The last week was kind of eerie with the gray over-cast skies layering the Bay Area with a blanket of wildfire smoke.  I smelled smoke in the morning when I tip-toed outside.  We had a health advisory to stay indoors.  Lightning ignited fires all over Northern California, and the drought has increased the damage.

Block party. We were lucky on Saturday June 22 as that was the day of our block party and the weather was perfect.  This year we set up the table and chairs, on the street where I live, and my front bench was smack dab in the middle of the action.  It was fun. 

A Street of Trees. This Saturday was the big day for planting all the new trees we all ordered for the median strip in front of our houses.  Gunther (my son for those of you who don't already know!) who lives across the street with Eliza and Anders and Auggie, was the instigator of the idea.  Trees make a street, and our street only has two or three, so Gunther went around and talked to neighbors and people caught the spirit. 

He ordered a bunch of trees from a nursery up in Sonoma County, and they were delivered to my driveway space. Saturday everybody was out jack-hammering away old ugly cement and digging huge holes for the new maples.  I bought a Japanese maple for the side of my house. 

Last week, my friend Roy planed a Meyer Lemon  tree, an orange tree, and a small Japanese maple in my back garden.  That finishes the big planting, and now I have to get out there an do the succulents and salvia. 

Bee Friendly. I want to make my garden bee and bird friendly.  I am very worried about the plight of the bumble bee.  I was reading an article that says the bee population has decreased by about 30%.  If we lose bees and their pollination, it's scary how many fruits and nuts will disappear!

Maybe you can plan something this month in any kind of space available--even pots on a window sill with flowers will help.  Ask the people at a nursery what flowers bees like and help them out!  

My friend, Karla Nagel, was here yesterday and just left this morning.  She and her husband, Enrique live in Mexico City, and she was on business this time.

The weather was perfect (finally!) to sit outside.  Robert grilled some asparagus which we ate as an hors d'oevre with salt.  I made Paul Deen's Chicken Georgia (very easy--sauteed with mushrooms and sprinkeled with cheese)

Auggie and Anders had a chance to play with Karla and she made them laugh a lot.  Before dinner Robert, Karla and I went for a walk at the dog park and enjoyed the frest breeze off the bay and looked at all the frisky dogs enjoying their daily romp.

My manuscript has been sent off to Japan and I am enjoying a little summer break.

I finished Out by Natsuo Kirino (very unusualy story!!) and am now deeply involved in Eleanor Coppola's new book, Notes on a Life.  It's very well written, and I can see many of the scenes in my mind from years past.  She has an amazing ability to tell a story as if from a series of verbal snapshots.

It's time for a walk with my new pedometer.

Robert and I went to San Francisco yesterday--it was a beautiful day.  I did some shopping, of course.  Then we sat in Union Square and watched the people and listened to a rock band.  We went over to the St. Francis Hotel (they have a lovely ladies lounge) and then rode the outside elevators to the highest floor so we could see the fantastic view from up there.  Coit Tower on the left and the Oakland part of the Bay on the right, with lots of architecture in between.

Then we did our usual walk through Chinatown.  I bought some tea at Ten Ren Tea Shop.  We had seen a documentary called All in This Tea, about a man who went to China for years buying tea.  I'm sorry I forgot his name just now, but I really enjoyed seeing him trekking through the tea farming areas of Southeast China.  

Roy is coming today to continue working on the back garden.  The rock fountain is working, burbling away!  I love it. It is perfect, with layered rocks creating tiny waterfalls, and some pebbles and ledges.  The gray Buddha I bought a year ago at the Redding Target sits serenely on the ledge.  We are trying to finish the yard before Sigrid, Jim and Trevor and Chloe come on Thursday.  It's her birthday, and they will be here all weekend.

Roy put up my Target Gazebo last week, and I found a "chat set" --a loveseat, 2 chairs, and a coffee table, for the Gazebo.  It's like having a new room outside the family room.  I love it.  You can see that I shop at Target a lot.  I love Target for many reasons.

