Eleanor Rugby

Oh my. Dean and I happened upon a rugby game on tv last night - the first we had ever seen. All we knew of rugby was the scrum, and that didn't seem very interesting.

As our man Keith Jackson would say, "Whoa Nelly!"

Instantly sucked in. It has all the criteria to be a sport -
Things happen.
It is played outside.
It is played outside and does not stop when it rains.
People end up with bruises.
Major sponsors are trucks, beer, and outfitters.

The best part was when two players were down on the field with injuries - and the other players just kept playing!

I think we have found our football off-season sport.

In other news, I am loving going to Green Lake three mornings/week for a walk and yoga. This morning, the sun broke as we were practicing and we laid in savasana in the rising sun. I heart outdoor yoga.

Parkour

Since I was a child, I would sometimes dream of moving without effort, running through a forest, jumping stones without stopping, climbing walls, dodging trees. The smooth action was soothing and meditative.

The French burgled my lizard brain, creating parkour. While it is more often practiced in an urban setting, I still prefer my dreamy, green, pastoral landscape.

Farewell, Jimmy Dean, and thanks for all the sausage

Jimmy Dean, famous for a coal mining ballad and tasty breakfast protein, died Sunday at his home.

Obit

This started me thinking about people who became known for one thing, particularly in the arts, and then were also successful doing something completely unrelated (unless you find country music and sausage inextricably related).

Sadly, Kenny Rogers was the first person to come to mind, having branched out in to chicken restaurants and unfortunate plastic surgery.

That's all I can think of now, and I suck at googling, so I wasn't able to cheat and just look them up on Wikipedia either.

In other news, it is a sign of the end times that someone spent time generating a "news article" because Brad Pitt trimmed - not even shaved, just trimmed - his beard.

Who knows how to make love stay?

Kaia ate through another one of my Kindle cords, so I can't access any e-books. I have also been in a reading funk, not sure what I want to pick up next. I was in my closet the other day and something reminded me of a great Tom Robbins quote, "Erleichda!" which roughly translates to Lighten Up! It was apropos of the moment, but why I don't know. That prompted me to pick up and commence rereading Jitterbug Perfume, probably my favorite novel.

That has caused me to consider just rereading great books for the rest of the year. SJP was on Studio 360 Sunday night and mentioned she just read A Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin, which I have read at least 3 times, and is an amazing read. Now that I have lived in New York, I would have a different perspective on the book, and I think I might reread it as well. It would be a great 7 months of nostalgia, but then I worry about all the time I could have spent reading new books. Such a quandary.

I was reminded of another great Tom Robbins quote this morning, "Who knows how to make love stay?" Al and Tipper Gore are separating after 40 years of marriage. Separating. After 40 years. Al and Tipper Gore. Huh? Am I being punked?

What keeps a relationship going for 40 years or 50 years or 60 years? What makes a relationship change so significantly after 40 years that they chose to end it? It is incomprehensible. I was counting on having all of that worked out after 40 years. We have to work on our romantic relationships that hard after even 40 years? I figured by then we would be worn down in to comfortable ruts at that point - rutted, but meandering across life's prairie in parallel.

And Al and Tipper Gore?! They are liberal royalty! If they can't do it, who can. Do relationships last forever only through inertia? Who knows how to make love stay?

Or, is another Tom Robbins quote more telling, "We spend more time looking for the perfect lover, instead of creating the perfect love."