Too Much of a Good Thing and Not Enough of Others....Goodbye Belgian A :(

Today was one of those days that was just all over the map. Lots of fun and laughs but also some hard moments and some tears. First of all, it was my roommate Ann's last day as she is completing the 100 hour course. I'm going to miss her so much. We've grown close in the last 12 days--which I know doesn't sound like very long, but from that bucket of beers on the beach that first day we were fast friends. I'll miss her humour, honesty, and our chats before bed. We have so much in common! I think a trip to Belgium is in my future!

The Two As

 Fish lips seemed like a good idea at the time. This has no connection to yoga by the way,

 

Our day began at Daily Coffee with the two As, L, and me. A and I sipped lattes and felt virtuous as the Aussie posse sweated over the homework they didn't complete last night!

Tsk task girls! I hope you learned your lesson!!!

Morning coffee with the girls

 We were soon joined by Marita and the rest of our group, and headed to the beach for morning yoga. Marita isn't one to waste a moment, so we experienced our first walking meditation as we trekked along. We breathed in for a count of four, then out for a count of four, matching it to our steps. This went well until we saw a security guard. A few days ago, L laid eyes on a security guard guarding the beachfront home of a politician--and she was quick to notice lots of muscles covered with Kevlar. Since then, we always check to see if he's on duty when we walk or drive by. As we were gliding over the sand in blissful, silent meditation, I heard some whispering up ahead. "Look! It's a security guard! Is it him?" Thankfully Marita didn't hear us, and for the sake of the meditation, it was fortunate that it wasn't THE security guard. L thinks she might just go up and introduce herself someday and of course I'm encouraging her!

Walking meditation. We were mostly focused.

Marita put us through our paces on the sand with standing and abs sequences. The funniest Marita-ism today? We were in boat pose, and she was getting after us for not engaging our large muscles to hold the pose. "Those thighs! They are just hanging there! Use them! Why do you let them eat for free?" We also did group poses in a circle, holding each other up. Great team building and lots of fun! To conclude our asana practice, some of us did floating savasana in partners, then swam and attempted some poses in the water. And of course, the kindergarten teacher in the group made everyone work together to spell yoga with their bodies for a great photo opportunity!

Floating savasana

Lucky that we had fun in the water, as a gruelling two hour asana study was next on the agenda. We sat in a little pavilion overlooking the beach, which was nice, but I think I got way too much of a good thing--sun and I am still feeling the effects. Fortunately Pattie's homework help met with Marita's approval and I barely had to make any changes! I didn't fare as well in my alignment cues and benefits of poses though. And I learned that answering a question from Marita with, "Because the orange book said so" doesn't work so well. This exchange wasn't a big success either...
Marita: And what are the hips doing in this pose?

Me: Nothing really. I think they're just there.

Marita (snorting): Just there? What do you mean, just there?

Me: Just there, doing their thing I guess.

Marita: No body part just "does its thing" in yoga.

I actually think Marita got a kick out of it as she brought it up a number of times. I teased her that she'd start using it as a cue in her own yoga classes. She laughed and said maybe, once she figured out how to say that in Greek.

A cold shower and an afternoon nap did not leave me feeling refreshed--I think I have a bit of heat stroke--and I was not in the best frame of mind to tackle one of the most difficult chakras. The heart chakra is known as anahata and it's all about our relationships with others, ourselves, and conditional and unconditional love. Once again, there were some tears around the table, but there could not be a better group of people to share with. Michelle has a Master's degree in clinical psychology, so she is well-equipped to deal with all of us and our problems!

Michelle went easy on us as we learned the asana sequence for heart chakra. She threw in some restorative yoga poses and our practice was just a little over an hour. It was a really great sequence and I'm excited to teach it to others when I start teaching my own classes :) The shorter class left time for A to receive her certificate for completing 100 hours of Hatha yoga teacher training. Again more tears as we all hugged her and posed for pictures. I thought cocktails were in order after all the emotions of the afternoon. But wait, we're detoxing so sparkling water, orange juice, and lime wedges it was! Leonardo came through with another fantastic meal--eggplant parmigiana, salad, and fresh bread, and everyone sat around and visited for A's last night.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day happened after dinner. D is from France and cultivates quite an air of mystery. No one knows just quite what he does and he never seems to give a straight answer, earning him the nickname 007. Well imagine my surprise when I turned around from writing my blog to see him giving J a tarot card reading on the couch. Turns out he actually does tarot card readings on TV in Asia for celebrities. Who knew?

