China Beach in San Francisco today
By the Bay
Earth Day
Gary Snyder:
Nature is not a place to visit. It is home.
Reflecting
I’ve been in Menlo Park with my three-year-old grandchild. I’ve been living the life of exploration, discovery, and imagination.
Today I spent time with him in his preschool, so I was with a group of three year olds. Because I lived in Florida and San Diego and have spent wonderful time luxuriating and playing in the sun, twice a year, pre-cancers are frozen off my body, especially my hands. Today six children gathered around me, very concerned about my “ouchies”. They held out their smooth young hands, hands in an array of colors and tones, and I wondered how we ever got into disagreement around skin color. Skin is our largest organ, our exchange between in and out, and for these children, there is nothing to notice or discriminate against. Their only concern was my ouchies.
I also saw negotiation in action. When there was a conflict, a discussion between the two children ensued, with an examination of what happened concerning hurt feelings and/or physical hurt. When all was resolved and understood, if a hug was desired, a hug was given. I think of all the squabbling happening these days. Could it be resolved with discussion and a hug?
Grandchild is ready for a bicycle, and so there has been discussion on who gets to give it, and how, and when. That leads me tonight to the wonderful response to the letter asking whether or not there is a Santa Claus. Yes, Virginia, there is.
Yesterday I drove down state route 35, Skyline Highway, which goes between 280 and highway 1, two routes I usually take. I stopped in two places where land is preserved for nature and sacred hikes. California is an extraordinarily beautiful state no matter which route one takes.
Sausalito
After rain in the night, I rise to go to Sausalito and immerse in the sounds of the bay. I meet some people who’ve come down from Tahoe. After a winter of white, they want to see green. We have green, blue, purple, and pink.
Visit to the Past
Yesterday we went to Felton to ride the Roaring Camp and Big Trees steam train. We went last year, and our three year old grandchild was excited to go again, as were we. What a thrill to go high, high, high into the redwoods and back down to stroll among the trees in Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park.
Spring
Yesterday I was with family, both four-legged and two, at Muir Beach and on the coastal trail between Muir Beach and Tennessee Valley. Some of us walked further than others, and we all indulged in these words of Vincent Van Gogh.
Don’t just look at the spring, touch it, taste it. Get it inside you.
Tennessee Valley yesterday
Silence is so accurate.
– Mark Rothko
A Day to Reflect
It’s a day to pause and reflect on the seed resting in darkness like the chick in the egg, resting and mobilizing to rise and break into even more radiant light.
This week, like all weeks, is Holy but for many there is even deeper intention to come together to celebrate in ways that honor the past even as we allow our own precious flow to unfold.
My friend Anna Shemin sent me two photos today. One is of her home decorated for Easter. The other is what she created from petals falling on her kitchen counter when she was arranging flowers.
Spring
My son was out walking in his neighborhood in San Jose, and took this photo. I’m reminded of a book I love, Make Way for Ducklings. Abundance abounds.
Now I know a little more to the story. They were actually walking down the center of the street when my son and his two rescue greyhounds, gently nudged them to the sidewalk which was a safer place to be.
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