I have a terrible habit of waking up before my alarm goes off. (I think it might be old age!) So this morning, I was up at 4:30 and then again at 6:30. Not convinced that I really wanted to be up yet, I decided to start my day with a little stretch or two that could be done while lying around... just to test things out.
I have been wanting to start a yoga practice at home, so, typical of me, have been asking everyone for ideas instead of just getting started. Well, the best idea I heard and the most practical by far, was to simply start with a Sun Salutation and gradually add in new poses that you like as you go. Right, then. We don't have to plan out an hour routine to get started, we just have to get started and a Sun Salutation seems like as good a place as any. (If you have ever done one, you will know that it has an uncanny - and pretty much unshakeable - ability to put you in a fabulous mood, ready to tackle the day!) So that's what I did. And wouldn't you know that it started raining almost as soon as I finished?
Now I am from the west coast of Canada (sometimes known as the wet coast!) and it rains *a lot*. But this sunny place where I have transplanted myself gets rain so seldom that I actually love it when it comes. Those first sounds of the rain hitting the roof... It started slowly today, but within half an hour had turned into a lovely downpour. The kind that makes you lower your expectations (guess I won't be going for my walk this morning), put your indoor plants outside to gather the rain, and relax into a good bout of letter-writing, photo-organising, poetry-reading or painting. And what a happy coincidence that it just happens to be Sunday!
This week was our local festival. The school kids get the afternoon off of school to go. It celebrates a god of the sea for all the fishermen and there are booths with food and gardening tools and dried sea creatures (for eating). There are little games and lotteries that gather in all the poor little kids' allowances and there are even three nurseries from the island of Shikoku that visit every year. Last year, I bought two raspberry plants (and the lady remembered me this year and asked about them!). One of them survived, the other didn't. So this year, I bought another raspberry plant (very rare in Japan!), a hibiscus with pretty, deep pink flowers and a white blooming tree. I knew the rain was coming, so yesterday I planted them all in the garden. The white blooming tree involved digging up an existing bush that wasn't doing very well and that I wasn't really sure that I liked in that spot in the garden after all. We have a patch of grass (and weeds!) to the right of our front door that is very hard to mow, so I am thinking that it may soon turn into a flower bed, with this pretty little white flowery tree in behind. There could be some big changes afoot. But I am not making any promises. Because today is a rainy, rainy day and we might just spend it being creative and right-brained and living in the moment,and abandon all of our productive, left-brained aspirations and lists of things to do for another day.
Hope you are having a wonderful day whatever the weather!
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