Well it's my last night with Belgian A, so it's time to enjoy one last cup of tea with her, then get my heat stroked body to bed!

Swim...then Sink: When Your Day Takes a Nosedive

So it started off as the best day ever. L and I got up early and walked into town for a latte at Daily Coffee. It was a lovely cool morning and even the hike up the hill on the way home wasn't that bad. No dogs bit me and there were no dead animals on the road--yay! And we had an exciting morning of yoga teacher training ahead of us. Today was our first field trip! So after L and I returned from our lattes, we changed into yoga clothes, grabbed our mats, and all eight of us plus our teacher Michelle piled into the van. It was a short drive to the beach, then a quick walk to a big platform overlooking the sea where we could spread our mats!

We did a shorter sequence this morning due to our location, and it was a good thing as I felt like the Princess and the Pea. Even the tiniest pebble under my yoga mat was excruciating when it came in contact with me knee or elbow! We all took turns teaching different parts of our morning sequence, and I did child's pose with arms extended over the back as well as reclining hero pose. All of us are becoming more confident with our teaching--although there's still some cheat notes for Sanskrit names!

A leading the class in joint flexibility exercises

Table top pose

The girls are rocking their camel poses!

 

My friend Belgian A showing off her shoulder stand!

 And check out that plough pose!

I did a little crow pose by the sea!

And of course a dancer pose

And who doesn't love a good savasana pose in the sun with the sound of the waves?

 

After an hour of yoga in the sun, we were more than ready for a dip in the sea! The water was cool and beautifully clear and we took full advantage of our morning break!

Bathing beauties J and Aussie A

Tree in the water with my Belgian friend

We're not just good at yoga... check out this synchronized swimming!

 

 

 

But it can't be all play and no work, so we headed back to the guest house and yoga studio for our morning theory component. It was really interesting--ethics of teaching yoga, how to prepare people for hands on adjustments, and how to sequence and plan an entire class. I suddenly felt so much more prepared to teach a class by myself!

After a yummy lunch and restorative nap, it was time for our afternoon sessions with Marita. I'd like to begin by saying that we enjoy Marita tremendously--she is edgy and funny and knows SO much about yoga. She's also very realistic in her approach to eating meat, drinking coffee, and enjoying a beer or glass of wine. I learn a great deal from her every time we have sessions with her.

Today, we spent three hours engaged in asana study (going over the alignment cues and benefits of each pose in excruciating detail). Today's focus was a back strengthening sequence. The two funniest things that Marita said today were, "It's going to get quite wonderful. By the end of the week you will be in love with your spine!" and "Cat and cow pose is like a holiday for your spine!" Shortly after these statements, the hilarity ended, and our swimmingly fun day began to sink. Asana study is very necessary to us learning how to teach, and practice, these yoga poses ourselves. But it can be SO boring. I welcomed a move to the studio two hours later, but that's when things became even more difficult. I was the furthest one away at the door, and as we held pose, Marita adjusted each person in order. I was last each time, so I attempted to hold my pose for as long as I could as I waited for her. This deteriorated into me sneaking looks over my shoulder to see if she could see me, collapsing out of pose, then quickly getting back into it as she headed my way. Bow pose was the real killer, and I never knew my shoulders could go that far back or my legs that high up and I actually squealed out loud. Add to this mosquitoes and flies biting and crawling on us, homework assigned to us due tomorrow morning, and you can see why we left the studio a rather disheartened little group.

Speaking of homework, some things never change. I usually completed my math homework on the bus every morning, copying from one of my smarter friends. My approach to homework at yoga teacher training remains consistent. Thanks Belgian A--the only thing that would make your notes better would be if they were in English instead of Flemish (she translates them out loud for me)! And a shout out to my personal trainer and fitness instructor, Pattie, back home in Canada. Tonight we had to name all the joint movements and spinal rotations in 2-3 different poses each (so no copying) and I was totally confused. I decided it was time to outsource this task and work smarter, not harder. I just know that I'm going to the head of the class tomorrow. Thanks P!

Leonardo's delicious cooking cheered us up tonight, as it always does. Tonight's culinary creation was polenta with his famous tomato sauce, mushrooms, and parmesan. A glass of red wine is the only thing that would have made it better!

Polenta with tomato sauce, mushrooms, and parmesan!

