A stunningly beautiful day--an early walk with Rainey.  We talked a little bit about the treatment her daughter is undergoing for possible leukemia.  

Right now, Fumiko is in the garden, on the ladder up in the grapefruit tree.  She wants to make grapefruit juice.

Sunday Robert and I went to Chinatown. We looked at all the shops and ate dim sum. I was looking for more Chinese slippers (I've been wearing them for 40 years, and only wear this one type of slipper.)  The prettiest are the black velvet with a sequinned dragon, but those might be an endangered species.  I didn't find any.  The style are changing, so I had to buy the red ones with sequinned flowers--pretty but rather boring in design.  I also bought an elegant little Chinese doll with hip-length braids. 

At night, I'm still immersed in reading the travel tales of Paul Theroux in his book Riding the Iron Rooster Through China.  I love it and don't want it to end.  I'd never be able to hold up visiting in the frigid Siberian and Mongolian wintertime.  

The fog has come back to rescue  us from sweltering.  

I had an early walk with Rainey, and then Fumiko and I worked on the agendas for the October Japanese programs in beginning, intermediate and advanced numerology--plus the special class for professionals who want to add new techniques to their practices. 

At 3:30 pm, I took Anders and Auggie and we played in the backyard--Anders made some secret rocket potions and Auggie watched (and was scared by) the wind blowing through the banana plants.  Where does the wind go when it's not windy? I asked him.  "Bananas," he said.

Tomorrow Gunther and Eliza, Anders and Auggie go off to diabetes camp, south of here (they go to Fresno and on from there.)  I know it will be great for all of them to meet other families with diabetes.  So, I had them all over for fajitas tonight.  Gunther grilled the chicken, and vegetables.  Fumiko gave  Anders and Auggie the little foam planes she brought back from Japan (made in China.)

 It's a slow summer, and very rich.  Robert and I watched a magnificent documentary last night--a series on How Art Changed the World.  Last night was on how humans process the idea of death through art--for example, now we keep photographs of our deceased loved ones--and before now the ancient world had a go at it.  They started with the earliest found artifacts from 9000 years ago--7 skulls were found in Jericho.  These skulls had clay molded clay over them, and eyes had been inserted.  Riveting, beautiful, simple, and iconic.  The show also discussed the walls of skulls from the Aztec temples--"photographs" of ritual slaughter--people were, apparently from the evidence, lined up for two miles, going to be sacrificed.  What was that about? asked the archaelogists, with not much answer.  I love this series.  The last week was on using art for political power.  Fascinating.

We have also been watching Alan de Botton's narration on his book The Consolations of Philosphy.  Fabulous show.  I had read the book last year.  De Botton is one of my all time most favorite writers, as I've said.  Rainey and I went to see him speak in Berkeley.

With the class I took last week from Angeles Arrien on The Second Half of Life:  Opening the 8 Gates to Wisdom (from her book), I feel so blessed to be able to see and hear all this wisdom.  I'm also studying Hans TenDam's book, Deep Healing (about reincarnation therapy.)  I am underlining just about every other sentence.--he makes so much sense! It could not be better.

Then for "light" reading before bed, Paul Theroux's book (1988) Riding the Iron Rooster Through China.  Great insights, and things I need to know.

In fact, it's time to go to bed and read for awhile.

I'm just leaving to pick up a friend.  We're carpooling over to Sausalito, where we have been attending author, Angeles Arrien's seminar, The Second Half of Life--Opening the Eight Gates of Wisdom, based on her book of the same name.  She is my all-time favorite teacher, and I never fail to be inspired by her.  I'll say more later.

Last Thursday I went to the matinee of An Inconvenient Truth, the movie on global warming made by Al Gore.  It's fantastic, and I'm hoping everyone will see it.  I was afraid I'd been too depressed afterwards, but it actually made me feel better.  Why?  I'll say more later because I have to go pick up Terry Mandel now, but this week all our Bay area temperature (normally very cool and pleasant this time of year)have hit all-time record highs.  At the seminar yesterday it was 108 F in the area.  Incredible.

 It's all fitting together.  There's some reason I went to the movie and this seminar in the same week the heat got turned up.

I just read in a study by Pew Internet and American Life Project that the US has about 12 million adult bloggers, a three-fold increase in two years.  Nearly half are women.  On the web, 37% of blogs are in Japanese and 31% are in English!

I just spoke on the phone to Sigrid to find out how the move to Los Angeles is going with Jim's mother, Jeana, who is in her eighties.  They just moved her out from Detroit on Monday,  into the house they bought for her with the swimming pool!  So far, she's adjusting pretty well.   New environment, new climate, new house, two darling grandchildren, new everything!

I was down visiting Sig and Trevor and Chloe last weekend.  On Saturday we drove out to a beach in Malibu at Paradise Cove.  If this is Paradise give me you-know-what.  The trouble is we arrived late.  The lucky part was we got valet parked.  The rest of it was an expensive lunch in a cramped part of the bar to feed the kids and ourselves--since the wait for a proper table was over 1 hour.  Afterwards, we discovered that there was no space whatsoever left on the beach.  Our friends met us out there, and Jolene found a small patch of sand.  As we inched our way toward it, a wave came in and swept out a small child (the parents ran after him and he was okay)  But Chloe had already made up her mind she was not going near the water, and was emitting a low growl, gritting her teeth, and digging in her heels.  She had the right idea!

We gave up and drove to another beach, with the unfortunate name Pt. Dume.  This time we were turned away because of the crowds.  We drove home and spent a blissful afternoon in the pool at the new house--the temperature was over 100 F the while time I was in LA and 108 F on this day.

I am just leaving now to take the BART train to Berkeley and see a matinee of Al Gore's movie on global warming--An Inconvenient Truth.  I want to see it while it's still in the theaters to support awareness of the issue.

I had a little family dinner for Augie, who turned 2 yesterday.  He came to the door with Eliza, Gunther, and Anders, and I said, "Happy birthday, Augie."

"Cake," he said, his eyebrows going up.

Fumiko made and decorated a beautiful cake with strawberries and blueberries, and a yellow rose from the garden.   We had fish tacos, fresh homemade salsa, beans, and wine.

Today, I'm flying down to Studio City, to visit with Sigrid, Trevor, and Chloe.  Jim is back East packing up his mother, for the move out West.   It's going to be very hot down there.

Yes, my misfortunes are over, unless you count the hair dryer burning out yesterday, and an incredibly complicated life chart order to Greece.  It's quiet, and lovely here at the house.