The Izmir part of the trip has been non-stop touring until this morning when we have the luxury of nothing to do until check out at noon well, except do yoga, eat breakfast, enjoy the view and pack, but we aren't on a bus very early, so it feels rather vacation-like. It is also nice to have the few relaxed hours before traveling back officially begins.

It seems like we arrived in Izmir ages ago, but really only three days. The first evening  Jeff and I walked along the sea wall and had drinks at the first place we saw, then dinner at Efes house which was not so great, we both felt a little sick the next day, but still hard to beat the setting.

Tuesday we went to Pergamon. The tour guide chose this site first because Tuesday is the day all the cruise ships arrive and go to Ephesus. 4 cruise ships and something like 10,000 people pour into the site. We drove for about 1.5 hours through the city, then through some pretty lush farm land. Our guide, Nazim, gave us a thorough account of contemporary life in Izmir. There is less than 4% unemployment in this city, largely due to tourism, farming, and trade. 98 percent education rate. People really do seem happy living here. it might be like the Austin of Turkey. He also emphasized again the importance of Turkey being a secular state, between as he put, it "the deep, dark, Islamic countries" and  Europe. Great phrase, worth the trip in and of itself.
We also drove by an environmentally friendly oil refinery.  Well  as  environmentally friendly as possible.  Really there was a beautiful beach right by it, compare that to something like Bay Town.  Nazim said they spent over 20 million  making it where it had as little impact on the environment as possible.


I had the opportunity to see the Altar from the temple of  Zeus  many years ago when it was travelling from Berlin to NYC  but it in no way prepared me for the majesty of this site.  There are  pictures on facebook, but one thing we  did not get a picture of,  an owl flying right in front of  us  as we were looking down on the Temple of Dionysus. The owl flew from the direction of the Athena temple and library and  it really felt like we were being blessed by the goddess.  Incredible moment.

Things that struck me about the site, how many religions  exist over the centuries in  any one place. It is so difficult for me to see how anyone can believe one religion has a monopoly on the truth of religious experience.  The audacity of taking the Altar to Berlin  or  Elgin taking the friezes of the Parthenon to England.  The fact that people from so many walks of life were allowed in the high part of the city. The massiveness of the library and that it too was a holy site.

However, as  great as the Acropolis was,  Jeff and I were both even more amazed by the Asclepeion.

Wholistic  healing of  the ascelipion. 

Dreams  water, psycholgien

Hygiene and  regular medicine as well.

Pine trees,

Feeling of  the  air similar to one in Greece.

Theatre  in both  locations,

Ascelpion  even more interesting. 

Oldest    Isis  cultt. 

Dinner at  mezzaluna.

Guides  government  Turkish citizen   other languages. 

On the water.   People  knowing each other,  saw  dentist  owner of the restarunt.

People have  difference of  opion but not fighting. 

15 percent more fundamentalist.

Very Early Tuesday Morning in Izmir

Well, I've been meaning to write more regularly, but really there is so much to see and not much time to process it. This trip has definitely reawakened my love of travel, just seeing the world.  I spend so much time traveling to do yoga and philosophy, travel for the inner life (of the mind, of the soul) if you will, that I forget how amazing it is just to travel with out that as a specific focus. I'm reminded though about Plato's warnings about the dangers of image lovers, there is so so so much to see, one can definitely get lost in it and not see what is most important to see.  "What about someone who believes in beautiful things but doesn’t believe in the beautiful itself? (Republic  471e).  Now that said, I'm here in Turkey which in many ways is the birthplace of what we now call Western Philosophy,  Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Heraclitus are all from this region, Pythagoras too  started off on Samos. (you can look all these people up on the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy .not to mention this is where the Trojan war, the cause of the Iliad and the Odyssey took place.... The Perseus Project is a great resource on all things greek and roman. 

  so I'm aware there's not really so much of a separation between inner travel and outer travel if you will, particularly if one is oriented to the inner landscape.  For example, our  tour guide for the first part of the trip,  Murat,  is Muslim and he shared much about his faith and how it shapes his experience of reality. He also gave an incredibly clear explanation of the Whirling Dervishes as well. 

