home

where we love is home - home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts. -Oliver Wendall Holmes

curious

working on it.

by Lisa Congdon

so easy you can't say no

I liked this article about motivating yourself to exercise when you don't feel like it.

The author suggests making the first part of your work-out routine so easy you can't say no. This is some 5-star advice, y'all. 

My current work-out routine starts a lil sumpin like this:

1. Put on work-out clothes. (easy)

2. Choose a playlist on my computer. (sometimes easy)

3. Set an alarm on my phone for 15 minutes. (easy)

4. Stretch. (easy)

5. Leave house for a run. (easier than it was 17 minutes ago)

This is not rocket surgery, but the music is key for me and so is the time restriction/ structure on the stretching.

If I've started the clock, and I start futzing around (eg - texting someone; looking up who's birthday it is on facebook; wondering what I would say to Bob Dylan if I ever met him; wondering whether I would even actually want to meet Bob Dylan; changing directions and wondering what I would want to ask Pete Seeger about if I met him; thinking about how nice and awesome Pete Seeger seems; wondering what this blog post was about...) I come back to stretching, because otherwise I'm cheating myself out of that day's meager 15 minutes of stretching. And stretching feels good. And it's easy. So I don't say no.

strength

for he's a jolly good fellow

"I can teach anyone how to sail, but I can never change a person's personality."
-Ernest Shackleton

right.

Yoga is 99% practice and 1% theory.
-K. Pattabhi Jois

...attn, running: this goes for you, too.

Via Ayanna

on (im)patience. on kindness.

If you stop to be kind, you must swerve often from your path.
-Mary Webb

for what it's worth

Happy birthday, Bobby Z.

beauty

95 years young.

ex libris: The Tiger's Wife

My grandfather and I stopped at the bus station, and the elephant passed, slow, graceful, enchanted by the food in the young man's hand. The moon threw a tangle of light into the long, soft hairs sticking up out of his trunk and under his chin. The mouth was open, and the tongue lay in it like a wet arm.

"No one will ever believe this," I said.

My grandfather said: "What?"

"None of my friends will ever believe it."

My grandfather looked at me like he'd never seen me before, like he couldn't quite believe I was his. Even in our estrangement, he had never quite looked at me that way, and afterward he never did again.

"You must be joking," he said. "Look around. Think for a moment. It's the middle of the night, not a soul anywhere. In this city, at this time. Not a dog in the gutter. Empty. Except for this elephant - and you're going to tell your idiot friends about it? Why? Do you think they'll understand it? Do you think it will matter to them?"

He left me behind and walked on after the elephant. I stood with my hands in my pockets. I felt my voice had fallen through and through me, and I couldn't summon it back to tell him or myself anything at all. The elephant was moving forward along the Boulevard. I followed it. A block down, my grandfather had stopped beside a bench, was waiting for the elephant. I caught up with him first, and the two of us stood side by side, in silence, my face burning, his breath barely audible. The young man did not look at us again.

Eventually, my grandfather said: "You must understand, this is one of those moments."

"What moments?"

"One of those moments you keep to yourself."
-Tea Obreht

image

Via Julia: one corner

There's only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self.
-Aldous Huxley

photo info

The Wheels of the World

When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race.
-H.G. Wells

same-same

“In matters of truth and justice, there is no difference between large and small problems, for issues concerning the treatment of people are all the same.”
-Albert Einstein

via debby: i'm not kidding

you get what you need -

- when you need it.

Sunset at Gloucester - Winslow Homer

Cheerful Conversation and Long Journeys

Live in rooms full of light
Avoid heavy food
Be moderate in the drinking of wine
Take massage, baths, exercise and gymnastics
Fight insomnia with gentle rocking or the sound of running water
Change surroundings and take long journeys
Strictly avoid frightening ideas
Indulge in cheerful conversations and amusements
Listen to music.
-Aulus Cornelius Celsus, ca. 25 BCE - ca. 50 CE

photo via blackblook

Poppies & Friendship

Nobody sees a flower really; it is so small. We haven't time, and to see takes time - like to have a friend takes time.
-Georgia O-Keeffe (painting & quote, both)

true story

"The time to make up your mind about people is never" - Katherine Hepburn via The Philadelphia Story / public :: bookstore