturday I showed up.  I enjoyed my first class, but still didn't understand or take hold of what yoga can mean to both my mind and body, but at my second class I was really more in tune and left my jitters at home.  

Our class teacher, Tracy, has a wonderful way of teaching.  We set our positive intention at the beginning of class and work on our breathing throughout the practice, there is light music playing and this being a beginners class it is a pretty even flow of yoga that isn't too hard.  

I have been attending class ever since on Saturday mornings and sometimes Tuesday evenings.  I initially wanted to try yoga to build up my body strength.  I just felt weak physically.  I had no idea the benefits my mind and body both would gain.  During our family trip to Florida, I got up each morning (naturally before everyone else) and headed to the lower deck of the house on the beach and performed my yoga practice of combined poses that I could remember.  I surprised myself when the first day my yoga lasted over thirty minutes.  It felt really good beginning my day in this manner.  I even had one of my nieces join me a few days!  Since then I have not stuck to my daily morning schedule like I had hoped but when I do yoga in the morning it seems to wake me up in a very different way, before and better then any caffeine.  

I have even involved the kids at the day care, teaching them simple poses like cat/cow, down dog, cobra and lion, with the help of a library book or two from the kids section.   They love it as well.

I remember reading a comment from a lady who said "I tried yoga once but was so embarrassed at how not limber my body was, I never went back."  I tell you what... my body, even being a smaller person yet still over forty, was not limber at all.  At times I almost feel disappointed in my body for acting it's age and muscles not letting me do what the others in the class are doing and even feeling "my body will never do that."  But I am learning to be patient with my body and have actually achieved a bit of pride when I reach certain poses the right way.  Heck, when I first started, I was on tip toes in down dog and now my heels touch sometimes.   Also, my body has changed.  I have muscle definition and am trimming and toning.  Shaun noticed that when I got home from vacation more than my Coppertone tan.

I strongly encourage you to try yoga.  If you have and didn't like it, try a different place or teacher or a beginner's class.  If you approach yoga the right way, learn as you go, breath, and be patient with your body, you will find a different you that you probably didn't know was in there and a peace like never before.  

Here are a couple of my favorite links and books.

A good dvd I rented from the library although I'm not real good at following a dvd.

And my favorite youtube gal... Yoga with Adriene

And a couple of silly pics from the dc.

I feel as if I haven't said enough about how yoga has enhanced and been of benefit to my life.  I reckon I could just go on and on about some things.  The quote at the top and this one are from a weekly emailed newsletter from my yoga teacher Tracy.

"Yoga allows you to rediscover a sense of wholeness in your life."  BKS Iyengar

Namaste