Turkey definitely puts my love of the Greeks in a broader cultural context. For instances, seeing Hattusa, a bronze age site and comparing that to Mycennae. Turkey is truly the crossroads of world cultures of all sorts, philosophy, religions, trade, I think it would be great to add it to the World Cultures curriculum. It is the world cultural country.

But just to get the details down, some pics are on facebook, at least upto today and the underground city, but if I still can't sleep after blogging maybe that will get up also..

Friday we went to the ancient city of Hattusa. It was once the capital of the Hittites. Incredible stone works, they made wine, performed animal sacrifice, had walled cities, lots of lion images similar in many ways to Greek cities I've seen from other times, but at least the reconstructions of the upper walls is quite different in style.

Saturday we headed off to Cappadocia. Before that we went to the Museum of Anatolia culture in Ankara. Amazing museum.  Not  too huge but really gives a sense of the rich history of this part of the world and the building itself is stunning.  Ankara is a huge city and it was nice to get out to see the countryside in Hattusa but that in no way prepared me for the stunning beauty of Cappadocia.  Cappadocia was formed by a volcanic eruption many many years ago and the best way I can describe it is like the grand canyon with the most amazing rock sculptures scattered through out.  sort of like Sedona and the grand canon combined, but I'm not doing it justice.
We stopped by an enormous salt lake on the way there, saw several panoramic views

Sunday morning started early with the balloon ride at dawn over the landscape.  The whole process of the balloon flight itself is fascinating. I had no idea it took a whole team of people to  get one up, up and away and safely down.  Then a day long tour of various rock formations, Avanos where they make lovely pottery, a carpet collective run by the Turkish government and then the cave churches where very early Christians practiced.  Actually, Christians in the Byzantine period as well. As a western mainline protestant Christian, it is important to be reminded of the vast diversity within Christian spiritual history.  On the Cappadocian fathers see this site,   Sunday evening we walked to the top of the castle fortress and had a great dinner.

Monday morning we went to an underground city founded in Hittite times, about 550 people lived in it and there are apparently over 300 such structures. Complete with stables, kitchen, bedrooms, winery, ventilation shafts.  Never seen anything like it.    Then our  driver took us to Kayseri to catch the flight to Izmir.     Izmir is much larger than I expected and after the calm natural setting of Cappadocia, I am finding it more than a little jarring.  I'm looking forward to seeing Ephesus and Pergamon in the next two days.

Anyway, I definitely want to come back there's so so much here to see and learn. Istanbul  Nemrut, Troy Miletus....

and the food is fantastic. 

I would totally come back to Cappadocia and just stay there for a long time. In fact, it was very hard to leave. The beauty of the place is stunning, and has a very calming, relaxing effect on the psyche. 

So that's a summary of my life at the moment,  maybe I can sleep now.

Thursday Morning in Ankara

Well, jet lag is hitting both of us pretty hard. Some of it has to do with starting off the trip a bit sick.  Lots of people at Feathered Pipe came down with very similar  cough, congestion sorts of conditions. Then travel and then it seems pretty smoggy.  I've been using turbo blaster instead of the neti pot.  But anyway,  I digress.  Luckily,  I am  starting to feel better.

Yesterday, we  did manage to make it over to Anit Kabir  I am pictured at it.  According to Wikipedia,  "it  is a mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the leader of the Turkish War of Independence and the founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey."   It was really hot  yesterday and even hotter with all that marble reflecting the sunlight.  Last night, we ventured out of our immediate neighborhood and went to a lovely Greek place called Laterna. All the waiters wore t-shirts  "OUZO- connecting people."  The drink of  choice in Turkey, however is not OUZO,  is a similar beverage  called  Raki.  It also seems to connect people.  Out of about 20 tables, Jeff and I were the only table who did not order a bottle of Raki.  Anyway, the food was  great.  Jeff had  shrimp saganaki and  I had a meze platter. 

