My grandmother and Martha at Thanksgiving

Colorado

Hello my friends,
I hope you are well and happy. On Monday Anne Greenfield, bless her heart, drove me to the train station in Santa Rosa at five in the morning and I took the Amtrack train out here to Boulder Colorado to visit Annie and Robert (my grandparents). It took two days of reflecting, relaxing, writing in my journal, reading, and watching our increadible country side form and pass by out the window while I munched on yummy snacks that I brought along with me. Not a single paranoid mention of security in the station or over the intercome. People on board were relaxed and friendly and I sat and shared perspectives with many strangers as we passed the time. Yes, it was a great hardship getting here but I managed.
Today is a beautiful sunny day here in Colorado where I have been spending time with Annie, Robert, Robyn and Jan. On thanksgiving we went down onto the plains and visited my uncle Carl, Martha, and little cousin Areil, as well as some friends of theirs. Robert has spent the last year designing and building a solar power system for their house. He even has made a computer program which graphs the daily power uses of the household. Interesting to watch it and learn about the amount of electricity each thing in the house uses as it is turned on or, as in the case of the fridge and water pump, comes on. Yeasterday Robyn, Robert, and I moved a big rack and six solar pannels onto the roof. We were lucky that the sun was shinning because it melted a lot of the ice after we swept four inches of snow off of the gently angled roof. The three of us had a great time working together and Jan was a good photo documenter. Annie kept the house going and had a nice lunch ready for us in the afternoon when the panels had all been placed and secured. Then the second part of the day Robert helped me design and estimate costs for a simple solar power system for our place in Bodega. We had to start from scratch and get some of the basic concepts and vocabulary established since I have not been around electricity much in the past several years. Visiting my grandparents I get updated on technology among other things. It is often the other way around for grandchildren and grandparents but not for us. I'm really lucky to be related to such bright and interesting people. Robyn and Jan left for Walla Walla this morning I hope they are enjoying the beautiful weather.
Out the window, sunlight glistens off of snow flakes as a gentle breeze whisps them from tree branches into the air. Fairy dust everywhere. The fullness of the moon at night has been reflecting everywhere. In the time away from daily life, which I seem to take a lot of :), I have been digesting my experiences at the Fall Yoga Retreat that I went to a couple of weeks ago in Esalen. I was thoughly inspired by the yoga and the kirtan music that I experienced there (as well as by the increadable people I met) and am hungrey for more. I have always expected that I would be involved in the movement arts more then I have and I realize that it is time to realize that aspect of myself. Curious to see how that will unfold.
Upon arriving home from the retreat I learned that a Yantra painting class was being held in Bodega. I went the next day. My understanding is that Yantras are sacred geometric paintings that represent diffrent aspects and deities of the hindu religion. The diffrent aspects and deities represent pattens and energies that take place in the universe and in our daily lives. In painting the differnt Yantras we bring focus to and therefore manifest those qualities into our present conditions. Thats' cool and it was also fun to learn a bit more about painting. I haven't really done much of this before, so it really unfolded a deeper appriciation especially for the sacred art work of the hindu and buddhist philosophies/religions. A simple thing that I learned is that with the Ganche? (wrong spelling, maybe wrong word) paints, which come out of a tube and have to be watered down, the results are much better if you mix enough water in the paint. I have one more day in the class when I get home from Boulder to finish up the Yantra I am working on as well as touch up the one I did last year. I am happy with the outcome so far and with a bit of improvement from last year.
As if the painting class was not cool enough to come home to, we found out that Krishna Das, a well known and talented Kirtan musician was playing in Santa Rosa the evening after my painting class. So spontainiously off we went to that. As we were walking in, our friend Jason was standing right there in the doorway. A welcome sight! We sat together on the floor right in the front. It was really great because not only is he a beautiful muscian he is a good teacher and the audience was able to sing/chant along quite well. We were in a very good space by the end of the kirtan. I don't like to compare, because their styles are different, but the Kirtan at the retreat in Esalen, who played for hours and hours everyday and I think for the first time as a group, was at least as good, and the muscians themselves were at least as blissful as Krishna Das. Sigh, i miss them. Thanks to those who provide the sound tracks of our lives! What would we do without them?
Well, it is time for lunch.
Be well!

Hello,
welcome to my blog. There is a first for everything.