MY ‘ONE TIME ONLY’ YOGA CLASS

THIS IS THE DESERT JUST ONE SHORT BLOCK BEHIND OUR HOUSE IN CONGRESS AZ.
Best way for Pheebs & I to ward off of our weekly bout of 'cabin fever' is to slip ourselves away in the Jeep & run a few routine errands. Groceries & gas but no McDonald's today. Nothing else to write about that little drive to & from Goderich & we were back home within an hour.
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We are slowly organizing & pulling things together for our trip to Arizona in a couple months. This of course is bringing up a few questions, concerns, & decisions we have to make. Just what do we take to our house in Congress. We know that whatever goes will likely not be coming back. First, we have decided not to take anything of value or anything that cannot be replaced. We have to treat this house more as a cottage, simply because we do not know what the future holds for us. Here is the logic, & it has to do with things that have to be considered. This is the 'what if' factor that can turn into reality in a heartbeat. 'What if' at some point we are unable to return to Arizona again for medical, financial, or 'whatever' reasons, or what if we decide to sell the house at some point? Very real questions of course, with some as yet unknown answers.

THIS WILL BE OUR MAIN MORNING WALK AREA THIS WINTER
First, the logistics of travel & distance. It is nearly a week's drive of 2200 miles between our Bayfield House in Ontario & our house in Arizona. And, it's not an easy drive!! We can't just jump in the car & nip over to Arizona & bring a few things home now & again. It's not only the distance.....it's the whole border crossing thing as well!! Being first & foremost Canadians, our main home base will always be here in Canada, so this is where all important documents & personal family things will remain. But what, if for some reason we decided to sell our Congress house some day & it is full to the brim with furniture & personal belongings. (clothes etc) We can't just jump in the Jeep, throw a small U-haul on the back & bring everything back to Canada. No room for any more stuff here anyway. Can't just nip on down to Arizona to sell things at a Saturday morning garage sale either. So, we have to be careful what we take & what we buy while there. Certainly will not be buying any spanking 'new' furniture or appliances. (washer & dryer come to mind) Anything going into that house will probably come from Saturday morning garage sales & second hand stores. Again, I think the right way for us to look at this is to treat our Ghost Town Road house as a winter cottage, a travel base, our southwest get-a-way, our wild west outpost. Casa Del Pheebs:))
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I have been resisting the urge to load anything in the coach for our trip so far. Have totally convinced myself that to do so would only result in me having to repack everything numerous times. Best to wait another month or so until we have everything gathered together in the carport. Nice touch of common sense there.  So, with those thoughts planted firmly in my mind, I went out this morning & started loading up stuff. Ya, I know.........:((
 
GETTING A FEW THINGS TOGETHER TODAY
I have never been one much for the disciplines of exercise classes but I did get myself involved with Taoist Tai Chi about 11 years ago. Enjoyed that but due to a move from Fullarton to Bayfield nearly 10 years ago & subsequent winters away in the Southwest I was not able to pursue Tai Chi beyond the 4 beginner's classes I was involved in. Three years ago while Ranch sitting near McNeal Arizona for a couple months Kelly convinced me to come out to one of her Yoga classes she was involved with at the time. And, it did take a lot of 'convincing' alright.
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Looked to be about a dozen ladies gathered around in a large circle with chairs & mats when we walked in to the Elfrida Community Center that morning. David, an instructor from Bisbee welcomed us to the group & it wasn't long & I was seated in a white chair with a purple floor mat at my feet. I immediately knew I was going to be more comfortable here than a regular exercise class (oooops, that was about to change) when David dimmed the lights. I am not a bright lights kind of guy. The first minute was spent in a relaxation mode. Now, this was my kind of exercise. But, it was short lived. The instructor had a soft voice as we went through a series of stretches with closed eyes. The closed eyes part worked better for me than the stretching part. The stretches soon became embarrassing when I became painfully aware that parts of me were not stretching as well as others. A quick glance around at the ladies showed me my awareness was correct. A couple of the ladies, old enough to be my Mother, were twisted up like frozen pretzels on their purple mats. I was finding it hard to simply bend a knee joint to reach the floor or raise my legs to an even level while upside down on my mat. I was on the floor, first on my left side, then my right side. Didn't seem to matter what side I had on the floor, my body told me it was the wrong side. I had a lot more cushioning on my tummy side but that didn't seem to work well either. Mashed my face into the purple mat & even my moustache & beard let me know they were not happy!!. Every time I was on my back I knew what an upside down Turtle felt like. Kept thinking of that commercial years ago, "I've fallen & can't get up". Now there was a sobering thought....how WAS I going to get up??

AND TOMORROW I WILL TELL YOU ABOUT THAT BLACKBERRY PLAYBOOK KELLY HAS ON HER LAP:))
Between aching contortions my mind took me back 44 years to my young 20 year old days in boot camp at a naval base in Nova Scotia Canada called H.M.C.S. Cornwallis. How different my body now as I sat there on the floor in this large dimmed room trying to do even the simplest of stretches. Where once I scrambled up & down 30 foot ropes, drilled for hours on parade grounds, ran for miles on cross country runs, & did a whole host of other improbable physical things, I now found it hard to simply even sit up. Had it not been for my supportive chair I may not have even managed to stand up at all. Oh, this was exercise alright. An exercise in humiliation. The only thing that finally worked for me was when after an hour of agonizingly thrashing about on the floor like a beached whale, I heard Yoga instructor David say, "and now for our final move. Yaaaaaaaay:)) Well, after we all did that final move, whatever it was, I still had one final move of my own left. I quickly moved myself right out of that building as fast as I could.  My flopping about on the floor of the Elfrida Arizona Community Center would never be seen again………10-4!!

A STRANGE CRITTER IN OUR FRONT YARD TODAY
GROANER'S CORNER:(( Just before the funeral services, the undertaker came up to the very elderly widow and asked, 'How old was your husband?' '98,' she replied: 'Two years older than me' 'So you're 96,' the undertaker commented.
She responded, 'Hardly worth going home, is it?
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- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)
- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.

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