Over the last week I have been weeding my garden. All that rain last week made it seem like a jungle out there. I spent most of yesterday and this morning wrestling with patches of dirt that want desperately to revert back to prairie grass. (I know, I should just let it go, but it gives me the illusion of control.)
This evening I opted out of watching The Matrix again and instead thought I’d get another couple of hours in the yard again. Here in Minnesota it stays light out for a long time in the summer. That, and the lack of mosquitoes, made it worthwhile to stay outside even though honestly I’m more than a little tired (and I still have a number of plants to put in and move around tomorrow).
But I’m happy to report that I finished getting most of the yard done while my sons and husband were upstairs watching Neo take the red pill. And just as I was dragging that third bag of weeds and leaves and sticks into the garage, I heard thunder, and boom, five minutes later it was pouring rain.
So here I am, all cleaned up and cozy and feeling both virtuous and lucky and listening to a very lovely version of Gabriel Fauré’s “Après un Rêve” transcribed for cello.
And to top it all off, I’ve had a really good few skating sessions to report on. Laurie pointed out that on my back pushes I wasn’t really positioned correctly over my skates. Instead of using the push to send my entire body back, I was sending my hips back–and you know what that means! (Skating gives new meaning to the expression “Butt out.”)
So we worked on trying to send the energy into my upper body instead. I am aiming for the opposite shoulder from the pushing foot. Here are some pictures to illustrate:
It worked so well that I have been trying to think about this with other pushes as well. It is making me way more conscious about what I am doing with my upper body, which admittedly has been quite vague at times.
All that positive energy has got to go somewhere!
jo skates 
May 30, 2017 at 7:39 am
I definitely have the some “butt” problem – it is SO HARD to fix! Let me know if you have any awesome tips to share because otherwise I need to redo all my programs to Six Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back.” 🙂
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May 30, 2017 at 8:13 pm
So funny, Eva! Laurie told me that if you don’t have your opposite shoulder back in the correct place when skating backwards, you HAVE to do the “butt back” thing or you’ll fall over. I have been thinking about this a lot all week and it makes sense–it’s kind of a protective maneuver that then becomes an unfortunate habit. I’m going to ask for some more advice about this and will definitely share.
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May 30, 2017 at 6:37 pm
Always feels good when you finish in the garden and then everything gets watered in! I’ve been working in the garden a lot, too, it’s that time of year. Of course I’m working on the same things as you in my skating: getting that lean (and keeping yours hips under you) are continuing projects!
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May 30, 2017 at 8:15 pm
Just put five bags of mulch down and realized that I grossly underestimated how much mulch I needed. It’s like practice time on the ice–never quite enough! But then I get tired and have to lie down. . .
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