Excellent, hilarious, true: Why Yoga Can Be So Irritating (Although You Should Go Anyway!) (The part about "There are teachers and students who think flexibility is some kind of indication of how good a person you are," especially rings true to me - so much (self) judgment!) Related: I've decided September I will tackle a month of Bikram - every day for 30 days....

I've heard great things about Gun Hill Road, looking forward to seeing it.

I'm in the midst of a week long vacation (much of which has involved being unplugged, hence the lack of posting). I spent the weekend in Portland, eating a lot of good food, looking at a lot of nice stuff, drinking a lot of excellent beer, and generally indulging. Now, I'm back home, trying not to get bogged down by the "to do on vacation" list....So far I've been doing exactly what I wanted, which is sleeping a lot, and reading a ton - most recently Bel Canto, An Ordinary Decent Criminal, Borderlands, and Nemesis. (Image: I'm also drying peppers (outside), drying tomatoes (in the oven), and generally tackling some domestic projects I've had in the works for a while...more to come)

Some tips for fellow introverts: How To Get Some Time To Yourself.

"Slow gardening," eh?

From Serious Eats, this video: "Janus Youth Programs has operated community-based programs for children, youth, and families in Oregon and Washington since 1972. They have a network of over 20 programs includes, including Janus Food Works, which employs 14 to 21 year-olds from Portland. The youth get involved in the planning, growing, selling, and donating of over 4,000 pounds of organic produce each year from the one-acre organic farm on Sauvie Island."

Paddle To Seattle: "Follow two friends as they build their own kayaks and paddle together for 97 days through the wilderness on a journey from Alaska to Seattle—only to survive to talk about...most things."

Image: source.

Interesting and beautiful video about photographing rock climbing in Yosemite.

"That buzzing sound you hear at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport could be a jet taking off. Or maybe it's coming from the 1.5 million bees that call the airport home. In May, the Chicago Department of Aviation partnered with a community group to start a 2,400 square foot apiary on-site. Now 23 beehives are up and running and are scheduled to yield 575 pounds of honey this year."

Beautiful and very creative vertical gardens!

Anastasia at Sweetbutterbliss posted a rave review of Yum & Yuk months ago and somehow I just saw it! Thanks for the kind words, Anastasia, and sorry again for the delay!

Bill Clinton's Vegan Journey: Former president Bill Clinton says he consumes no meat, dairy, eggs and almost no oil in an effort to stave off heart disease.

Gorgeous and inventive: A Visit to the Prinzessinnengärten: Berlin's Mobile Community Garden

From the Detroit Free Press: Faces of the immigration crackdown

Image: source.

Charles Simic on The Lost Art of Postcard Writing

I'm working on starting a small flower and vegetable garden with with the kids at my church - if anyone has tips on introducing kids to gardening or activities, let me know! I plan to prep the beds and fill them with soil, and then teach the kids about planting seeds and some small plants as well (just seeds would probably be boring to kids). I was also planning on making garden markers with plastic utensils and permanent markers/paint (a cheap, simple idea I found online), and a chart for them to track plant growth as well.....

The summer issue of YES! magazine is devoted to "Beyond Prisons": "The United States locks up more people than any other country, but that hasn't made us safer. The drug war jails thousands of nonviolent addicts. Taxpayers and poor communities lose as states slash social programs to pay for prisons. There's a better way—compassion, not punishment; restoration, not isolation. It's less costly, more humane—and it works."