Across the Universe

Finally got to see the movie "Across the Universe" on DVD. Wish I had seen it in the theater at least once. It was "trippy". A real stroll down memory lane. I cried with every song. I remembered when each song came out and what I was doing and thinking. I realized that was 40 years ago and more. I remember when I saw the Beatles in 1964 at the Cow Palace in San Francisco with my cousins Frank and George (Frank's younger brother), my aunt Frances and my Mom, Katie. I don't remember if anyone else was with us. I was 16. Imagine going to something like that with your mother! Things have changed. We didn't think it was strange. We were happy they took us. When the Beatles came out everyone started screaming and jumping up and down, even our mothers! I made my way through the crowd and actually started climbing on to the stage, reaching for John. He was closest to the side I was on, although Paul was my favorite. A female cop grabbed me an threatened to take me to the infirmary if I tried it again. Of course, I obeyed. In the west, popular music defines an era. The Beatles were a huge part of my younger days. The film uses their music effectively and appropriately. Earlier in the day, I had gone to a reading and book signing by Natalie Goldberg. She said she has been earning a living writing for 21 years. She's written 11 books. Her latest one Old Friend from Far Away. She talked about how a memoir could cover a part of your life. It was not a chronological account, but, say, your life in terms of lemon-meringue pie. This film shows how our lives were interwoven with the music of the Beatles. How it defined a generation. From the naivete of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" to "Why Don't We Do It in the Road". We all changed a lot in one decade. The whole world changed a lot in that decade.

On the Way to Enlightenment

For my readers, please forgive some of the strange ads that are appearing these days. The device they give us to screen and delete these ads is not working right now, so... Sorry! Perhaps that's because of Mercury Retrograde. Wow! I had no idea so much time went by since my last post! Well, you know what they say about time. I've been taking two on-line courses that take way-too-much-time (Powerpoint and Dreamweaver). My website www.wisewomenofthewest.com is continually evolving and growing and these programs will take it to a whole new level. I've also been "having fun" doing things way outside my comfort zone and expanding myself out into the world. One thing is the Enlightened Entrepreneurs Intensive training by Edward Mills. That is definitely pushing my buttons, (yes, I still have buttons) and Jane Bell's Flower Essence Practitioner Training which is moving things around in my psyche and emotional center. I guess it's time for inner-work again and flower essences can certainly do that. I had quite an experience Saturday with a colony of deep orange flowers and a hummingbird. Marvelous! Hummingbird has special significance in the indigenous religions of Mexico and since I am currently expanding my life into Mexico, it was a gift to have that encounter.

Wise Men I Know

Yes, as I said before, I am for harmony and balance. I gotta tell you about my cousin Frank. At 60 he ran his first marathon last year in Las Vegas and loved it so much he's doing it again this year. Here he is at the beginning of the race where it's 32 degrees!!! It was a fund raiser for the SF AIDS Foundation and he raised way more than expected. When he wrote me and said "I am training for the 2008 San Francisco Marathon. It is a fund raiser for the SF AIDS Foundation. For more info click on the web link
SF Marathon", I couldn't believe it. This guy has discipline! He's been working out for at least 25 years or something.
Here he is at the end of the marathon last year - 26 miles!!! .
I bet he's warmed up now. He has always been special to me. Better than a brother, a best friend. As kids we saw every horror movie they made. One time we saw a double-feature (yeah, we could see a double-feature for a quarter) "Giant Gila Monsters" and "Attack of the Monster Shrews" or something like that, 3 times each before our mothers picked us up. Usually we just went on our own, but that time they had dropped us off and told us to stay there until they came back. They had a flat-tire or something and it took hours. No cell phones then. We knew the dialog by heart. In high school we both loved to dance and danced together because nobody else knew how. We belonged to a square dance club and went roller-skating. In our twenties we went to Hawaii and Canada. He was in my wedding. He taught me about the Law of Attraction before it was popular. He has always been a positive "can do, will do" guy and I will always love him. Good Luck Frank!

Eek! I'm Turning into a Geek!

Yes, I'm afraid it's true. Although there are those who might say I've always been one. The word did not exist when I was in high school, nor did the word 'nerd' for that matter. How old is she? you are probably asking yourself at this point. Well, let's just say when I was in high school, I was in the "smart" class and most of the guys in that class were definitely what I would call nerds. I guess that made me one too. So what's happening now? I'm taking 3 on-line classes from Santa Rosa Junior College, and between those and all the other things I have going on, I think I spend at least 10 hours a day or more, on a computer at home. I am hoping to learn enough Dreamweaver to put up my own website because the platform I am currently using is so inflexible and I want to improve the appearance. I have many plans for www.wisewomenofthewest.com . Might I add that you can now purchase some of my herbal products and several different astrology reports from there using PayPal. I have had to schedule "days off" now that I work from home since I am actually working more now than ever. But I love the flexibility of being able to eat when I wish and wear what I want. That was always a problem for me. I am a grazer and like to nibble small amounts of food throughout the day. Most jobs have a "lunch hour" usually a half-hour in which you must force-feed yourself in order to stay alive. And the breakfast thing was also a problem. I just can't eat when I get up in the morning. I need time to see what I want to put on my stomach. When you work "in the world", you either don't eat at all or you make yourself eat something to "start your day right". Let's not get into the issues I always had with the bathroom, except to say that my last job as a Letter Carrier was a real doozy in that department. Out on the route as a Rural Carrier, I had to find places in the woods. As a City Carrier, I sometimes had to ask people to let me in their house. That is really embarrassing and if you deliver mail in a neighborhood where everyone is away at work, man, you are really in trouble. Since you can't "deviate" from the route, you can't get in your truck and drive to a public bathroom. So, again, you have to closely monitor your food and beverage intake so that you won't have to "go" for the several hours you are out on the route. I wonder how many Letter Carriers end up with bladder and colon problems? Hmmm, I wonder if anyone is doing research on that one? Oh, I'm so glad those days are over. Now, back to my .....