Today, there is  a bit of  cloud cover and so we walked around a bit this morning (pictures posted on facebook)  and  will probably go to the pool and sun deck and  are hoping to be fully recovered by tomorrow.  The driver will pick us up very early and take us  to  Hattusa,   then Saturday morning we leave for Cappadocia

Settling In

Let's see. First of all, it is very hot and very hilly in the little area we are staying in. We are staying in the banking district lots of fancy shops and embassies. In fact, we are right near the Iranian embassy which is sort of a strange entity to walk right by. Yesterday, we took a cab across town to Cankaya University where I gave my paper. The paper went well, though there were not many in attendance. The workshop I am a part of is run by Ann Ward. She and her husband Lee were students of my colleague at Baylor Mary Nichols. So small world there.

After that, Jeff and I walked around a bit, and got out of the heat for awhile. It is really so hot that it is difficult to stay outside for very long until the sun goes down. For dinner we went to a yummy mediterrean place near the hotel. The tabouleh was particularly amazing, think the opposite proportions of grain and herb than in the normal tabouleh you have in the US. Also a nice turkish wine. Then I went swimming in the Sheraton pool which was totally fabulous.

We may try to brave the heat and go over to the Ataturk masoleum. There's more of the conference to take in as well and jet lag to continue getting over.

Friday I've arranged for a car to take us to a Hittite town not far from here and then our tour of Cappadocia and Izmir begins on Saturday.

I've posted the pictures so far on Facebook. They are easier to upload there than on the blog. but here is one

Well, we made it

28 hours in transit. We started off in the Austin airport, a brief layover in Dallas, then a 8 hour flight to Frankfurt. We had a really long lay over there. And then a three hour flight to Ankara. A long and winding shuttle ride to our very swank accommodations. Not that we can afford to eat or drink much in said accommodations, except for the amazing breakfast buffet which luckily is included in the price.

Anyway, Now we are off to find the conference venue so I can give my paper, titled "Sing, Muse: Socrates, Self-Mastery, and the Critique of Homer."

Pictures to follow.

Anne in Turkey

Well, this blog has been dormant for a while, but I thought I'd reactivate it while Jeff and I are traveling in Turkey. I am giving a paper at the International Society for the Study of European Ideas. The conference is in Ankara Turkey

Then we will travel to Cappadocia

and Izmir

2010

Well 2010 is off to a good start. I'm having a productive time writing this week, I've been back on weight watchers for a while now and have lost about five pounds. I'm excited about teaching Greek Philosophy for the first time in three years. Having tons of fun playing with Milo and hanging out with Jeff. Recent highlights include a trip to Houston for Boxing Day, a lovely bottle of wine New Year's Eve and a great dinner at Asti last weekend.

I also had six people in my Satuday morning class on inversions. Since I'm traveling a good bit for yoga and philosophy this semester, I decided to run my ongoing class with specific themes for the weeks that I'm there. So the first four weeks in January - Inversions,

Then I'll be gone doing yoga or philosophy or the studio has a workshop until Feb 26 then I'll do six weeks of backward bending. Then more travel/ workshops and I'll do a two week learn the ropes focus April 30 and May 7

and then a three week Forward Bends and Twists the last two weeks of May first week of June, that's about as far in advance as I can plan.

Christmas Eve Eve

Well, here it is Christmas Eve Eve. I taught for Gillian early this morning, wrote a bit in the Castle Hill Cafe, Took CT's yoga class. Now I'm at home, working and paying bills and doing laundry. I'm getting ready to brave the crowds at the grocery store, then I'm going to pick Milo up from Puppy School and take him for a walk on the green belt. Then I'll come home, shower, go to CT's yoga class and then out to dinner with Jeff.

