It's a Beautiful Day...

 ...for morning yoga. The temperature was in the mid 70s, the breeze was blowing and we had the sunlight filtering through the trees. I also had a few more students! The class has been around for a couple of years, and enrollment has been slow. Because we're dependent on the weather, it's hard to be consistent. But we're getting the word out there, and we're getting to a point where I think we're going to start seeing more people. 

We've been very fortunate to have this garden, about 2 blocks west of the studio - to practice in from about May - September-ish. Not sure how long the season will be; last year we went through the end of September, so we have to play it by ear. 

This year, we tried to start on Earth Day, April 22 - and promptly got clobbered for two months by Mother Nature. We only really started the classes this month, and even then, one was cancelled due to rain. 

Monsoons! The garden is in a lower-lying area, so we have to be careful of the weather and the 'swampiness' of the grass when we're planning to practice out there. 

The Clog-Killer...

Well. They were lovely. They were a present from my friend W who brought them from Amsterdam. I've been wearing them to yoga, and I love to be able to just slip them on and go do whatever I have to do. 

I went into the bedroom to change for my Thursday "Flow Motion" class, and found Quinn, looking guilty. And then I saw my clog... She'd decided that it was a chew toy. Or she smelled the cats that my friend has. But I've had the clogs for a few weeks, so I'm not sure what that was about. Maybe she was peeved at me for some reason - her rope chew was right there. She's 6 years old, so she's not teething. She did have dental work done, but that was about 3 weeks ago. 

I'm not happy. Hubby says he can use some wood filler and make them "good as new" - which I hope he can. He's got some things he can do. Either using the wood filler or sanding and smoothing it down. 

That being said, yeah - such a "first world" problem... It's just a pair of clogs. Not like I'm out anything. They were a gift, which is nice, but it's not like they're my only pair. I'll certainly survive. 

It was just surprising because Quinn's past the "chew things up" stage. Or so I thought. 

Breakfast After Yoga...

So I usually don't eat before I teach. It's easier to teach on an empty stomach. Today, though, we were planning to go on a bike ride, so I figured I'd better eat something. Organic banana and raw cashew butter... Yummy! 

It ended up though that we didn't go for a bike ride. The breeze was pretty stiff today. Even out in the garden, the balance poses were ... interesting! Mostly because just about the time we got settled into the pose, the breeze kicked up and we got pushed over!

We decided to go out to Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie. It's out by the Joliet Arsenal, which they're gradually turning back to its natural state. Heaven knows what's buried in the grounds of the arsenal, but that's ok. It's being turned back to prairie, with hundreds of acres being replanted with native plants. 

And the bison... It's been my dream, and now it's come true. 

Bison...

A herd was brought in, and wonder of wonders - several of the cows were already pregnant. These are bison, not a hybrid of cow/buffalo. They're as pure as you're going to get. 

And they're amazing. And they're settling in wonderfully. In 2017, we have five new calves! The volunteers pointed us in the direction of where the herd was last seen, nobody made any promises, and we walked. And walked. And walked. 

And we found them! 

Illinois is a flat state, but there are parts where there are rolling hills and these beauties were in a little gully where it was almost a surprise to see them. I mean, it would've been a total surprise except there was a knot of people standing there ooohhhh-ing and ahhhhhh-ing. So we figured we found them. 

I took about 70 or 80 pictures, and eventually, tick threat be hanged, waded through the underbrush to get up close to the fence so that I could get better shots. There are a few observation posts, but they weren't close to where the bison actually were. 

And as I told someone standing there, the bison's usually attitude toward people is "pfffffffffffffffffffthhhhhhhhh." The one bull did get a little twitchy when Hubby and I were at the fence. He raised his head and sniffed, not quite deciding whether he was going to let everyone stick around. 

But we were ok. And they finally settled down, deciding that after their brunch, they could lay down and nap. 

Knitting...

You can see the lace pattern coming along. So far, everything's behaving. I have no idea how I'm going to do the sleeves. I think they'll still be the 3/4 length the pattern calls for, but I'm not sure how to smoothly attach them. 


Like Sonda used to say, though, "one stitch at a time, one row at a time."

That's kind of a nice metaphor for a lot of life. 

I'm really enjoying the yarn and the stitch definition is superb. It's really heavy, though. It'll be interesting to see exactly how much this thing 'grows' (as the pattern states it will). 

So the trouble is this: hot flashes. I was knitting along last night, and BAM! Had a couple of doozies one right after the other. Got so hot that I started sweating, all the way to the palms, so I thought I'd better set this aside. 

Now that we're back from our adventure, it's time to pick it up again. I want to press on, and if the flashes get really annoying, I have socks to fall back on. They need completing anyway.

Random Picture...

"If I hold verrrrrrrrrrry still, nobody will notice that I'm here..."

That's the big bull buffalo who wasn't happy with us, settling in for his post-lunch nap.