Sunny morning!

Forty-six years ago I was preparing to get married tomorrow.

This morning--Yoga class--invigorating twists and stretches

Farmer's market--big strawberries, basil, green onions, lettuce, blueberries

Weeding--the succulent patch, trimming the Mexican sage, clearing ivy in the Lilies of the Nile

Preparing for the big barbeque tomorrow with my Japanese friends, and welcoming

author Banana Yoshimoto and her family,

Rainey is making me a fresh summer berry cobbler and her famous cheesecake.

Still sunny in the afternoon 

Gunther brought over his big bargeque--a glass of wine on the pation to discuss the party, his earlier picnic in Tilden Park, various neighborhood goings-on

Anders and Auggie came over to ice and decorate the cupcakes I made

Robert and I cutting up the squid while the kids watched--thrilled, but not daring to touch the guts and slime

Dinner, and a video,  Lorenzo's Oil.  A true story set in 1984 of two parents with a boy who suffered from a then-incurable degenerative genetic disease, ALD, that hits only young boys.   On their own, they researched the biochemistry of fatty acids and found what scientists couldn't--an oil combination that can cure the disease in little boys if taken early enough.  I am humbled by people's love and tenacity.  Robert knew about a lot of it by his own study of fatty acids.

A day to treasure 

Yesterday was Sunday--overcast and very un-California, but very El Cerrito weather!  I had a barbeque with Gunther and Eliza and the boys and Marion and Stephen and Claire and Luc.  We had to stay inside and I turned on the gas fireplace!  The grilled chicken and corn and bruschetta came out well, so we had fun.

I showed them the intriquing newspaper article and photo about an 11-year old boy, Jamison Stone, who killed a 1,050 lb wild boar in Alabama with a handgun.  Wow, I had so many questions about this story.  The boar, nine feet long, was the size of a rhinoceros.  Are these normal in the South?  Was the boy with his father?  Did he shoot the boar head on in the eye or forehead?  How did they weigh such a large dead animal?  What did the boy's mother think?  Did she know he was hunting?  When did he learn to shoot?

We talked about different kinds of fatty acids that Robert is researching.  we are both taking hemp oil for the omega 3's and 6's.  He's also taking macadamia nut oil.  Marion talked about her migraines.  She's part of a study at UCSF, and trying certain new drugs.

I told them about Tony Horwitz's book, Blue Latitudes.  He researched the 3 voyages of discovery of Captain James Cook.  It's a fascinating look at the horrible conditions sailors had to live with on ships--before the discovery of vitamin C--hygiene, extreme cold, threatening natives, a broken hull with no hope of rescue.  Facing death. It's a good read, and Marion wants to borrow it.

We had a good time.  

Today, Monday, the sun is out.  Time for a walk. 

Forty-three years ago I was having labor pains this evening.  Sigrid was on the way!  She was born on the 22nd.

Saturday Robert and I drove up to a party at the house of Jerry Horowitz and his partner Thierry Cook.  Their house  sits on a hill surrounded by 11 acres of redwood trees.  Always an interesting bunch of people--artists, astrologers, landscapers, psychiatrists.

Sunday I potted succulents.  I find it so relaxing--especially when I pot on a table, and don't do it bending over!  I bought a pretty little while elephant with a succulent bouquet on his back.

The plant characteristics and names sound like theatre or poetry:

Crassula "Moonglow"

Hybrid between Crassula deceptor and Crassula falcata.  Forms an ornate "pagoda" with gray triangular leaves covered in "fuzz." Clusters of tiny apricot flowers.

Pachyphytum bracteosum

Bluish-gray leaves shaped somewhat like facedted "jellybeans." Native to Mexico.  Reddish flowers.

Blue Seaweed--Senecio citriformis

Small South African shrubby plant with blue-green, very succulent, tear-shaped leaves. Member of Compositae (Aster Family.) 

THE WORKSHOP 

The Esalen workshop for mothers and daughters was very rewarding for Sigrid and myself and I hope for the participants. 

Esalen faces the Pacific Ocean, and at all times the heartbeat of the waves is present.Exuberant and brilliant golden California poppies shower the garden walk to the Lodge for meals.

There were 33 women in the class (almost all were mother daughter couples (one women had two daughters in the class.) One of the mothers who attended with her daugther has 10 other children--a wonderful family from Mexico.  It was a treat for all the mothers and daughters to share time together for the special Mother's Day weekend--in such a beautiful environment as Esalen. 

The work of this seminar is about learning to share our lives as women, loving, respecting, and accepting each other as separate people. 

Sigrid led us through daily meditations and yoga postures and mudras (hand-gestures) for opening and clearing the heart and mind. 

MOTHER'S DAY PRESENT

Sigrid's Mother's Day present to me was a beautiful necklace and a box of notecards featuring my grandson Trevor's (5) painting (the school printed boxes of notecards from the kindergarten class paintings) A wonderful present. 

EMBARASSING MOMENT 

On Friday night Sigrid and I had stopped in after our massages for the Friday night teacher's reception at the home of Nancy Lunney and Gordon Wheeler, the program directors of Esalen.  A few workshop leaders were there, including author Wes Nisker (his workshop was on Buddhist meditation) and another interesting man who had apparently just finished a lecture.  I thought Nancy introduced him as Bob Ash. (I actually think my hearing is starting to go.)  

We were all chatting and then five of us just happened to leave at the same time to head over to the Lodge for dinner.  "Bob" as I was calling him, chatted graciously to me as I inquired innocently about his work, what he wrote about, where he spoke, and so on.  In the lodge he invited us to sit at his table. My friend Lynn Fielder and her mother were there for the seminar, so they joined the table as well.  Lynn whispered to me,"Isn't that Robert Reich?"

Bob turned out to be Robert Reich, economist, professor of public policy at the University of California, author, and the former secretary of Labor under the Clinton Adminstration.  I am so embarrassed to say that I did not know who he was, and had been asking him about his work in such a simple-minded way.  I have to say, for such a highly accomplished person, he is one of the most disarming, modest, gracious, and down-to-earth men I have ever met

Below is his short bio.  Now I know.

Have you ever had such an embarrassing moment?

Robert B. Reich
    Robert B. Reich is Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. He has written ten books, including The Work of Nations, which has been translated into 22 languages; the best-sellers The Future of Success and Locked in the Cabinet, and his most recent book, Reason. His articles have appeared in the New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal. Mr. Reich is co-founding editor of The American Prospect magazine. His weekly commentaries on public radio’s "Marketplace" are heard by nearly five million people.

A client sent me one of her favorite poems.  She's a photographer, an incipient film-maker moved by great passions, and she works at Apple.  You can see her nature, I think, in her choice of this poem by D.H. Lawrence.

I'm off for Monterey tonight.  I'm meeting Sigrid a the Monterey Airport tomorrow and we'll drive down to Esalen together.  The Mother Daughter workshop starts tomorrow night.  I'm looking forward to it.