Fun day all in all. Here are some pictures of Milo's trip to the Greenbelt yesterday. Yesterday, was the first day he fetched two sticks at the same time. He had one of them and swam to shore then swam back out to get the other one. Pretty impressive. You can see he's quite proud of the sticks in the first picture. The pictures are in reverse order of action.

Thanksgiving Week

This year marks my fifteen year anniversary of my yoga practice. Mom and Dad were visiting me in Waco for Thanksgiving and mom spotted a sign at the mall about yoga classes and she said, "Anne, I think you would really like yoga." She was right!

I went to my first class the first Saturday after Thanksgiving. How nice that Walter did not cancel his classes for Thanksgiving.

Anyway, the John Schumacher workshop was fabulous. The only downside of the trip is that Milo got kennel cough while he was being boarded so he's had to take medicine and be on a low activity regime for the past week. He is better now. He has completely stopped coughing! Yippee.

Last weekend, Jeff and I went to Fino for a lovely brunch and then to Mayfield park to look at the peacocks. It was a truly lovely day.

I had a busy Tuesday up in Waco and am spending most of today getting ready to go visit Jeff's family in Houston for Thanksgiving. We are going to see Carolyn Wonderland tonight at Antone's. that should be fun.

Off to Dallas

Hello Blog world,

I'm sitting in my house, drinking a cherry, grape, blackberry smoothie. I'm getting ready to head up to Waco to teach my class and meet with a few students. Then Jeff and I are going to Dallas. I've got a philosophy conference and as luck would have it, there's also a John Schumacher workshop the same weekend. I'm looking forward to it a great deal.

We'll also get to take a class with Randy and George Purvis. Yippee!

The weather has been totally fabulous lately. Milo and I have gone on two walks every day for the past week or so. Above is a picture of three poodles we encountered yesterday

and here's a picture of the rest area on the way to Waco. Jeff pointed out that it looks sort of like the Death Star

Then there was October

Wow, It has been awhile since I updated this blog. October was a whirl of activity.

This past weekend Jeff and I went out to Becker Vineyards for a Cabernet tasting. It was a truly gorgeous day and we had a fabulous time. The wines were great. The weather sparkly and bright. Then we had dinner with Mom and Dad and I used the lovely serving tray that Gabrielle and Tony gave us for an engagement gift. It was nice to spend some time with them this weekend. We also all went to the doggie park on saturday and tonight we are all going for Mexican Food at Matt's El Rancho.

Thursday and Friday I spent up in Waco. Highlights there: Amy defended her dissertation. Yippe.

The weekend before last, Lenore and Henry had a lovely engagement party for us up in Waco. Henry's toast was just perfect. He noted that Jeff and I both believe in transformational activities. wine and beer making, yoga, philosophy and that they were happy to welcome jeff into the family, that everyone there considers me family even though I've run away to Austin. It really captured the moment and the overall situation so well.

The week before that Jeff and I went to New York City for the Society of Ancient Greek Philosophy. We had a great time. My paper went well and I got some good feedback about how to restructure a small part of the Republic chapter which is what I'm procrastinating doing right now. It was fun to see Natalie and James. The weather was less than stellar, but it is just great to hang out in that city, regardless.

The week before that I had another conference in Alabama. I went a day early so I could meet George's wife and baby girl. George is the brother of my best friend from high school. We had a really nice time ate thai food and talked about academia. I also got to spend some time with my good friends Rasma and Gunnars. They seem to have settled into Alabama quite well and Gunnar defended his dissertation a couple days after that visit. Gabrielle came along on that trip right after her own dissertation defense. This has definitely been the month for people I know to finish their dissertations.

Bi Weekly Update

Well let's see, it has been an eventful past couple weeks.