Back to work.  I'm just working on finishing my book on Aliveness for Shufunotomo, my publisher in Japan.  I'ts coming along, and I love including all the stories of exceptionally alive moments sent in by people.

Tonight Rainey and I will drive down to Kepler's Books in Menlo Park to hear Ellie Coppola discuss her new book, Notes on a Life.  I love her writing and everything she does.  She is so very, very talented, and so very modest about it all! 

Gunther completed his 100-mile ride for the Tour de Cure, the fund-raising event sponsored by the American Diabetes Association.  

Yesterday was a glorious day in the Napa Valley--where the ride took place.  Eliza drove us up to the event--with Robert in the back of the van building space ships out of Legos for Anders and Auggie. 

I think there were about five hundred riders and with all the families and friends, it was very lively and upbeat.  There were many sponsored teams, and Gunther was part of the Team Lanesplitter--a local Berkeley pub. It was really uplifiting for me to be a small part of it all.

Afterwards we had dinner at my house--Robert and I  made enchiladas with green sauce.

Tonight, leftovers. 

I just returned from a family trip to Joshua Tree National Park in southern California.  Gunther, Eliza, Anders, Auggie and I drove down to visit  Eliza's Uncle Louie and Aunt Marie in Chino Hills.  The next day we continued on to 29 Palms Inn (established in 1928!)  We each had separate cabins on the property--built on the Oasis of Mara many years ago, and recently refurbished.  It was really great.   The town of 29 Palms is right on the edge of the part, so we drove in several times and feasted our eyes on the bounty of wildflowers and blooming cactic.  It was utterly peaceful and quiet--perfect weather in the 70's and low 80's.

Gunther went on a 50 mile bike ride (in headwinds) to keep up his training for the 100 mile Tour de Cure he is doing in May to benefit the American Diabetes Association.

On Friday we drove through the park one last time, visited the General Patton museum (the kids wanted to see the tanks) and then on to Studio City to stay with Sigrid, Jim, Trevor, and Chloe.

On Saturday we took all the kids to the Skirball Center to the Noah's Ark exhibit--really a wild time for the kids--climbing around all these wonderful fantasy animals made of recycled materials (think of an alligator made out of a guitar case and a rubber tire for a tail.)

Home again, and catching up. 

Yesterday I had a little lunch party.  I invited Megumi-san and Yasu-san, who are on sabbatical from their teaching duties in Japan.  Fumiko happened to be here this week, too, so she came with her friend, Henry, who lives in Sacramento.  

The last time we had all gotten together, Yasu and Gunther found they had a love of micro-breweries, so we focused our party on beer tasting.  Gunther made spare ribs.  I cooked some white beans with greens, made some bruschetta, and put out some bread and cheese. 

It was a glorious day, which allowed us to move the table into the garden and eat outside.  We felt like we were in Italy!  I gave everyone a hat to wear from my collection. 

When the sun was well down in late afternoon, Eliza suggested that we go across the street to their house and look for Cosmo, the tortoise that Fumiko gave to Eliza and Gunther to tortoise-sit.  That was over a year ago!  When possible, Eliza keeps him in the yard so he doesn't have to be confined to the terrarium.  She knows his hiding places.  We all searched the garden, but couldn't find him.

Yesterday Robert and I glued ourselves to the computer and got my financial statements ready for my tax preparer.  It's interesting to see how the dollars show where the energy goes in one's life, highlighting what was important to us at the time we spent the money.

I had a good catch-up conversation last week with my good friend Susan Harrow who is the best media coach and PR person I've ever met (and I've met a few.)  She told me the Learning Annex has closed, and it made me sad.  They had such a good organization for so many years, and I really enjoyed teaching those classes and meeting so many wonderful people over the years.  This year definitely has a feeling of a new stage of life.

We had a wonderful get-together for Tyler's 65th birthday at their house with just family.  I found myself once again bringing the book, Generations:  The History of America's Future into the conversation, especially with the couple who is close to my generation.   

