Skyclad Sunday: Celebrating the start of my leave!

Yes, indeed, Sunday has arrived, being the official first day of my one-week leave... now I have eight solid days ahead to be my true and real hippie self!

OK, I'm not quite doing it the way that Robert Crumb suggests in his classic cartoon version of a hippie - definitely less drugs (and indoors, less clothing, too). But the reactions of the mainstream people satirized here is still quite accurate. Not much has changed about that attitude since the early 1970s, when Crumb made his cult comics (including the one that made him most famous, when it was made into an adult animated movie: "Fritz the Cat").

Still, I feel like those original hippies, inwardly, celebrating my freedom for a while (as photographed in San Francisco, at Golden Gate Park, rocking out in the 1960s):

And, let's also start off this Sunday by celebrating my favourite dress of the day - the amazing skin suit.

Due to temperatures around freezing level outdoors and new snow having fallen overnight, my most comfortable and natural state of being is limited to indoors... I can't help it, I am yearning for spring already, when the time to be skyclad in Nature returns... Feeling the sun on my skin, warm soil beneath bare soles, a soft breeze on my body and floating in water, while taking a skinny-dip.

Well, at least the snow will provide me with a genuine winter fun: snow-footing (as in: barefooting in snow).

After the first snow of the winter season '12/13 arrived on Friday, I have taken the opportunity to dip my bare toes in it and feel the fluffy and cool sensation on the whole of my bare soles. On yesterday's office Saturday, I did so again... on a clear morning with temperatures at -4°C (25F). I began my snowfooting on my balcony, while doing my nuddhist morning exercise (see previous post). And then, around 7.30 am, I began my trip to work.

Here's a glimpse at my feet at the underground bus stop at the central station:

Wait! What??? Shoes????

Yes, indeed... with the snow glazed over with frost, and the low temperatures, I opted for footwear on my way to work. Since using public transport requires standing in some places for a while, I did not want my feet to become too cold too soon. I prepared for my legs staying warm by wearing long underwear and leg-warmers. Technically, walking barefoot would have been possible. Another factor in this equation, however, was the grit and salt thrown onto sidewalks and at bus and tram stops. Especially the salt, while clearing the areas, cooled down the melted snow below freezing level, which would have drained all warmth from my feet instantly.

I chose to take short snowfooting walks later, instead. Going to work, I first witnessed nice color in the sky, looking at an industrial sort of sunrise as well as marvelling in the fluffy and wispy pink clouds, together with a crescent moon in the south-eastern sky...

As soon as I arrived at the office, I peeled off the outer layers of my winter outfit (warm jacket, scarf, gloves) and slipped out of my closed Birks, wiggling my toes and enjoying my barefoot freedom indoors. When the time for my frist break came, I went outdoors, inhaling the frosty air (which cleared my sinuses at once, when breathing in through the nose), then went to the parking lot to soak up a little morning sun, gaze at the shrubbery, which was looking like coated with sugar, and then explored the feeling of the frost-glazed snow underfoot, too.

You didn't expect, that I'd keep my shoes on in the snow all the time, did you?

The whole day was sunny, with only a few clouds in the sky, and when my shift  was over I went to a nearby supermarket, did my weekend shopping and already felt some strain on my knees and hip from the unnatural gait in shoes... and a little pain, too.

While the temperatures, now just around freezing level, would have been perfectly OK by my temperature comfort zone (especially, since a large part of the sidewalks was free of snow), the grit and salt lying around still made me reconsider this. Having to dig out those nasty granules from my leathery pads (as the tend to not just cling but bury themselves into my bare soles when walking) was something I didn't want to do.

My cool-footing comfort zones...

Grit and salt in the mix... not funny to walk barefoot on!

While snowfooting still is a fun thing to do, I am hoping for temperatures rising above frost level, so that I can walk in places next to the grit-strewn strips on the sidewalks and being safe from hypothermia. The snow melting and a bit of rain would also be of great hellp in washing away the salt.

