Gingerbread village

January 19, 2020December 1, 2019 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

Sometime after the Twelve Days of Christmas end on January 6, we take our gingerbread decorations outdoors for the wild critters to discover and devour.

Here’s part of a village inserted into a pile of snow on a tabletop.

Looks like it belonged there all along. The squirrels, however, will soon be scampering off with the pieces.

My jig-sawed gift

January 5, 2020December 1, 2019 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

Recognizing my fondness of lighthouses, one of my Christmas presents was a jigsaw puzzle. Here I am, tackling all 1,000 pieces. It’s not something I’d usually do, especially considering my obsessive side. (Photo by Rachel Williams)

Old-fashioned hot spot

January 4, 2020December 1, 2019 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

The metal grating in the floor of our second-floor bedroom at an Airbnb makes for a fascinating image, but it has a far more practical side. Back when heat came from a central wood- or coal-burning stove, getting the rest of the house warm was a problem. Hence, the hole in the floor.

My buddy Mike can do the honors

December 29, 2019October 16, 2019 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

He’s not just a fine tenor and a comic actor in Boston Revels productions, he’s also addicted to morris dancing. Here he is in costume at last year’s autumn equinox RiverSing in the Herter Park amphitheater along the Charles River in Allston. I’ll let him bid farewell to 2019 and welcome the new year with a tip of his pith helmet.

They’re balancing the ring in Petronella

November 24, 2019August 6, 2019 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

A style of community dance popular in New England since Colonial times, contras start out as two lines of partners facing each other and then the next couple on each side. There’s a live band and callers, and we walk through the sequence of steps before the music begins. The whole point is to have fun, and you wind up dancing with everyone in the line before the piece is finished. This example is from the Lamprey River Band’s dance series in Dover’s city hall before the monthly event moved to a Unitarian-Universalist church in neighboring Durham. This particular dance is named Petronella.

Hippie bus

November 17, 2019August 6, 2019 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

We see it parked around town but have no idea about its story.

Blessed bliss

November 10, 2019November 10, 2019 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

My novel YOGA BOOTCAMP describes group meditation as a central discipline in the daily life at Big Pumpkin’s ashram. As a real-life example, here’s a photo taken at the Poconos Ashram in mid-1972. I’m struck by how young we all look and the fact that most of us could sit in a full lotus position. Makes my knees hurt just thinking of it now!