Other highlights

Anders ran over here yesterday (under crossing-the-street supervision) to borrow an egg.

Gunther came by later to give us two little cakes that were made from the egg.

I can't figure out why my cream of celery soup was not as good as the one I threw together without thinking last week.  

I'm fighting off another cold with zycam lozenges.

I weeded out an enormous pile of paper from my office and found some Euros, English pounds, Canadian dollars, and Japanese yen left over from previous travels.  Robert advised me to keep them because they are all appreciating!  My little stash of foreign currencies.

It makes me think--what things/activities are appreciating in my life?  What is losing value? 

My good friends, Candice Fuhrman and Gary Feidel invited me and some other friends to attend a poetry event to benefit the wonderful organization represented on the web site www.gratefulness.org.  The founder of the site is Brother David Steindl-Rast, who was born in Vienna in 1926 and has been a Benedictine monk since 1953.  In a short biography on the web site, we learn:

"After twelve years of monastic training and studies in philosophy and theology, Brother David was sent by his abbot to participate in Buddhist-Christian dialogue, for which he received Vatican approval in 1967. His Zen teachers were Hakkuun Yasutani Roshi, Soen Nakagawa Roshi, Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, and Eido Shimano Roshi. He co-founded the Center for Spiritual Studies in 1968 and received the 1975 Martin Buber Award for his achievements in building bridges between religious traditions.

Together with Thomas Merton, Brother David helped launch a renewal of religious life. From 1970 on, he became a leading figure in the House of Prayer movement, which affected some 200,000 members of religious orders in the United States and Canada.

 For decades, Brother David divided his time between periods of hermit's life and extensive lecture tours on five continents."

I invite you to visit wonderful and inspiring web-site, www.gratefulness.org which had over 6 million visitors last year!

The Gratefulness of Poetry readings were given from an amazing roster of award winning, nationally and internationally recognized poets and musicians, including Coleman Barks reciting/incanting the 12 century Sufi poet, Rumi; Jane Hirshfield; Simon Ortiz; Drew Dellinger and Roger Housden.  Despite the Super Bowl game in the afternoon, we had a full house, and I was delighted to close my eyes and soak in the images, sounds, and energy. 

This morning I open my copy of  The Essential Rumi, translations by Coleman Barks with John Moyne and read:

Birdsong brings relief

to my longing.

I am just as ecstatic as they are,

but with nothing to say!

Please, universal  soul, practice

some song, or something through me!  

 

After we got back from Mexico, I came down with a cold and stayed in bed two days--an act of desperation but unavoidable.

Good things happened, though.  The world doesn't know or care if you have a cold or not so things keep coming. 

I finished another book by now-one-of-my favorite authors--Bill Bryson's  Notes From a Small Island, about his thoughts and experiences in Britain.  As usual, his hilariously truthful style had me laughing--risking a coughing fit.  I love his books.  His favorite word is "agreeable."

Since Robert and I listened to Bryson's audio tape about Australia, In a Sun-burned Country while taking our walks, I now hear his real voice in my head as I read his books--and am aware of his special cadence as a writer and speaker.  

Since I was not feeling well on my birthday last week and it was drizzly, (Tuesday) Robert and I decided to keep things simple.  He drove me over to the library and I picked up the tome, Generations: The History of the Future of America 1584-2069 by  William Strauss and Neil Howe (1991) which he had been reading on our vacation.  It's pretty packed, but I am fascinated by the archetypal personalities of each generation, and how they cycle (predictably according to the authors) through time.

Being of the Silent Generation, I grew up under the archetype Artist. Wow, it really describes me very well!

I copied the Wikiipedia synopsis below in case you want to know more.  I was so excited, I sent the synopsis to my Uncle Ruhl (a GI generation) who just turned 90 on Jan 20 (same day as Anders.)

So my "downtime" has been a chance to go down under.

This morning sunshine is sliding down my study window instead of slabs of cold rain, which I love as well.  

