Monday morning.  It was a lovely weekend puttering around the house and getting a few clean-up chores accomplished.  I love that feeling!  Saturday morning was yoga as usual, followed by a 3 mile walk--then a client came for a session.  Later, Robert and I went shopping and we grilled some chicken for dinner.  We watched a video of Anthony Hopkins in The World's Fastest Indian--a very heart-warming story of a a man dedicated to working on his motorcycle to make it go faster.  In his seventies, Burt Munro, established world records.  The very spirit of passion and intention and follow-through.

I also weeded through all my accumulated photographs of family, friends, and travel and through out non-superior pictures.  I had enough good pictures to fill ten more small plastic photograph booklets.  Now...what to do with ALL the booklets I have in the garage.  I think I need to order them chronologically and number them sequentially--will this give me the feeling of being in control that I seem to lust after?

I watched Augie for two hours this morning while Eliza went out.  He turns 2 on Wednesday, so I'll have a little family dinner before I go down to Studio City to spend 3 days with Sigrid, Trevor, and Coco.  Then a birthday party here for Augie's friends on Sunday afternoon!

Fumiko just returned from Mt. Shasta yesterday--and we have lots to talk about with the new book galley coming, and the business matters for October's visit to Tokyo. 

After dinner last night, Robert, Fumiko, and I watched one of our recorded Globe Trekker shows--on Japan!  It was a great show--and it was fun to see the Tsukiji Fish Market--which was the first sight that Robert found to take us to on our first visit to Japan in 2003.  That morning, we were so awake at 5 am due to jet lag, that we whipped over to the fish market--and ended up having sushi for breakfast!  Robert is exceptionally good at reading maps in any foreign country. 

This is Robert's birthday weekend (June 30) and he's down with a fever!

Yesterday, as I was starting a walk with Rainey, I caught sight of Gunther and Anders loading the final groceries into the car.  They were just about to drive off for their big adventure "man-camping" with two of Gunther's best friends (fathers, John and John) and their collective 3 boys. 

For me, an early yoga class, and sorting papers.  Fumiko is downstairs baking a chocolate cake for Robert, and the smell is wafting up.

I'm looking forward to a nice casual, holiday weekend. 

I returned from Amsterdam two days ago, and have been catching up--emails, calls, watering the plants, and re-connecting with Sigrid, Gunther, Eliza, Anders, Augie, and Fumiko. Robert went right back to work on Thursday--and I guess I did, too.

I'm currently contemplating a cluster of recent misfortunes. 

For example, when I got home, my phone had been disconnected (automatic payment snafu,) the garage door wasn't opening, the electric fan had stopped working and the bedroom smoke alarm malfunctioned at 4:30 am this morning causing me to miss a good part of much-needed sleep.  A call to the service people resulted in a total dismantling, and I await a new unit.

Before the trip two weeks ago, you might remember, I was hospitalized with a mysterious infection--serious enough that the attendants were asking me if I wanted to be resusitated if things got bad.  Upon my release, Robert picked me up from the hospital in Fumiko's car, which died twice on the trip home (it's working fine now.)  Later that week, my office clock died, my wrist watch and camera batteries both died, and the fax stopped working (it's okay now, but we never figured out what happened.)   (Gunther also called to tell me his watch battery died, too. He's blaming all this on solar flares.)

Last week, in a moment's carelessness in Amsterdam, I was pickpocketed and lost several hundred euros, my Visa card, driver's licence, and some traveler's checks. My laptop wouldn't power up at all in Amsterdam, although the portable printer worked okay (but was useless without the computer.)  I also blew out my hair dryer (it's working okay now.)

Today I began to slog through the paper work to get my insurance to pay for the dent I put in a rental car (a brand new rental car), when I was down at the Esalen workshop (the day before I was unexpectedly hospitalized.) 

Odd.  I can't remember such a run of misfortune.  Let's hope it's over.

By the way, two weeks before I left for Amsterdam, I dreamed I lost my wallet there. 

Amsterdam.  Doing my blog in a small pub with pool tables and dart boards.  It's lunchtime and no one else is here but Robert and I and the bartender.  Disco music is playing

It's another beautiful hot day!  We've had very warm weather since we arrived four days ago.  The seminar with Felix went well--we had a wonderful group of people--lots of coaches, trainers, and people interested in developing their business in alignment with who they really are. 

The central top of the seminar was synchronicity, and I experienced a huge one myself at the lunch break.  It turned out that the big table was full, and so Robert and I took a smaller booth to the side.  We were joined by four other people.  Two people were a couple, Karel and Maryanne.  Maryanne had introduced herself as a past-life regression therapist, so I was at once intrigued.  At lunch, I mentioned that one of the most influential books on my thinking--on the topic of past life and reincarnation--was by a Dutch author, Hans Ten Dam.  Dr. Ten Dam is one of their best friends, and he trained both Maryanne and Karel!!  I was blown away.  Karel asked if I would like to meet Ten Dam, and without thinking, I said yes.  Karel called him on the cell phone, and he is indeed in town, and not traveling as he often does.  I have an appointment to have a session with him on Wednesday.  We will have to take a train to go out to the place where he lives.  How can this be!  I remember even the day when I found this book, called simply, Reincarnation, in a basement, dark, esoteric bookstore in New York City--I think the name was Elie Weisel, and I believe they have gone out of business.  I read this book many times, and underlined special passages, as I used the vast research studies in it in some of my seminars to explain about past lives and how we come to choose a focus and purpose for our lives.

After the seminar I received a huge bouquet of organe tulips, which I have in the hotel room now.  Robert and I are staying at the Hotel Filoosof--the Hotel of Philosophy--and we are in the Aristotle room.

We also visited Rembrandt's house--kitchen, (they slept in box beds--sort of a built-in bed with drawers and cabinet doors to hide the bed.)  They didn't really distinquish bedrooms back then.  We stepped into his studio, and etching room, and saw many of his paintings throughout the four or five floors (each with a very steep spiral staircase.)

More private sessions this afternoon.

It's a beautiful warm day--will go recycle a couple of electronic items, and buy some plastic tubs for the kids to do some water-lay in the back yard.

Robert and I saw a preview of Dan Millman's new movie, Peaceful Warrior, on Thursday.  Great movie and great message.  It was fun to see it in Berkeley--Dan was there with the producer of the movie David Welsh, and even some of the current University of California gym team (Dan Millman was a top gymnast.)  It's important to go to the theater soon to give the movie a big boost--just like going to support The Celestine Prophecy movie! This genre of spiritual cinema is very exciting.

Little things make life so interesting.  I just bought a buffing cube that smooths down the ridges of your fingernails and then polishes them to a shine without nail polish.  I love it! (You can find it probably in any drugstore in the nail section.)

Gathering my thoughts for the seminar in Holland a week from today.  I have this sudden craving to wear something red, and found a new scarf, and some red tops.  Red represents change.  Hmmm.

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.