Congrats to Columbia Grads!! Officially happens tomorrow for V!!
Took the subway everywhere and walked a ton.
Love the mosaics in the underground rail line.
Ate and ate and ate at Chelsea Market.
There were more choices to choose from in the pasta department like chocolate ravioli. We had gelato, pastries, raw vegan delights and taste tested dozens of oils, vinegars and salts.
The “Venom” salt was ridiculously hot and spicy.
One chickadee arrived yesterday. We will see the other chickadees tomorrow in NYC. We will be family all together once again, for the second time in NYC. Although I have taken many chickadees many times to New York and M and I grew up there, we have not been there as one family since 2006.
If blog is spotty, you know why.
New York City just 13 days ago. Thanks to the Columbia Grad for the Pic.
How wonderful to have just fallen snow gleam with evening lights. It may be cold outside but the innocence of a fresh blanket of white crystals clinging to pine needles and horizontal surfaces is beyond compare.
In yogic and Vedic tradition, there are three tiers of happiness that are taught, called the three Gunas. Basically, two are illusions and one is believed to be the right path.
The lower, base kind of happiness is not happy at all. It is mostly based on pleasure and darkness which leads to further debasement and loss of self. It begins as innocent, harmless fun and betrays and turns on you in the end, ensnaring you, for example, in addictions, alcoholism, pornography, prostitution, etc.
Then there is the level of happiness where it seems like it is what you want and everyone else says it is also, but it is outside yourself so it turns out to be deceptive and poisonous in the end. This would be the unending and unsatisfactory search for money, prestige, power and outward beauty. Another avenue where the fantasy reveals the foolishness of falling for this sort of ambitious and selfish pursuit, imprisoning its victim with falsehoods and emptiness.
Then there is the real happiness that is disguised as poison and you want to avoid it at all costs and it is painful but it turns out to be the true, sweet nectar of the gods by fulfilling and rewarding you with veritable bliss and lasting happiness. These are the storms of life that turn out to be blessings. These are the down turns, heartaches or efforts in life that turn out to be instrumental to your growth and depth of understanding, bringing joy, gratitude and freedom to your existence, from the inside.
I thought of the three gunas, and especially authentic happiness, when I received some pictures from back east this week. Please allow me the wide and large latitude of metaphor.
Here is the beginnings of the storm: You fear it, you prepare for it but you don’t know what it will look like, you know it will be grim, but how scary and for how long will it last? Will it be as bad as everyone says it will be? 
Then, you are in the middle of the storm: It is dark and lonely and you have never been or seen this before, it is unpredictable and you are navigating new territory, the feelings are unbearable and you may think you will never make it out alive.
Finally, it is over: You assess the damage, you look around you and see what you can salvage. You process the destruction, you pick up the pieces, you re-evaluate again and you process some more. You may talk or write about it incessantly in order to release it as well as to gain the proper perspective.
You are on the other side of it: We all rejoice! You realize what a gift the storm was and you take the time to make something beautiful, lovely and cheery out of it! NAMASTE!
Thank you to V in NYC for the pictures and inspiration.
“For man, autumn is a time of harvest, of gathering together.
For nature, it is a time of sowing, of scattering abroad.” – Edwin Teale
Picture from ML, out east in Orient Point, Long Island, New York
Back east, in the midwest and at higher latitudes, the seasons are defined and you know its is time to pull out your sweater, your closed toe shoes and your light jacket.
Autumn or Fall arrives suspiciously here. It sneaks up as a tease with cooler mornings, fresher evenings and then disappears during the day, backtracking into high temperatures, unrelenting sunshine and dryness. Living in southern Cal can grate on your “I need a certain weather to go with the holiday” sensibilities. Instead of cool, grey days with crispness, we get Santa Ana hot, dry winds and fire warnings. I have layers of clothes on not because every where is heated when you walk indoors, like back east, but because the day radically changes from comfortable to unbearable in a few short hours.
I think maybe it is time to drive up to the mountains and feel the crisp, clean, fall air. I am so grateful for my treehouse and my escape valve.
Funny how New Yorkers dream of beachy, sunny weather during the sometimes long, dreary winter but I don’t know anyone who wants to escape during the beautiful, colorful, leaf-changing autumn. On the contrary, people flock to see the leaves on trees afire with sun-kissed hues.
My appointment with yellow, orange and red leaves awaits. A roaring fire in the evening required. Happy Autumn!
Can the weather stress you out? Oh, yes it can. I am living proof.
Can you control it? No, but you can move, or stay comfortable and find shelter.
I don’t care how much you like snow, last year, New Yorkers were done with the bitter cold. And even if you were a dry heat lover and your ideal retirement weather was hot, you wouldn’t appreciate weeks of heat waves, would you?
Weather does affect people. Statistically, there are less crimes committed during the winter and there’s always a spike in the summer. The lack of sunshine in your life can depress you and you can slip and fall on ice but can I just vent here? I love it cooler. I love pines and clean air. I love a grey, greenish morning. I love it when it rains. Heck, I am fascinated by downpours.
We are totally impacted by our environment. If you love palm trees, dry heat, pastels and the desert – you are going to be semi-unhappy living in a cold, moist, rainforest – let’s say in Washington state. If you adore sand between your toes, the sun shining on your body 24/7 and breezes, maybe you should look into moving to Hawaii.
But ideally, My psyche needs green and water, temperatures cool, from a low 55 to a high of 75 max. I am such a limited gal, I know. I am not much one for change although I like variables but not big, giant fluctuations.
