Rescue Me!

15 Monday Oct 2012

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My friend Carol and I were talking the other day, we both have had dogs for many years, and I realized that this week is the third anniversary of my officially adopting/rescuing my first dog “Tashi”. Carol was instrumental in helping me find Tashi, my Bichon Friese,  through the Oregon Dog Rescue Organization. Carol is the proud owner of Zelda, the famous bulldog. Also, Nancy Truax made the connection, who has volunteered thousands of hours taking care of dogs in distress and finding them good homes. Tashi was not too sure of what was going on when I picked him up the first day, he looked bewildered and scared, but was so sweet at seven months. He had been in a home situation where there was illness and and the man of the house was starting to throw him around. They needed to get him out fast. So Nancy came to the rescue and let Carol know about him and that’s how I found Tashi.

Here’s a photo of him today after he was groomed. He gets a haircut once a month due to his having hair, not fur, and just like us, his hair grows a lot, just like us! Tashi quickly adapted to our home and our Beyond Words office where he is the official mascot. He visits several times a month and gets lots of love and hugs from the staff. He looks forward to his long walks with our warehouseman, Larry, and Emily and Jeanette who take him out for “strolls”.

Lots of us have had dogs during our lives, and when you don’t have biological children, they become like your children, and they bring us many joys and much sadness when they pass in their short dog time. I have had several dogs in my life and they were all wonderful, but I would say that Tashi is my smallest and most favorite so far. Carol and I like to call our dogs our “Angel dogs.” I’ve seen bumper stickers referring to rescue dogs that say, “Who rescued who?”

I remember that my first dog was “Carrie” a mixed breed puppy, probably mostly airdale who I found at Girl Scout camp when I was about eleven years old. I called my Mom and asked if I could bring it home and she said “No!” That was probably my first act of real defiance over my parents’ orders, but I brought Carrie home anyway and as soon as we got her home, everyone else in the family loved her. We had never had a dog in our home before that, but my Dad had grown up with dogs and he was supportive. Well, Carrie was the first of probably 6 or 7 dogs that my parents had until my Mom finally moved into a retirement residence about 5 years ago. She had to let go of Kula, her golden lab at that time, but found him a wonderful family/home and gets to see Kula just about every year. The family even put together a book of Kula’s photos so my Mom could keep it with her and invited her to their Son’s wedding where Kula was one of the participants.

 I went off to College in California in the early 1970s. After your second year you could get an apartment on campus. They allowed dogs, so I got my first Old English Sheepdog as a puppy, Hanakukuleiei, (which means naughty in Hawaiian). He just went by Hana for short. Hana was a wonderful dog, took a lot of grooming and bathing in the bathtub! He had many trips including one private flight to Dallas, Texas, over Christmas, where my roommate (whose father owned the Dallas Cowboys at the time) had a large party and Hana attended. When he decided to poop on the carpet, they carried it out on a silver platter! Hana had to go through quarantine for 6 months when I returned back to Hawaii after college which was really hard on him. We moved to Maui, and he lived out the rest of his life there where we swam with the whales and dolphins occassionally. He loved the beach and was photographed for the Honolulu Advertiser next to me on the beach just wet from the ocean.

I got my second Old English Sheepdog shortly after I bought a farm in Oregon in about 1986. I told my husband at the time that I was going to look at OES puppies, and he said, “Please don’t bring one home!” Again I  didn’t listen and brought home the cutest 3 month old puppy.  His name was Ragamuffin of Pumpkin Ridge (where we lived). He went by Rags for short. Rags loved the farm and the office. He herded our five arabian horses and geese and chickens and anything else that would allow him to herd it. He also got along with the two outside cats we had at the time who were good mole catchers. Hana lived to the ripe old age of 13.

Many of us have dogs or will have them sometime in our lives, and they really are our most loyal friends always happy to greet you at the door and give you a lick. They also have a healing affect on us, and I’ve been happy to spend more time with Tashi this year and feeling that full affect.