Last weekend, I took Jeff to Chapel Hill for my 25th year high school reunion. I really love Chapel Hill and was excited that Jeff got a chance to see it and to meet some of my very oldest friends. Friday night we started the dining extravaganza at A Southern Season.
We drove by my old house which has a very modernistic renovation and looks fabulous. My house edged up on the North Carolina Botanical Gardens. Then we had dinner at Lantern with Susan and Laura, then went to Tyler's Taproom for reunion event # 1. Tyler's is owned by a former classmate of mine.
Our excellent limo driver dropped us off at Time Out and Jeff survived his first Time Out experience.

Saturday we went to the reunion picnic for a little while, toured the high school (Jeff is not actually smoking in this picture, but he is paying homage to the Wall.

and the site of the giant column of rain, More on that another time...

went to Carolina Brewery

and University Mall to buy an umbrella, then Crooks Corner for dinner with Susan, Laura, Treeby, Molly, (pictured above) and Lisa Johnson, and assorted significant others (not pictured). Most people got Shrimp and Grits.



Then the final reunion event at a nightclub downtown. The place was decorated with all sorts of memorabililia from high school, musicals, sports events. Very cool. Anyway, it was a great experience all in all. It rained all weekend, but that was actually a nice change from the ongoing Texas sun. I was struck by how much things look exactly the same in the midst of a lot of change and growth.

The weekend before that Jeff and I had an engagement party. (If you are on Flickr, Ari Stiles took some lovely photo's of the event. It was really a lot of fun. Jeff's parents offered to do a great deal of the cooking and they really made it super easy to have a party. My parents arrived a few days before the party, purchased a house about a mile up the road and in general got a nice preview of their life in texas. Perhaps they will start their own blog, AP1 and AP2 in Austin.

The weekend before that Jeff and I went to the Desiree Rumbaugh workshop. Lots of fun there.


In the professional domain, I'm really enjoying teaching Social World. We just finished up the Republic and will turn next to Aristotle's Ethics. Also, I continue to find the TR schedule much more conducive to writing. I've had two good writing days in a row this week.

Tomorrow, I'm heading upto Waco. I've got a busy day Thursday. I invited several of my female friends over for a ladies night potluck. I'm looking forward to that. Then I'm guest teaching a class on the topic of yoga in America tomorrow morning. That should be fun as well.

In all, life is good. Off to reorganize a bookshelf, take a shower and go to Christina's yoga class.

An update of Life in Austin

Hello Gentle Readers,

I've really been more in the mode of living life than blogging about it. I guess I'm in a more Nietzschean mode than a Socratic one of late. Above is a photo of the painting I bought from Caroline Wright and a picture of my feet on the way to the dog park.

School started back. I'm teaching Social World on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This week and last week, I've just driven there and back each day. It is a bit tiring, but the upside, is falling asleep very easily. I've never really been a Tuesday Thursday person. I didn't like TR as a student and taught MWF for most of my teaching career, once I got off of a 4/4 load... I have to say I'm enjoying the new pace of it. Each class is a bit more intense... more on that on the teaching blog and on teaching Plato in an interdisciplinary context.

Mostly life in Austin is hanging out with Jeff, playing with Milo and Q, going to yoga classes, practicing, writing and enjoying all the fun that Austin has to offer.

This weekend, we went to the Desiree Rumbaugh workshop, so we didn't do much else. We did go to BJ's brewhouse with CT and Kelly Sunday night and took Milo to the doggie park Sunday afternoon. The weather has just been glorious.

This morning we went to check out a wedding venue, the Allan House. I worked out, came home and wrote for a while, checked out some caterers, took a shower and went to Peggy's class. A pretty typical Monday.

Here is Milo and a doggie toy.

Last Day of Summer

I'm teaching a Tuesday Thursday schedule this year for the first time ever, so even though today is the first day of school for Baylor, it is not the first day of school for me. I've spent most of the day writing and organizing various Baylor related things, inviting guest speakers to campus, arrange social life plans for while I'm in Waco.

