Category: Life

Morning Kundalini with an R Carlos Nakai Soundtrack

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 Kundalini to Master Your Domain – Music Feather, Stone & Light – R Carlos Nakai

Feather Stone and Light - R Carlos Nakai - my favorite Native American Flute player

 

This morning has been a kind of throwback Tuesday. It all started when I used one of my all-time favorite R. Carlos Nakai albums Feather, Stone and Light as the soundtrack for my morning yoga routine. If it wasn’t the first R Carlos Nakai album that I bought it was certainly among the first and it has been a favorite since the first time I brought it home! The album features the string work of Will Eaton and the percussion of Will Clipman along with R. Carlos wonderful Native American flute artistry.

The Morning Workout – Master Your Domain

The yoga routine that I did today was a Kundalini kriya to Master Your Domain. The kriya is my favorite among the kriyas that I did routinely several years ago. It is the only one that I still try to do on a regular basis. I don’t know if it’s all mental or not, but it seems that every time I do this kriya I fly through the rest of the day, more focused and consequently I’m able to get more done!!

After I finished the kriya, I wondered, if there was anywhere on the Internet, where the kriya is described. Silly me! What I found was the following video and a whole lot more at the Spirit Voyage Music Channel

Kundalini Yoga Video : Master Your Domain with Anne Novak

Now I will say that Feather, Stone and Light may not be the best album for meditating, worked well for me.

This kriya has a 5-minute meditation to end the kriya, I extended that meditation another 13 minutes and loved every minute of it.

So after watching the video of this kriya and knowing that there are similar videos for other kriyas, I think that I will start to do more Kundalini yoga

.This may work out well because it was when I was doing the Kundalini yoga before that I became a vegetarian. So if I want my diet to veer that way, eating less and less meat, Kundalini may help move me in that direction……Sat siri akal!

Music From Feather, Stone & Light

Here is the title track from Feather, Stone & Light…..and I’m off to the store to get the final ingredients to make Vegetarian Mousaka! Wish Me Luck!!

 

 

Oliver and Zoe and the Easter Bunny!

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A Visit to Meet the Easter Bunny Brings Different Reactions from Oliver and Zoe

Oliver and Zo visit the Easter Bunny

So Ms. Yin and Mr. Yang, known respectively as our grandchildren Zoe and Oliver both went to see the Easter bunny. As usual, they both had very different reactions. The calm and cool Miss Zoe maintained her calm and cool demeanor and Oliver was just a little upset, mostly at those big furry hands!   Of course Oliver’s reaction could have been anticipated considering how much he loved Santa!

Oliver-and-Santa2

 

and Zoe’s reaction to Santa? Ho Ho Hum!!

Zoe and Santa

 

As I think back about Easter with our children, I remember one of our traditions was to hide plastic eggs around our yard. The eggs were filled with either candy or coins! Here’s a picture of my two sons Nicholas and Andrew at Easter with my wife’s Uncle Jim…….

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And here’s Andrew inspecting one of the eggs. It’s a shame that Mr. Oliver looks nothing like his daddy isn’t it!!

 

Andrew at Easter But then if his Daddy looked like he did one Easter time when he worked at Waldenbooks. Oliver may not want to have anything to do with him……..

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So I hope that everyone has a Happy Easter tomorrow and no Oliver a big furry handed Easter bunny will not be visiting your house tonight, leaving all kinds of goodies!! Now maybe if we told Zoe that Elmo was visiting tonight and bringing her treats we’d get a smile like this from her!! Happy Special 1st Easter to Zoe and Oliver!

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Sometimes it’s not Easy Being Oliver!

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Or Oliver’s Parents! 

 

So last night my daughter-in-law posted this picture on Facebook along with this status:

 

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He’s mad because we took away the time out bench (because he was climbing and standing on it) … Ticket for 1 to meltdown city

My wife’s response was: aww he is heartbroken!

My smarty-pants daughter’s response was: Like this!!

Affirmative: was the response from my daughter in law

Anyway,my wife always says that with Oliver everything is either a comedy or a tragedy I guess this is an example of the tragedy, eh? Let me tell you though it must be tough to be with Oliver 24/7. While you love him to pieces and his smile and personality can light up a room like few children I’ve been around, his nonstop motor and shall we dare say bullheadedness, especially when you are winding down, can be exasperating to say the least.

