HOLIDAY BLESSINGS

The atmosphere in northern California during the winter holidays is one of my favorits. It's warm enough to not die from frost, the colors are bright and deep including blue skies with billowing clouds and the leaves stay bright red, orange and deep purple for a looooong time before the wind blows them off the trees. There are nakked Persimmon trees everywhere with plump ripe fruit and people are friendly and generally in a good mood.

The decorations are so creative and fun, I want to do a foto safari just around that.

We also went caroling, which is one of Tom's accomplishments in the neighborhood he grew up in.

GALLERY OPENING NIGHT

It's official..I am the assistant manager at the Firehouse North.

A gallery slash artists studio in North Berkeley. 1790 Shattuck ave.

My friend Tom is the director and it's a wonderful creative space to be in.

Yesterday we had an opening with organic dried fruit and nuts donated by the "Living Tree" community, who's founder Jesse Schwartz is an old community fellow from Bolinas in the early eighties.

Some of my clay pieces made it into the show. Thats so cool.

There are some truly accomplished artists exhibiting, so it's quite an honor for a beginner like me.

BIRTHDAY wishes

....include a life of freedom to serve and live my purpose in good company, with friends and family of mutual support.

Ramon took us out to dinner.

Maddalena joined us at Plachutta, possibly the best Wiener Kueche in Vienna.

So yummy and great company. Ramon grew up with Maddalena and because the parents moved apart, the kids did too. So it was special to have 'em together, because Dawn and Maddi were close later as teens too.

A long walk in the spectacular forest next door crowned the celebration of my 52 years in this body, which I am so grateful for.

Gratful also for having a heart, big and open, generous and kind...most of the time.

There still are lots of fears and worries hiding, and thanks to the 12 step program, it's time to bring 'em all into the light and heal heal heal.

My other wish is to find the perfect work, self expression, that allows me to have close and creative times with my loved ones. All of them. God knows what I have to offer in contribution and I pray that it is being revealed to me as the next step.

"Perfect self expression will never be labor; but of such absorbing interest that it will seem like play. The student knows, also, as man comes into the world financed by God, the supply needed for his perfect self-expression will be at hand." 'Flossie' Florence Scovel Shinn

Mein son in law, the genius

Yup, if I had written down all the qualities I wished for my daughter to have in a husband, I would have only gotten to half the virtues her actual husband sports.

Suffice it to say that I am deeply grateful for having the best daughter possible, and that she gets him, because it's what the Higher Power wanted.

Here is a sample of a gift he made for a project Tom asked me to help with.

Lunar birthday

Lunar birthday is the actual birthday, because both, the sun AND the moon are in the same constellation as at birth.

I was born on an eclipsed full moon which is considered most difficult and challenging, especially for a new born.

This full moon, 52 years later, showed which direction I have grown, the company I keep and the love in my life. All iSWELL.

So much to look forward to, to contribute to and participate in.

Gratitude to all the peeps in my life, my beloved and my brilliant family.

Art art art is back back back in my life and I will do anything for it to stay.

Love love love is alive in my life and I will do anything to cultivate and nurture it.

God God God is real real real in my life and the magnet of my thoughts, wishes and desires.

Happy NEW year to this challenged soul only wanting to experience de light of OMg.

Life is unfolding and we ride together alone

Every day something changes...for real.

One day I make a lifelong commitment and the next I have to let go, because my lunar birthday is pushing reality as a slideshow of days and nights alone, even as I am in the company of loved ones.

My life is changing so much so fast, that all I can do is smile, apply my skills in the moment as needed and make sure I get my meditation and yoga practice in. Oh, and learn new skills...every day a little.

Honesty, authenticity and kindness the most attractive 'it' virtues.

Am I staying?

Am I going?

Am I giving?

Am I receiving?

All of it....at once?

Nope.

One day at the time.

Thank GOD!

HAPPY MAHASAMADHI DAY & NIGHT!

Woke up this morning with a challenge.

It's Mahasamdhi celebration full moon and I was asked to... let go...huh?

Ok, let go...AND celebrate?

Full moon in Aries, Sun in Libra, makes sense...

So much to be grateful for.

A living master...a true Guru...a light dispelling the dark.

Baba Muktananda. Gurumayi's Guru.

Went to the top of the meadow and chanted Shree Guru Gita, journaled and even though the request of my friend bugged me, like a wet blanket, the day and this moment is divine.

So many things are unfolding, all beautiful flowers and fruit, once seeds in fertile soil.

May the abundance of joy and prayer move my Heart as the full moon shines on the earth.

May my Guru be pleased with my life and may my life purpose be full filled.

I LOVE the full moon and will celebrate by chanting the Rudram, meditating for Peace and Contentment, Serenity, courage and wisdom.

I feel revitalized...taking care of Love and Respect in my own life. For real.

Fruit crisp...yeah, lets do some autumn food

Got great crispy apples at the farmers market plus yummy tangy plums.

Recipe from Allrecipes.com for a crisp...and voila, I'm hooked.

This is the second one and I am just beginning...

Next one I'll add fresh ginger, or candid ginger.

"The Trifecta Project" is born and I'll have a couple of days to chill, write up my "Cultural Fun" itinerary for family & friends to visit Vienna and Austria in the winter.

Love has found a warm home in my heart.

I am committed to a life of collaboration, friendship, studentship,and sobriety.

Great food too :)

Victory of Light over Darkness aka Evolution

Today!

A planetary collaboration of sorts.