I have new ideas, and feel my creativity coming back.

Oh, forgot to mention, I picked up Wild Mind: Living the Writers' Life (1991) by Natalie Goldberg.  I was sniffling and barking at 3:00 am when I propped myself up and put on my reading glasses to open the book at random. On page 48 Goldberg says,

"Use the format of 'I want to write about' to explore specific areas of writing. For instance, I haven't written much about painting and visual art.  Though I love to paint, it has not manifested in my writing.  I'd like it to, so I did a ten-minute 'I want to write about' and focosed on that:

I want to write about how red looks against yellow and how it looks different against orange, how I became friends with an ugly building in Roy, New Mexico, because I sat in front of it and drew it for a whole day..." and so on

Wow, I got so excited by the ideas I read that I sat up straight, and reached for my little yellow pad that I keep in a drawer next to my bed.  I wrote down the words: 

Honest

Nothing fancy

I know this is blog is too long by blog standards, more of a catharsis after a siege in bed listening the rain

Just wanted to say what I'm excited about.

Today I start babysitting Anders and Auggie in the afternoon while Eliza takes chemistry. 

Generational Archetypes

Strauss and Howe state that Generations last the length of time of one phase of life--the same length of time as a turning. Like turnings, generations come in four different archetypes, defined in "The Fourth Turning" as Prophet, Nomad, Hero and Artist.

• Prophets are values-driven, moralistic, focused on self, and willing to fight to the death for what they believe in. They grow up as the increasingly indulged children of a High, come of age as the young crusaders of an Awakening, enter midlife as moralistic leaders during an Unraveling and are the wise, elder leaders of the next Crisis. The Boomers are an example of a Prophet generation.

• Nomads are ratty, tough, unwanted, diverse, adventurous, and cynical about institutions. They grow up as the underprotected children of an Awakening, come of age as the alienated young adults of an Unraveling, become the pragmatic, midlife leaders of a Crisis and age into tough, post-crisis elders during a High. Generation X and the Lost Generation are examples of Nomad generations.

• Heroes are conventional, powerful, and institutionally driven, with a profound trust in authority. They grow up as the increasingly protected children of an Unraveling, come of age as the Heroic, team-working youth of a Crisis, become energetic and hubristic mid-lifers during a High and become the powerful elders who are attacked in the next Awakening. The G.I. Generation that fought World War II is an example of a Hero generation. Millennials are expected to emerge as the next generation of this example.

• Artists are subtle, indecisive, emotional and compromising, often having to deal with feelings of repression and inner conflict. They grow up as the over-protected children of a Crisis, come of age as the sensitive young adults of a High, rebel as indecisive midlife leaders during an Awakening, and become the empathic elders of an Unraveling. The Silent Generation is an example of an Artist generation.

Each of the four turnings is composed of a unique constellation of generational archetypes. During an Awakening, for example, the children are always a Nomad generation, the young adults a Prophet generation, the mid-lifers an Artist generation, and the elders a Hero generation. During a Crisis, by contrast, the children are always Artists, the young adults are Heroes, the mid-lifers are Nomads, and the elders are Prophets. In "The Fourth Turning", Strauss and Howe state that this has held true with remarkable consistency over 500 years of Anglo-American history, since the birth of modernity.

Strauss and Howe believe that history shapes each generation depending on what phase of life it occupies as it encounters key historical events--a period of crisis will leave an impression on children that is different from the one it leaves on midlife leaders. The boundaries of each generation and the characteristics of its members emerge because they share a common age-location in history. For instance, Strauss and Howe define the Boomer generation as anyone who doesn't personally remember World War II. They are different from the Silent Generation, who share the formative experience of childhood during the war. Thus history creates the generations--and these in turn reproduce the cycle of history. As the protected children of a High who never personally experienced Crisis, and as the moralistic, uncompromising crusaders of an awakening, the Prophet-Boomers are most likely to provoke a new crisis when they grow to control the nation's institutions. As the overachieving children of an Unraveling who never personally experienced an Awakening, and as the team-working, conformist civics of a crisis, the Heroes are most likely to provoke a new awakening when they get control.

