I have just started taking yoga classes once a week.  I have periodically done yoga over the years, but nothing in the last 5 years.  I have always liked it, but I find that now that I am running, it feels great!  It is just so good to stretch out all the muscles that seem to be so tight from all of this running.  I feel very invigorated after each class (I have been to two so far).  The specific yoga I am taking is Hatha Yoga.  In the past I have done Ashtanga, Hatha and yoga for pregnant women.  The poses are great because you really can do them at any level.  I am usually struggling to hold the simplest form of each pose, while the people on either side of me twist their bodies into perfect pretzel-like forms.  I laugh a lot in class which is also quite therapeutic.  I even find the last few minutes of relaxation/meditation lovely, and I used to hate that part.  Now I find it nice and peaceful to just lie there letting my body relax and recover from all the work it has just done.  I don’t have a favourite pose yet, but I am sure I will soon…I even like the sun salutations which everyone else in the class groans about.  Last night, we did most of the class from our mat with pillows – comfortable exercising – I love it!

Inspired by last night, here is just something I felt like putting out there…

She walked into the warm coffee house, happy to be coming in from the blistering cold that only a Canadian winter can deliver. Her glasses immediately fogged up and left her a little blind, but mostly just blurred everything around the edges in a way that made the world seem softer, kinder. As she waited for the fog to clear, she took a few tentative steps toward the counter to order, deciding en route what she felt like drinking today. In the end, warmth won out over nutrition and she settled on a grande hot chocolate with whipped cream. As she paid and picked up her drink from the counter, she sighed with relief as the warmth of the liquid seeped through the cardboard and warmed the tips of her fingers. Looking around the shop, she settled on the perfect table. Hidden in the corner, with a comfy overstuffed armchair, but with a clear view of the rest of the shop for people watching, she settled in to relax for a few stolen moments.

She picked up her book and opened to her bookmark, already anticipating being swept away by the author’s wry humour, when suddenly it hit her. She was overwhelmed by him. The scent of his cologne and the unique blend of sweat, masculinity and virility that distinguished him immediately to her olfactory senses. Afraid to look up, and see him after all these years of denying herself contact, she kept her gaze steadfastly on her book, willing him to leave without seeing her. Now that she was aware of his presence, she could pick out his voice, all rough and sensual, evoking bittersweet memories of late nights and long afternoons. It was secretly thrilling, knowing that five years later she could still pick him out by his scent and voice and be certain. She was so in tune to him in the coffee shop by now, that she could pick out his footstep and know that he had seen her and was coming tentatively toward her. At the very last moment, she raised her gaze and met him squarely in the eye. “Hello,” she half breathed, half spoke.

I am beyond excited. One of my favourite authors ever, Diana Gabaldon, author of the Outlander Series, is in town tonight. And I have tickets to see her!! She is in town to promote her new book, the latest one in the series, An Echo in the Bone. I have not yet read the book. It came out in September and I was going to read it before tonight, but as it is really long and one of my favourites I decided to wait a bit and then read it slowly, savouring each page. I am so very excited to hear her read from it tonight. I am dying to know which part she chooses to read, and find out why she chose it. I am also excited to hear the words in her own voice as I am sure it will add even more meaning to the passage. I am hoping there is a Q&A as well so I get to hear her thoughts on all the characters and plot developments and upcoming ideas/books. I truly love her books, and think she is an amazing writer, and I am feel like I am going to meet a rock star!

Update on yesterday – She was so fabulous!  She was everything I expected and so much more.  She is incredibly funny and has a very dry humour which I guess I should have figured out from the dry humour in the books.  She read a great passage about Jamie and Claire.  There was a question and answer period as well, which was mostly filled with questions I already knew the answers to from reading her webpage occasionally, but was still fun to hear her answer in person.  And then the woman signed books for over an hour.  I am not sure how long she was signing for because I waited in line for an hour and 15 minutes, got my books signed and left, but there was still a really long line of people waiting when I left.  I am sure she was there for another hour at least.  Some people brought gigantic bins of books!  Craziness…but wow I love her even more now that I have met her.  And boy I really need to start writing that best selling novel I always planned on publishing .

• the swiftness with which I met my husband, who also happens to be the nicest man on earth, and one true love of my life.
• the joy and gift that each of my two children are to me.  The smile they each bring to my face daily, and the warmth they bring into my life.
• the support system of wonderful friends and family I have been blessed enough to collect over the years.  Without them, life would be harder.
• even the dog makes it onto this list, as his unconditional love and joy lift my spirits when they need it most.
• the many other things that make my life a little better each day, my favourite authors, movies, tv shows, for entertaining me and allowing me to escape a little when everything else seeks to overwhelm.
• and of course to my readers out there, wherever you are, thank you for reading.

I rewatched Four Weddings and a Funeral last night which is one of my favourite movies.  This time the part that struck me most was the reading of this beautiful poem by WH Auden.  I had to share it with you.

Funeral Blues 

by WH Auden

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with the juicy bone.
Silence the pianos and, with muffled drum,
Bring out the coffin. Let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling in the sky the message: “He is dead!”
Put crepe bows around the white necks of the public doves.
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my north, my south, my east and west,
My working week and Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song.
I thought that love would last forever; I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one.
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun.
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can come to any good.