I crave drizzles, mist and reading by the fire. Unfortunately, we have been inundated not by moisture, but by hot, hot heat and plenty of sunshine. Even the lizards cannot linger and are running for cover under leaves – the birds are flying in desperate searches for water sources and heading up… north. Maybe sun worshippers are enjoying this but I am clearly done -stick a fork in me. It is not even cooling hardly at night, yuk.
I am grateful for air conditioning, ice and all the comforts of home but when I step outside, I feel like I can’t breathe.
What’s your favorite weather and does the opposite influence your mood? Where should you really be living? Where do you escape to for vacation?
As the most recent contestant, Willie, left the Master Chef show, he quoted his grandmother, “Attitude will always determine your altitude.” I imagine this in reference to how your disposition decides how high you can achieve a dream.
Today, as our Hummel flies out of Germany, into Paris and then on to New York, I ponder determination, choices and aspirations. Reach for the stars is an old slogan that bears revisiting. I believe that the Universe conspires with you when you are committed to your vision. And, if it is not meant for you in the scheme of things, it will not happen. I also know, it never looks or unfolds, like you think it will, if it does come true.
Below, is a picture V took on her adventure. Imagine being 21 and seeing this for real! A dream come true for all us fairy princesses who have grown up.
Reach for the Stars and Dream Big!
Our youngest chickadee left very early this morning for her sophomore year in college. Here we are, alone again like two young twenty somethings. Except we are smack dab in the middle of our fifties and have 5 pets living at home still. Three cats, one doggie and one hamster. I am quite content and look forward to our ‘alone again’ time. I am even more madly in love with this man I call my husband than ever.
Today, cell phones abound and they are teeny and smart. High definition and flat screens are de riguer and most everyone has upgraded to stainless in the kitchen. The internet, the web, video calling, playing, chatting and movie watching is a common scene on small computers we call laptops or notebooks. The world has really changed in the last twenty years or so, even more than at any other time.
Even between my son and my youngest daughter, a span of five and a half years, there is quite a difference in the exposure and face of technology but a lack of evolution on the human compassion scale and historical level.
The Simpsons and Seinfeld debuted in 1990. The Hubbel Space Telescope is launched and quarks are confirmed as a reality. Personal computers are still in black and green and white only.
By 1993, when V was born, the World Wide Web was also born. Terrorism arrives and the first bombing of the World Trade Center happens, precursor to 9/11. Rodney King and the LA riots resemble and predate Ferguson. Humans are cloned. Film can now be converted into digital bits and can be cut on a computer.
When my youngest arrived in 1995, terrorism again struck in Oklahoma and OJ Simpson was declared not guilty. Genetically manufactured produce is first being approved by the FDA and the White House launches its first web page. Spamming becomes a thing as e-mail use starts to climb. “You got mail” remember that?
Today, terrorism has destroyed the World Trade Center and continues to escalate around the world, OJ is in jail for a different crime but behind bars nonetheless, Family Guy and The Simpsons meet in the new season, everything is done it seems by computer like self-checkout at the grocery store, cloning, GMO’s and computer hacking is rampant and I actually got to see multi universes in photographs from the Hubbel Space Telescope in a New York museum near Ground Zero and I have been happily blogging on my very own website for over two years.
Will wonders never cease?
Alone again, but richer experiences. Alone again, just us two, but with a lifetime of memorable moments, traditions and pictures of our three chickadees. Alone again, a new phase, with a fun and wonderful future agenda illuminated by a full and rewarding past.
V, my New Yorker, is in Germany for the next two weeks enjoying the country, vistas, sites, language, trains and FOOD!!! She spent one month or so studying German at the University of Berlin, two summers ago. She is backpacking it now and living in youth hostels in each location. She is living a dream and at 21 this is the time to do it!
Of course our first correspondence had to do with food. She returned to a favorite ice cream parlor and had the best ice cream ever – Marzipan (almond). 
Outside the Ice cream parlor – I guess EIS means ice. Notice the passerby with cone in hand and bright yellow building in the background. Trees in cities always makes them picturesque.
She also had the best falafel of her life she said. It was prepared in this cozy kitchen and made to order.
Fast food in Berlin
I will be reporting and posting on her whereabouts and experiences, sprinkled throughout my blog, for the next two weeks.
In Blue Jay, CA, the San Bernardino County Library brings great literature, reading groups, literacy programs, audiovisuals and warmth to this tiny mountain community that spawns its population three fold after Memorial Day to Labor Day and caters all year long to the beginning, visiting, insatiable, or older reader. Since I consider myself a part-timer, visiting with a beginner’s mind, greedy for well-placed words and more mature, all my needs are met.
But, to make it even more delectable, they have a room in the library called The Corner Bookstore located in the far right corner of the building. No sooner did I drop off my groceries at the treehouse, walk Cindi on her well traversed back road, give us both a little snack and fill the bird feeder for our friends, I was off and running to the village’s treasury of bound and written thoughts.
Delightful and adventurous, I spent at least an hour perusing titles, opening up tomes and leisurely choosing titles. Alas, I came home with two dozen goodies ranging from New York’s Real Housewife Carole Radziwill’s memoir, What Remains to Willa Cather’s classics, The Professor’s House and My Antonia to Edith Wharton’s famous, The House of Mirth to Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Nobel prize winner, One Hundred Years of Solitude and everything in between.
Time spent selecting, skimming and then purchasing these gems was delicious; secluded and companionless, yet intimately snuggled up with the writer. Isn’t that what every reader craves? Isn’t that what every writer wants; to sneak into bed with you, to enter your head, your thoughts and transfer a visual, an emotion or a human connection?
Perhaps no place in any community is so totally democratic as the town library. The only entrance requirement is interest. – Lady Bird Johnson