Then there are cats, but that’s another story! Tashi likes to chase them!

Glorious Indian Summer

19 Wednesday Sep 2012

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Sorry to be so long between blog posts. We have been enjoying a gorgeous Indian Summer this year ever since I returned to Oregon at the end of August. It’s been hard to be inside! I think we deserve it this year because summer didn’t really arrive until July 4th due to a very late spring with lots of rain. We’ve had days this month of mostly 80 degrees and sometimes 90 degrees, and cool nights that have gotten close to freezing a couple of nights but mostly 55. Very good sleeping weather.

You can tell that fall is in the air as the trees start to turn color and the birds are starting to migrate. The sun is coming up later and going down earlier. I miss the longer days! I have felt the need for more sleep myself and take naps when my body asks for it.

A lot of us find ourselves cleaning out stuff and organizing or having garage sales. It feels, to a few of us, like something new is coming and we are getting ready by de-cluttering.

My turn, I finally cleaned out our pump house with Glenn’s help. It has to be 4 or 5 years since the last time, got rid of all the chicken stuff (still have a chicken condo in the back acreage), horse grooming stuff (used to have four Arabian mares), and odds and ends gardening things. It feels good to have a tidy space prepared for winter. A “pump house” for you city folk is where you have the pump for your well. It needs to stay warm enough in the winter not to freeze or you have no water. Have learned that the hard way.

We’ve been enjoying some late summer activities to take advantage of the warm weather while we have it like a spontaneous ride in the countryside to our favorite bistro in Dundee in the wine country. Having friends over for dinner by the patio fireplace and baking a peach and blackberry pie for dessert. The blackberries were from our yard. The kiwis are starting to ripen on our vine now. Have to figure out some things to do with them this year. Three of my Portland girlfriends got together and had a belated birthday party for me last week. Delicious food and fun! Even got out and hit some golf balls this weekend at Pumpkin Ridge golf course, first time in a couple of years…really rusty! I need a lot of help with my swing!

We spent a few days with the airstream in Sisters, Oregon, about 15 miles west of Bend at a lovely RV resort. Tashi loved being parked by the dog run and got to greet every dog that was staying at the resort as a result. We just missed the terrible forest fires that are still raging there. The sky in Portland is very smoky today from all the forest fires in the area. No rain in sight for at least a week.

We bought crawfish one Saturday at our local Japanese grocery Uwajimaya and had a crawfish boil with fresh local corn on the cob, delicious! It was soo good, we even talked about growing crawfish in our lake. Tashi didn’t know what to do with a live crawfish which looks like a baby lobster. They had a standoff!

The Fall Equinox, or first day of Fall, arrives this Sunday, September 22nd at 7:49 a.m. PST. As a possibility, try something to mark this seasonal transition. There are many suggestions on the internet. It’s the day when you have 12 equal hours of day and night.

I’ve been enjoying experimenting with a new health device called a Biomat. It’s a body size mat with rows of tourmaline and amethyst throughout and it heats up with a control device using infrared heat. My friend Rick Duff introduced me to it. Rick does Healing Touch and has found it to be benficial for many people. It can help to heal many conditions but also helps you sleep really well. It has been a wonderful tool for me, and I’m learning how to fine tune it for my needs. If you get a chance to try one, watch out! You will be hooked. It also releases negative ions when just plugged in and makes your room feel really good to be in. I’m feeling very mellow these days and less stressed as a result of using it.

I also have a new favorite photo gadget that my friend Carol gave me called a Kodak Pulse. It’s a frame that shows images that you load onto a site and then the photos appear in the frame. You can also have friends send you photos from their phone or laptop. If you want to send me a photo, send it to malia@kodakpulse.com. It’s really wonderful when you see surprise photos  appear in the frame. It also lets me know who sent the photo.

What are you noticing about Fall coming to your area? Is is your favorite season? Please share how you celebrate the changing of the seasons.

