My Marshmallow in Everyday Ramblings

On Christmas day as we were all meeting each other and sampling lovely snacks and sipping wine before dinner I brought up the famous study that was done back in the day about willpower and self-modulation at Stanford University with little kids and marshmallows.

A researcher would bring into a room with a child in it a marshmallow and tell the child that if she could hang on for just a few minutes and not eat the marshmallow that when the researcher came back that the child could have two marshmallows. Then the researcher would leave and they filmed the way the child handled being alone with the treat.

The conversation turned to those things that we as adults have a weakness for, that if left alone with we would eat, or buy or… I don’t think Kes would mind my saying here that her marshmallow is yarn.

(I am so excited for her because her local yarn store is going to feature a number of her knitting projects in the store for the whole month of February.)

There was much discussion about well-designed kitchen gadgets and books and I can’t remember what else.

My current marshmallow, the only thing I will spend money on even though I might need to catch up in my next budget cycle is yoga teacher training, both in book form and online. I currently have more than I can consume.

A couple of days ago a mail carrier rang my doorbell on a very cold morning with yet another yoga anatomy book. This one from the UK.

And that same day I signed up for a fairly spendy newish platform from Yoga Journal that is I am also excited to say includes my teacher Olga, doing a presentation on injury prevention. My teacher! She is starting to get a large international following. How cool is that?

So that picture above? That is from my window that I am looking out of right now. After seven days of below freezing temperatures we finally jumped to a balmy 35°F (1.66°C, would that just be 2°C?) and, and, seriously be still my heart, it is raining! Yippee.

I am on vacation this week, and I frittered away a big chunk of yesterday re-watching a foundational gentle yoga practice and creating a class to teach to my students last night. It was all about developing awareness, strength and suppleness in the feet, ankles and legs to support an individual through the challenges of uneven and slippery ground.

There were four hardy souls that made it to class last night. I am getting remarkably good at getting around in this stuff but it is a lot of work.

This morning before the rain started I made it once again over to the grocery that has the same brands as mine but is easier to get to under these circumstances. It took me just under an hour to get over there.

I had a cheerful conversation with a woman who had the coolest single person cart that you bring with you I have ever seen. She bought it in Switzerland and says there you can just park in in the front of the store and then fill it when you are done shopping. (Here because everybody brings their cars to the store you have to bring your cart with you as you shop.)

Cart envy. I have it now, with my back resistant to carrying more than a pretty light load in a backpack and it is not practical to carry a bag in one’s hands or on a shoulder with trek poles. I tried. This week has been like having been transported to a different planet, where everything is kind of familiar but treacherously different.

She told me, this lovely woman, that she had grippers too but hadn’t brought them and how surprisingly large some of those patches of ice still were. At least most places there was still snow to walk in, or slush.

Yesterday I also ordered (on sale) cross-country ski gloves. My thumbs were getting cold with the poles even though I was wearing smartwool gloves with mittens on top.

Now that the snow is finally, finally going away I am going to be properly geared up.

Excuse me…now I need to indulge in some more of my marshmallow and prepare the class on shoulders (and their relationship with the chest) for class tomorrow. Retirement is going to be awesome when I get there.

Last updated January 17, 2017