Though it will be in the 90’s all week, August always always drops a few hints of the changing times. I notice the yellowing of the lower leaves of the weeds along the trails, a few leaves falling here and there when the wind kicks up, but this was the first dramatic sign of autumn:
Another cool piece from Doug and Barbara:
I used to have a ‘ten minute rule’, which changed my life in a most positive way. Whenever I had to be anywhere, I planned on being ten minutes early. I found it quite calming.
Since moving to the DC area. though, I’ve had to up that to a ‘twenty-minute rule’ to accommodate the gnarly traffic here.
I made sure to get in early for the recording at WAMU with Diane Rehm and guests. Once I got parked and buzzed in and landed in the waiting room I was offered water or coffee. Out of nervousness I agreed to the coffee.
I didn’t count on it being so strong and while I wasn’t quite hyperventilating before the red light came on, I felt ‘rather jazzed’.
When the first question was directed to me I got to watch the effect of adrenalin moving through my body at the same time as I started making noises and moving my lips. That was a rush.
Thankfully I settled down.
If you’d like to listen to the hour-long show or just catch the first few minutes of my rather flustered response,you can click here.
They had a flood of calls and emails, which felt quite gratifying.
This Tuesday, June 22nd, I’ll be on the Diane Rehm Show with Richie Davidson, PhD, who teaches at the University of Wisconsin and has overseen ground-breaking research in meditation and Josephine Briggs, MD, the director of the NIH National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
The topic is “The Power of Meditation.”
In 1973, a housewife named Diane Rehm arrived to volunteer on WAMU’s The Home Show. Today, that one-time volunteer has a worldwide audience of more than 2.2 million listeners and hosts a show that is heard on more than 150 public radio stations nationwide, Sirius XM Satellite Radio, NPR World Wide, and Armed Forces Radio Network.
Hang around long enough and something’s gonna happen. We were meditating in the early evening by the river and noticed a deer swimming across the Potomac. It’s a pretty grainy shot, but you can see the antlers off to the left. It’s not unusual to be kayaking in the Potomac and see deer hanging out on the islands.
And early, early in the morning, a Great Blue caught mid-launch. This is a spontaneous reaction shot, but I really enjoy how the image captures the silhouette of the legs and feet – plus the framing, depth and mood.
I’m always on the lookout for the first signs of the next season. No sign of fall yet, as the greens are still intense and vivid right now.
This week I did some video recording at the World Bank on instruction and training in mindfulness practices. After we laid down the audio, some brave volunteers came in for some shooting for cutaway shots. I appreciate the challenge of making a video series during which the viewer is instructed to close their eyes.
That’s me in the foreground, comfortably nestled in Final Cut Pro while the director makes some adjustments on the set.
