Unusual Talents and Addictions

Appropo of nothing; I'm playing with my new camera so figured I would take some slice of life shots.

First, a talent. I learned this from Al Perrins (aka "Doc") back at the Superior Electric company in 1983 or thereabouts. Slicing around the equator of an orange (being careful not to cut too deeply into the fruit), and carefully peeling back the rind with a thumb until you have two intact hemispheres. Eat the orange (this method is quite good at not getting juice all over ones hands. The leftover rinds make for good pranks - carefully put them back together and leave them some place and invariably someone will pick them up thinking its an intact orange. Works best when the orange is at room temperature, and some varieties work better than others.

Yoga mats, drying on the line. Nice to have some sun and warmth for a change. This actually represents two sets of mats - I team them up. The left two are a fairly standard sticky mat, and a latex Jade Harmony mat - the latex mat is pretty good in terms of mot getting slippery when wet, but it also seems to slip on teh cork floor at the studio. Hench the sticky mat for underneath - which also is nice extra padding for these old knees.

The two on the right are a regular sticky mat (well, a bit thicker than most) and a yogitoes skidless mat cover (to deal with sweat) - the mat cover is nice because it can be laundered, although I find it dry to be a bit slippy, so I tend to pre-dampen spots for my hands and feet (for downward dog) and an extra spot in the back center in case of an early in the practice crescent lunge.

More and more, yoga mats seem to be akin to cross-country skis that need wax - having to gauge the type of practice, head, vinyasa, etc. - and when I see someone with a new style or type or brand of mat, I tend to chat 'em up afterwards.