 

Although this afternoon was hard, I expected yoga teacher training to be hard. And there's going to be moments of frustration as we are pushed by our teachers to learn more, do more, and work in that zone of proximal development (teacher talk for finding your edge). I remain confident in knowing that I chose an outstanding program with really strong teachers.  I will go to bed tonight knowing that, other than copying notes and consulting experts to complete my homework, I did my absolute best today. Good night!  

Laughter, Tears, Snoring, and HELLO TOES!

After my game being off in yesterday's morning practice and experiencing rising levels of frustration, I was determined that today would be different. The day had a great beginning--gratitude and meditation (sort of) on the rooftop, then delicious banana muffins with honey and butter with L for breakfast. When it was time to meet everyone on our mats, I set a new intention for the day--I am patient with myself. And it led to a great morning practice! I led the class in two poses--tadasana and triyaka tadasana and it went pretty well. I got my full wheel pose back (it was missing on Friday) and... wait for it.... for the first time ever I reached my toes during seated forward fold! It was a victory on the mat!

And I pronounced my Sanskrit pose names this morning after I learned a little trick from my friend A. For example, A had a family member named Vera who was a bad dresser. So to remember the   Virabhadrasana (warrior pose), she called it Vera-bad-dresser. So for triyaka tadasana, I called it teriyaki tadasana. Worked like a charm. Thanks A!

And the momentum continued into the theory portion of our day. Much to my great excitement, Michelle came upstairs with a box. It was our mala beads! Finally! Mala beads have 108 beads on a knotted string and they are used for mantra and meditation practice to keep track of how many times you've said a mantra or affirmation. Our mala beads from Michelle are made from Tulsi wood from the holy basil plant, and they absorb positive energy from our yoga practice. Our mala beads came from Rishikesh, India, where Michelle studies with her guru and leads yoga teacher training sessions. When Michelle gave them to us, she held the mala beads in her clasped hands then transferred them to our clasped hands. It was an important moment and another step on my yogic journey. We used our mala beads right away with the Gayatri mantra. It's three lines of Sanskrit or Hindu and we did a half mala, meaning we said it 54 times. It took nearly half an hour! Managing the words in this foreign language and moving along one mala bead each time I said it was really more than I could handle!

Lunch was especially delicious today... Chef Leonardo outdid himself with his pasta with pesto sauce and healthy side salad. Yummy!

Some sun on the rooftop followed by a nap was a great midday break!

 

Our next theory portion was where the tears came in. Today we studied the third chakra, and it's pretty evident that lots of us have imbalances or a blockage of energy in this area. The third chakra is called Manipura, and it is located behind the navel. It's known as the mental body, and problems associated with it are restlessness, pessimism, worrying, imagining problems, and doubting. Other bad habits of the third chakra include spending too much time worrying about the future or reflecting on the past, and experiencing no satisfaction in spite of having everything. Problems with ego (superiority or inferiority), negative thinking, and not trusting your own intuition are also associated with the third chakra. We each took a turn sharing what we thought our bad habits were in this area, and the tears flowed as some very personal stories were shared. Some of us were crying over our own problems, and others were shedding sympathetic tears for the people we have grown close with in the last week. It was a hard topic but an important one, and Michelle and the other participants create such a supportive atmosphere. This afternoon's session really illustrated that everyone who comes to yoga teacher training has a story. Sometimes I feel like we're living in Eat Pray Love (the Julia Roberts movie and book by Elizabeth Gilbert). 

 

We had a 25 minute break to regroup, then met in the studio for a yoga pose sequence designed to stimulate and balance the Manipura chakra. It was one of my favourite sequences that we have done so far with a lot of ab work, and it even included a laughing happy baby pose as laughter is good for this chakra. Next was yoga nidra (dynamic sleep where you are supposed to stay awake), but obviously the emotions of the day had left me drained. Because 40 minutes later, the next thing I knew we were being instructed to roll over onto our sides and sit up. I had been pretty much unconscious the whole time. I quickly got it together and tried to act like I hadn't been sleeping. My friends were looking at me and snickering though, and one person mentioned there was some noise coming from my side of the room. Turned out I had been snoring on and off throughout the yoga nidra, and everyone had a hard time staying focused and not laughing out loud! I was busted!