Last week, he was tired at around 3 o’clock,(not as tired as granddad) but tired for Oliver, so we laid down on the couch with the Baby Einstein Lullaby playing on the tablet. One of us kept dozing on and off, bet you can’t guess which one! Anyway, after about 15 minutes or so, up popped Oliver and he was good to go for another hour plus!! Let me tell you if he had given me a hard time about that bench it may have been out on the porch and I would have been sending a picture like the above to Oliver’s Grammie. To which, her reply would have been: – mean Granddad!!  My response: walk in my moccasins oh wise one!  Luckily for Oliver and me, he was pretty good for the rest of the afternoon and finally did go to sleep around 4:50 after I caught him on the couch heading for the lamp, and MADE him rock on my shoulder!!

And you know what I miss him to pieces this week!!

 

Oliver on bench

This Week in Babysitting – March 15-21!

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Babysitting Zoe

Another Fun Week with Zoe and Oliver

 

Babysitting this week included three days with Zoe and one with Oliver.For two of the days with Zoe, my wife was with me, for the third day my son Nick was there, like you need two people with Zoe!  Now for Oliver, and extra set of hands, or two, or three, would be welcomed!

Babysitting Zoe is a lot like watching paint dry, or the Tour Dr France, you know there’s a lot going on, but it doesn’t seem like it!  Zoe is really observant and takes everything in. She watches her toys very intently and plays well by herself for long periods of time. This week she had her first taste of baby food and loves it! Somehow I don’t think that even at the same age, Oliver would have played the same way with this toy!!

In between my days with Zoe was a fun day with Oliver. After Oliver’s now normal crying protest when Mom and Dad leave, which ceased on Thursday fairly quickly, we played a little until it was time for breakfast. At breakfast Oliver looked tired, and granddad had visions of Oliver taking an early and nice long nap!! The first video I  sent Grammie was this one from breakfast!!

Then after breakfast and Oliver got his second wind, I sent this video, asking the question: Does he still look
tired?? Her response – not one bit!

She also questioned why he took the long way around the table to get the book! Who knows the mind of Oliver!!

By the time it rolled around for Oliver’s bottle, I was convinced that he would go to sleep, which he did,I tried to lay him on the couch but h stirred and then I tried to take him upstairs to lay him down. At that point he wanted no parts of a nap.  The short sleep that he did have, must have been a power nap, because he was good to go for another hour or more of playing!! Finally,  I decided to give him lunch early so at least I could sit down for a few minutes. He started eating a nugget,  his eyes started to droop, and he soon fell asleep sitting up!! I quickly took him upstairs to put him in his crib and then followed with my laptop and my lunch so that I was sure to hear him when he stirred. He slept for almost two hours! Yeah!!

After his nap, he had his second bottle and we had a great afternoon. We played with his big Lego blocks, the abacus, and even read some of his new books. All in all, it was a good day, as is any, that I get to spend with him. Good – but tiring – it’s why young folks have kids! Old folks get tired too quickly!!

The other day, I wrote about how on the way down in the morning, I listened to the rocking blues of Joanne Shaw Taylor to get me ready for the day, well, on the way home I listened to the latest album Firelight from the quiet nuevo flamenco guitars of Terra Guitarra to recover from the day!! I can’t wait until Monday to start all over again with Zoe then Oliver and back to Zoe, should be another fun week!!

Here is Terra Guitarra with “Malaguena” from the album Firelight (more to come)

Zoe Provides a Recovery Day!

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Oliver provides the Workout and Zoe the Recovery – Yin and Yang Once More!

 

If babysitting Oliver is the workout, then babysitting Zoe is the recovery day!! About the only part of my body that got a good workout yesterday were my fingers. They were chewed on by Miss Zoe most of the day! They were preferred over the teething rings! When I got there Zoe was asleep, Melissa said she would probably wake up about 9:30 and she would be ready to eat again at sometime between 10:30 and 11:00, sounded good to me! So I set up the laptop and got to work and occasionally checked on her. The checking became more regular as she was still asleep when 9:30 came around, She was still asleep at 10:00 and at 10:30 now I was worrying, but she was still moving around, so logically I knew she was ok. At about 10:50 or so I was texting with my wife she asked when Zoe was supposed to eat, I said about  five minutes ago,- LOL! Anyway we both thought that her stomach would have her waking soon! Our thoughts were borne out when she awoke a few minutes later, and Kathy wished good luck.