The Best Birthday Ever

05 Wednesday Sep 2012

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Do you remember when you were five or six and you were so excited for your birthday to finally arrive? You could hardly sleep you were so excited to be turning a year older and all those birthday presents!

I remember some of the birthday parties when I was young and growing up in Honolulu. A lot of them involved swimming in the ocean or a pool. One involved a donkey that my Grandfather had to get in his car and transport over to our beach house for rides for all the kids attending the party. He had to use carrots to coax it in and out of the car. Another one involved a carousel that was on the back of a truck and had maybe six animals that you could ride up and down on as it turned in a circle. Also a skating palace called Rainbow Rollerland was the site of several of my parties. My Mom always had a great party for me. She also made a big deal of each holiday and still sends me a card and a some wild money to spend each holiday.

Why is it that when we get older we tend to not celebrate as much, either we don’t want to acknowledge our age or we don’t want to draw attention to ourselves, or some other reason. I’m guilty of all of the above and more.

So after attending several high school classmates’ birthday parties and being inspired by their celebrations at the beginning of the year, I decided that for THIS birthday I was going to throw a fabulous party and really celebrate a significant turning point. So where would it be and who would come?

So I started planning in January for my August birthday and, after deliberating ocean and river cruises, and far away trips, I finally decided that most of my old friends live in Honolulu and that’s where my family still lives. I decided to turn it into a birthday week and to rent a beach house and invite some of my oldest and closest friends to stay with me on the wonderful beach that I grew up on, Lanikai Beach. It’s one of the beaches that magazines frequently list in the top ten beaches in the world. The sand is like sugar and there are two small islands called the Mokuluas about half a mile from the beach in easy kayaking or stand up paddling distance. The sun rises at about 5:30 every morning, and when the moon rises behind the islands, it’s spectacular!

We eight beachcombers had a grand time in the five bedroom home that used to belong to my neighbor, Don Ho of “Tiny Bubbles” fame. It was so comfortable for everyone, most had not met before and we all got along really well. There were Bar-B-Ques, a fabulous ten course gourmet dinner cooked by my friend Mary Dikon’s husband Roger, who is one of the original Pacific Rim chefs. A trip to Waikiki one evening for sunset cocktails, a tour of the art museum, lots of lying under sun umbrellas on the beach, swimming and laughing, mostly led by Gus who made us all laugh so hard!

So when my actual birthday arrived on the 20th we were in the house on the beach and I was taken by Carol to a wonderful breakfast at Mokes in Kailua where they serve delicious passion fruit pancakes! That was only the start. We spent the rest of the morning on the beach and had a Chinese chicken salad that Marcia fixed for everyone for lunch. My birthday party was on the other side of the island at the foot of Diamond Head at a club my sister belongs to, the outrigger Canoe Club. Gus decided to hire a limo to take us in so we wouldn’t have to worry about driving after drinking, it was really a treat to drive into Honolulu through the lush mountains and really enjoy the scenery.

There were about fifty people invited to celebrate with me. From childhood friends, church choir friends, classmates from both high school and college, friends from various jobs, places I’ve lived, some of my authors, my business coaches Marsia and Karen came from Portland, my masseuse, acupuncturist, and friends from Money and You and Burklyn.

The entertainment was outstanding, Cyril Pahinui and Peter Moon Jr. playing slack key and ukulele as well as Mehana of Puamana playing guitar and a hula dancer. One of my favorite songs was written by the mother of Mehana, Irmgard Aluli, it’s called Seabreeze. I used to play the small record over and over on my little record player when I was 4 or 5 years old. Mehana sang the song several times for me as well as a beautiful Happy Birthday rendition.

We feasted on Huli Huli chicken, Mahimahi, and Kalbi Korean ribs, three salads, pupus (appetizers), and four flavors of Hawaiian cupcakes. The Mai Tais flowed! I had so many fragrant leis on my neck I had to place them on a table so I could cool off! It was absolutely the best birthday ever—SO FAR! You always have to leave room for more!

