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Yoga, meditation and Jewish mysticism

 I am not a particularly observant Jew.  I no longer belong to a synagogue. My practice is limited to holidays and lighting candles on Friday night.  But yes, I do engage in those rituals, I need to feel the connection. The spiritual connection, and the connection to heritage and community. Along with resuming my yoga practice, I’ve started to meditate again.   Mindfulness/meditation is inexorably linked to the practice of yoga. And both practices are linked to the culture and religious beliefs of India and other Asian cultures. But Judaism has its own traditions.  Not just spirituality via prayer and ritual, Judaism has its own tradition of mysticism - Kabbalah.   I’ve done reading, on and off, about Kabbalah - it’s a lot more than Madonna wearing a red string bracelet.  I think I’m going to dive more deeply into it.  Just downloaded a book to my Kindle,  And I have now (re)discovered a Jewish YouTube channel that’s amazing.  Every day ...

Saturday 9

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  Kung Fu Fighting Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love to  answer the questions, however, and here is today's questions! Saturday 9: Kung Fu Fighting (1974) Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it  here . 1) Have you ever taken a martial arts class?  Does tai chi count?  During the pandemic a local yoga/tai chi studio was offering Zoom classes.  I tried a few classes, but the Zoom connection was so poor I stopped participating. Recently I discovered some tai chi instructors on YouTube, so I’ve been experimenting again. 2) In this song, Carl Edwards sings about funky Chinatown. Many cities – in...

Good news, bad news …

 We’re expecting rain tomorrow.  That should thin out the smoke from the Canadian wildfires. Good news, right? Well …  The rain is coming in the form of severe thunderstorms and possible tornadoes. We can’t catch a break, can we?

Feline Friday

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 Duchess is a lady.  She claimed a chair in the living room, and that’s where she sits. Shadow, on the other hand …

And still more ramblings

 The smoky haze from the Canadian wildfires was even worse last night.  I seriously thought about using one of my old Covid masks today. I may bring one to work with me, just in case.  The air quality alert expires at noon. Unbreathable air, cyclosporiasis in the produce, and an outbreak of Legionnaires Disease in NYC …oh my! I think I may have mentioned that my company has a wellness program.  You can download an app with all the tasks.  You earn points by doing activity that focus on your physical and emotional wellbeing.  You can earn points by bringing your lunch to work, or connecting your fitness tracker to the app, or keeping a food journal.  Visits to your doctor or dentist earn large amounts of points.   When you earn a sufficient amount of points you’ll receive a gift card.  Earn more points and you’ll get a discount on next year’s health insurance premiums. Earn 6,000 points and you’ll be recognized on the company internet. A lot o...

More ramblings

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 Still healing from the dental procedure, but I’m feeling much better.  I skipped yoga last night, but I’m going to try to make it to the pool this weekend, I usually walk during lunchtime. I do laps around the office building.  Four laps is just over a mile. Guess what I saw while walking yesterday? Yeah, I’m a bit obsessed. I walked again today.  It was hot and sunny, typical summer weather. But when I left my office at 5…overcast, with the smell of smoke in the air.  Smoke from Canadian wildfires.  Very strange, I don’t remember it ever being an issue until the last few years. We are expecting thunderstorms later, maybe that will clean the air …

Greek food

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 So, as I’ve mentioned, Drew is of Sephardic Jewish heritage.  His mother’s family came from Greece and Turkey.  Drew introduced me to Greek food long before it became popular.  Now it’s one of my favorite cuisines. Drew’s parents moved to Florida in 1990.  The area where they lived did not have any Greek restaurants. So every time we planned to visit… Drew would drive to Astoria - a Greek neighborhood in Queens - and buy bourrkas,  a savory pastry made with phyllo dough  - to bring with us. I haven’t seen this pastry in any of the Greek places on Long Island.  But the other day Drew saw a review of a local kosher good store that features Mediterranean foods, including bourekas..   Yesterday he went to that store and bought burekas. Including  I can’t wait to try them! Now, if we can only find dolmadas the way his mother made them  either a neat stuffing instead of rice.  The only place he found them was in  Tarpon Springs...