I sat Zoe up with her toys for a few minutes while I heated her bottle and I sent this video to my wife……

 

 

With the comment “I like this playing!” Anyway I gave her a bottle and then we watched some videos and played a little, at around two o’clock she got a little fussy and fell back to sleep. That nap though was a short one and only lasted about half an hour! But then she only had a short time until she could eat again, which she did, Then she got changed, and we brought some more books downstairs and we again watched videos, played with some toys, chewed on Granddad’s fingers and before I knew it her dad was home. Here is one of the toys she played with. This video was not from yesterday but the time before but she is still amazing with her body control, for a six month old!

 

All in all it was another fine day with Zoe and my fingers have recovered nicely. They say that “variety is the spice of life” and I must say that Renaissance Granddad’s life is wonderfully spicy because of the variety in my grandchildren. One thing is the same though, Zoe and Oliver are both the best grandchildren ever and both super smart!!

An Active Day with Oliver!!

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Oliver makes babysitting a workout!!

 

So my last two days have been spent with my two favorite little people! Tuesday was spent with grandson Oliver and today with granddaughter Zoe. Since I am writing about them  tonight may give you an idea which day was more tiring!!  I must say though that my tiredness on Tuesday was increased by the traffic on 295 which caused Andrew to arrive home about a half hour late.

Anyway, Tuesday’s babysitting day did not start very well When I arrived Oliver got down from the couch and went to his playroom and brought me two books, that was the highpoint of the first hour! After that, Mr Oliver proceeded to melt down and cry hysterically for his mom. I tried several things but nothing seemed to work. I could get him calm for a few seconds and then it was back to hysteria! But through it, he wanted me to pick him up!! Anyway, I finally got him calmed down and a heartbroken mom snuck out the front door. After mom left, Oliver was for the most part calm and the day proceeded as normal, All that crying tired the young man out and soon after his morning bottle he conked out for about an hour and a half!

Since he was pretty much on schedule I  thought that a little afternoon playing would lead to a nap after his 3:30 bottle. You are wrong oh wise granddad! While we sat and watched Baby Einstein Lullaby and Mr Oliver yawned away I  kept my fingers crossed, but they uncrossed when he sat up and start bouncing up and down on the couch!! Yes, all that relaxing did not lead to a nap, but rather allowed him to get his second wind!! Unfortunately, my second wind was nowhere to be seen. So granddad sat and watched the show as Oliver rocked out to Uptown Funk while holding the iPhone charging cord!! .

So between the meltdown and the rocking out to Uptown Funk, we did have a nice day reading, and throwing balls around the house, The family cat Zack even go into the action…….

There were some quiet times when we read and Oliver played with his favorite toy of the day the cords from the living room blinds!! Ye,s it was another greater day and I’m tired just thinking about it……so I’ll tell you about my day with Zoe tomorrow.

Oliver and the blinds

Oliver and Zoe – Our Yin and Yang

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A Fun Day with Yang Grandson Oliver

 

I am a strong believer in the duality of both nature and the human spirit, The yin and the yang, light and dark, male and female, Narcissus and Goldmund,, the active and the passive, Can you see where I’m going with this?? If you check, the post prior to this one is about our passive grandchild Zoe.Yesterday was spent babysitting  our more active grandchild Oliver. Included in the  description of yin and yang  at Wikipedia is:the following…..

…Yin and yang can be thought of as complementary (rather than opposing) forces that interact to form a dynamic system in which the whole is greater than the assembled parts. Everything has both yin and yang aspects, (for instance shadow cannot exist without light). Either of the two major aspects may manifest more strongly in a particular object, depending on the criterion of the observation. The yin yang shows a balance between two opposites with a little bit in each. Read More

While I am sure that both of our grandchildren have a little yin and yang in their spirit,, their yin and yang of Oliver and Zoe  have interacted to make our family a whole lot greater!! I know that the two of them have brought their brothers and their respective wives closer together, and the rest of us each want to be a part of their lives and consequently to their parents.

