I wish I'd taken more pictures on our trip, but I have mixed feelings about taking photos since my divorce. Since then even baby pictures of my kids are something to be avoided as they can also contain bad memories, or memories made bad on retrospect. Fortunately Jeremy took some videos, so we have a bit more of a record than I can share here right now. This is the view of the Church at St. Gregory Palamas Monastery in Ohio from the porch of the homey building which had the parlor and refectory where we were received.
The next two are of the Hermitage of the Holy Cross in West Virginia.
The red building is their Church which has a very warm, cozy feel inside. I usually prefer this type of Church to the ones that are often being planned at this stage.
If I may switch topics, this season after Nativity is one in which I have learned to start preparing for Forgiveness Sunday, the first Sunday of Lent. The week after our first Forgiveness Sunday 5 years ago left me a wasted lump of jello, barely able to move without excruciating leg soreness. This was after about 20 prostrations in front of our dear fellow-parishioners. I love this service as I usually feel I am failing my fellow man miserably, and it is a chance to wipe the slate clean. But since then, I've started trying to condition myself before this yearly event. However, I guess it was three years ago last fall, I came down with a terrible back spasm that left me bedridden for a week, barely able to move at all. Since then I've slowly gotten stronger, but still have to be extremely careful how I bend over. I have also favored the way I sit and move around to the point that my lower body, except for standing and walking, is very weak. I think the injury was due to unprepared lifting of heavy patients during my young adult years as a nurse. Maybe my back was also weakened by 4 epidurals during childbirth, and also a particularly stressful time that fall, because I don't remember any other event happening during that time that would have caused it. Anyway, for Christmas George gave our family a new Wii Fit that I have now tried out for the past two days. I can already feel my posture muscles and leg muscles getting stronger, and I am letting myself bend laterally for the first time in a while, as I've had to balance myself vertically to avoid back pain. The exercises are very slow and gentle and while strenuous, they are not too daunting. It's amazing how much a balance sensor in the "step" can diagnose your posture and keep you in a more healthy zone. About 10 years ago I used to do aerobics at a public location and haven't gone back, recently because of the strenuous pace you usually have to adopt at the beginning, but also because it is public and inconvenient. This program however has a very gradual buildup, and after you've achieved a certain measured proficiency you unlock new exercises and more repetitions. It also measures and graphs daily, or however often you work out, weight fluctuations. I am really impressed with how the Wii motivates the whole family to get off the couch with healthy and fun options that are not overtly seductive in nature, as many video games are. I don't really like how they portray the female personal trainer, so I chose the male, but the Wii caricature you make of yourself is shaped more like a peanuts cartoon, and your family members' Mii's participate with you even when they are not physically present. I suppose this contributes to a virtual and non-authentic life, but hopefully being in better shape will lead to something more authentic in the future. So bear with me.
Here's a demo,
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oNVIcMnZh4]
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