Yoga and a bayou road trip...

Pretty quiet day... watched my stocks, biked 2 miles up Magazine Street to my yoga studio at lunch time and biked down to the Quarter around 5 to mystery shop another Community Coffee shop... had a wonderful Cafe au Lait with chicory and a fresh spinach and feta croissant. I don't have my scale with me, but am pretty sure I've gained 5 pounds. This food madness has got to stop... at some point ;-) Luckily the yoga shala is close, and the owner who is also an instructor is awesome. She is a tiny little thing and trained in India, frequently using sanscrit words in class. Everyone leaves their flip flops on the front porch of the historic house. After hearing "drishti tip of the nose" a few times, I figured out, and later confirmed online that "drishti" refers to your gaze/attention/focus.

At the end of class during relaxation, she likes to play loud ocean waves and spray a really refreshing mist while she walks around the room, ending the practice by ringing prayer cymbals and eliciting a group " aum" or "om" to signal the end of the torture (ha-ha) and leave us with a feeling of oneness. I was almost asleep today when the relaxation portion was over! The Shanti Yoga Shala (gathering place) is in a very old shotgun-style house with pine floors, elaborate molding, original fireplaces and so far, the floor to ceiling windows flung open to let the breezes through. Here's hoping they spring for some AC when the temps get over 90 next month. I didn't bargain for "hot yoga". The house is so long and narrow, they pack us in 5 across and 5 deep but so far, it seems to work. Pretty cool place... here's the website and a photo for my curious, yoga-loving readers ;-) http://shantiyoganola.com/

Yesterday... after the Bayou Boogaloo Music Festival, my friend Brent invited me to accompany him out of town a few miles to go to a retirement party for his med school "mentor". We drove about 1/2 an hour to Bayou LaFourche in Raceland, LA. Once we got out of New Orleans, it was nothing but swampland and Spanish moss. Very pretty country with lots of shrimp boats and airboats, and roadside seafood and vegetable stands. My cheap sunglasses broke on the way and we had a good laugh.

After the party, we joined Dr. Cardwell and his large family for dinner at a local seafood place called Spahr's in nearby Bayou Des Allemands.

Behind the restaurant are gators, swampland, birds and little fishing shacks. It was beautiful at sunset! The Spahr's menus is typical cajun fare: lots of shrimp, catfish and crawfish dishes, as well as gumbo, oysters and soft shell crab. Lots of it is fried, but after my week-long chowfest, I opted for a grilled shrimp and crawfish Remoulade salad and it was delicious! Notice the sign below... not a joke!