Saturday, March 28, 2009

Back to Stillpoint home

As much fun as it was to explore Wellington, it's good to be back.  

Here's a bit of what happened there (leaving off from the last post)...

After walking through the Botanical Gardens (the Rose Garden was still in full bloom), I passed the Chinese Embassy on the way back to the city center ("centre," here).  Went back to the waterfront and watched people running/walking a relay race around a building; some of the runners were dressed in costumes.  "Relay for Life," I think is what it was called.

Saturday night, I went to a nice "fresh Asian" restaurant (that's how it is described) called Chow.  Had a "Rhubarb Crumble" drink (like a rhubarb-infused cosmopolitan), miso soup with wakame (not as good as Vayu's), pumpkin and cashew fritters, and cucumber-wrapped lemongrass scallops.  Actually, I went all out and had a dark chocolate brownie and vanilla ice cream for dessert, too.  

It was delicious, BUT, it all would have tasted better if Tim had enjoyed it with me.  

As it was, my waiter had lived 5 or 6 years in Boston and was a Red Sox fan, so it was nice to speak with someone who knew that the Phillies had won the World Series (none of my yoga peers knew).

Stayed at Susan and her husband (Doug)'s home again last night, and met their son, Nick, who is an actor.  Didn't go to bed right away as Doug was interested in talking about yoga and massage; he used to practice yoga, and now does Qi Qong.

If'd I'd stayed in Wellington today, he and his fishing buddies would have taken me out on the bay on their fishing trip.  Given how windy and cold it was on the bay, I think it's better I didn't get to go.

Today, Susan and I went to a nearby suburb, called Newtown, to have brunch at Pranah, a vegetarian restaurant I'd read about in one of Susan's books on Wellington.  It was terrific.

Afterward, she drove me around all of the bays of the city.  Just beautiful.  I'll get some pictures up later.

Upon returning to Stillpoint, I unpacked and then Vayu and I went to a Music Celebration in Upper Moutere at a Tibetan Buddhist shrine - incredibly beautiful, and in the middle of fields of sheep.  We enjoyed listening to a marimba group playing a few songs as many people danced (Vayu said, "ah... hippies").  Everyone was friendly and in to the music.

We also enjoyed a while meditating in the meditation room.

Tonight, it'll be time for me to review the training course and do some much needed yoga and meditation reading.

No comments: