Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Just back from the desert with these darling people


It was a tough retreat but I now have a food handler's certificate for San Bernadino, woo-hoo. Don't  ask. Joshua Tree National Park is soooo alien to my NW life. I kept touching cactus (don't, really) and pulling out thorns with tweezers for  the next few days. After the retreat was over, we repaired to a BNB that had a hot tub, a TV and big soft beds. Eden came with her massive cooking skills so we ate beautiful food. I am so grateful to these women in my life. More than I can ever say.

Monday, January 13, 2020

Dears,

It's snowing here and we're all contemplating alternative routes to work, if there is work or school tomorrow. In advance of the snow, I went  to the Safeway. What a mistake. Huge lines and  I had to wonder if I really needed rice crackers (yes they still taste like cardboard) and a yam. The guy behind me said he would continue to gain weight stuck in the house. He had  yogurt dipped pretzels, two kinds of Ben and Jerry's and a whole lotta other stuff. I didn't mean to be nosy but I'm pretty sure there weren't any vegetables in his cart.

I sent out a big email with the update on my 70th birthday. Next month. On the Oregon coast. Folks are coming from far and wide. Bad poetry night, game night, a treasure hunt and so forth. Plus dogs and kids. And my brother and sister, what's left of the siblings. Much food will be  consumed too.

A cross section of people are coming: gay, straight, trans, POC,  Jewish, Buddhist, agnostic, a woman who is a zoo keeper for gorillas (surely a faith-based occupation).

Snow is still falling. I do love it.

Sunday, January 12, 2020

Monday, January 06, 2020

In spite of the weather here right now (rain, gray, cold, yuck), we often get to see the beauty that is Tahoma, the First Nations name for Mt Rainier. Tahoma means white capped or snow covered. And she hangs on to her white head all year because she is very tall.

When we hiked the Wonderland Trail  around the mountain back when, the astonishment of the daily hike compelled us forward. Fields of wild flowers, shallow ponds full of tiny tadpoles, view after view of the peak from different angles, snow fields we crossed,  mountain goats and ground squirrels. The only place I have even been that close was Glacier Bay in Alaska. Astonishing.



Please see this film if you can. Paul Stamets is here in the NW and he taught and studied at my very alma mater, Evergreen.

In a week I'm going to Joshua Tree, which is the desert outside LA. Also splendid.

It's so easy to love the Earth.


Thursday, January 02, 2020

I must tell you about the sing-along Messiah Judith and I went to because, well, I must. First of all, I usually go to the Unit church, you know, the Unitarians. They have a real orchestra and a packed house of singers and mountains of cookies for the breaks. Oh, and a really, um, hot conductor with a half white and half brown eyebrow. So there's that. And they give away prizes and let one of us conduct the Hallelujah chorus.

However.

This year I was out of town for that event so we went to another church and so.

The conductor has recently had two knee replacements which he reminded us of a lot. The orchestra was skimpy, very skimpy. And no trumpet. :-(. I mean, how can you sing, "The trumpet will sound" without a trumpet. In fact the only woodwind we had was a clarinet which was quite squeaky. And the violin was cringy. The cellos were ok and thank gawd for the piano.

We stumbled around quite a bit. Some of those choruses are tricky without strong singers and I am not what I would call a strong singer.

The whole thing lasts 3+ hours on a good day but with one thing and another we took almost 4 hours. At one point I looked at Judith and her eyes were closed. I thought she might be meditating but she told me later she was sleeping a little. Oh dear.

Anyway, the Hallelujah chorus sounded splendid. You really can't fuck that one up.

May we all survive 2020 with sanity intact. Avoiding all but the most pressing news would be a start for me. Every tweet from the asshole in the White House is not necessary to know about.

More love. More joy.