So what’s new with Oliver. I still marvel at his non-stop motor, and the way at eleven months, he flies around the house and bounces up and down when his music is playing. I also noticed that he has added the ability to crouch like his dad, who is a baseball catcher……

Oliver crouches for his booksOh and that book he is reaching for is about farm animals and their sounds. It also is a touch and feel book. I noticed yesterday, he was not picking at the sheep’s wool in an attempt to get a small piece that he could stick in his mouth,like he did last time!!

He also stares intently at the Speak and Say we gave him for Valentine’s Day. He spins the central pointer arrow, I guess, in an attempt to make it speak! Zack. their family cat, on the other hand attempts, to stop the spinner and eat it

Oliver also amazed me yesterday when it was nap time, well at least morning nap time, After he inhaled his bottle, he crawled off of me and laid down, well actually he kinda collapsed on the couch and went to sleep, for two hours!!  Of course that is why an afternoon nap didn’t happen!  Anyway, by the end of the day, while Oliver was still in let’s run around the house mode, Granddad wanted a little more passivity, so I tried to look for sitting things to do. One of the things that I tried was large plastic blocks, which usually goes Granddad builds the tower and GodzOliiver knocks it over, but to my surprise GodzOliver at least once or twice only took the top floor off of the tower. Several times though I held the bottom floors, but rather than try to knock them down he only took the top unsecured floor and then we slowly worked our way down the tower.

After all that block knocking down, it was exercise time! Now while Zoe exercised by herself. Mr Oliver used granddad for a mat!!

All in all, in was a great day with our little yang boy.. I can’t wait until next Wednesday when the yin girl will have me wrapped around her little finger, too!!

As for me, I have to continue exercising everyday because I don’t know what day next week, I may have to chase that little yang man around his dining room table!!!

 

 

Another Quiet Afternoon with the often Amazing Zoe!

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Yesterday, i spent the afternoon with the very quiet, now five month-old Zoe. That quiet part may change though over the next few  months as she becomes more mobile. Somehow though, I still think she will be somewhat calmer than Mr. Oliver.  Kinda’ like difference between Oliver;s father Andrew and Andrew’s sister Elizabeth, Guess which one loved to stand at the top of a wooden sliding board, when he still wasn’t walking and shake it back and forth!!

It is amazing though the way that as a grandparent, you  notice the  changes that occur every week, small things that go unnoticed when you are dealing with them 24/7!  One of those little things I noticed yesterday, was how well Zoe can  sit up, and then reach forward and pick up little things, like her pacifier…….

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And while she can pick the pacifier up really well, and get it to her mouth, she still has some problems with the positioning……. she gets close though!!

 

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Another thing that amazed me yesterday, well it has actually amazed me before , so maybe I should say amazed me again, is the way she goes to sleep. I have seen Peter and Melissa, just lay her down, wrap her inside a blanket and watch her go to sleep. Unbelievable! Anyway yesterday, when I got there Zoe was asleep, Melissa was going to put her upstairs in the crib. I asked Missy, how deaf granddad would hear Zoe, I know that they have a camera and an app for the iPhone (DropCam?),, Well, we didn’t know what to do so Missy brought Zoe back downstairs and laid her in a bassinet, upon laying down Miss Zoe’s eyes immediately opened. It was obviously all hope for that nap was gone! Missy left at 12:30 and said that Zoe would be ready to eat again at around 3. Luckily she played well by herself for a while and then we watched some videos, read Chicka Boom  Chicka Boom! and before I knew,  it was almost 2:45, only 15 minutes till a bottle and hopefully at nap!  Well, Zoe laid back on me,  then laid sideways with her head cradled in my arm and she went to sleep!! Wow! Four kids, two grandchildren and I think that’s the first time that has ever happened!! And she was right in a position so that I could lay her down!! She slept for about an hour, then had her bottle. We read and Zoe played some more and before we knew, Dad Peter was home!! Now, well rested, and feed Miss Zoe decided that it was time for some exercising…….

 

photo (23)A few pushes or a nice yoga plank will do it! Actually, Pete was enticing to crawl the little Yoda doll, ignoring Missy’s warning of the dire consequences of teaching her to crawl!!  All in all, it was another fine afternoon with Miss Zoe. If you excuse me now though, I need to go exercise, because I will need to be in shape for my workout tomorrow with Mister Oliver and I eagerly look forward to it!!!

