GALFROMDOWNUNDER UPOVER

Here's a clue to where I'll be when, or was: Bike Friday Event Calendar  ... specifically my spot on it +++ Oct 2009 Singapore and Japan Sep 2009 Cape Cod Jun 2009 Georgia May 2009 New York April 2009 Colorado April 2009 Yoga Teacher Certification March 2009 Arizona +++ Jan 2008 San Francisco/Sacramento Feb 2008 Hawaii Mar 2008 Arizona Mar-Aug 2008 Galfromdownunder downunder Sep 2008 New York GAL MOVIES Check out the latest Gal movies on YouTube or go right to the all-time best ones My old Livejournal Latest News use to do the job of this WHERE sticky - now it just stores interesting history about my Cuba book for posterity Permalink for this post: www.galfromdownunder.com/where

Martha's Vineyard Camp Meeting Houses, Oak Bluffs. They're not all pink ... I'm just back from a weeks riding on Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket with 40 or so cyclists, courtesy of Friday Friendly Tour Company BikeandtheLike and 5 magnanimous Bike Friday customers. I have these customers to thank: Sue, Glen, Leo, The Knables, plus Charlie (he must be inside getting some chowder) for sponsoring my visit to the Cape How magnanimous? I cajoled them into signing up for a Friday Friendly trip in the Berkshires, but due to the recession? Hills? The tour was undersubscribed, and thus cancelled for this year. A bit of fast webgotiating and within an hour I had them switched to a completely different Friday Friendly tour company, $400 less expensive, and subbing my attendance to the tune of $100 each. "If you can get them to sponsor you, I'll kick in the rest," said Suzy the tour operator. Of course, my part of the bargain was to write a full multimedia...

Tucked between the concrete, concessions, cars and cacophany of NYC are some Edenic little gardens, lovingly maintained and enjoyed by the surrounding neighborhood. This is one of many on the lower east side I visited with my mother and friend Christina, who has the coveted iron key. The garden spreads to the surrounding neighborhood My mother in front of the cute mini chalet My mother communes with flowers Christina in the gardenshe shares with her Lower East Side neighbors Inside the little treehouse. The Traffic Cone Bag ever present - in city mode.

The house that Alison sat looked a bit like this, but unlike Thoreau's digs, was way more than a stone's throw from a home cooked meal and hoogs (that's hugs in Scottish). WHEN you're asked that standard contest question, "Who do you admire the most in the world, and why?" - just who comes to mind for you? Someone famous? Infamous? Completely unknown? When asked this 10, 5 and 2 years ago, I thought of the same gal each time - a friend I met in my travels called Alison. More about her in a moment. This question came up recently in a heated, though chummy debate with a couple of friends about Henry David Thoreau, the eloquent writer/philosopher/inward excursionist who's practically deified by the general public for his contribution to voluntary poverty, or rather, simplicity. Don't get me wrong - he wrote a great book, but when I read that his little cabin was a stone's throw from a home cooked dinner with a loving and supportive family - gimm...

Continuing my tikit on Trial experiments in NYC, we test the welcome at some upscale locations, proving there's almost nowhere a Bike Friday can't go ... MOVIES tikit on Trial in NYC Check out the new videoblogs about a certain Princess Pink tikit living large PLUS Meet Bicycling writer Steve Friedman, father and son Cantos and Bfold staff - the people you meet while loitering under the stoop at a bfold.com ...

Still on a a "transcendental tear" after my Yoga teacher training , last night's spiritual excursion was to a Gongyo - a formal chanting ceremony in the Nichiren Buddhism tradition, as practised by members of Soka Gakkai International . Wiki oh wiki, what is Nichiren Buddhism? Nichiren Buddhism focuses on the Lotus Sutra and a belief that all people have an innate Buddha nature, and are capable of attaining enlightenment in their present lifetime. Nichiren Buddhists believe that the spread of Nichiren's teachings and their effect on practitioners' lives will eventually bring about a peaceful, just, and prosperous society. Sounds good to me! I was first introduced to SGI by leadership coach and friend Chuck Craytor , an SGI devotee for over 20 years. I was mesmerized by the power of even a small roomful of people chanting the key mantra, or Daimoku: Nam-myoho-renge-kyo . From Wiki: The basic practice of SGI members is based on faith, practice, and stu...

This is NOT Obama, sorry. I think it's a photo of Swami Sivananda, founder of the Sivananda movement - from a postcard I bought at the shop. "Nothing is impossible to a person who practices concentration." Could have been said by Obama himself ... If you've ever wondered where those Hari Krishnas disappear off to when they float down the road in their orange robes, their chants and bells fading into the distance ... I think I've sussed it out. It would be a place like the Sivananda center, which in NYC, is actually a real live ashram tucked away in a row house, with resident Swami . Having recently completely a basic yoga teacher certification , I'm in the process of educating myself about as many different forms of yoga as possible - from the Friday night downward-dog-dating scene at some studios, to the fluorescent-lit gym drill to rubbing trunks with Ganesha himself - it's all good. According to Google, Sivananda is a non-profit organization ded...