Jul 6, 2014 Awake in Real Time: Coffee-induced Meditations and Journal Entries, Music, Parenting/ Home-schooling / Family Music and other Notes
Walked with Hol in the morning. She was sedate and heeled well — a nice change from the crazy persona she projected yesterday.
Read aloud two beautifully illustrated and entrancingly written graphic novels (one based on Athena and the other on Poseidon) to S after lunch. She was instantly captivated, and re-read them by herself again and again. She’s been deep into Greek Mythology since I bought her a few wonderfully engaging books on it a couple of years ago. She remembers things I don’t. It’s amazing. Her favorite goddess are Athena, Artemis, Demeter, Hestia and Metis. And I think she fell in love with the Theseus shown in the Poseidon book. She rather likes, and feels sorry for, Poseidon’s Cyclops son, Polyphemus. She LOVED the three Fates show in the Athena book. Good taste!
Lots of planting in the evening. Very nice. Found a bunny in the garden, which appeared suddenly out of tall grasses, and sprang away into the hostas on the side. S helped with weeding.
Hol’s busy chewing on a water bottle. Got to rescue it.
Went up for a bit and listened to S practising guitar, improvising on a D minor scale, while Warren played the chords. Lovely! Holly listened to her, and then to us, when we sang a Beatles song together. She likes music, just as we all do.
Tags: #Dog, #Gardening, #Journal Entry, Family time with daughter, husband, Lazy Sunday
Jul 3, 2014 Awake in Real Time: Coffee-induced Meditations and Journal Entries
Is stating the obvious allowed?
It’s HOT. It’s clammy.
I felt inert most of the day.
On the other hand, I did plant ELEVEN plants in the evening.
In addition, I took my daughter to Open Air Circus Camp where she pursues the arcane mystery of Commedia Dell’Arte on Thursdays. (On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, she’s exploring juggling, miming/stilting, Devil Sticks, acro-balance and unicycling).
And earlier, in the morning, I took Holly on a LONG walk, during which she got to run off-leash in the park, and was happy as a clam.
Speaking of clams, Holly encountered her first clam shell, which S brought home from Crane’s Beach, where S had been with a few of her friends for most of today.
Holly sniffed at the shell, then started backing away, then sniffed it again, and leaped backwards. Then, she leaped at the shell in my hand, as if to kill it. She repeated the same actions a few times. I would walk towards her with the clam shell. She’d sniff it, then back away for a while, then leap at it.
She was FASCINATED by it. She wouldn’t go away from the spot where I had left it high above her reach. She was obsessed. I called her to the other room, and she didn’t stir. I tried to lure her with a treat, and she disdained it. Finally, I took the clam shell upstairs. She followed me instantly.
This is what equal parts mute dog-hate-and-dog-love look like.
Our dog is as strange as we are. Actually, she’s stranger.
Tags: #Journal Entry, Circus Camp, Clam shells and puppy, daughter and dog-ter
Jun 28, 2014 Awake in Real Time: Coffee-induced Meditations and Journal Entries, Teaching and Learning
So, did I mention that school was over for me on Wednesday? No? Well, it was.
Two days later, I was still in there, cleaning up, clearing up, wiping surfaces. And I’ll go in on Monday, to put any remaining books in boxes and lug them home.
Only two days later –and I feel so much happier, so much more rested, so far away from the stresses of this tiny, fish-pond of a life that’s called school!
Don’t get me wrong — I LOVE to teach, and always will. But it’s exhausting work, and seemingly endless work. And one has to be a saint and never, ever let anything ruffle one’s feathers.
I am not a saint.
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Dreamer of Dreams
Tags: #Teaching, saint, summer holidays
Jun 28, 2014 Awake in Real Time: Coffee-induced Meditations and Journal Entries
Birds sing outside, the fan’s on inside, the air is yellow-gold, and the leaves around the house glow emerald.
I love my little house, nestled on its perch high above the street.
It’s small, it’s cluttered, it’s colorful, it’s groaning with books, and it has green all around. And it’s filled with music and love.
I don’t need a big house (except, perhaps to leap around in, or throw a ball in, but for that, one can simply go outdoors). I have everything I need here.
My home gives me an illusion of permanence.
Having not had a single place I could call “home” for most of my life, I find myself feeling at peace and so contented here — this is where I’ve come home to roost for the past thirteen years.
I don’t think I’ll leave this place.
~
Dreamer of Dreams
Tags: #Journal Entry, #Summer, at home, being home, coming home to roost, Home, illusion, permanence
Jun 7, 2014 Awake in Real Time: Coffee-induced Meditations and Journal Entries
Took Holly for a LONG walk. A little off-leash run in the park was part of it.
It’s so very satisfying to be an animal with an animal.
I love how she seeks the shade, how she goes straight for grass or dirt, when we’re on a sidewalk on a hot day. I love her delight in jumping through a meadow of uncut grass and flowers, leaping in pure puppy joy! I love her sweet almond-shaped eyes, giving me the same half-closed look my daughter used to give me, when she (my daughter) was three months old, well-fed, warm, and content in my arms. I love how she (my puppy) snuffles my hand, when I talk to her, and hold a tiny bit of a treat to remind her to heel. She does, and gets her treat.
Did I think about my upcoming work during this walk? No!
Did I think about profound matters pertaining to humankind? Of course not!
Did I think about my family, my students, my friends, my colleagues? Hah! Not on your life!
I thought about nothing at all. I was totally there, being a dog with a dog, and being a mommy to the dog.