Strauss and Howe's first book, Generations (1991), tells the history of America as a succession of generational biographies circa 1584 to present. The authors identify a pattern in these generations: each can be seen as belonging to one of four archetypes that repeat sequentially. Every living generation therefore shows a remarkable parallel in character with generations of the same type throughout history. "Generations" plots a recurring cycle of spiritual awakenings and secular crises in American history, from the founding colonials through the present day.

Strauss and Howe followed in 1993 with their second book, 13th Gen, which examines the generation born between 1961 and 1981, "Gen-Xers" (alias "13ers", since they are literally the thirteenth generation since America became a nation). The book shows how 13er's location in history--they were children during the Consciousness Revolution--explains their pragmatic attitude and disproportionately low reputation.

In 1997, they published The Fourth Turning, which expanded on the ideas presented in Generations. Examining 500 years of Anglo-American history, The Fourth Turning reveals a distinct historical pattern: modern history moves in cycles, each one lasting approximately the length of a long human life (about 80-years), and each composed of four eras, or "turnings." Analyzing particularly the period from the end of World War II until today, they describe the general persona of each living generation, from the powerful proactive G.I.'s, the thoughtful Silent, the values-obsessed Boomers, and the pragmatic 13ers, to the new coming-of-age generation of powerful, proactive Millennials. By situating each living generation in the context of a historical generational cycle and archetype, the authors claim to clarify the personality and role of each--and the inevitability of a coming crisis in America.

In 2000 the two authors published Millennials Rising. This work investigated the personality of the generation currently coming of age, whose first cohorts were the much celebrated High School graduating class of 2000. Strauss and Howe show how today's teens are recasting the image of youth from downbeat and alienated to upbeat and engaged. They also say Millennials are held to higher standards than adults apply to themselves; they're a lot less violent, vulgar, and sexually charged than the teen culture older people are producing for them, and, over the next decade, they’ll entirely recast what it means to be young. According to the authors, Millennials could emerge as the next great generation.

LifeCourse Associates has since released several application books on Millennials—including Recruiting Millennials Handbook for the United States Army (2001), Millennials go to College (2003) and Millennials and the Pop Culture (2005). Millennials go to College: 2nd Edition came out in 2007, along with Millennials Go to College: Surveys and Analysis, the first significant study of college students and their parents by generation. Millennials and K-12 Schools and Millennials in the Workplace are soon to be released.

Before the duo met in the 1980's, William Strauss began studying generations in the 1970's when he wrote a book about the Baby Boomers on how the Vietnam War affected them called Chance and Circumstance: The Draft the War and The Vietnam Generation (1978) with Lawrence Baskir while serving under President Ford dealing with the draft and amnesty issue which also included the book Reconciliation after Vietnam (1977) that determined the future of U.S. military enlistment after the war. Neil Howe studied America's entitlement attitude of the 1980's with the Concord Coalition and wrote On Borrowed Time: How America's entitlement ego puts America's future at risk of Bankruptcy (1988).

It's a very clear and cold morning here in the Bay Area of California.

The first sign of life I saw outside this morning was a hummingbird, sipping at the Mexican sage--a sign of joy!

After a long walk yesterday, Robert and I got to work on making oxtail soup with root vegetables (epicurious.com.)  I think I'll make thyme popovers to go with the soup, and maybe splurge on getting some raw oysters.  We're eating in for New Year's eve.

I love the quiet and clearness of the end of the year.  It's like a starting point, where you think you can turn and look down the long road of the coming year.

My resolution is to see more of my friends, and have small dinners again.  

Today I want to drive over to the beach and breathe fresh air and take a walk.

To anyone who reads this blog, I wish you well--joy in all your endeavors, perfect solutions for all your problems, peace of mind, laughter, time with good friends and family, a feeling of prosperity, and vital good health.