It's about 6:30 am and I am sitting in the quiet dining room of the retreat center owned by Linda Miyashita in the mountains above the city of Nagano.  We are surrounded by trees and the healing, meditation music of her late husband, Fumio Miyashita.  The other guests--about 10 people--are not yet up.

It's a comfortable, homey place, and at one end there is a large room for listening to music and watching videos--a place obviously designed by Fumio.  There are many pictures of him in the house--a handsome, charismatic musician. 

The hair styles give away the time frame--chest-length hair in the seventies, moving towards a shorter cut with a goatee in maturity--always warmth and kindness in the face, and a big smile.  He was a pioneer of healing meditative music and became quite well-known and successful.  Linda now lives nearby and continues to open this place to those who are fans, or who have found their way here--like Fumiko and myself.

Yesterday, the conference went very well, and our seminar and private sessions sold out.  Today we have one more short seminar and a few sessions.  Tomorrow Linda-san will take us on a little sight-seeing drive before we return to Tokyo.

No one has come in for breakfast yet, so I think I'll steal a few minutes to read my Jonathan Kellerman murder mystery--books keep me sane on the road. I also have a Eudora Welty book of short stories from the Berkeley library.  Have to have a back up!

I'm in Tokyo at Ogawa-san's apartment near Takadanobaba Station.  Fumiko and I have been doing private sessions in the studio below.  Two nights ago it rained torrents and so we called for a pizza delivery!  $30, but worth not having to go out.

I've been here 3 days and so far we've had 2 dinner parties in our 2 favorite restaurants--with lots of friends, old and new, little plates of delicious food--sea food salad, chicken and beef barbequed on sticksy, agi-dashi tofu (lightly breaded tofu sauteed and swimming in a beautifully seasoned broth--noodle dishes) beer and sake. 

A common  story I hear in Japan has to do with the state of marriage in Japan--as lived out by real men and women.  Should I divorce my husband? is the question for many women.  Given the pandemic nature of lack of rapport between the sexes, (and the official concern about the very low birth rate of 0.99%--not enough new souls coming in to even replace the outgoing ones) it seems the government would be well rewarded to instigate some kind of official policy to support couples therapy.  Of course now the concept of one's going to therapy still carries overwhelming stigma.  But long hours at work where peopple come home exhausted only to wake up a few hours later and repeat the schedule is counter-productive to balanced family life.  It seems an issue that society must address--that it's too big almost to hope that individuals and couples can change their life styles on their own.

Today, lunch with Ogawa-san and the fast train to Nagano for the weekend conference.

Nice day.  Went for a walk in the morning with Robert, and then home to pack.  Gunther and I took Anders to see the movie, Over the Hedge--it's very good.  It's about how a family of little forager animals adapt to the suburban blight--the movie highlights our fast-food culture of FOOD FOOD FOOD.

I set up the playhouse in the back yard.

Talking about food, Sigrid emailed me about a dinner party she was going to last night with an Iron Chef theme (from the TV show about chefs competing with a secret ingredient.)  I asked her what her ingredient was, and she  wrote, "Secret ingredient is balsamic vinegar-- after much deliberation (i'm the 4th course, so I need to do meat) I have settled on bacon wrapped chicken breasts glazed ina pomegranate balsamic glaze with rosemary couscous bed. Possible edible flowers as a flourish... love, Sig."

Tomorrow is her birthday, but I'll be on the plane to Japan....

Back May 31st, but perhaps I can blog from Japan.... 

I've just added the new weekly forecast, but the format is not right and Robert is at a conference today, so I can't call him to tell me what to do to fix it!  Also the chart order page is not working right today, so I am having to be patient with everything.

I was a patient over the weekend.  I unexpectedly came down with a rather virulent infection while co-teaching the mothers and daughters class with my daughter, Sigrid, at Esalen on Saturday.  After the morning break, Sigrid had to drive me to Monterey Community Hospital--over an hour away from Esalen.  Transferring to Kaiser, I stayed in the hospital until Monday afternoon, and Sigird finished up the class.   The class was a big success and I'm, needless to say, very proud of Sigrid's carrying on without me and completing the class so well.

Oddly, at the Kaiser Hospital, one of the night nurses recognized my name, and came in to say hi.  He had taken one of my classes at the Learning Annex, and made sure I had a quiet room.  I am very grateful.  Then, when Robert came to pick me up (we borrowed Fumiko's car) we had trouble with the battery twice!  However, in both cases, we got immediate help, and were on our way within minutes.  One of the students had taken my belongings to her house in Oakland, so I was able to pick up all my things on the way home.  For a stressful situation, where everything seemed to be going the wrong way, each time a kind of synchronistic hand from the Universe kept offering assistance. 

 I'm very happy to be home, and very grateful to the miracle of antibiotics!  It was looking serious for awhile, but I feel great now.  I'm catching up on the blog, and the forecast, but will be happy when Robert gets back so he can fix the PROBLEMS! 

Just got back from yoga.  Eliza and I walked there and back tonight.

I took an evening stroll last night at 8 pm.  Very unusual for me to walk at this time, but the balmy  twilight was irresistible.  The rewards delectable:  stillness, fragrance, and colors that glow best in dusk.  At 220 Carmel (my favorite number 22 as always), just a block behind my house, an amazing succulent garden gushes forth.  It's old, because the plants are, as Eliza would say, gi-normous.  The round fat succulents (are those called hens and chicks?) were blooming with tall, Christmas-tree shaped yellow cones of blossoms.  Unbelievable.  At dusk, they glow like acid-trip Christmas aliens.  It was well worth it!  What an adventure, and so close to home.

Three consultations today.  It seems everyone is struck by the idea of cleaning out their storage bins.  I'm the right person to talk about with that idea.