Let's see, what the next days will bring...

Frost fairies had their dance last night...

Lots of fairies around in my recent posts, right? Well, actually, the arrival of frost, snow and ice reminds me a lot of the Disney classic movie "Fantasia" (1940) and the sequence with Tchaikovsky's "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" from his Nutcracker Suite, which was done with summer fairies, sweetly sprinkling dewdrops everywhere in the morning at first, followed by the "Waltz of the Flowers", with autumn fairies dyeing leaves and flowers in bright colors, before winter fairies arrive bringing frost and then fall from the sky in the shape of snowflakes.

Beautiful, isn't it? Plus: this piece is one of the holiday season classics (and now even used in an m&m commercial, featuring Santa "Coca-Cola" Claus. Ugh. Consumerism at its best again).

Well, last night, it definitely were frost fairies dancing, cooling down the air to a very invigorating level. Normally, I would rejoice at a thermometer reading 25 degrees... if they were centigrade, not on the Fahrenheit scale! That's -4°C for the centigrade people out there.

So, with temperatures like this, my nuddhist breathing exercise on the balcony this morning was a very short one. Stepping out onto the balcony, barefoot and skyclad, I heard the wooden floorboards creak and crack, as they were frozen, and my toes tingled at once, touching snow, glazed with frost. I felt warm air from inside my apartment wafting around my back, as I stood near the door to the balcony, while Mother Nature gently blew frosty kisses onto my bare belly. Inhaling the crisp morning air deeply, I gazed into the clear, night-blue sky, seeing Orion to the west, getting ready to depart from the sky, and a crescent waning moon in the south-east, gazing coolly down on me...

I would rather be in a warmer place to do my powering up, relaxing and reflecting - like these four buddhas, captured in one photo ("reflection" is a key word in this respect, also when the number of buddhas is concerned...):

Well, considering the wintery circumstances, I will have to envision such a place, while doing relaxation and meditation indoors. Why was I doing my trademark morning exercise anyway, on a Saturday? Well, obviously, it's one of these Saturdays, when I have to do an office shift - and it's the one that separates me from starting a time of relaxing and recharging proper: one week of leave starts afterwards. So, when today's shift is done, I will happily make my exit from "The Matrix!" of office life, step out into life and prepare to have some weekend feeling for a whole eight days (counted from Sunday to Sunday), making sure to take any occasion to feel some Earth underfoot, when temperatures rise above frost level and the two inches of snow are receding (that might happen tomorrow, as temperatures are forecast to rise to 40F - 5°C).

A snow fairy dropped something...

"Woops, did I do that?"

Yes, I believe you did. The warnings were a bit exaggerated, as it turned out, since after starting to snow at around 8.30 am, a total of 3 to 4 centimeters (about two inches) of snow fell... The day started off like Thursday did: dry and slightly frosty, but with a quite chilly breeze blowing in from the west. That was what cut my nuddhist morning exercise short, since I could only last about two minutes on my balcony, feeling the cold wind on my skin, while inhaling the clear air.

I went to work barefoot, using the same cold-weather barefooting configuration as on Thursday, enjoying the cool and exhilaraaing sensation of frosty sidewalks at the bus stop and on my way to work as well as making contact with Mother Nature's cold skin, walking on grass before entering the office.

Later in the morning, people were going "Awww" at work, seeing the first snowflakes dance outside the office windows, and about an hour after it had started, I went outdoors for a break and decided to refresh myself, winter barefooter style, enjoying the fluffy cool feeling of the first inch of fresh snow underfoot.

Of course, these bare footprints were later covered by a bit more snow falling, but I'm sure they boggled the minds of people getting to the office parking lot after me for a little while...

On the downside, people started throwing around lots of grit and salt on the sidewalk, as soon as the flakes hit the town... I opted for keeping my foot coffins on on the way home (also due to having to wait for the bus, not wanting to have my bare feet get too cold, by having salt on my bare soles, thawing the snow and cooling my feet down too much). It felt so clunky and awkward to walk in them, even though they are comfortable-fit, wide enough to accomodate my broad feet, too. But still, nothing beats the natural gait of walking barefoot.