I’ve realized during this pilgrimage year that it’s important to build memories. That you want to surround yourself with the places you love and the people who love you. That’s what counts, love and experiences.

God Is My Personal Shopper

23 Thursday Aug 2012

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I was preparing for my trip to Hawaii and contemplating my swimsuits and how they fit. A few pounds heavier from my California trip I thought about buying one of the Miracle swimsuits that claim they make you “instantly ten pounds slimmer!” I ended up not having time to shop, try on, and ultimately didn’t buy one before I left Portland.

When we got to Honolulu, we went shopping one day at Waikele Outlets. We checked out Tommy Bahamas and Tumi and then Saks Fifth Ave. I usually don’t find anything there but decided to go to the swimsuit section. There hanging by themselves were two size ten Miracle swimsuits in a grey solid and grey leopard print marked down from $140.00 each to $60.00 each.

They were my colors and really fit well so I took them to the check out and they were rung up at another 50% discount at $30.00 each. So there you have it…allow another to be your personal shopper, just put your intention out and it will be arranged!

More from Hawaii soon!

Home again, Home again…Carlag?

08 Wednesday Aug 2012

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Yes, we have been home since Friday night. You forget how good your own bed and pillow feel! My body did not like the three-day ride from California and proceeded to have pain for a couple of days afterwards from sitting in the same position for so long, probably also putting my feet up on the dash for comfort! I refer to this condition now as “carlag” it’s similar to jet lag, but instead of going 1,000 miles an hour for five hours, it’s from going 80 miles an hour for three days! Those effects are fading as we get further from the drive time.

Some reflections on our California trip…

  • Loved being by the sea and all the cities that we visited adjacent to it. We are definitely beach people and need to remember that.
  • The mountains are beautiful, too, for contrast, and we have some of the most beautiful in the Pacific Northwest.
  • Loved staying with our friends and found it was good to limit visits to a few days or go off and do things ourselves during day and spend the evening with them.
  • That we don’t have to go back to Vegas for a LONG time.
  • That Glenn does not want to “ever drive again in LA!”
  • That it’s good to get away and, as nice as all the places were that we visited, its good to be in another reality to appreciate the one you choose to live in.
  • When you are traveling it’s much easier to see your words and thoughts manifest.
  • We have now worked with our navigation system in our SUV for the past two weeks and we got lots of good tips, especially in LA for avoiding traffic, but at times you just want that sweet voice to shut up!

Summer in Oregon is in all it’s glory with fresh fruit of all kinds on the tress, in the market, and farmers markets. We have a Shiro plum tree (yellow, sweet small plums) that is loaded and ready for picking. So, if you are in the vicinity let me know and bring a bucket! The peaches down the road at Jossy Farms are ripe and our warehouseman, Larry, knows which ones to pick! All kinds of berries are available like raspberries, goose berries, blackberries, Logan berries. There’s a great place on Sauvies Island on the Columbia river that has a pick it yourself berry farm with at least 25 kinds of berries. I really want to get out there this summer and pick some really large berries and make a pie!

My next journey on The Pilgrimage

I’m preparing for another trip without the airstream. The airstream is still in Eugene at the dealer getting some warranty items fixed. This trips too far and involves an ocean. It also involves a significant birthday. I’m a water dragon (so you can figure out my age) born in Honolulu, so I’m going back to the scene of my birth and first thirty years of my life.

I will celebrate with dear friends in Hawaii and some who are flying in for the party. I’m staying on the beach where I grew up during summers next door to my family’s house (which was sold long ago) in the house that belonged to Don Ho, the famous Hawaiian  singer who died a few years ago. You see photos of the two islands off the beach in many of the brochures for Hawaii travel. The sand is like sugar and the beach at Lanikai has been voted many times one of the best beaches in the world.

It will be kind of like a “Big Chill” week with close friends coming to stay with us for the week on my favorite beach in the world.  A dream come true.

Will share more of the journey with you as the two weeks progress.

There’s No Place Like Home!

