When You Are Calm, At Peace

It had been a few weeks for me since I was at class for varying degrees of reasonableness. Last night when we sat down for our meditation, suddenly all the cares and worries that build and fester in one's mind blow away. When I was missing this meditation and subsequent class time over this blindingly fast and busy month, my whole center was suffering. It's one of those things you don't feel or realize until it's gone for a while.

Granted, I should be doing more meditation on my own than I do. Several mornings a week, actually. It's a routine I've tried to get into over the years and just have not been able to crystallize. The siren call of bed and sleep always somehow seem more powerful at 6AM than sitting on the cold floor and exercising. The benefits of the latter cannot be underestimated though. I find I have more energy and better limberness (especially in my genetics-cursed back) whenever I drag myself up at the proper time to get about 15-20 minutes of morning exercise.

The podling is currently recovering from several ear infections. Apparently in a small human, run-of-the-mill colds often cause later infections in the head passageways if they don't clear up. It makes sense: small human, small head. Passageways are closer together. You know, if one fails, so must the other. It's one of those things I never put together. I would often hear some parent lamenting this ear infection they just got over, their second that month, etc etc. I would think "Geez, what's the matter with these kids' ears?" not knowing that it is often caused simply by a cold that didn't clear up. One of those "nobody ever tells you this stuff." I like to think that my daughter has inherited my stalwart immune system, thus this being her first "major" illness. The doc was quite surprised that 14 months out and it was the first time the podling ever came in for a sickness. The pride doth swelleth.

I have discovered that my garage would make an excellent workshop. Not like this is a surprise to any homeowner, but the other week the weather was terrible and I couldn't get outside to finish up fence picketing. I still have to complete building the gates (one for the front, one for the back) and my lovely wife gave me the idea of working inside. While this has its advantages, it definitely will take some work to make the garage more workshop-friendly. In the cold the garage door was naturally closed, and wouldn't you know this isn't the best environment for working with pressure-treated wood (aka formaldehyde-laden sawdust). So, you live and learn. In the future my goals for the garage are lofty: a rolling work bench to replace the useless one in the basement, refinished flooring, better organization (possibly also in the rafters). We are of the minority of homeowners that actually use our garage to house the car, so any major changes to the garage have to incorporate this. It shall be the man cave of the house, more or less.

Since I don't blog on here often enough, I will wish any readers a happy holiday. Perhaps over the break I'll post some pictures of projects I'm working on. The finished Wall has yet to materialize on The Ballad, so that has to happen. I also have some other recommendations I'll most likely put up soon; keep watching the right-hand links.

Blog on!