What's in a name?

Thanks to a link from my friend Lauren, we can all find out what our names would be had we been born into the Palin family.

Sincerely,

Lead Stoppage Palin

FORE!

My running partner, Shoshana aka Rosie , and I have  entered a new  arena of athletic endeavor--Golf. Yes, you read that correctly. I am playing golf. Those of you that know me know that,  until recently, I shared Mark Twain's view of golf ( good walk, spoiled).  As unbelievable as it may be, we are having a ton of fun. We are taking lessons and once a week we get to go to a lovely course near our houses and whack the hell out of a bucket of balls under the watchful eye of our instructor, Pat. Pat is a loveable curmudgeon from west Texas and because he can't remember or pronounce Shoshana's name, she has become Rosie ( which is what her name means in Hebrew). Yesterday we got to play an actual hole. Quite humbling.

Birthdays

Yesterday was the birthday of both my husband(JKA) and my lifelong(ok, we met when we were six) friend Diana.  I celebrated JKA's day by signing him out of work, taking him to yoga, getting him a massage and taking him out for lunch at our favorite Indian restaurant. Actually, it is our only Indian restaurant but the food is good. Someday I will post about my korma karma but today is about birthdays.  He finished the day poolside while I ran around attending to the activities of four children. I think he had a good day, I know I would have.  There seem to be an inordinate number of people in my life who were born on the 15th of September. I wonder what this means? Yesterday added another to that list. My friend Holly had her first baby--a girl named Adelaide--and we are ecstatic.  The picture on my profile was taken at her wedding in Maine just a year ago. What a difference a year makes.

Southern Cooking

I love southern food--everything from mama dips  fried chicken and biscuits to sweet potato pie. Living where I do in the south, I have access to good grits, heirloom tomatoes, and smoked ham.I am truly spoiled.  Something that Scott Peacock said in this documentary film about Edna Lewis really struck a chord with me. Sometimes creativity isn't about adding more but about stripping away. Food can certainly benefit from this treatment and so can life. The simplest ingredients are often all you need to make a happy life or a tasty dish.

Unexpected Passing

My friends' (Katie, Betsy, Robert) father was buried yesterday and Robert gave the Eulogy. It is beautiful. I too have a wonderful father and I hope when the time comes I will be able to honor him as eloquently. JKA and I knew the Allisons when we lived in Bell Buckle, TN and they are a large part of why we love that area of the country so much. Hank was a fascinating guy and could talk about absolutely anything intelligently and with humor. I know how much his family is going to miss him and I send loving thoughts their  direction during this difficult time.

"May lovingkindness manifiest throughout your lives. May you dwell in

  peace."

Intentions

I haven't posted for several days because I have been feeling crummy. I am pretty sure it is just anxiety manifesting physically but it feels like a real sickness to me. Serious stomach pain, heaviness in my chest...blah blah blah. I am just trying to be present with it and encourage it to move on. Can you tell that I am headed into a yoga training weekend? Every class we set our personal and group intention for that hour/hour and a half and this week my intention has been to get through class without throwing up. It came as a relief when one of my yoga teachers taught me that sometimes intentions can be that simple-- just get through the class, quiet the mind, don't throw up etc. I used to set such lofty intentions ( along the lines of world peace) and sometimes ( maybe all the time?) it is better to set the intention closer to home and in the present moment.