So, Friday has passed, now it's just a Saturday shift ahead of me, before starting my leave... and I will use that time to refresh and recharge properly, too.

Dancing barefoot and skyclad with an Ice Fairy...

This is indeed what Thursday felt like, especially in the early morning, when I started the work day in my trademark and typical way, doing my nuddhist breathing exercise in slightly frosty air at -1°C/30F. Inhaling the morning air, my sinuses cleared up instantly and I was able to stand on my balcony for several minutes, doing a nice cycle of gathering positive vibes and waking up instantly...

Drinking my mug of coffee afterwards felt like taking a magic potion to invigorate and strengthen me even further.

The slightly frosty conditions made me use an item of clothing which is considered by most people one of the worst fashion sins of the 1980s: leg-warmers. Dancers world-wide rely on thm to keel their ankles and calf muscles warm during training, and winter barefooters can do the same to keep the feet warm and circulated, even when touching frosty ground.

This was a morning to remember and stick to the rules of frost barefooting:

• Do not wear metal foot jewelry, such as toe rings,
• Dress up warm, including leg-warmers,
• Generously apply bag balm as insulation and skin care,
• Keep moving - bare feet warm themselves up while walking.

Feeling cool grass with rime and remains of slush underfoot...

Splashing bare toes in puddles was impossible - all puddles were frozen solid.

After arriving at the office and feeling my feet tingle nicely while they warmed up, I saw the day starting off with nice warm colors, and a beautiful sunrise and cloud painting. From indoors, it could have been a proper sunrise for a warm spring or early summer day.

The whole day was sunny, despite earlier warnings about snow - and I made sure to spend my breaks outdoors, soaking up some sun, boosting my positive energy levels a little between the hours of diving into numbers, facts and figures.

The slightly absurd moment of the day was seeing Captain Obvious in action, of all places in the men's bathroom at the office:

OK, I guess people might not notice that there is something missing, defunct or out of order... so, of course, a sign has to be put up. Just like no one expecting hot liquid in a paper cup of coffee has to be reminded of it by a printed notice on the cup.

Although, I would love to hear about a lawsuit, where someone tried to use the missing urinal by sticking his member into the drain hole and getting hurt in the process - just because a sign was missing!

Well, anything can happen. I've heard today, that someone has started a petition in the USA to build an original-sized Death Star in Earth orbit in order to ward off enemies from space... the only obstacle might be the cost of more than 12 billion dollars per citizen to get this done.

I'm not kidding about this... 1,600 people already signed it:
http://mashable.com/2012/12/04/white-house-death-star/

After work, I spent a little time receiving the usual gapes of disbelief from mainstream people, while doing a little barefoot shopping at one of the city malls, going first to an ATM and then to a drugstore to replenish my supplies of skin care products for my feet: two tubes of moisturizing urea cream.

And now, the week is almost done... with the Friday and a Saturday shift ahead of me, now only 1.75 days separate me from my leave. Oh, speaking of Friday, I mustn't forget this (since midnight has passed and Friday is now here as I'm writing this, it's well in order to celebrate it):

There is a certain sense of anticipation and suspense about Friday, courtesy of the weather service telling me about snowfall imminent, forecast to start on Friday morning, after the beginning of my shift, continuing during the day, predicted to bring us 10 to 15 centimeters of cold, white stuff (four to six inches for the non-metrics). Regional news programs have been busy on Thursday evening to warn us about the consequences to traffic - which might be severe, considering the after-work traffic bound to happen on a Friday afternoon.

So, I might be in for a little snow-footing tomorrow and on the weekend, too...

The peak of the week has been scaled!

Yes, indeed, the week at work has reached the nice point from where the rest of the week feels like an easy stroll downhill towards the weekend... in my case, it's also a (barefoot) stroll towards a week of leave. The only little bump on the way is not being able to evade a Saturday shift before that - so, it's 2.75 days to go until I have a week of leave to relax and recharge before the end of the year.

