Dog eating dirt

Unfortunately, I did not have the camera handy to document the dog enjoying some delicious dirt from the jade plant pot I put on the patio, but I'm sure everyone can imagine. She had the same guilty face she gets when I catch her eating birdseed from the birdfeeder. Dog with pica. For some reason I find it incredibly funny.

The jade plant, a gift from my team, looks like it might be wrapping up its current incarnation and returning to the One. I like to think I had nothing to do with this, and that it is simply an old jade plant that is eager to be reincarnated as something else, but the statistical likelihood that all the plants I've ever owned are old and on the brink of death is rather...well, unlikely. So I'm a plant killer.

Led practice today. Volleyball Guy is away, so The British Director ran the show. And quite nicely. I practiced near Returning Guy and The Cat, so I was happy in my little spot. Returning Guy asked where I was yesterday and I launched into my "want to practice alone for the most part" story. He asked if he could make an observation, and went on to tell me that my practice is very focused and meditative, and then he theorized that the music in the shala might be throwing me off. I laughed and said it was more likely the fact that we had a moaner at Mysore on Wednesday. He told me an amusing story of a moaner at a Bikram class, who apparently rivalled Sally in "When Harry Met Sally."

"Well, it was happening around ustrasana," he said, quite kindly. "You know how backbends can really open your heart chakra."

I think I looked skeptical. Maybe it is a function of my clamped-shut heart chakra that I just wish people wouldn't moan profusely throughout practice? LOL! Who knows. I do realize that it is my problem, and that I just have to put it down. Still, when I see Sally enter the room, I do kind of feel a little irritated. Ah well.

Today we had no moaners. The British Director led us and we had a nice practice. Lots of new faces. Seems like someone's turned up the volume on the popularity of Ashtanga.

Volleyball Guy, and Volleyball Guy's students (e.g., The British Director) include the samakonasana/hanumanasana sequence after the prasaritas. I haven't been doing samakonasana or hanumansana lately, because they seem to irritate my hamstring. Well DUH! LOL! Tried them today, though, and it went just fine. I've noticed that if I do that sequence every day, my hamstrings get burnt, but if I just do it once a week in led class, I actually seem to make progress. I found the same thing with handstands today. I haven't been doing them for weeks (in hopes that my shoulders would loosen up), and today I gave one a try and stayed up easily for a good 15 breaths--my balance felt just right on. Maybe it's one of those "the harder you try, the worse it gets" kind of deals?

Before practice, I went to buy a couple of sweaters. I'm afraid of how cold it's going to be in Chicago for the next few days. I know, I'm a baby. I also found the cutest shoes on sale, and some black pants. Bought everything and hurried off to practice. Now that I'm home, I find that I have two left shoes and a pair of pants with the plastic sensor still attached. Alrighty, then. Guess my efficient shopping before class didn't work out quite as well as I had planned...