California Fever

A Day at the Races

Let me see if I can recap our weekend...  Left for the gig in Mill Valley (post below) right after I got home from work on Friday...got home at 3 am...three hours of sleep...then off to Wal-Mart in Dixon to pick up some last-minute items for J's road trip and also some yard supplies...back to Davis...lunch in a huge Mexican restaurant downtown where we were the only customers (strange)...then to Ace Hardware for the remaining yard stuff...spent a couple of hours doing our annual May clean-up in the yard...then to DQ for sundaes to reward ourselves...back home...J took to the couch to watch some golf (and get some much-needed rest since he'd done all of the driving to and from the night before)...and I went back to Ace to grab a few more pots to finish repotting some plants...repotted the plants...then retired to bed for a nap...we both slept a little longer than expected and he woke me at 9 so we could have some dinner...stayed up late reading blogs...up early on Sunday...went around blogosphere leaving Mother's Day messages...on the road by 8:30, headed to Oakland Airport...made Mother's Day calls from car...met up with some of the band guys to take care of some business stuff...then to Carrows with manager and road manager for breakfast...back to Joe's house to hang for a bit, met up with another band member...found out road manager plans to have them leave tonight rather than tomorrow morning (yikes!)...dropped manager at BART for his trip to SFO to fly back to Kansas City...then off to Golden Gate Fields, where I took J for his first real horse racing experience (more on that below)...left after the 7th race for the 45-minute drive home, driving through In-and-Out back home for some take-out...wolfed down burgers...began gathering up and sorting laundry...off to the laundromat...back home to start packing his bag and simultaneously tidying up a bit...all the while watering the yard in preparation for lawn re-seeding he plans to do today...back to the laundromat to dry and fold...back home to drop laundry and move sprinkler...off to Rite-Aid, didn't have what he needed...back to Wal-Mart in Dixon...back home to finalize packing...make to-do list for today...make bed with fresh linens...climb in with a novel...fall asleep (thank god).

As long as I've known Jeffrey, I've wanted to take him to the races.  It's sort of a tradition in our family, but I'd been away from California for at least a decade (before we moved to Davis), so hadn't been to Golden Gate Fields in years.  We arrived just in time for the 3rd race--a turf one (in the upper left photo).  All of the other races were on the track, but I didn't snap photos because I was too busy watching and yelling for our horses.  We have a family friend who's a (quite successful) trainer there.  He had a horse running in the 7th race--his (the horse's) first-ever race.  I bet it to win (of course), but it didn't place.  That's it in the upper right corner.  Jeffrey enjoyed the experience, but thought it was 'a lot of work!' :) When I'm with family we usually hang out in the turf club, but I wanted it to feel up-close-and-personal for him, so I'd drag him to the paddock before each race to get a good look at the horses (he loved that part), we'd make our picks, place our bets and then go to the rail on the track to watch.  And I suppose it does seem like 'work' when you're trying to decipher the Racing Form and thinking about all of the variables that go into picking a horse (or horses).  I tried to advance his betting a little along the standard bet, but 'boxing the exacta' made his head spin, so we kept it simple.  We never bet more than $2 on any horse and bet very safe (betting on favorites several times).  We watched 5 races, got a bit of our money back, and ended up losing only $8.  Plus Sundays are Dollar Day, so parking, entrance, programs, soda, hot dogs are all $1.  Can't beat that.  :)

second chance

Today's prompt at Sunday Scribblings is "second chance."  My entry is here.

Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms out there! 

We have to drive down to Oakland this morning to take care of some band business stuff.  Going to try to find something fun to do after that...or maybe we'll just come back home and enjoy our cleaned-up yard and relax before we watch the Warriors game.  This is my last full day with J in awhile and I plan to savor it.  He leaves Tuesday morning for a month on the road with one of the bands he plays with.  You can check out the itinerary here.

Have a good one!

Sweetwater II

A few photos from last night's gig at Sweetwater in Mill Valley.  I wrote a long post early this morning about our evening last night, but before I hit "publish" I surfed over to some other sites...Firefox froze...and I lost the whole stupid thing.  Don't feel like re-creating it, so you'll have to settle for these photos.  The first one is a picture of Joe that we realized was hanging right above us when we were first hanging out after J set up his drums.  Everybody and their uncle has played Sweetwater.  It's a legendary place, and photos hang throughout the club as testament to that.  There's a mike stand in front of J in the photos with him in it--oh, well. He just bought those Yamaha drums off eBay.  They arrived a week ago and he hadn't played them until last night.  The custom kit he's been playing for the past two years is en route to a brand-new recording studio in St. Thomas as their house kit.  The last picture is of Joe playing some mean slide guitar.  The place was packed and everyone seemed to be having a good time.  It was sort of a goodbye show, as the guys leave Tuesday morning for a month on the road.

