Beautiful early Spring
The weather has been just amazing the past week. We’re having an early Spring and it’s been pretty much perfect. Temps have been in the 70’s and one day reached mid 80’s. Trees are blossoming and flowers are blooming. It’s been great bike riding weather too. I’ve managed to get 6 bike rides under my belt in the last 10 days. Here’s my route for today… a really beautiful, scenic ride through Skaneateles and Marcellus.
And here’s a few more spring photos…
The case of the missing birdseed.
For several months now I have been diligently filling our birdseeder almost daily. And a day or two later it will be completely drained. Funny thing is that we never see any birds at our birdfeeder during the day. So the question is, who or what is eating the birdseed? I decided to solve this mystery by setting up my camcorder and doing a time-lapse recording all night long. The mystery has been solved!
Stop needling me will ya?
Long story short, that’s me with accupuncture needles sticking out of my forehead and ear.
So do you really want to hear the whole story? OK, here goes.
I attended an open house this past weekend for “Healing Point”, an accupuncture clinic in Fayetteville, NY. I wanted to learn more about accupuncture and how it works. I had attended a public forum at Crouse Hospital the previous week and Dr Yoo was one of the speakers. He operates the Healing Point clinic.
There were 8 to 10 other people in attendance. The presentation began and after a while, the Doctor asked us if we would like to experience accupuncture. Everyone was interested in trying, some a bit more reluctantly than others (count me in as one of the reluctant ones). I have had a phobia of injection needles for as long as I can remember. It is major trauma for me to get my annual flu shot. So to willingly submit to a guy offering to stick needles into my forehead, ear and hand seemed a bit far-fetched to me. But I did it anyway. Part of my rationale was that maybe it would help alleviate the anxiety I have towards needles (it didn’t). Or maybe that there would be some benefit that would be immediately noticeable (there wasn’t).
What I did experience was the sensation of tapping into the “Qi“, otherwise known as the energy flow in the body. I also learned that accupuncture needles are not the same type of needles that are used when you get an injection…they are not hollow. Accupuncture needles have a blunt, rather than sharp, pointy tip and are more like very thin wire than needles. And when they are placed, they are sort of spun and/or tapped in. It’s a very unique experience.
Dr Yoo explained before placing the needles into the web of skin between my thumb and forefinger, that the needle would let me experience the feeling of tapping into the “Qi”. He said I would definitely feel it and that really put me at ease. OF COURSE IT DIDN”T PUT ME AT EASE! I think I began to sweat. He explained that there would be a sensation and asked me to describe it when it happened. He then inserted the needle into the area between my thumb and forefinger. As he was doing so I really didn’t feel anything…no pain of the needle going in or anything. But all of a sudden there was an instant of total weirdness. It felt like for the briefest of moments there was a jolt of electricity in my hand running towards my fingers. It was there and then it was gone, as quick as that. It didn’t linger. Dr Yoo said that that was the “Qi”. He placed another needle in my other hand and the exact same sensation occurred. I can honestly say it was one the oddest sensations I’ve ever felt. Not pain, not uncomfortable but just… weird.
I am interested in Eastern medicine such as accupuncture because Western medicine is so focused on drug therapy and the treatment of symptoms instead of treatment of the cause. It seems responsible to investigate alternatives. After all, how long has Western medicine been around? 100 years or so? While Eastern medicine has been around for at least a thousand years? Seems like a no-brainer to me.
A.J. and Marysia
My brother has a HUGE family. 11 children. Now that’s some serious propagation that has gone on in that household. I love all the kids dearly and each child has their own distinct personality. My bro sent me this photo of Marysia and A.J. this morning and it just brought a big ‘ol smile to my face. A.J. has a personality exactly like his expression in this photo. It is so perfect. And Marysia is looking as beautiful as ever. I just love this photo.
Turkey Day
I’m kind of lucky to live in a development where the back of our house adjoins to undeveloped land. It’s quite nice to look out the back windows and not have to view other houses, or having to worry about houses ever being there. Because the land is undeveloped, it’s more or less a wildlife sanctuary of sorts. We have lots of deer living back there (don’t even get me started about the damage they do to our gardens and landscaping) as well as other types of wildlife. Yesterday when I was having one of many morning cups of coffee, I saw a parade of wild turkey. Man, they have got to be one of the weirdest looking birds on the planet. I ran for my camera and managed to squeeze off a quick shot before they headed into the woods.