Wise Women I Have Met

As you may have noticed if you've been following this blog, I write about a number of subjects. It's just the beginning. As the title of the blog and my website www.wisewomenofthewest indicate, I am interested in empowering women (not at the expense of men), but as a step toward the balance that needs to occur for human beings to move towards harmony with Nature. In tune with empowering women, I want to tell you about Deanna L'am who I met at our Joy Road Fall Art Walk and Sale in Occidential. She was with her delightful daughter, who sort of reminded me of myself at her age. Deanna is a wise woman if ever there was one. She has a beautiful website at www.deannalam.com. And a new book out:
Becoming Peers - Mentoring Girls into Womanhood, (Red Moon Publishing, soft cover, 168 pages).

New Year's Revolutions

Back from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where I got a chance to practice my Spanish for a change. We went to Guadalajara (another "Spanish" word that comes from Arabic), for a few days and I loved the area known as Tlaquepaque. I could have spent a lot more time there. As for New Year's Resolutions, I usually don't bother to make them since I am continuously checking in with myself to see what I'm up to and how it fits into my goals. I have launched both this blog and my website www.wisewomenofthewest.com and they are starting to have a life of their own so I plan to spend more time working on them. I just heard from Edward Mills www.evolvingtimes.com about a great blogging class.

I'm evaluating a

multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they're letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

• The best blogging techniques.
• How to get traffic to your blog.
• How to turn your blog into money.

I'll let you know what I think once I've had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it's still free.

I can't believe how much my life has changed since I started blogging! It's as if I have connected to a different frequency. My entire outlook on life has shifted. While in Mexico, I made many new friends and may be starting a project that will further change my life. It was real nice being in that 80 degree weather. While lounging in the hot sun, I found out about the huge storm here in Sonoma County. Gee, I'm so sorry I missed it. So... the idea of spending "winter" in Mexico is looking good.

To the Land of Quetzalcoatl

I'll be going to Puerto Vallarta New Year's Day .
for about 10 days. Glenn and La Sirena (his sailboat) made it down there after a not-so-auspicious start. His engine pooped out just a few miles out of the Golden Gate and he had to be towed in to his first stop at Half Moon Bay. After spending a day driving up and down the peninsula in my car to find parts (good thing I have one - he got rid of both of his vehicles prior to leaving), he was able to fix her and get her going again. Since then it's been smooth sailing.
Now he's in Puerto Vallarta and I'm flying down for a few days. A welcome change from the near freezing cold we've been having here. We will probably go to Guadalajara for a couple days and another small town he stopped in on the way down the coast and loved. Just finished reading 2012: Return of Quetzalcoatl. Interesting "coincidence" that I'll be going to Mexico. The book really got me thinking. Autobiographical at times, scholarly at times, the author is clearly on a search for meaning and purpose. Lots of information and a great bibliography. I'm taking the crop circle thing more seriously after this book.
In fact I'm developing my own theory about many ancient sites like Stonehenge and the Great Pyramid after reading this book. Another "coincidence": I finished the book and two days later got my latest copy of Archaeology Magazine with the cover story about Stonehenge! Daniel Pinchbeck writes extensively about his experiences in England visiting the ancient sites and crop circles that appeared while he was there. Like Pinchbeck, I have pursued many paths and done a great deal of research on seemingly strange subjects (not to me, but to my family). I have wondered from time-to-time why I have done this. Certainly not to make money, because until now, I have made very little from these pursuits. If anything, what I was learning made it harder to live and work within the current system because I could not perceive any "magic" or "soul" there. I felt called, led by the information itself like following a pied-piper. Pinchbeck writes a lot about how our concepts and structures of time affect the way we think. Since I studied for a doctorate in Mayan Studies many years ago, I was curious about this book because I dreaded one more wacko book on the Maya. To his credit, he includes the wacko and the academic (which to some, may be even more wacko). Perspective changes everything. He asks many questions and gives answers from many points of view without dictating any solution. He does give a convincing argument for both the need for a change of consciousness and the evidence that the change is occurring. My website: www.wisewomenofthewest.com continues to evolve.