We got home about 3 am, but were up very early.  Hit Wal-Mart for some stuff for him to take on the road plus some garden supplies.  Stopped for a lunch at a big Mexican restaurant downtown here in Davis...and the place was deserted.  We were the only customers (and it's a BIG place).  That was odd.  Then we headed to Ace Hardware for a few more yard supplies.  And now, guess what we're about to do...  J's gonna repair this funky lawn, leaving me with watering duty while he's gone.  We also bought some tomato plants.  Time to weed the beds...

poetry in a journal

I rarely write poetry away from the keyboard...and rarely beyond the minute I sit down to write.  But last evening as I crawled into bed, novel in hand, I suddenly heard a couple of lines in my head (the proverbial 'out of nowhere' of course).  So I grabbed a journal on the bedside table--one sent to me by Carmen, for my poetry actually (thanks again, Carmen!)--and wrote this.  This whole 'writing in regular moments instead of just rushing at the keyboard to post before work' thing is kinda cool...I might have to try it more often.  ;)

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On a separate note, I finally succumbed and signed up for Twitter.  We'll see how it fits in with everything else (considering everything else I'm NOT getting done).  It seems to me that Twitter is sort of like blogging crack.  I mean that in a good way, of course!  ;)  I put a badge in the left sidebar that will take you to my profile.  Just don't expect any scintillating reading.  My life is really very DULL...and even duller when having to describe it in 140 characters or less.  What really threw me for a loop though was I tried to sign up twice yesterday before work with no success...tried again last night and got in...but when I was finally able to access my account, it said "Welcome back!" and I already had 5 friends...only 2 of whom I knew!  Um.  Okay. 

single

Today's Poetry Thursday poem is over here.  This week's prompt was to use PT's new random prompt generator to create a poem.  It gave me "single" this morning, so that's what I went with.

Ten Zen Seconds

I think Eric Maisel's Ten Zen Seconds might be my new favorite thing...even though I haven't tried it yet.  Maisel is a prolific author and considered by many to be the Granddaddy of creativity coaching.  I've never read any of his books, but his most recent one sounds like a gem.  I discovered it via a comment Catherine left at Poetry Thursday in Liz Elayne's post here.  In that post, Liz offers a gentle reminder on how we can let go of self-judgment.  (Although, to be honest, I'd say I've probably spent more time lately sitting in judgment of others.  But I think I'm ready to hang up my robe, hand over my gavel and walk away from the bench...)

Catherine interviewed Maisel as part of his recent blog tour and you can read the interview here.

In that interview, Maisel says Ten Zen Seconds is:

"...a very simple but powerful technique for reducing your stress, getting yourself centered, and reminding yourself about how you want to live your life."

"You use a deep breath, five seconds on the inhale and five seconds on the exhale, as a container for important thoughts that aim you in the right direction in life..."

He's developed what he calls 12 "incantations," and in the blog interview he lists them divided by inhale and exhale.  You know how you read or come across something and it seems so simple that you start thinking it can't possibly work--it's too easy!  I suspect a lot of people might have the same initial reaction to Ten Zen Seconds.  Read some of the reviews here.  It sounds from those reviews like this simple little technique might lead to big shifts. 

"...reminding yourself about how you want to live your life."  And the idea of using our breath as a "container for important thoughts that aim you in the right direction in life."  If ever I needed a reminders about mindful breathing and right direction, it's lately.  I'm going give Ten Zen Seconds a try.

digging

I'm about as far from a gardener as a person can be, but the book Digging Deep by Fran Sorin caught my eye recently on a sale table at Borders.  The subtitle is "Unearthing Your Creative Roots through Gardening."  Our duplex's yard requires minimal upkeep.  The landlord's gardening service mows and edges the lawn, and the city crews trim the street's trees.  All we do is maintain the beds and water the lawn (and the landlord pays for the water.  And it's time to break out the sprinkler, since our temps have reached the 90's.)  I've been telling Jeffrey that before he heads out on tour (next week), I want us to clean out the beds and plant some tomatoes.  Our first year here we had tomatoes galore!

From the introduction in Digging Deep:

"...what we are aiming at in this book is not being specifically creative in terms of a project, but being generally creative in terms of how we approach life.  Creativity is not something we do; it is something we embody.  I believe the ultimate goal is not to be more creative, but to learn how to live creatively."

"Living creatively means approaching each moment as an opportunity to be more spontaneous.  It means opening to possibility, exploring, trusting your instincts, and owning and expressing your unique style.  It means being true to your needs, experimenting, taking risks, staying flexible, and not always having to rush to conclusion.  A person living creatively is always pushing toward new growth, as the psychologist Rollow May says, not without fear, but in spite of it."

"In its simplest form, gardening is simply the process of actively relating with some sort of plant life.  I have little old ladies come to my workshops who have only African violets on their coffee tables, but they are emotionally invested in caring for these little plants.  By all means, these ladies are gardening!"