 

L and I had some mock cocktails (mixed it up with orange juice, club soda, and lime this time) and Leonardo served a delicious supper of vegetable barley soup, fresh bread and butter, and salad. It was another eventful day at yoga teacher training, and tomorrow promises to be even better. Lattes in the morning and morning asana practice at the beach!   

 

 

 

 

 

And On the Seventh Day They Did Restorative Yoga

After a terrific day off and a good night's sleep, we were eased back in to yoga teacher training with a shorter day on Sunday. Although it was a shorter day, it was still an important one as it was our first time leading the class in poses. I was assigned seated forward fold (which I am terrible at.... tight tight hammies) and lateral side bend (seated). I crammed in some practice this morning and wore my new yoga tights for a confidence boost. I am in love with this pattern and I call them my "northern lights" tights as that is exactly what they look like!

Michelle also surprised us at the beginning of class by asking us to each lead a sun salutation like we did on Friday. I went first again, but this time I was determined not to mess it up. I totally nailed the OM in the beginning mantra and I didn't forget cobra pose this time. And I felt like I did a reasonably good job leading the class in my two poses. These were both seated poses, and I suggested to the class that if they had a lot of "junk in the trunk" like I do, they might find it helpful to lift each buttock out of the way and really ground their sit bones down. Apparently "junk in the trunk" is not a common expression around the world and it caused some hilarity in the yoga studio!

 

I felt good about the poses I led the group in, but soon that was replaced with a new emotion. Michelle and Marita have told us that many emotions come out during a yoga teacher training. In yoga, it is believed that tight body parts are often storing a pent up emotion from a past hurt or experience, and when that emotion is released, the body part loosens. I am waiting to have a hysterical crying meltdown--in fact I welcome it--if it means my hamstrings and shoulders loosen up. But a hysterical crying meltdown wasn't what happened today. Instead I felt frustrated and angry as it seemed I had regressed since last Friday and lost some of my flexibility. I have been struggling with camel pose, seated forward fold, and shoulder stand since I arrived last week. On Friday, I managed to rotate my shoulders backwards enough to do a pretty decent camel pose. But that camel pose was no where to be found today. And when I went to attempt shoulder stand, there was absolutely no backwards momentum to swing my legs up in the air. JUST NOTHING. And instead of a crying meltdown I was just totally angry and frustrated.

 

I feel like I have worked so hard since I got here and why aren't I able to do those poses yet? Michelle tells me to be patient, and in my more rational moments I know that it is ridiculous for me to expect to master all these poses so early in my practice. Michelle has been practicing for twenty years! Rome was not built in a day and I know this. And if I push my body any harder, I'll end up hurting myself. SO.... my intention for this coming week is patience with myself. I am endlessly patient with a roomful of 20 four and five year-olds, but patience with myself is obviously something I need to work on.

 

Our theory was brief after our extended time in the studio, and we tried candle meditation today. Again, this did not come easy for me. Basically, we stared at the inner part of a candle flame for five minutes. We were supposed to avoid blinking for as long as possible. If we blinked, we were to close our eyes and attempt to focus on the "after image" of the candle under our closed eyelids. Well, frustration reared its head again in this exercise. Within five seconds, my eyes starting watering and blinking uncontrollably. I persevered and stared longer but finally gave in and closed my eyes. To my dismay, there was no after image of the flame. I was not impressed. So instead of getting all Zen and lulled into a tranquil meditative state, I was just really frustrated again. I'm adding meditation to the list of things to work on.

 

Leonardo's fabulous cooking put me in a much better mood with a delicious mushroom, spinach, and ricotta quiche, followed by a two hour nap. Up next was restorative yoga with Becca at Michelle's yoga studio in the town of Lagonissi. I was really excited to see Michelle's yoga studio, and restorative yoga sounded absolutely perfect for my stiff body. Restorative yoga involves spending a long time in yoga poses, supported by bolsters, straps, and other props so that your body can completely relax into the pose with no strain. Becca delivered a fantastic two hour class complete with soothing music and hands on adjustments with lavender oil. Becca has a really fun and accessible teaching style that really puts everyone at ease and I really enjoyed our restorative practice today,

                                      



 Michelle's studio is light wood and white walls with high ceilings. It's very airy, open, and calming.

 The Zen Corner

 On our bolsters ready to restore ourselves!

Today's music selections were really soothing!

