I ENJOYED STAYING WITH Lisa and Justin, they have such fun and inspiring personalities, I knew we were made to be best of friends. Justin is actually sick with cancer, and previously with inherited ulcerative colitis, so health for him, means to be able to continue living a productive life. He seems really compliant to his medications, and does not look sick at all. During my whole time staying here, he drove us to lots of places, and kept his discomforts to himself. Lisa on the other hand, is a very enthusiastic person. She has so many ideas and thoughts about everything, talking to her itself is an entertainment. She is humorous, engaging and yet very constructive at the same time.

Today, we will have a guest in our home. Yaohua, my friend from Tzu Chi University, is coming to Albany for a visit before he heads to Niagara Falls and eventually starting his road trip. We don’t waste extra hands, and so we made him go into the kitchen and cook us meals as soon as he arrived. Justin took us to Honest Weight, a local co-op with affordable local and organic produce. The thing I admire most about Lisa and Justin is their dedication towards environmental sustainability. They insist buying organic products, and loves to share this to others so that we can all help encourage organic farming.

I am pretty happily surprised to see an automated recycling machine at the entrance of one of the supermarkets. The rows of machines allow you to deposit your recyclable items for a refund that you can use when you shop inside. I tried feeding the machine glass bottles, and it was really fun. If these machines can be put in all neighbourhoods and all people can learn to make use of them, I bet recycling will become more efficient and clean.

YAOHUA AND ME cooked up two of our favorites, vegetable curry and gado-gado salad. The fritters that Yaohua made for the peanut salad was really very similar to those you find in Malaysia, and so all of us enjoyed the Malaysian meal.

LATER THAT DAY, we all drove an hour to Tanglewood in Lenox, Massachusetts. Tanglewood is the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and so they have daily performances with renowned musicians guest appearing once in a while. Yo-Yo Ma was here the week before today. The performances take place in a big open concert shed, but we opted to buy lawn tickets and sit out at the lawn. Picnicking is also what most other visitors do too. I thought we brought too much food for the picnic until when I notice the family beside us taking out tables, chairs and candles for their outdoor dinner. The people here sure knows how to relax and listen to good music. The theme of the night is popular songs from Broadway and I saw old men singing at the top of their lungs, waltzing around happily.

All in all, it was a great outing. Tanglewood is really quite beautiful, plenty of trees to ponder upon. When we drove back, the stars were brightly lit above us, and we can see the round full moon shining beautifully. Be it food, music or stars, everyone is celebrating all the wonders surrounding us.

*** CAM of the day ***

Alexander Technique
What exactly is Alexander technique? It is a teaching of movements that allows you to eliminate unnecessary tension first taught by F. Matthias Alexander. People practice the technique to improve their posture, to recover from certain injuries and also to get their voices back, which is the reason Alexander created this in the first place. Although not as well known as Tai-Chi and yoga, it still has proven efficiencies.