Building

The kitchen is bigger than before; it will be a galley. We have raised the ceiling and lowered the walls, so the ceiling space will flow through the house. The ridge light will bring light in through the whole interior of the house. It's very messy now, but it's surprising how little it bothers us. Not that we won't be happy when it's finished!


This is the back of the house now. The old porch is closed in to become a family room, and porches have been added on both ends of the house, so that the house wraps around the pool and there is lots of covered space. We enlarged the pool deck.

Camellias

I love camellias. They start blooming around Christmas time; we are getting near the end of the season, although I see lots of buds on some of our bushes. This is one of my favorite ones; the flowers are a creamy white with beautiful blush undertones and, sometimes, pink petals.

One of the things I love about Florida is the colorful blooming winter season. I do not miss the long hibernation of the northern winter. I love being outdoors and having beautiful sunshine almost every day.

It pleases me that amidst the chaos, dust, and dirt of our remodeling, these beauties continue serenely in their appointed way.

Acutonics

Most people have never heard of acutonics, but I have had two treatments. I love it! It is a healing art based on principles of acupuncture, but using tuning forks instead of needles. I went for my first treatment when I had had a nasty bronchial cough for three weeks, and I just couldn't get rid of it.

The person I went to, Beth Stewart, loves what she does and she is really good at it. She uses tuning forks, gongs, and Tibetan bowls. At the height of the treatment, when all of these things are active, I feel like I am wrapped in a cocoon of sound; it's quite incredible.

After my first treatment, I walked away breathing freely for the first time in weeks, and was basically over the illness. It took a couple of days for the residual effects to go away, but the relief was immediate and permanent. Later, my acupuncturist friend explained that the vibrations clear the bronchia far better than percussive treatment (pounding on the back) because the vibrations are so much more powerful.

I have always believed that Pythagoras was right in believing that the music of the spheres--the frequencies of the movements of the planets had resonance within our own bodies and psyches somehow. Great thinkers have tried for centuries—millennia, in fact—to understand the power of music. I think Pythagoras probably had it right—it's about the vibrations.

The last time I went, I talked to Beth about my goal to be a more responsible and better sleeper, so she worked on the appropriate meridian. When I left, she said, you will dream. Until she said it, I hadn't realized that I hadn't been dreaming—I just never thought about it. But that night, I dreamed, and have every night since.

I am looking forward to my next session.

Sleep

The new year's resolution that I am working hardest at is getting enough sleep. I have spent most of my life skimping on sleep to get things done--important things, like preparing for class, doing research, and writing, and also unimportant things, like playing sudoku, browsing through Facebook, taking a long bath, reading a novel that really isn't worth the time. I really love the quiet of the night time, the lack of interruption, being alone. But I realize that it takes a toll, and I want to be good to my body, which has been so good to me.

So far, I am doing pretty well (I have 27 minutes until midnight as of right now), but it's a hard, hard habit to break. But I realized that sleep deprivation is a form of abuse, and I have let myself get away with too much of it. Being sick for three weeks made me wonder if my bad habits were partially responsible for that. The best thing about going to bed early enough is not having to use an alarm clock. I like waking up without the jolt of some awful noise. Good night!