Hey, Happy New Year! Doors seem appropriate. Colorful doors even more so.

I've done my headstand letting go of attachment to the old year yoga practice. I've learned to do it fairly early in the evening on New Years eve otherwise I get too energized to get too sleep. It is a simple way to get a bit of a buzz. The cats love it when I practice at home.

Last year on this day I wrote in my paper journal that I thought I'd somehow get more spiritual this year, something to do with yoga. Ha! Little did I know how totally immersed I would get. It was interesting doing the same practice tonight I have done many New Year's eve's with a deeper understanding about how it works and why it does what it does.

This year I wrote that 2013 will be more about connections that work somehow, that I will be in the world more and enjoying the community I find out there.

My link today is a blog I'd like to spend more time on as it appears to be about writing called Brain Pickings. Cool.

I took this picture this morning. I saw the lace through the view finder but not the colored glass so it was such a delight when the picture came up. I like the imperfection of it all. That is how the light gets in. :)

I have my yoga graduation class worked up, now all I need to do is draw it. Very simple. I hope it works. I'll know by this time next week.

This quote resonated with me,"Suffering isolates us. Loving presence brings us back, makes us belong." It is from Maureen Dowd's recent column here.

I think the best weekends are the ones where one doesn't get anywhere near as much done as one thought one would and went for a walk instead. I had one of those.

Another winter tree shot. The shape of this one is wonderful.

Besides some major lounging around and listening to Far From the Tree on audio book and basic procrastination I did do one small part of my yoga homework today and wrote a first draft of my "elevator speech" for describing what kind of of yoga I teach.

"I teach a breath-focused form of yoga that applies the ancient traditions from India and adapts them to the needs of our modern bodies with a specific focus on healthy appropriate movement of the spine."

Now all I have to do is quit tinkering with it and then memorize it.

My link today is a photo essay at Dave's Killer Bread Factory here in town. I don't eat much bread but when I do it is Dave's Good Seed all the way.

Oh, and I earned my Phoenix badge on 750 Words! It appeared just as I saved my day's post. That is so cool. I am a happy Phoenix.

So who knows why I take pictures? I am loading them full sized here so if you are interested you can click on them and see a larger version. This one is all about texture. I don't think I've shared it anywhere before but I like it very much.

Just because it is winter out there doesn't always mean it is winter in here. I am so happy it is Friday.

It didn't rain today and on the way to the grocery I saw a very snow covered Mt. Hood merged with a cloud.

Speaking of merging with clouds here is a link I borrowed from Fresh Air on Tumbler today of an article about an art exhibit where Berndnaut Smilde makes clouds inside big beautiful empty rooms. If you scroll down just a bit there is gorgeous shot in a church like space.

We had some partial clearing and while it is damp and cold out we didn't have any significant rain today. I am holding out for some of these bright clear winter skies to help the adjustment back towards more normal days and less indulgent eating.

Speaking of eating, Stella ate about half of the first can of the fancy hypo-allergetic cat food and about a fourth of the second and now just walks away from it. The good news is that the cats both like the special dry food. Sammy surprised me by stealing the little bit I put out for Stella. It has been a week now and I have been giving them a mix of the food they are used to and this.

I'll see if tomorrow I can start them on this dry food full time and see what I can do about increasing the quality of their wet food. I am going to try some of the tricks here in this article on making cat food from scratch. I can take the wet food back if they won't eat it but if I can get Sam to at least try it, well that would be awesome. So far no go.

Parmesan!I can do that. I have a bag of shredded Parmesan in my fridge. In the meantime the meds are kicking in and other than being ravenously hungry all the time they are both not scratching and licking for the first time in about three months.

Ah, the exciting life of the pet owner with older cats.

I need to go to a movie or something.

There is a rumor that the rain is going to stop sometime tomorrow and we'll get some winter light. I am looking forward to that. These ever so dark wet days do seem to come in clumps.

I enjoyed teaching my class today and was happy to have students. It turned my whole day around. At least work is quiet and the folks that are working are cheerful.

For my link today yet another short but absolutely amazing video from Cornell and the Birds of Paradise project. It is a wonder. Enjoy!

I took this seven years ago and I am glad I did because the sculptures aren't there anymore over in NW Portland. It is one of my favorites Christmas pictures and I wasn't even a birder then. The signs that I would become one however, were everywhere.

I am having a lovely day off. It is a bit too cold and a bit too wet to go for a long walk but I have been practicing yoga throughout the day. First for myself and then for the class scheduled tomorrow on that knotty tight place we so often get just below our shoulder blades. With the holiday I don't know if anyone is going to show up for class tomorrow but I'll be ready if anyone does.

This Really? column where they look at health myths scientifically is so interesting. Clearly I am going to need to start wearing sunglasses. Even on cloudy days. My excuse has been that not wearing them keeps the light and the colors true in my pictures. I guess I will just need to adapt to a particular pair of them when I am out and about with the camera.