Category Archives: Life

What are you watching today?

Tonight the “Supermoon” may be thirty percent brighter than all the other full moons of 2012. Supermoon explained – NASA

That’s what I’m watching tonight, over Folsom Lake, along with the man I love, and some other folks. We might even howl at the full moon.

Where will your travels take you? May it be a beautiful night for all. 🙂

The Still, Quiet Place

I’m finishing up a wonderful class, taught by Dr. Amy Saltzman, MD., called Still Quiet Place ~ Mindfulness for Children, to improve my mindful teaching skills. The registration materials said the class provides training in the Still Quiet Place curriculum which Dr. Amy has used in California schools. It did that beautifully, but also offered so much more.

One of the secrets to good teaching is mastery of the content – the stuff you want to teach. Amy’s expertise in this area is irreproachable. She is a highly respected professional in this field. As a physician who expanded her practice to include holistic medical care, she understands the science and humanity of truly caring for people. Her work is based on thirty years of research. She cares well for adults, including those of us in her class, but it is her work with, and on behalf of children that brought me to her class.

Dr. Amy Saltzman’s Still Quiet Place cd’s for children and teens were among the first mindfulness resources I posted here. Watching her actually teach the material, and respond to issues children spontaneously bring up, is watching a master practitioner at work.

I will post more on what it’s like being in a class with dedicated practitioners from around the country, and the world. But for now, Welcome:

Welcome, soft, grey doves, 

cooing your gentle cry: 
We have arrived.
Welcome song, 

shadows, 
pairing,
bobbing heads and black pearl eyes.

Welcome to the food, 

the drops of water glistening in
Morning’s sunshine; 
help yourself to these seeds, 
this space,
this air we breathe together in, 
this air the geraniums breathe out. 
Come back, if you like, when the tomatoes are full and ripe.
There is enough.


Cognitive load

My brain is blessed. I’m in my last week of our amazing Still Quiet Place mindfulness class, the week after the Northern California Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators conference!


Cognitive load, but in a good way 🙂


To my writer friends at home and in California, and fellow SQP practitioners, thank you for the poetry of many minds.

Humorous cards

So… these are the kinds of cards you get after your shoulder makes a funny “pop!” sound.

I am so grateful for loving friends. And especially, their senses of humor.
🙂

You don’t get to pick everything that picks you.

But you do get to pick the cards.

And where the cards others choose for you go.

Best Short Film Since That Squirrel in “Ice Age”

This film, “Validation”,  is a short film about free parking. Well, ostensibly about free parking. It’s actually about a lot more than that. I never saw this in a theatre, but the silver lining is, it won the award!  

A wonderful short film on YouTube; today’s gift to make you smile 🙂

Patio menagerie

Did you ever hear the song, or read the book, There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly?

The birds are at my feeders this morning. (This is a west coast day, so it’s the apartment patio, instead of the house deck.) A pair of red finches, a pair of yellow, two grey doves, an assortment of sparrows, and the occasional blue jay have appeared so far.  It was difficult to achieve!

A neighborhood squirrel noticed the bird feeders.  The squirrel scared away the birds, so I added a huge abalone shell full of bird seed on the ground at the bottom of the feeders for the squirrel.  Happy squirrel. Happy birds.

Then came the cat. A neighbor’s white cat was hiding under the patio table one day.  My husband thought it was watching the birds, until the cat leaped for the squirrel! Hmmm.

I’ve invited my friend’s dog over for a “play date”. He can’t wait to meet the cat.

Live Poetry by Billy Collins

Sometimes, when I read one of Billy Collins’ magnificent poems, I wonder why I even try. But then I think, he started somewhere, too.

I’m sharing this because Billy Collins always makes me smile.  May you smile today, as well! 🙂

Ted Talk: Former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins

John Stewart on Health Care for Women

It seems only a man with a sense of humor can present this so convincingly to men, (and reassuringly to women!)  Thank you, John Stewart, for inviting an actual female, Cecile Richards, onto your program to discuss health care that affects females, and the males they love (or at least find attractive :-D).


Oh, and the economy. 

Sometimes it feels, lately, like the Taliban has sneaked into our country, not in beards and caps, but debates and ClearChannel Radio! 

Bravo.  I’d ask John Stewart to run for President, but not until he’s found someone equally able to cover the issues in such an intelligent, yet humorous manner. Any suggestions?

John Stewart on Women’s Health interviewing Cecile Richards

Well done 🙂

Broken $%!# – my new theme song

…and where in Sacramento to hear live music:

I recently wrote to my favorite Sacramento storytelling musician, Justin Farren.  I couldn’t really tell my story properly without the soundtrack of one of his songs.

Once I shared with Justin Farren the highlights of my arrival in Sacramento, including

  • being hit by a car while riding my bike;
  • getting a 911 bill for being hit by a car;
  • receiving, by mail, a ticket for being hit by the car, since the driver said it was my fault;
  • successfully demonstrating to the judge through overabundant pictures and video of the intersection that my story was the true version;
  • finally, discovering that my wobbly, car-crash bicycle had been stolen,
Justin agreed to let me post this link to his song, Broken Shit.  It’s my new Sacramento theme song. He said “that’s a crazy story!” But every time I play his song on my ipod, I laugh, thinking of the crazy irony of that thief somewhere when the wheel falls off my bike.

Justin tells great stories. Just listen to “Where did I leave my sweater?” or “Shade Tree”, two of his other funny songs, or any of his more contemplative material.  When you see some sorry times, you more deeply appreciate the juxtaposition of humor that floats around the edges.

So even though I’m not particularly grateful for the thief with the cable cutter, or the driver who hit me and fibbed about it, (but turned out to be getting married the following week, so I forgave her), or especially, the various agencies that attempted to take advantage of me after I’d been hit by a car, I  am grateful for a sense of humor, persistence, a cheap little camera, and especially, a new theme song.

Thanks, Justin.     Justin’s website (I wish I had a guitar icon here!)

Oh, yes – a couple of little places to hear live acoustic music in Sacramento:


The Way

As a visitor to Sacramento, I’ve met some wonderful folks, but today set out on my own to see a movie all by myself.

I just saw a film that I loved, called The Way. Emilio Estevez directs and acts with his father, Martin Sheen, in a touching film about a physical and spiritual journey. I saw an interview of the two of them that made me want to see this, and it was worth the trip. Loss is inevitable – a natural part of life. Sometimes loss can make room in your heart for new gifts.