I think that's why growing tomatoes two years ago (and we also had some bell and chili peppers) gave me such a rush!  I'd never grown vegetables before, and I was amazed that they were growing in spite of my lack of gardening skills!  I was definitely emotionally invested in those tomato plants, and truly enjoyed eating every one of them that we picked. 

ocean

it's your depth that has haunted
me most of my life the unknowing
vast deepness that can swallow
people and things without warning
friends' fathers very nearly my brother
my town's downtown former classmates
like the ebb and flow of your waves
you simultaneously draw me to you
with the rhythmic solace of your soundtrack
while repelling me with the constant
awareness of your dangerous power
you change color with your moods grow
churlish with anger then placid with calm
more than any other part of nature
you give me what i need and provide me
with a constant reminder of who's really
in charge

Greensburg

I've spent the day until now (late afternoon) in bed, getting some much needed rest and sleep.  Reading fiction when I wasn't sleeping.  I just wanted to pop in to say that in between my bed time, I've been following the Greensburg story online since early this morning, and my heart goes out to that poor town.  They must be in such shock.  I know how shocked my little town felt when we lost our entire downtown to a tsunami when I was a kid...but Greensburg has lost its entire town.  It's heartbreaking to think that once they've had a chance to go through the debris and rubble, there may be more victims.  One more reminder that in an instant, everything can change.

It says here that the best help we can provide right now is to give monetary donations to the local chapter of the Red Cross or the Salvation Army.

A surprise!

Poetry Thursday came and went and not a poem was heard in my head.  Oh well.  Work was still very busy yesterday, but not the zoo it had been the day before.  I had J drive me to and from work yesterday.  After biking in the rain on Wednesday (not a fun way to start the day), I felt like starting my day in a more civilized fashion yesterday.  So I had him first drive me through Starbucks for a green tea latte (my new fave) before dropping me at the office half an hour early.  We had errands to run after work and found ourselves in Woodland (our neighbor to the north) before heading to the airport in Sacramento to pick up his rental car. (He took our car on the road last weekend and it's fine--he just doesn't like adding tons of miles to it.  And at $17/day, he might as well jump in a sporty-looking, candy apple red Chrysler Sebring.)  He leaves this morning for L.A.  They play in Santa Monica tonight...(I love L.A....wish I was going.)...and Fresno tomorrow night before heading home on Sunday.

For the last two weeks, I've been zipping back and forth at work between our conference room (which has been re-keyed as a secure storage room for testing materials for a few weeks) and the office.  I returned to my desk for a few minutes yesterday afternoon and as I walked by, Carolyn excitedly waved me into her office.  There was a lovely young woman sitting on the arm of her loveseat and a large stroller blocking her doorway.  I didn't know the woman, but Carolyn seemed to want me to meet her, so I squeezed by in the narrow space between the open door and the stroller, turned around and saw that it was TAYLOR!  Yes, Taylor Parker was in our office!  Tammy (Taylor's mom) and Taylor decided to surprise Carolyn at work. (I'd never met Tammy in person either.) I can't even describe how stunned I was.  After all these months, to finally meet Taylor in person...I just would have never expected that it would be in our office!  Carolyn gives me an update after each of her hospital visits, so I've been able to keep abreast of how Taylor's doing--her ups and downs.  But I didn't know she was getting out and about!  It's a recent development; the family has a new specially-equipped van.  (I don't know if what she was in is really a stroller, so to speak, but stroller-like.  Imagine a large stroller rather than a wheelchair.)  How freeing it must feel for Taylor and Tammy to be able to get out and do things after being stuck in hospital rooms for the past several months.  Carolyn has told me that feeling has returned to Taylor's arms and legs...but still no movement.  There's a fundraiser for Taylor tomorrow night in Woodland. 

I told Taylor that I was going to go home and post on my blog about her fabulous surprise visit to our office, because I wanted to let all of the people all over the world who've been sending her good wishes and prayers know how she's doing.  If you read the April 30th post on her blog, you'll read about how she got to see her horses and feed them with her mouth.  Reading that made me realize yet again how intuitive and empathic our animals can be towards us.

A few weeks back, Carolyn was having a rough week.  So I went to the Dollar Store and filled up a gift bag with some silly stuff.  One was a small lavender plush bunny.  Carolyn's very much into natural healing, and outside of our school's garden, her office is probably the most healing place on campus.  She has a small fountain and candles and aromatic oils.  She decided the bunny needed to live next to the fountain, on a corner of a long shelf near her desk.  I was only able to visit with Taylor for a few minutes before I had to head back to the conference room, but Carolyn told me later that Taylor had spotted the bunny.  Carolyn held it to Taylor's face (it's very soft) and then told her she could have it.  She said she started to put the bunny under Taylor's arm, but she wanted it by her face.  Carolyn set it next to her face, and she said Taylor leaned her face against it and seemed very happy to have it there.

Sometimes one small thing can be a very big deal.  A $1.00 plush toy nestled against the one part of Taylor's body that she can move.  I'm going to take that as a lesson today...and try to pay attention to the places in my life where I can do one small thing to give someone one bright spot in their day.

If you've been following Taylor's story--and many of you have shown her such an outpouring of love and support--please stop by her blog and say "Hi."  It would be nice for her to know that we're all still thinking about her.