Connecting and networking with my personal global soul tribe.

My core being tested, I realize that my memory needs most support.

If I can remember all the good, great, in light of the truth seen images, I have all the tools for evolution to take place naturally and grow as a Human Being.

Meditation ~ Yoga, photography ~ writing, food ~ wild crafting = personal health

Having Kiki, the spaniel, in my life helps greatly:)

My wish, to heal all the misunderstandings in my body and mind, which inform my reality with things untrue. May these misunderstandings be filled with the golden light of the truth.

A freedom of sorts.

Mind maps, how the brain works, soft ware

Started a map for the budding creative collaboration on the TRIFECTA lifestyle CENTER.

http://www.thebrain.com/?gclid=CODxqf65iJ0CFYKCzAodZzQcZA

Exciting possibilities also when used as autobiographical mapping.

Another day of research and development from home base.

Staying connected to my Heart connections.

Walking Kiki.

Thanking God and my Guru for driving, so meditation can happen naturally and my life unfolds like a rosebush. Yes, with thorns:), thats nature for Ya.

Excerpts from Hugh MacLeod's blog

Check him out at:

http://gapingvoid.com/

I just ordered his book: "Ignore everybody"

"The thing about wor king as an artist is that you never rea lize how much of the work is on top of making the actual art. I was remem be ring how when I star ted out, I would visit the stu dios of more esta blished artists and couldn’t begin to grasp how they ran the show. It’s taken years to slowly put each piece in place. Every day there’s new pro blems to solve, but if you can solve them in a way that sticks— so that from now on that issue is cove red, even tually you come up with an effi cient sys tem for sup por ting the most impor tant work you do, which is the art.

“Artists can not mar ket” is com plete crap. Warhol was GREAT at mar ke ting. As was Picasso and count less other “Blue Chips”. Of course, they’d often take the “anti-marketing” stance as a form of mar ke ting them sel ves. And their patrons lap­ped it up.

The way artists market them selves is by having a great story, by having a “Myth”. Telling anecdo tal sto ries about Warhol, Pollack, Bas quiat, Van Gogh is both (A) fun and (B) has a mythi cal dimen sion… if they didn’t, they wouldn’t have had movies made about them. The art feeds the myth. The myth feeds the art."

Yah, TRIFECTA lifestyle, is it myth (yet)? The Pegasus we are riding in on sure is...I mean the Unicorn Pegasus of course.

GOOD LUCK alive and well

Some of my friends have never found one.... some people don't know they exist.... most people never even think about them.

FOUR LEAFED CLOVERS!

Dawn and I have been on a roll. A meadow outside her house, a place we visit sometime twice a day to walk Kiki, holds a 5+ acre clover field. We are talking billions of 3 leafed clover. White and red flowered.

Since childhood, whenever I see clover, I look for the four leafs. It's said to bring good luck to the finder. It's said to give it away to th first person you see.

It's amazing, when you look out on field with so many designed by nature plants of the same kind. To think that some, every once in a while will grow a little differently. Have an added surface to receive the sunlight. An extra capacity to give oxygen. Just a little.

And as we walk, with our eyes resting on that divine green color, there it is, a four lefed clover, among all the regulars. Something happens, it's a mystical movement of the heart and mind.

A cousin of gratitude.

The sister of awe.

..............................

Surely things will work out just fine in the Design Divine.

Intergenerational Culture is the Secret of the TLC

The Trifecta Learning Center

exists to:

Reverse ignorance about art, by building intergenerational community, where art becomes the product of collaboration, focus and learning about the creative process across all the disciplines and mediums.

• Reverse ignorance about food, by offering natural organic products from local artisans. Health and noursihment are experiential.
• Reverse ignorance amongst ages and races, by welcoming all people who want to experience the effects of a Trifecta lifestyle.

Project TLC reverses cultural ignorance in a community by having people intentionally working, eating and creating art together.

The intergenerational gap that is filled by the TLC

creates world peace on a local level.

Who's reading this blog?

Since this is a personal log, a place where I can write and post photos, to remember what is going on in any given circumstance.

I can also choose the style to write in to a personal poetic meandering of words.

So, here it goes...every time I want to "write" the flow from the heart stops and a cold, calculating wind blows across my inner vision.

All kinds of thoughts are flying through my brain scape..."you don't know anything...why do you think this is important...when has anything important happened in your life?"...so belittling, so discouraging...so untrue.

In order to be undisturbed by these lie-bites, I need to close the windows and the door to my inner sanctum.

Enter the Heart of writing...and document what is alive.

I see seeds of passion, a passion so uplifting and inspiring to people who come to seek a lift.

In form of yoga and movement sessions...indoor or outdoor...with music or in silence...incense or fresh meadow country air...simultaneoulsy soothing and invigorating.

I see a large space, with filtered light,

bright...clear and clean...the floor wide open...smudged with dhoop.

Good audio system with I.pod dock.

Golden orange mango light.

Mirrors surrounding us on three sides.

Plants flourishing in a corner.

An altar to the Divine. Candle lit.

We begin by sitting in silence, we breathe, we move slowly and deliberatly.

We merge into alignment with purpose and intention.

This is my classroom, this is my gift, this is what I want to exprience.

This is what I want to give to those who come.

OhmyGod! How cute is this..a real baby hedgehog

Organic farm visit

Dawn, Kiki and I went to visit an organic farm, that delivers our weekly veggies and raw milk.

Here are a couple of snap shots....