Granddad Babysits a Cranky Zoe – not!

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So yesterday I babysat my five month old granddaughter Zoe. I watched her from 12:30 until my son Peter got home around 5 o’clock. When I first got to their apartment, my daughter-in-law Melissa was holding, said Zoe was a cranky baby, who wouldn’t nap! So I thought I was going to be in for a tough afternoon with a cranky baby!! After Missy left I laid Zoe down on her playmate and much to my surprise she did not  fuss and cry. Instead she laid there and played very nicely!!

Zoe lounging!

SShortly after laying her down I took this picture and tweeted it to my wife…. Her response was “LOL she doesn’t look cranky to me” and she wasn’t! I read to her for a bit,  then we watched “Baby Einstein on the Farm” and “Wheels on the bus” and before long it was two o’clock and time for her bottle. I still don’t have this bottle thing down, four kids and it took me until I was 63 to give a child a bottle! Anyway, Zoe drank about 2/3 of the bottle and then fell asleep. She stayed asleep until after 4:30.When she got up, I read to her again and she sat and played  with some toys, – by herself! Before long Dad was home and granddad was on his way home!!

Zoe being cranky-not!

Here’s the way see spent most of the afternoon! Oh what a difference five months makes. Here’s a composite video of my grandson Oliver Edward Karn taken over the last month or so. In the first part, he is doing a little home redecorating and later he is rocking out to “Uptown Funk” Of course, Mr. Oliver has ALWAYS been a little more active than Miss Zoe!

Anyway it was a nice afternoon, with a very non-cranky, good napping little girl ……LOL! Now with that said, next week may be a whole new ballgame!!

 

On the way over to babysit Zoe, the new album Blackbirds from Gretchen Peters was the soundtrack for the ride and  on the way home it was a great new blues album from Brandon Santini. I will try to write something about both albums at Me,Myself, Music, and Mysteries later tonight or tomorrow I will post a link when the posts are done!!

Discovering a Karn Cousin!

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A few weeks ago, my daughter Elizabeth went to Target and when she checked out the cashier, an older gentleman, asked her for identification,  since she was using her family team member discount card. After he checked the name, she thought he said “Karn, my mother’s maiden name was Karn”. When she came home and told us what he said, my wife and I couldn’t figure out the family connection. With not many Karn’s around the area, we knew he had to be related, but there was no one that we knew of who could be his mother! We needed to find out!!

The only way it would work is if he actually said that his grandmother’s maiden name was Karn! In that case his grandmother was probably Emma Karn, my grandfather’s sister. Emma married Fred Neuman and they lived on Creek Road in Delran. They were actually the next-door neighbors of my long-time boss Wayne Lippincott! Emma and Fred had three children two duaghters and one son, Fred. Since the name of the cashier was Fred, it was a good bet that the above case was true!! Fred and I often talk at the check out and he calls me “Young fella” telling him once that I’m old too, he said – but not as old as me and he is right, I’m ten years his junior!

Anyway a few days later, I went into the store and sure enough when we talked he said that he had told my daughter his grandmother’s maiden name was Karn, and she was Emma Rose Neuman!!

Karn Brothers - Charles and Edward and brother-in-law George Hintermeier

 

It’s really cool to connect with that side of my father’s family, because I never knew them. My grandfather, born in 1898, was the youngest of the five children of Henry and Pauline Karn.  The oldest child  Harry was born in 1888, followed by Emma born in 1890, Anna in 1891, and Charles in 1894. I don’t remember any of them well, including my grandfather who died in 1953.  Of that side of his family  my father was the closest to the children of Charles – Gloria and Charles. I do believe that we also visited Anna and my mother amd father were friendly with her daughters. But we were estranged from Harry and his children as well as Fred and Emma.  One of  causes of the estrangement between the family and Harry, I believe was, that my grandmother would not let Harry in to see my grandfather after one of his heart attacks. Another cause involved  Fred and Emma, I always heard  the story that the family was mad at them because they got money from the PSE&G easement that went across the family land on Creek Road.  Ha – it’s many times about the money!

Anyway, I am looking forward to sitting down with Fred after the holidays and talking about his family. I hope that he can identify folks in some of the family pictures that I have as I don’t even know what Emma looks like!! Bottom line it’s  a small world!