A difference this year!

No secret that this weekend is much anticipated in the Traveling Narayanan family!

This year, there is a twist. Daddy Narayanan will be on a plane for the most part of the Father's day and the 15th wedding anniversary. 

We did our usual "dinner at Chaat House" early and as a present to the kids, I bunked yoga today and spent the entire morning making "hama bead art" with them. It was their request! They had already worked on this the previous day and made the "secret present".. more Hamma bead art!

I tried to do some powerpoint template to fit some patterns on to the bead frames. They sensed that although my body was with them, my mind was in the Hot yoga room. It was a suggestion that I try to do a Yoga Logo for my project! 

In the process, the kids learned the concept of "resolution". If you dont have an entire box in one color, chances are the final product will look nothing like the logo! So we hunted for other pictures and they found an "AUM" symbol for me to work on.

Jr. ironed out the bead art to make the beads stick. For a second I was worried that the 20 year old iron had been compromised by this ironing session. The little one was honest enough to let me know that the mishap had happened the previous day when ironing on a carpet and I was not to blame!

San was glad to just see us relax, do art, play cards (the little one is now adept at playing Rummy) and other board games. 

My dad gave us his "advanced" wishes for our anniversary, over the phone and I told him "the one good thing you did in this life is get me married to Sangeetha. so if anything, congratulate yourself for a job well done!"

They say that if you have a perception that "time flies" , chances are, you are having good times. As kids we were taught that happiness tends to create a perception of time moving fast and sadness makes you feel time is moving too slowly. 

Cannot believe it has been 15 years!

Good Karma?!

Wishing everyone out there a happy father's day!

What next?

Came home from work after a long day. Wife and kids were at swimming class. 

Thought of sitting down for a minute and sipipng some tea. There was a loud ruckus in the backyard. It was like every bird and animal had decided to go crazy at the same time. 

Came to the backyard and was face to face with a FOX! 

It started right at me and ran into the bushes. For all I know it is still there.. The animals are still screaming.

so went out with the only camera I could grab in time to catch the fox.

Called local animal control to report this and they forwarded me to through three different numbers after it went to an information only voice menu and hung up on me. 

Guess if you have so many squirrels, rabbits and birds, the foxes automatically follow! 

It was the size of a medium size Alsatian dog, except it could effortlessly jump a six foot fence. It could glare at me with mouth open and that did scare me! 

We have now seen at least 7 creatures in our backyard that folks don't typically expect to see. As long as tigers don't show up... 

The yoga front..

When we first started going to Yoga, 80% of the classes we(MIL and me) attended were 5:30 AM classes.

Somehow between her going to India and me taking up a new job, switched to doing Yoga in the evening. 

Now, I have officially become an evening Yogi.. even on weekends! 

We start off with 100+ % attendance with the 60 day challenge, work very hard to keep it going till about the 100th day and then watch it taper off to a steady 75%. 

Then summer comes, other outdoor activities, travel will compete for time and before you know it, the end of the year will see the graph repeat itself. 

Well, not this year, or so I tell myself. 

So far though, the data I track shows that it is almost one for one compared to last year. 

and here is the interesting part.. my weight after coming home after class (or at 6PM if I miss class) over time.

Looks like the weight over time tracks too. Given I am a creature of habit, maybe the factors that all go towards the weight (food, exericse, travel, etc. ???) change for me over time in a very systematic way? Do not know. Will track it for a few more years and we will see if that is true. 

One would think though that in winter months the weight will increase because of less outdoor activity and in summer it would decrease. This says the opposite. I am wondering if there are others out there who have tracked their weight with a fixed exercise regimen and seen similar trends. If you know of someone or such data, do let me know!

For now, the Yoga continues when it can!