Barefoot & On the Mat July 2021: Everyone Welcome!

[JustSandra]

Hi all!

Oops -- didn't get a workout in yesterday after all.

Today's Workout: Upper Body Strength from Jessica Smith's first Walk Strong set.

Yogapam: Happy to hear your DH continues to improve.

Waving to all!

[Paine]

Beth, today it was 77 degrees, sunny and beautiful. This weekend it is expected to be 72 to 73 degrees.
I thought My Octopus Teacher was interesting. The David Attenborough documentaries on Netflix are interesting too (Life in Color is a good one).
We borrowed Pleasantville from the library and it was a fun movie to watch!

[toaster]

Paine, glad you enjoyed Pleasantville! DH & I think the cast is great.

Looks like a nice day here too; we'll be meandering our way home today.

[cyana]

TGIF!!!

I haven't done a formal work-out today, but walked to and from a neighborhood meeting this morning, so at least I got some physical activity on the books. It was quite humid on the walk home, but really good to see some neighbors that I haven't seen in a while. I may try to do ETV or yoga before bed.

Beth - I'm glad you enjoyed My Octopus Teacher. Being an avid scuba diver in a previous life, I really enjoyed that. Well, except for the sad ending, even though you knew it was coming. We had some fun and interesting wildlife encounters during our diving days, as some of those critters were quite personable. I second Paine's recommendation for Life in Color - another good one.

Pam - The Knocker is what I've named my percussion massage gun, since it gives me quite a knocking, LOL!

Paine - Your DH is wise to put down landscape fabric in the beds to help smother the weeds. I like rocks, but we will likely use hardwood mulch, as our soil is heavy and the mulch will eventually rot and act as a soil amendment. I have to be careful with rocks - I love looking at rocks, feeling the rocks, etc., so I can easily sit there and play with the rocks instead of working, LOL! I've seen some pictures where people used small rocks as the edging along their beds and could see myself doing that - which assumes that I could stop playing with the rocks long enough to put them on the ground.

Waves to ALL - hope everyone has a nice week-end.

[yogapam]

Hello mat mavens!

We are staying with DS2 & DIL for the weekend. We are taking them out for dinner on Saturday to celebrate our condo sale, it is officially no longer ours, yay. DS is doing well thankfully.

I taught Essentrics out on the deck again before we left, no other workouts today.

Cyana - I figured the knocker was possibly a massager of some sort. Do you feel it helps? How’s your hip doing? Mine has been giving me grief lately & I’m getting it injected in early August. Fingers crossed that helps.

Beth - I didn’t realize you were away, have a safe trip home.

Waves to all!

[Pat58]

Hi everyone, quick pop in. I had the YAG laser "second cataract" surgery yesterday. No anesthesia or anything, just dilating and numbing drops and a very swollen eyeball.

I'm disappointed with the outcome, at this point anyway. I thought the film I see when I move my eye was the scar tissue and would get zapped away, but it's still there. I'll call soon. I've just been resting and avoiding moving my head much and should be back in action soon. Have a good day!

[toaster]

Pam, we got back yesterday. Have fun celebrating!

We weren't far - we wanted to do a little getaway but wanted it to be somewhere familiar rather than somewhere new, so we decided to stay at an inn for 4 nights in Ithaca, NY, the city where we travel to 1-2 times a year for the huge book sale and home of Cornell University, an Ivy League where DH went to law school (thankfully not undergrad as he had considered doing, since we met undergrad at Bucknell ). There is a saying "Ithaca is Gorges" because of all the natural gorges and mini waterfalls around. Here is a state park we visited with one of the highest waterfalls in the area:
https://www.taughannock.com/

We also did a lot of walking around the Cornell campus - which has gorgeous views and is HUGE - including their Botanical Gardens, which we had never visited before:
https://cornellbotanicgardens.org/

Ithaca also has a downtown area known as "The Commons" that is closed off to cars and has many shops plus outdoor dining, particularly on an area now called the "Streatery" (added for the pandemic). We really lucked out on the weather, since rain was predicted every day and we only got rain overnight on Tuesday. It was beautiful when we arrived Monday, warm but mostly hazy on Tuesday (when we went to the falls), cooler on Wednesday after the rain overnight but sunny in the evening, and then beautifully sunny but moderate temps (low 70s) when we did a lot of walking on Thursday. One other notable thing is that Ithaca, being a college town (it is also home to another school, Ithaca College), is VERY liberal, and we were surprised that masks were still required indoors many places even though there is no longer a state mandate (and you don't see that here in Rochester at all).

It's tough to get back to reality, especially since this coming week is my last week off before going back to work - and back to the office full time for the first time in 17 months.

[Paine]

Today is a planned rest day. I've been busy doing a lot of food prep and cleaning the house. We are having all of our kids and their significant others, my sister, my nephew and our grandsons over for dinner at our house today. I'm excited to see them all!

Pat, ah that sucks about your laser cataract surgery. I hope with some healing over time, that you'll end up being pleased with the outcome. Take it easy today. ((Hugs))

Pam, enjoy your dinner with family!

Beth, I watched the virtual tour of Cornell Botanic Gardens and it is gorgeous! I love Botanic Gardens. My favorite Botanical Gardens is The Butchart Gardens out where Pam lives.
I enjoyed looking at the websites you linked for Taughannock Falls State Park and The Commons--so beautiful!
Oh my gosh, I didn't realize you had to go back to work so soon. Enjoy your last week off!

[toaster]

It's amazing how much of Cornell DH & I hadn't seen - especially him since he was there for 3 years! We enjoyed the Botanical Gardens but definitely did not see all of it. We enjoyed the seasonal flower beds (and saw several Monarch Butterflies there and elsewhere) and started towards the wildflower area, but we weren't sure exactly where it was, and we knew we still had to walk back. We estimated walking about 5 miles total on Thursday, with lots of hills and stairs (down to the gorges and back up).

Paine, I'm definitely lucky to have June & July off every year! At the same time, I know it will be a harder transition back this year given the pandemic changes. Have a great time today!!!

[yogapam]

Popping in to say hello!

Pat - (((Hugs))) Sorry your surgery hasn’t brought the results you were hoping for. Hopefully you’ll start to see improvement in the coming days.

Paine - Enjoy your family gathering!

Beth - Your trip sounds very nice! Are you joining the new sadhana checkin? I was thinking about it, but it seems to have turned into more of a Covid update thread which doesn’t interest me. I hit Covid overload a long time ago. Masks aren’t mandatory here, but some businesses still request you wear one.

Waves to all!