Barcelona Crypt

Lost & FOUND!

I sell books on Amazon as well as Art on Etsy & today was one of those days when I ONCE AGAIN was frantically looking for a book I had sold. The problem with BOTH businesses is that they have taken over my sweet little cottage, making it an absolute nightmare to live here. Trying to organize all my stuff without a storage unit somewhere is a REAL drag, so think about THAT before you take these businesses on if you can't already relate!

Anyway, I'm past the point now of swearing, screaming & praying to the universe to 'PLEASE LET ME FIND THE F-ING BOOK!' & have already sent the 'sorry' e-mail to the buyer, offering to refund her money, at which point I will, as Murphy's Law states, find it!

I did find some things however that are FAR more important to my psyche. The last place I looked was in the shed outside, where I should not be keeping books anyway, but I was getting desperate. What I DID find was boxes & boxes of old college textbooks & supplies, in anticipation of going back to teaching again. My lawsuit over losing my job has just wrapped up after over two years since leaving the college, with NO financial settlement, yet with a HUGE emotional settlement.

 I STILL know now, as I did then, that I am a gifted teacher. There were waiting lists for my classes because I cared, was engaged & truly enjoyed the intellectual challenge of learning & sharing old & new discoveries with my students. Then ONE bitter, jealous & spiteful old bitch Dean came along about a year before I lost my job, ruining it for me & a lot of other dedicated faculty. Instead of wandering away & crying in my soup, I went to the President, contacted the EEOC & found a great lawyer. I spent two long years fighting against an unlawful dismissal. In the end she still has no awareness that she brought my career to a screeching halt. And, she also doesn't know that she gave me a rare gift as well. A shed full of textbooks & paper that can now go to the recycling center to make room for my new & much more creatively rewarding career.

Still no damn book, but a much needed unloading of a past that will surely make my load lighter & make more room for MY present & future.

My Altar

My altar now has a photo of my dad & a carved wood St. Francis of Assisi he had for a long time. I still really don't believe he's gone, but the house sold & my mom will be moving to a retirement home soon, so maybe that will make it more real?

Anna Halprin: Dancer

Anna, age 88, gets the most out of her life, living by her adage “Aging is like enlightenment at gunpoint”.

Dad & Me

Lao Tzu

There is no need to run outside for better seeing
Nor to peer from a window
Rather abide at the center of your being
The more you leave it
The less you learn
Search your heart and see
For if she is wise who takes each turn
The way to do is to be

Lao Tzu, The Tao Te Ching 

Dad Memorial Slideshow

My brother Derek put this slide together of my dad for his Memorial on Saturday; from his baby picture up through his final months. There are photo's of ALMOST all the homes he lived in from England to Canada, to New Jersey to Long Island NY, to Mercer Island, Washington to Pennsylvania & back to WA again! The large white house with yellow awning is in Ontario, Canada where I was born before we moved to the states.

Google Art Project