I hope that I will be able to spend some quality time barefoot outdoors, too... although the forecasts for the next days and next week tell me of frost ahead - there might be snow showers tonight, leaving the streets white and slippery tomorrow morning... Will there be a little snowfooting ahead when I go to work tomorrow? A chance to leave some barefoot prints in snow? We'll see...

This was, what my Win7 weather gadget told me this morning...

Since Monday, early morning temperatures have been near frost level, and I already forfeited the toe rings, applied bag balm and made sure to bundle up warmly, in order to keep warm enough overall. When standing at the bus stop, I did my toes workout to keep the circulation going: clench, stretch, wiggle, repeat... And it worked just fine.

As long as the toes stay pink, there's no reason to worry.

After energizing in the usual way in the morning (very invigorating at 2°C/35F), I had some extra Nature moments at the bus stop on the way to work: hearing an owl hoot in a garden nearby (the trademark "whoo-hoo-hoo" sound, as known from thriller movies), and then, several minutes later, seeing a car hit the brakes to avoid hitting an animal running across the road... Sleek, brown, fast and with its equally trademark bushy tail, a fox ran past me, only about three meters away, disappearing with a swift leap into the nearby shrubbery...

Maybe this was a foreshadowing of some more special moments, when having some time off to take barefoot winter walks during work days. For now, the next tasks and goals are to finish the week at work, by help of my positive power gathering every morning and spotting the beautiful moments.

(By the way: even a few minutes of meditation help in gathering good vibes - and it's not even necessary to sit in the lotus pose... meditating can be done standing, while walking slowly, sitting or lying down in a comfortable posítion. The main thing is to focus on unfocusing and breathing.)

I survived Monday!

Indeed, the much-dreaded first work day of the week, coinciding with the first work day of the month, too, has passed.

It's a little more than the usual office stress, when I have to do the reports on the past week, back-to-back with the monthly statement, fixing the bills to be sent to our client, again juggling facts, figures and numbers, being in charge of monetary amounts of more than a quarter-million Euros each month. This kind of responsibility often upsets my stomach and bowels a little, making me go to the office bathroom several times more often than usual...

However, I felt well-prepared for that day, having done some powering up and recharging on the weekend, as well as drawing positive energy during my usual morning exercises and the barefoot way to work. This Monday morning, the air felt quite cool at only 2°C/36F, and the nearly frosty ground proved to be a real challenge to barefooting, especially when standing at the bus stop. Walking worked fine to keep the circulation going, but when waiting for the bus, I had to do some toe workout (clenching, stretching, wiggling, repeat...) to keep them from becoming too cold. Despite applying a protective and insulating coat of bag balm onto my bare feet, I could feel the coldth pool at my toes, due to my still wearing the usual silver toe rings.

But, it turned out to be bearable, and I arrived at the office nicely refreshed and also relaxed, after walking on cool and wet grass before entering the office building, thereby taking some Mother Earth energy inside with me. The sky was cloudy and hazy, and so I witnessed another energizing and awe-inspiring sight, as Mother Nature had dipped her paint brushes into the fiery dye pots again to present me a really impressive cloud painting at sunrise:

During the day, the weather unfolded as this fiery sky had portended: with a cold drizzle falling, occasional sleet and snowflakes dancing through the slight rain as well. But since the temperatures stayed just above frost level, there was no snow lying on the ground to kiss my bare toes on the way home. However, the now wet ground intensified the cold sensation on my toes around my toe rings, and I made a note to myself to take them off, before taking the next barefoot walk to work.

So, today it's Tuesday, I am ready to face the rest of the week at work with more ease and I'm happily continuing my count-down to having a week off after four more office days (including today).

Today's strategy at the office:

Telling my colleagues, that today is one of these days:

Doing reports on last week and having to do the monthly statement requires me to concentrate and therefore lock out as much disturbance as possible...