04 Saturday Aug 2012

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We’ve been driving from Idylwild, California, toward our home in Oregon for the past three days and averaging about 350 miles a day. We decided to take Hwy 395 for most of the way, which is much more scenic and interesting than Hwy 5. We’ve passed through the Mohave Desert, China Lake (where the Top Guns train), and Area 51 (of UFO fame), which is hidden behind China Lake. We saw a sign for alien donuts but no aliens!

We stopped in a “ghost town” called Randville to eat our box lunches and stopped by the General Store. There was a sign that said “Hopen for Business” and there was NO one stopping by other than us that day. You can also pick up prospecting supplies in the general store and you can see the mines in the hills around the town that show up like little holes in the side of the mountain. Lots of No Trespassing signs that miners have posted. We stopped in the town of Bishop for an early dinner and waved to my friend Liesje’s parents as we passed through town.

The first night we made it as far as Mammoth Lake and stayed in a German looking inn, did not ask if there was air conditioning, and guess what, there wasn’t any because it’s a ski area and the rooms have heaters! It was 92 degrees so we slept fitfully with a small fan blowing over us all night. Theres really beautiful countryside approaching Mammoth.

The second day we drove from Mammoth and our goal was to get to Lake Shasta by evening. We drove by many lakes, wet and dry, really pretty countryside that varied from desert to high Sierra. We then took the highway that took us over Mt. Lassen. It was really a beautiful drive with picture postcard opportunities all along the way.

Mt Shasta appeared in  the distance. It’s really breathtaking. We stayed for the night at the Mount Shasta Resort and decided to treat ourselves to an air-conditioned hotel room, this our last night on the road. The only room they had came with a large jacuzzi. We had a nice dinner at the lodge connected to the hotel and then went for a drive. As we pulled up to a lake to watch the dusk the full moon appeared over the opposite mountain range. It was beautiful.

Our drive home today went really well.  We stopped in Ashland to get sandwiches and I popped into my favorite store, Papaya. We are so happy to be home and so grateful for the smooth and wonderful trip and all our friends along the way who hosted us and who we spent time with us. And…There truly is no place like home.

Funky Idylwild

01 Wednesday Aug 2012

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We have just spent the past two days with our friends Anne Marie and Ken. The last time we visited them they were living in Palm Desert and had just purchased a home in Idylwild. Idylwild is located in the mountains east of LA and above Palm Springs, the elevation is 6,000 feet, which takes some adjusting to. It’s a funky kind of town, with lots of carved wooden bears statues and stores that carry a lot of things you really don’t need, and squirrels everywhere! The town is really wonderful and it feels like summer camp. In fact, there are actually a lot or camps for youth in the town including the Idylwild School of the Arts.

Anne Marie and Ken have done a lot of renovation to the house in the last two years since they moved here and have just finished putting in a guest Yurt that we will try next time we come to stay. They have put in a beautiful garden that they share with the wildlife. No wonder, Anne Marie also feeds all the wildlife, pasture mix for the deer that come within twelve feet of her back door and peanuts for the squirrels that she calls “Charlie”. I’ve never seen squirrels come so close to humans, but Anne Marie is more than a regular human, she has a special way with people and animals.

We shared several great meals together and reminisced about spiritual experiences that we had shared or had done on our own and had a lot of laughter and smiles during our time together.

Ken did a great job of driving us around Idylwild yesterday and pointed out various points of interest, even Dolly Parton has a house around the corner from them! Anne Marie and Ken sent us off with a harmonica serenade and giant pine cone from their property. Glenn is the recipient of a gift of a new singing bowl that he loves playing.

We are on the highway this morning taking Hwy 395 through Hemet, Bishop, Reno, and Shasta, instead of Hwy 5 home. We do not want to deal with LA traffic again. It will take us three days, but will be much more scenic and stress free. We are sad that our California Pilgrimage is coming to a close, but looking forward to being back in Oregon and home soon. Glenn says that he will never complain about Portland traffic again!