 

After our restorative class, everyone went their different ways. Two of the girls headed back to the guest house for massages and the rest went to the beach. L and I thought that a latte at the local coffee house was the thing to do, and we had a lovely time chatting, sipping caramel lattes, and listening to the locals cheer on some loud sporting event on TV (not a clue what it was). Only 2 euros for a latte and they definitely rival Starbucks (OMG did I just say that?)

 Home sweet OM after a sweaty walk up the hill!

Ginormous white beans in a tomato sauce with feta and carrots, delicious roasted vegetables with garlic, and salad. Not shown: delicious brown bread and butter

 

So we're back to full days tomorrow. Interestingly enough, I wasn't the only person out of sorts in the studio today. It seemed like having a day off made everything harder. I'm so grateful for the amazing women I'm surrounded by and all the support. We all have a different story and come from different places, but there are so many similarities. I'm looking forward to a better day in the studio tomorrow--no doubt I'll awake transformed into a serene, Zen-like creature who is hopefully super bendy. Stay tuned for tomorrow's update!



Off the Mat: What Yoga Girls Do When They're Not Yoga-ing

So we had all these great yogic plans for our day off. We were going to get up, meditate, and do an hour of yoga in the studio before heading off to Athens to shop. All those plans were abandoned about 8 pm last night when we were so battered and exhausted that the better idea seemed a total break from yoga!

After a great night's sleep and a bit of a sleep in, it was so much fun to do my hair, put on makeup, and wear clothes that weren't Lululemon (as much as I love my Lulus). I felt like myself again instead of the sweaty hot yoga mess I've been for the past week!

So the Canadian girl was a bit slow getting ready, and we had to wait for the next bus in this quaint little bus shack. It took forever, but we ended up getting on some other bus than was recommended to us, and it took us directly into Syntagma Square in the heart of Athens. The bus even had wifi!

First on the agenda were lattes and cappuccinos! We went to this posh little bakery called Orange Bakery. Unfortunately it wasn't all we'd hoped for. I had a delicious chocolate croissant, but my Aussie posse didn't have as much luck with their food. L's vegetarian pie had chicken in it and A's granola bar was so hard it flew out of her hand when she tried to bite it and landed on the floor. The coffee was great, but took a good 20 minutes to get and L's cappuccino never did materialize!

 

Unfortunately we really had no clue where we were, so turning on the power of our yogic intuition we decided to wander around the city. This plan worked out great, as we happened on a fantastic perfume store. All three of us bought new fragrances, and I was so excited to find one of my favourites that is no longer available in Canada--Love, Chloe! 100 ml should last me for a while!

The sales girl was lots of fun and asked to take pictures of us for the store's Instagram and Facebook page. She also told me I looked like a famous actress... Meryl Streep. I guess I'll take that as a compliment?! After our perfume purchases, we decided to keep exploring. Although A did a bang up job of mending my dog shredded tights, I still wanted another pair and so did she, We both found cute yoga clothes at a store called Oysho. We bought matching tights with a northern lights pattern, except mine are ankle length and hers are crops.

It had been nearly 24 hours without doing yoga, so we burst into tree pose on the street... caused a bit of congestion on a busy street!



We continued to wander and suddenly I found myself on the same street as Leah's and my hotel when we first visited Athens at the end of August. I knew where I was! In no time at all we found the vegetarian restaurant recommended by our yoga teacher, Michelle. Above is the yummy lunch that both L and I had... buffalo mozzarella and tomato panini with corn chips and guacamole. Delicious! A had a huge veggie burger that she loved too and as well as some crazy pink lemonade with beet root in it.







 Next was a bang trim at a random hair salon (the girl didn't speak English but did a great job thank goodness). Gelato followed as we were feeling way too healthy! 

It was Saturday and it was time for cocktails following our return home from Athens. Make that MOCK tails.... club soda, pineapple juice, and lime was as good as it gets during yoga teacher training :(

A great day off drew to a close with sundowners on the rooftop! But not before another mystery was solved. Check it out!

All week during morning meditations I'd noticed this on the rooftop In my morning fogged mind, I'd looked at it and though, oh cool, they have one of those huge barbecue things that can roast a whole pig. I wonder if we get to have a barbecue up here! This rooftop would be perfect for entertaining! Never once thinking, Devon, it is a vegetarian yoga studio and guest house. Why on God's green earth would they have one of those big pig roasting barbecues? And why would you think you'd have a MEAT barbecue while living here? I had a big moment of clarity when A referred to the solar powered water heater on the rooftop! I guess no pork barbecues on the rooftop for this yogi! Wow...I guess you can take the meat-eating girl out of Kenton, but you can't take the Kenton out of the girl!





