It's been very interesting going back through my diaries from 1969--1981.  I enjoyed using the piece I found about my working as a cook for Mrs. D. for this month's column. 

Other entries are like verbal snapshots when I lived in the farmhouse in Sonoma County.  Always trying to figure out my relationship with Roy--teaching Sigrid to drive in our big dusty driveway where the quarry trucks passed by.  Watching the black and white cows in the front field while I painted.  Interviewing housemates to fill my extra bedroom.  It was a whole life unto itself.  Each scenario of my life seems almost like a stage set--and I was handed a script, and played it out.

Now back to work on the Japanese book about all this.  Should I try to publish it in English?   

I had fun this weekend with Sigrid and Jim, and Trevor and Chloe.  I really enjoy sitting down with the kids and letting them create stuff out of plastic glasses, cardboard, scotch tape, and feathers.  Sigrid's baby  shower for Jolene was just perfect--brunch, balloons, champagne punch, and  pink-beribboned gifts for each woman.  Jolene is having the first girl in a big family of boys.  Many beautiful friends came to shower Jolene with gifts.  It was a gorgeous sunny Southern California day and it reminded me of one of those indie/docu- movies I saw long ago where all these women came to a party and the movie was just about their conversations--was it called Eating?  Anyway, it was lovely. Sigrid always comes through for friends and family.

I'm back from England.

The regression therapy seminar by Dutch therapist and author, Hans TendDam was very exciting, and I enjoyed my few days in a 13th century stone house, a former Benedictine monaster (Charney Manor.)

The trip was arduous with the severe wind storm in Europe--I almost got blown over in the street.  It took my friend and I 5 hours to drive to the retreat center, when it normally would have been no more than 2 hours.

Does a difficult journey increase the value of the goal?

Yesterday morning, I got the direction I needed to start writing this new book on purpose, love, synchronicity, and change (so far sold only to the Japanese publisher.)

It's fun to write, and stimulated me to go to the basement and dig out old diaries and old writing from when I was 15.  Wow, I was still the same person.  At 15 I wrote, "I subscribed to Writer's Digest today.  Perhaps I'll learn something."  I hope so!  A few months later I startedg getting rejection slips for the epigrams I submitted.

I also opened up what appears to be an autobiographical novel, thinly disguised and starting in 1967, two years before my[first] divorce.  I've only read about two pages, but I had to close it up as it was too real.  It's actually seems not badly written, but where was I going with this?  It's about 200 pages, and I honestly have no recollection of writing it.  Who is this woman? 

It's been a long week with Robert very ill.  In some ways it's brought us even closer.  I'm glad he's on the mend, because I'm leaving for England this afternoon. 

I'll be taking one of Hans TenDam's seminars on past life regression therapy, and I've been studying his astonishingly in-depth book, Deep Healing.  I met Dr. TenDam in Holland, quite synchronistically. 

I had been teaching a class in Amsterdam on synchronicity (!) and flow...and it so happened that two of the students--a couple named Karel and Marjanne deVries--sat at the same lunch table as Robert and I.  Marjanne was describing her work as a past life therapist and I suddenly began to remember that I had read a great book called Exploring Reincarnation by a Dutch author, and have used it as a source book reference in a couple of my own books.  Marjanne said, "Yes, it's Hans TenDam." and Karel said, "He's our best friend.  Would you like to meet him?"  Karel whipped out his cell phone, and within 30 seconds, I was talking to Dr. TenDam.  I was totally amazed at the ease of this connection.  I had a session three days later with him, which I think I blogged about in June.  (his website is:  www.tasso.nl)

So when I saw an email notice about this seminar in England, I couldn't resist learning more about the possible types of repercussions from unresolved past lifetimes that might be the source of certain phobias, illnesses, anxieties, or hard-to-explain patterns or concerns that we might have presently.  

It seems to me that, along with the field of energetic medicine, this kind of exploration and investigation into healing the carry-over of effects from lifetime to lifetime will continue to open up the frontier of human health.

I made dinner last night for Gunther, Eliza, Anders, and Auggie. Zenobia and Tyler came over--she gave me three darling Indian dolls for my collection for my birthday next week!  Fumiko made a wonderful baked mussel appetizer, and we had chicken wings, squash, green beans, rice, and bread--with a little sweet of ladyfingers and blueberries.  I keep trying to find low carb desserts to serve in consideration of A's diabetes.  It was a really fun and warm evening.

I won't be blogging until I return next week. 

This morning I went outside to pick up the newspaper.

The last wind had scoured off the leaves of the maple tree

And now I could see the silver water drops hanging from the branches

After the rain. 

Tonight I went to yoga with Eliza.

At the end I was able to do an arm balance pose, I didn't think I had the strength for.  I sat in full lotus and then, with my arms on two blocks at my sides, I raised my whole torso and folded legs up off the floor!

What a great feeling--just a few seconds.