Aloha California!

Viva Las Vegas

30 Monday Jul 2012

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Well you might ask, how does Las Vegas fit into a pilgrimage? I had to ask myself the same question as we were planning this road trip. I don’t know about you, but when I think of Las Vegas, I think of Elvis, casinos, and lots of noise.

So when we had three free days between visiting friends in the LA area we could either go to another beachside town or go to the desert. I had been told by an intuitive that I should include the desert in my pilgrimage, so that was one reason to go.

So I did a lot of research online for hotels and found one that had no casino and no smoking, which are both desirable things for us. I’d rather go to a casino when I want to, not be forced to walk through it every time you walk out of the hotel. It’s called The Mandarin Oriental, very zen and beautiful.

Our drive to LA on Friday was a projected four and a half hour drive suggested by Mapquest, which turned out to be seven hours! A big tip, do not drive to Las Vegas on a Friday afternoon. You are driving with many twenty-something’s who are already drunk and causing a variety of accidents along the way. A la The Hangover movie, there are many groups of young men and women ready for their last hurrah before the Big Day. We followed a group of women who were pretty clear about their intentions by the signs written on their car windows.

Since we arrived at about 9:30 on Friday night, we went up to our incredibly gorgeous hotel room and collapsed and watched the opening of the Olympics on our widescreen TV.

Here are some photos:

We set off on Saturday morning to see the sights and ended up being out till 1:00 in the morning. We walked for about 14 hours! Saw lots of amazing things including Water whirlpools, the Paris hotels, Eiffel Tower, all kinds of water features, beautiful glass sculptures by Chihuly, incredible pastries, two foot long alcoholic drinks that come out of slushee machines. The gondolas at the Venetian were really cool.

We did something kind of fun on Saturday, we both got facials at a store that sells lotions and potions. I say both of us, yes Glenn and I both did it and we left literally wrinkle free on our faces.

Not much to report on the restaurant scene. All the food and drinks were overpriced. The days of finding cheap food on the strip are a thing of the past. The best brunch on Sundays, we were told by the locals, is at the Cosmopolitan at The Wicked Spoon.

We played on the slots a bit and I tried using them as bio-feedback devices as I had a few years ago with my author Tolly Burkan. The theory is we are electromagnetic and so are the machines, so you can affect the machines by who you are BEING in front of them. Last time I had the jackpot on a nickel slot and won $400.00. This time I was not as magnetic.

On our way to visit friends Anne Marie and Ken, now in Idylwild. We are happy to get back out in nature again!

LA and the Art of Traffic

26 Thursday Jul 2012

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The Southern California pilgrimage continues….

Newport Beach is such a wonderful world unto itself. All the yards and green belts are beautifully manicured and the people look nicely dressed and groomed as well. The grocery stores have beautiful produce and make really good sandwiches which we have been grabbing to take with us on our journeys around LA.  Newport Beach is also a big supporter of the arts, which I was not aware of.

We were invited by our hosts Don and Mary Kelly to go to the 80th annual Laguna Pageant of the Masters on Tuesday night. It’s a combination art show and incredible play with real people taking the place of the art on the stage. It’s truly amazing, so if you get a chance to see it, it’s only held during July and August. Mary and I tried on some fun handmade hats in one of the art booths. Mary and I both love hats so it was hard to choose from the beautiful ones in the booth.

It’s really gorgeous at sunset in Newport Beach, and after dinner Monday night, we took a small ferry that takes only three cars at a time to Balboa Island. After the sun went down, we had a chocolate covered banana, which is a traditional treat here. Glenn used to live on Balboa island in his late teen years when he was in college so he enjoyed seeing the massive changes since he was last here.

We both saw Master Zhou on Tuesday and I saw him again on Wednesday. He’s an amazing man with very a very humble way of being. He also teaches Qi Gong classes which I would love to take at a later date. I would  love to learn how to be as relaxed and powerful as Master Zhou is.