Happy Soup and Hot Yogis

Well to be honest, there wasn't a lot of gas left in the tank for the final day of our first week of yoga teacher training. Our bodies have been pushed to their limits, contorted, and twisted a minimum of four hours each day. Our brains have been filled with tons of theory and new information to the bursting point. We've come together as a group, supported each other, and enjoyed each other's company. It's been a great first week!

Today started off with my usual morning meditation with A on the roof. Things were dramatically less Zen with the recent wave of mosquitoes around here. We did our meditation and gratitude and quickly drew a card and that was it! Today's physical practice began with each of us leading the group in a sun salutation. Hatha sun salutations are different from what I'm used to but I was pretty confident in my ability to lead the group. So I went first. But then I forgot OM in the mantra (like who forgets OM? It is the mantra to end all mantras) and feeling rattled after that yogic faux pas, I forgot cobra pose. It was a bit of a disaster. But I shook it off and told myself that now everyone else would feel more comfortable after I made a mistake. It was another demanding physical practice, and as I mentioned earlier, I was tired. I wasn't able to get up into wheel, but I did feel like I made progress in my alignment in a lot of other poses. We also found out that we were responsible for teaching two positions on Sunday morning. I was holding out for something I was really good at, such as tree pose, but instead got prasarita padottanasana (seated forward bend) which is the Achilles' heel of my yoga practice. I was also assigned seated lateral bend which I am slightly better at. Lots of practice coming up this weekend I guess, but right now I'm too tired to care.

Today's theory component focused on examining the final 5 of the yoga ten commandments as well as the bad habits associated with the second chakra and the prana body. Once again I was able to take a leading role in bad habits. The encouraging part was that I've already made progress in this area since this spring. Just read this passage from our course materials, "Bad habits of the prana body include excess shopping and a desire for luxury at all times. This is caused by impurities of the prana body." Well since taking a leave of absence from my job, I've really curtailed my shopping. And, my trip to Trinidad and Tobago was the start of my adventure travel and the end of my 4 and 5 star accommodations. And I'm loving it and happier than ever. So at least I'm growing in this area. A healthy prana body basically encircles you like a protective bubble and helps you deal with discomfort. Michelle explained to us that every time you give in to a bad habit, you strengthen that bad habit. I was interested to learn that mantra (which I love) and pranayama (breathing) actually change thought patterns. So next time I'm tempted to online shop, mantra and breathing it is!

This afternoon we practiced pratyahara, which means introversion of the senses. It's kind of like yoga nidra (dynamic sleep) and serves as excellent preparation for meditation. We got to lay down, and worked to tune out all the information from our senses as we followed Michelle's voice. It was extremely relaxing. I tuned out so thoroughly that I had a fantastic 30 minute nap. That's not the purpose of it, but I enjoyed it just the same. We also had a new yoga teacher this afternoon. Her name is Becca and she hails from California. She now lives in Athens with her boyfriend, and completed this yoga teacher training and a vinyasa teacher training in the past couple of years. She led us in a 90 minute vinyasa flow class designed to support the second chakras, swadhisthana. It was a fun and playful class (although I was still dripping sweat). The highlight of my day was my shoulders have opened enough to get into a halfway decent camel pose and I also did a pretty solid crow pose.

Meals were extremely exciting affairs today. For lunch, Leonardo made mushroom lasagne with homemade noodles and béchamel sauce. It was a culinary masterpiece and I loved it so much that I ate two pieces! For supper, he made homemade pizza with his mama's tomato sauce, cream of broccoli soup with a smiley face to celebrate the conclusion of our first week, and salad. It was fantastic!

 Exhausted and hot and sweaty, we decided that we needed some air conditioning while we ate supper. It is a wall unit with a remote and it keeps disappearing. Last night it took us about 15 minutes to locate the remote control and we found it stashed in an upper cupboard. Tonight the remote control was nowhere to be found. The Case of the Missing Remote Control has dragged on all night, we tore the house apart, and we still haven't located it. Every time we open the unscreened windows, mosquitoes fill the house. So I am sitting here sweltering as I write this blog post. You can guess how happy we are about this development as hot yogis are not happy yogis. Just sayin'.

 A delicious but uncomfortably warm supper!

Gorgeous Lagonissi sunset to end the day!