lean forward and grab your toes

I started a new exercise class yesterday - yoga. It's probably what you would call 'gentle yoga' as it's meant for seniors. Last week, a friend was recruiting more members, as the class didn't have enough to continue. I guess she was very successful, because this week there were about a dozen of us. I have never done yoga, although friends who have taken it have told me that I would enjoy it. I'm not sure that 'enjoy' is quite the right word.....It was interesting and illuminating. I discovered that I am in very bad shape physically, compared to a few years ago. I guess I knew this, but was doing a good job avoiding acknowledging it. I stopped my morning exercises a couple of years ago. I used to do 200 crunches, 30 leg lifts and an assortment of other exercises about 3 times a week. At that time, I could bend over and lay my hands flat of the floor without bending my knees. I wasn't waking up with a back ache every morning, as I am now. However, exercising is very boring and I finally just quit. Fast forward to the present: I'm not in good shape. It was embarrassing (to me) to know that I can no longer sit with my legs outstretched, lean forward and easily grab my toes. My balance is also not what it used to be. I cannot stand on my right leg, place the left foot on my right leg at the knee and maintain my balance. I used to be able to do this for several minutes before I lost my balance. Well, darn it anyhow, when did I get so old? Perhaps this yoga class will help me regain some of my flexibility and balance. I sure hope so. Maybe it will even inspire me to start my exercise program again, although that outcome is doubtful.

What the class did was to give me a spurt of energy for the rest of the afternoon. I came home and for a couple of hours, did a bunch of household chores that I had been postponing. So, if there is no other benefit from yoga, at least my house will be neater and better organized!

Today is a lovely day. It's warm and sunny, but not truly hot, at least not yet. I'm trying to think of something that would justify my being outside. What I really need to do is to bake cookies, but I'd rather do that when it is cold outside. Unfortunately, I need those cookies for Saturday, so I guess I'd better get baking. I'd rather be puttering in the yard, but..... Oh well, there will be other nice days this fall.

I had a pleasant surprise at ceramics yesterday. I had a bowl that had not come out the way I wanted it to look, so I reglazed part of it and had it refired. This is not something I recommend my students to do, as refiring often makes a problem worse. And it's very hard to get glaze to stick on a piece that has already been fired. As you apply the glaze, it wants to just flow to the bottom of the bowl. However, this time I got lucky and everything worked. So I can add this bowl to the other two that are wedding presents for Elise. I hope she find a use for them. The wedding is Saturday. Maybe she will get lucky and the weather will be like today.