What happened to the summer?!

Whoa. I blinked, and half the summer got away from me. I got out of the habit of keeping up the blog from pure laziness. (It surely isn't my huge workload--I worked for 4 weeks with only 2-3 classes a day. That mostly ended 2 weeks ago.)

What on earth have I been doing? you may be wondering. Here's a list of highlights:

• I've been learning more about yoga and integrating more of it into my workout schedule. Paul has some yoga videos that I've been trying out. I like the ashtanga style ones, as they are more vigorous and generate heat so my tight muscles are more likely to get warm enough to actually stretch. I bought a couple of new ones (here and here). I'm not up to doing this style every day so I'm supplementing with beginner lessons from one of Paul's books. It's already making a difference after only a couple of weeks.
• We've been playing horn and piano music together. We played for a church service in July and also got together with Sharon to play some horn, piano and flute music.
• Today Paul and I had an adventure at the Conn factory. He's been thinking about getting another (smaller) horn that would be less unwieldy and better suited for chamber music. The factory is in Eastlake, Oh (only about 25 minutes from our house). Paul got the name of a contact there from Chuck Ward when he brought his horn in for maintenance a couple of days ago. He made an appointment for 8:30 am today, and I got to come too since I wasn't working. He spent an hour trying 3 different horns and ultimately (much to his surprise) ended up choosing the 11D (medium bore) instead of the 10D (small bore). He still had to buy it through a dealer, which was a little bit of a hassle, but we just went home, made phone calls, closed the sale over the phone, and then drove back out to the factory to pick it up, all before noon. I am excited for him!
• At out Joseph Campbell Round Table discussion group at church last month, the conversation turned to altered states of consciousness, the universal drive for such states in all humans, and the many ways to get there. I read some more of Paul's books (The Natural Mind and The Marriage of the Sun and Moon, both by Andrew Weil) that explore the role of drugs and other substances in different cultures. Fascinating reading. Since I've never tried a drug in my life (with the exception of caffeine, alcohol, and prescription pain relievers), I had no idea that one's mindset, expectations, and setting make a huge difference in a drug's effects. Having grown up with the "This is Your Brain on Drugs" propaganda that Drugs Are Always Bad in my formative years, I always just assumed that one try would instantly turn you into an addict and a crazy person. I'm still not interested in trying any of them, but maybe that's because I have arranged my entire life, career choice, etc. to maximize the chance of an altered state. Let's see: Music, romantic love, athletic activity, dance, sugar, caffeine...
• Cambell says that people aren't really interested in finding the meaning of life, but rather the experience of being alive. We talked about that at last night's meeting. I see what he meant, but I would have to say that most people do care about making a difference (meaning) and that life is more than just a roller coaster ride (experience). But I think without the experience to make one feel alive, it's awfully hard to connect to the meaning.
• Speaking of experience, we continue to find new ways to enjoy food. I have been finding new recipes online for summer and now I do most of our meal planning. Lots of pasta salads and green salads witha variety of toppings. The West Side Market has been a great source for cheap fresh produce. They have a stand that sells all kinds of dried fruit, including dried strawberries. These are so delicious! Think moist and chewy as in dried apricots, only super-sweet, concentrated strawberry flavor. Truly the food of the gods and the best candy ever. I cut up mangoes to put in the freezer--great frozen treats. Another thing we've discovered--super premium ice cream (Ben & Jerry's or Haagen-Dazs) is oh-so satisfying even if you only eat 1/3 of a cup. Those little pints are yielding about 6 servings around here! I eat some every day. All those nutrition advice sources that say you can eat sweets "occasionally," as in no more than once a week(!)--I just think that's so bogus. I must be doing something right because I've been able to maintain my goal measurements for 20 weeks so far with no problem.
• It's been so hot lately. I've spent a lot of time holed up in our lovely air-conditioned house watching free DVDs and reading books from the public library, napping, and playing on the internet. This always happens to me during the summer layoff period--I just get really lazy and hardly accomplish anything. But this time I've kept up, and even increased the intensity of, my workouts (it's a little too much--I will have to pull back a bit) and have so far (except once or twice) avoided overeating out of boredom. These are major, major victories.