Based on the reputation for its gridlock, we have been surprised at how well the traffic flow had been for us in our travels between Beverly Hills, East LA and Newport Beach on Monday and Tuesday. But Wednesday was a different matter. We left Santa Monica, Master Zhou’s other office location, later in the day (4pm) and it was a different story! EVEN if you used the carpool lane it was bad!  But on good days like this a.m. the carpool lane is a godsend on the 405! It also helps that we have navigation in our car that alerts us to traffic jams and reroutes us on side streets if need be! I acknowledge Glenn for his patience and traffic strategy and for doing all the driving in LA when I am in a blissful state after seeing Master Zhou!

We had dinner with Mary and Don last night at Tommy Bahamas restaurant. Really delicious and talked about Mary and Don’s revised edition of one of their books on relationships that we hope to publish next year. It was a fabulous evening connecting with good crimes over delicious food.

Today we are traveling to Santa Monica again and hope to leave before the bad traffic. We want to get back to Newport Beach and look around at the shops and go to the Hobie surf shop on the coast where we got one of our stand up paddle boards.

We’ve been snacking on chocolate walnut and pumpkin fudge and sugar-plum jam that Mary’s friend Diana made for us. She chants over the food she makes and you can tell because it’s divine!

Tomorrow we leave for our next destination, so keep tuned…it gets exciting!

Santa Barbara to Los Angeles

24 Tuesday Jul 2012

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SWe had a fabulous time in Santa Barbara staying for three nights at El Capitan Canyon resort. It’s just north of Santa Barbara, and Glenn’s niece Holly has a friend who works there so that’s how we found out about it. It’s part of the new trend of “Glamping” or glamour camping that I saw written up in Sunset and 805 magazines. Camping is becoming trendy, but not everyone wants to stay in a tent or camper and you can get room service and your towels changed with a phone call.

We stayed in the The Peace Tree Village where there were a lot of families, which could be expected during the summer months. But it was a great place for families with bikes and a pool and all kinds of trails and a beach across the road. We finally got our paddle boards off the rack and into the ocean. We went out for two days and had nice paddles. The first day we saw a seal who stayed pretty close by us for several minutes, surfacing and diving. Lots of kelp along the coast and the water was warm enough that we didn’t need a wet suit.

Saturday night there was a band and a Bar-B-Que with most of the guests and it appeared a lot of neighbors come by to dance. The music was classic rock from the 1960s and 70s with a little surfer music thrown in. They also invited guests from the audience to come up and sing or play. But not us! Really fun time was had by all.

Speaking of glamour, we were invited to tea at the Four Seasons Biltmore in Montecito by my author Rhonda Byrne. We had a lovely three hour visit and had the most wonderful afternoon tea and luscious crumpets and sweets. There were beautiful flowers all over Montecito including this hibiscus.

We also had nice visit with Glenn’s niece Holly, her husband Justin and their two children before we packed our bags Sunday night. We left Santa Barbara early Monday morning heading to Beverly Hills.

Met on Monday a.m. with Dr Uzzi Reiss, a OB/GYN who specializes in Bio-Identical Hormones. I had heard him speak at the Sun Valley Wellness conference in May and was so impressed I built in an appointment to see him into our trip. I am now loaded down with various cremes and pills that I will build into my day. Glenn and I were both impressed with him. Suzanne Somers also writes about him in her books.

Also planned on seeing an incredible Qi Gong healer Ting-Jue Zhou, who I had seen last year on the recommendation of a friend. I’m seeing him for five sessions this time, once a day this week. Incredible healer and teacher of martial arts. There are videos of Master Zhou you can watch on YouTube where he walks over rice paper suspended in the air. He’s a living treasure in China, but lives and teaches now in LA.

We are staying with our dear friends Mary and Don Kelly in Newport Beach over the next few days in their lovely home. We are really looking forward to spending this time with them. It’s great to spend time with other unlimited thinkers! Tonight they have some fun planned for us and I will share with you soon!

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