We stopped halfway and found a little convenience store. I asked the man through his kitchen window, whether he could spare a cup of water from the tap. He did, and Holly got a nice drink. Waves of bliss emanated from her ears.
It’s very … nice. It’s sweet to see a dog drinking water. Am I besotted? Still? You bet!
Now, we’re home, an hour later, and we’re both so very glad to be here! Our kitchen is cool, and she’s just lapped up a long drink, eaten a few pieces of apple and blueberries (yes, she loves fruit), and flopped down on the cool floor.
My little family has just returned from my daughter’s swim class. Holly is thrilled. She is happiest when we’re all there with her, happiest to be with her little clan. After her ecstatic greeting of S, whose long braids are wet from the pool, and which Holly loves to tug, our puppy goes back to flop down, sack-like (thanks, Ted Hughes for that inimitable phrase, “Sack of snoring dog,” which my husband, daughter and I routinely use, except we’ve mistakenly been saying, “sack of sleeping dog”).
Now, I’m off to water the tiny bean plants coming up, which I planted last week.
Have a lovely Saturday, y’all!
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Tags: #Dogs, a new Saturday morning post, Chronicles of Holly, daily life account, laziness abates, sack of sleeping dog, simple life
May 11, 2014 Awake in Real Time: Coffee-induced Meditations and Journal Entries
Awaiting the Doorbell
©May 11th, 2014
By Vijaya Sundaram
Shopping disgusts me
Yet I do it.
Not all the time, mind you.
And usually, it’s for things I need.
It leaves a bad taste in my mouth
And a buzz in my brain
As if I vomited out my soul
And helped a corporation’s gain.
I want to not need things
I want to not want things
I want to be unpressured.
I want … to be delivered.
Not packaged, not sealed,
Not signed, just
Delivered
Unto myself,
Sans frills,
Sans frippery,
Sans foolishness,
Sans forgetfulness
Sans flirtation
Sans filigree
Sans fancies
Sans fantasy.
Just plain,
Unbowed,
Unadorned,
Unashamed
Unapologetic
Undefeated
Untired
Alive and awake
In joy and in eternal
Leap mode. And so,
I await the doorbell.
Tags: #Original Poetry, #Shopping, Deliverance, deliverance from needs, Delivery, doorbell, nirvana
May 7, 2014 Awake in Real Time: Coffee-induced Meditations and Journal Entries, Teaching and Learning
There’s a malaise and it’s eating at everyone’s vitals — and it’s so sad to see.
Everyone looks tired, everyone’s preoccupied, everyone complains, everyone’s self-absorbed.
The answer is to step away from it, I think.
To look at it, and consider it for what it is — a virus.
The answer is to look around, take in the sights (even if they’re not always pretty).
The answer lies in saying, “What can I do to make life better for myself and others around me?”
I’m not talking about systems better, or work habits, or specific things better. I’m talking about that extra minute you give someone when he or she comes to you, even if you have a TON of work, and cannot spare that minute. The second to take before you decide to complain or not complain about your life to someone, who might have too much on her or his plate already. That second where, if you so choose, you can laugh, shrug, raise your eyes, and drink in the sunlight.
It’s in truly enjoying beauty and color, no matter where, and in whom, we see it. It’s in letting a person know if you like something about him or her.
It’s in the moment that we truly live.
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Tags: living in the moment, malaise, modern living, spare a minute
Apr 8, 2014 Awake in Real Time: Coffee-induced Meditations and Journal Entries
Is optimism a symptom of stupidity?
Is pessimism a symptom of blasé indifference?
Is either position or attitude a choice?
Are we predisposed to one or the other?
In which case, can one who is either a pessimist or an optimist judge the other?
Is a realist’s position the ony tenable one to take?
Is THAT a choice? Or the result of predisposition?
Can we be taught to NOT despair, when despair seems the only recourse left to the intelligent?
Does that mean one is arrogant or simply acknowledging facts?
Can one choose to leave behind despair, because it’s too exhausting to hold up as one goes up to the Calvary of one’s own life?
Dark questions on a strangely disconnected evening.
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Tags: Attitude, Choice, Optimism, Pessimism, Philosophical musings, Realism
Apr 7, 2014 Awake in Real Time: Coffee-induced Meditations and Journal Entries
Pinecone and Stick
©April 6th, 2014
By Vijaya Sundaram
Walking, I gaze at the passing of things.
Inexplicably sad.
The sun shines.
A hollow gong sounds.
Heart beats
Dully, solidly.
Birds carol loudly.
Children play.
Dogs cavort.
Springtime blooms.
Silence reigns.
My mind listens with
Half an ear.
Beside me, a tail wags.
A smile curves the air.
A brief “woof” startles.
A stick becomes
A thing of desire.
A pine cone the apex
Of beauty, pride in possession.
A run home, two hearts pounding.
Two sets of legs, one biped
The other, quadruped
Fly over cement sidewalks
Race up the flight
Of stairs, all the way
Home.
Water lapped.
Water sipped.
Things settle.
Sadness meanders away,
Replaced by a pinecone and a stick
In the mouth of my pup.
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Tags: #NaPoWriMo, Holly, pinecones and sticks, Puppy, sadness, springtime, Walk in the park
Mar 30, 2014 Awake in Real Time: Coffee-induced Meditations and Journal Entries
Dog-Spring – A Haiku
©By Vijaya Sundaram
March 30th, 2014
Wind bearing presents
Rain-glims, shoot-stirs, bird-songs loud
Smile-suffused dog-tail.
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Tags: #haiku, Dogs and spring, For NaPoWriMo