Gratitude

What an amazing trip. Pics to come. Meanwhile, I am so thankful for my wonderful friends who:

- put me up: Peri and Brian, what a gift to stay in your lovely place and learn the language of Emma & Cabo; Kristen, and daughter Suzanna in the 'spa Pasatiempo' with romping Danny, Wanda, Belle, Landau, Scarlet and Sateen; Barb, daughter Julia and handsome Bill in the lovely Santa Cruz mountains, with Reba still going strong;
Astrid and daughter Anika, in Carmel Valley with Sheba popping in & out; and Pat in the properly feng-shiu'ed yurt at Esalen, in residence with Jamie.

- let me borrow cars: Brian, thanks for letting me borrow the Mazda, and Molly for letting me borrow the Celica. I am so glad I got stubborn all those years ago and learned how to drive stick. Zooming along in the sports cars was a high point of the trip.

- met with me for meals, drinks, coffee: Dave, Tony, Mervat, Pam, Caroline, Jeff, Courtney, Nancy, Carol, Debbie, Mitchell, Sara, Arthur.

- met me in the San Jose airport as it was the only time that our Venn diagrams overlapped: Kimberly!

- met me for the first time: Dave! what a riot!

- met me to finish off old business: Logan.

The time zipped by so fast, I am still thinking of people I want to see and things I want to do - so I can't believe I'm back in Rochester already... and it's snowing here; it rained this morning and the water on the deck is frozen. And I'm glad to be back, and continuing to launch my new life. I have lots of ideas and waves of support from the left coast. And a zeal to bridge between here & there, starting with some consulting work. Soon!

I could get used to this

I am living like a nomad, tossing my stuff in the (borrowed, thank you so much, Brian & Molly) car; stayed with Kristen again one night, then Barb last night. If it wasn't for the occasional time when highway 17 comes to a grinding halt, Barb's neighborhood off Summit road is ideal - feels like high CA mountain, but it's very close to both San Jose & Santa Cruz. Great open yards, beautiful starry starry nights (the light pollution from San Jose doesn't reach there.)

So far, I've managed to keep all my things with me and even added more. I've been working the storage space, rediscovering precious stuff - high school yearbooks! Glassware from both Grams! Rocks! (K, we have a problem with the accumulation of rocks in our household. Inherited that from Dad.) I have culled more books and made a big donation to the Saratoga library today and have a plan for getting all the stuff to where I'm living now. Phew, one more chore almost finished.

Whole huge chunks of memories have come galloping back into front brain as I drive around here again. Street names, how to avoid traffic, stores, favorite fall neighborhoods. The drive up Villa to Castro in Mt View was aglow today with red red liquidambar trees. Beautiful against the fall blue sky. In some places, bushes are red & yellow, the purple salvia is in bloom. Barb even had daffodils open in her garden! It's a riot of color here.

I have an early coffee meeting in Cupertino tomorrow. Must get some sleep, Barb and I stayed up way too late last night. With champagne.

Postcard from California

Impossibly beautiful fall day: High clear blue sky, bright warm sunshine; trees changing colors, energy and joy and traffic all over the place! Perfect day for golf, as I write this from Pasatiempo, an Alister MacKenzie course in Santa Cruz. I'm at my kick-ass fun smart gorgeous friend Kristen's house. The laptop I'm writing on has to have the screen propped up and I'm told the original power supply was eaten by Danny, the new collie puppy. !!! That can't be good for the system.

Today, on my way to Kristens, I visited my former house, was afraid that it would be this big grief event. It wasn't. I am happy to have moved on. I love northern CA and am actually looking forward to going back to Rochester. Hunh???? I am committed to supporting family, hanging out with Dad and Greg, Andrea and Gavin. And maintaining these closer family ties. I've been telling my dear friends here what fun I've been having reconnecting with all my relatives. And CA is here for me when I want it. I will get work that pulls me here every few weeks for a while as I do love it here. And I'm happy to be straddling both worlds. Let's see if I can add a few more worlds to bop between!!! I've got room for even more great places.

Doh! Rochester! What was I thinking?

As I woke up in California today, I know I am home. Not sure yet how or when I'll be back here permanently, or even if I will, but I will be back here a lot, for chunks of time. I love it here - the energy, the light, the air, the people. What a gift to be able to step away for a few years and fall in love with this place all over again!

I attended my second James Ray seminar this past weekend. So good; great experiences, processes, learnings. (K, I don't really like that word but it is a short cut to the picture.) I commit to working diligently to keep hold of this feeling. I read some great books to prep for this - The Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot, and Power vs. Force by David Hawkins. And that's about 1% of the suggested reading list, more to come. I reconnected with some wonderful people I met last seminar, so we'll get back in touch to encourage each other to keep with the learning. And I met some wonderful new folks. This adventure just keeps getting better!

Flew into San Jose yesterday afternoon, Peri picked me up. We stopped at East West Books, so I could see if there's interesting talks there while I'm in the area, a gorgeous new Whole Foods in Mt. View, Elephant Pharmacy - a supermarket of alternative stuff like homeopathy and herbal suppliments, great products for the home (environmentally friendly) and a regular pharmacy too. Oh, and Yoga supplies, of course! Then on to her place. She & Brian cooked a whole salmon for dinner - amazing! (We'll be having more tonight!) It's been so great to be here, and it's not even been 24 hours yet.

I was worried last week that this trip would be sad, boo hoo, the life I gave up. It's not at all. I am so happy and not even fussed about where I'm living now. I know I can be here any time I want - and I do.