I've really hit a good grove in writing these past three weeks. Hopefully, it will make it easier to continue the momentum into the school year. I now have a good draft of the first half of the last chapter and I'm moving onto section 3 tomorrow. I have an okay draft of the whole of the last chapter.

Good draft to mean means one more revision and I'll be happy with it. Okay draft means it needs at least two more revisions, but I'm closing in.

In the yoga domain, I taught the chair yoga workshop this saturday and subbed Patti's class, so Saturday was pretty much all about yoga. I've really enjoyed going to so many classes this summer. My practice has really gotten a lot stronger over the past few months, even making progress in the twists. Now that school is starting back, I'll be doing more of my practice as home practice, which has its own set of benefits.

In the personal domain, Jeff and I had a fun weekend. We took in part of the Hatch Chili Festival at Central Market and looked at various wedding venue options. Places we are currently considering are Barr Mansion, Mercury Hall, Allen House, and Green Pastures. We still don't have a date set, but we are working on it.

Above are some pictures of Q and Milo helping with the venue selection.

Exciting News

Jeff asked me to marry him last Sunday. I said yes! So we are now engaged!! It's very exciting. Milo and Q were both very excited by the news. They are looking forward to being step-dogs.

We haven't set an official date yet, but we'll probably get married next fall (2010). We'll have an engagement party next month.


In more mundane news, I'm having a productive day writing and I'm happy to report that the AC in the house is now working and my car AC should be fixed sometime in the next hour or two. Then I hope to have time to workout before going to Christina's class at Castle Hill.

I've got a busy day up in Waco tomorrow and Saturday I will be attending the graduation hooding ceremony for Lewis Pearson who finished his dissertation this summer. Lewis is the second student I've had the pleasure of directing, but this is my first hooding ceremony. I was out of town when Taryn Whittington graduated and I did not go to my own hooding ceremony.

Milo is finally back in action

Well, Milo got to go back to puppy school this week. Wednesday was his first day back, then he went on Friday



and today was his first day swimming at Red Bud Island, he does seem to have gained a bit of weight during his month long home stay.

Right now, he's crashed out right next to me after the big day.



Pretty mellow weekend. Jeff and I ate Mexican food for dinner Friday and went out Saturday to Shady Grove to celebrate the birthday of a friend of mine from college. Was a little bummed that no one showed up to my class on Saturday as I had a great sequence planned, but it is the dog days of summer. It was just me and Gillian at practice on Friday.


I've been subbing classes for Devon this week. That's been a really nice experience. Have been to a bunch of yoga classes, Peggy's, Christina's, got some writing done, feeling pretty good about the first section of the last chapter and did some reorganization work with the overall structure of the chapter that is helpful.

Also, been dealing with various car issues, oil change, fluid changes, air conditioner compressor issues. once my house sells in Waco, I'm buying a new car, the BMW I've always wanted.

Right now, I'm packing for my trip to Tucson. Jeff and I are both going to Christina's immersion that she's teaching with Darren Rhodes.

Milo Update

Milo's convalescence is going okay. He goes to the vet tomorrow to get the tubes taken out of the lump on his chest. It has been pretty difficult to watch him be less than his normal exuberant self. he whimpers a lot and he has to keep his Elizabethan collar on all the time, so he really looks a bit pathetic. Here he is with Q on the couch and out in the yard.

In other news, I've had a decent week writing so far, Christina and I practiced on Monday, Tuesday I went to her class and then subbed for Gillian. Today I subbed for Gillian at AYS, but no one came so I went to CT's focus on form, worked out, and then went to the instructor practice at Castle Hill, decided 4 hours of yoga was enough and didn't go to Iyengar land tonight.

Mostly, I've been writing, working out, doing yoga and watching Milo. That's what's new.

The Dog Days of Summer

I have not been a very diligent blogger of late. I was surprised to see it has been 13 days since my last posting. Life in Austin is fun filled, though exceedingly hot of late (as evidenced by resting dogs above).


Okay, the last two days have been slightly, very slightly cooler, but more humid, so it is a toss up really. Mostly, my week day mornings are filled up with meditation and pranayama, walking Milo, writing, various errands, working out and the afternoons and evenings are filled with going to yoga classes, mostly with Christina, but I get to Devon's classes once a week or so. Here are some pictures of us working with a stick strapped to our backs to learn about our postural tendencies, only in iyengar-land.





and the occasional class with Mandy. Weekends are mostly filled with hanging out with Jeff and enjoying the various fun things to do in Austin.

This weekend, we spent a lot of time doing yoga, my class, the chair workshop, Mandy's class, went swimming at the Lifetime Fitness, went to the Wine Bar at Central Market and cooked some great meals together. Last weekend, similar. We checked out a couple of places on Broadie and Stassney, Brick Oven, Maudie's, looked at the menu for Galaxy Cafe and Tino's greek place. Very authentic looking. (side bar) I spent a semester in Greece in graduate school and I ate in a lot, a lot, a lot of Greek Tavernas. sometimes I really get in the Greek Food mode and crave it. It is funny , though after living there for 4 months, I was really tired of the food. I developed an intense salt addiction, that was amazingly difficult to break when I got home... I started missing spicy heat in the food and salt was about the best I could do. Believe me there's a big difference between tzatiziki and salsa over a four month span of time. At the time, I was still really into having ice in my drinks and I could not wait to have ice either. Now, that would not be a problem, but I'd still miss the salsa.

While we were in Georgia, another dog attacked Milo at puppy boarding school and he had to get stiches in his paw, when I went to get the stiches out, the vet tech saw a lump on his chest which came from the other dog separating his skin from his sternum bone and it was filled with fluid. They tried to drain it, but it filled back up in a day or two, so today he had to have surgery and has drainage tubes in. It is really pretty icky, but he's okay. Now he's sacked out on the towel and plastic covered dog bed. .

Various Recent Events

As usual, I've been busy enjoying life in Austin and travelling away and returning to Austin, and just have not sat down to write much of anything about all the fun and excitement.

A few weeks ago, Jeff and I went to Stonewall in search of peaches and also stopped by the Becker Vineyards. Then we drove up to look around Fredericksburg. We had a really fun day, then came back and had a nice dinner with Christina and Kelly.

A couple weekends later, we went down to visit Jeff's parents at their lovely new house in Houston. It is just blocks from the Museum district. We went to Rothko Chapel, saw the Menil Collection, went to a nice pub called the Black Labrador . I was thinking they could open a chain of pubs, each one named after a different dog. We also went to a great class that Joyce taught at the Iyengar Institute there, also minutes from their house.

We had a fun day in Austin, celebrating Jeff's birthday with a nice yoga practice at Clear Spring




and then a fun evening downtown. We went to Malaga, walked up to the Capitol and checked out the the Cloak Room and the Brown Bar. All very fun.



For July 4th weekend, we went to visit my parents in the great metropolis of Lavonia Georgia. We saw the historical enactment play Land of Spirits, hung out on the lake, went to a festive gathering at Marie's lakehouse, went to Gumlog Barbeque and fish lodge and toured around the county, drove out to Hartwell Dam and stopped by a really cool lily farm on the way back.


One of my favorite things about living in Austin is coming back to such a great place after travelling somewhere, there's no post trip let down. I'm just happy to be back. My friend Marie said, "well, that's what makes a home a home."

while we were away, Milo got injured at puppy school and so he is at home convalesing today. I had a nice lunch with Ari and her very charming sons, Julian and Gabriel, and got a bit of writing done and also a morning workout and dealt with the ever annoying Time Warner cable and a pesky roofing issue with my insurance company.

Anyway, off to double dip at CT's classes.

here are some photos.