THE WHALES CALLED TO ME. DO PERSONALIZE THE WORLD!

To further explain Payson's reference to the breaching whales: A few days ago, we were on the deck (Oh these wonderful sun-filled California days! I hate mentioning it because of what the rest of the country is going through, but here it is, a lovely fact that also has its dark side: no rain! Drought!) and it was getting hot for me so I just returned to the house and then something -- I have no idea what -- took me up to the deck again, and there very close to shore, three blocks away, I saw a dark form in the water, and I shouted, a whale, a whale! Payson ran and got the binocs, and by God, there were two whales, breaching the water, jumping out of it, cavorting. We watched them till they disappeared south, out of view. This is the first time I have seen them from the deck, though I have seen the sprays of their  breaths many times on the horizon.

I have no doubt that what took me back to the deck -- for no reason at all -- was the whales calling, calling to me! I think the world IS personal when we look at it that way. Of course this thought has its opposite -- what about the 'bad' things that happen? Is that also the world being personal, targeting us, so to speak?  This question deserves another post, but for right now, let's stay with the lovely thought that flowers and trees bloom for you and me. I believe it to be true. All of creation is a spectator sport. We were created to watch and delight in the watching!

SOME MORE ON LOVE, BY PAYSON. LET US LOVE IN THIS BITTERSWEET JOURNEY

Nature loves us in so many ways....even with Her power to destroy and bring us back to humility, even Death...how wondrous and strange. How lucky we were two days ago when a Gray Whale breached before us while on our deck....so close leaping out of the Pacific Ocean, her/his beautiful hydrodynamic form sailing up and splashing down with fin and fluke and white underbelly displayed to us landlubbers. Today, my sweet valentine, we will kayak in the La Jolla Cove with Brown Pelicans soaring by, California Sea Lions looking at us...and perhaps some dolphins and whales for us to give VDay greetings. Let us all celebrate the many different ways we can love and be loved in this bittersweet journey we all share. on LOVE IS THE GLUE: VALENTINE WISHES FOR MY READERS

LOVE IS THE GLUE: VALENTINE WISHES FOR MY READERS

Well, you know, being creatures of habit, we fall into ruts. We keep doing the same thing over and over even when it ceases to serve us. I had been in one for a long time, doing my usual routines, thinking my day 'should' revolve around work, productivity, writing. I wasn't sleeping well, was dragging around in my days, eating too much, wondering what happened to my joy in living. Fortunately the insight came to me like a rain (you know what I mean if you live in Southern California) of grace --- take some damn time off, you stupid idiot! As soon as the thought came, and I resolved on Tuesday to take the rest of the week off, my heart did a little frisk and leap. I stayed in bed the whole day, reading, playing electronic backgammon, eating, napping. I slept well that night, and the next day being a holiday, too, I had a restful state of mind. The day was so beautiful and warm that I decided to garden. Payson was already there, and gardening together is such a wonderful thing to do around Valentine's day. All the plants were my Valentines, too! And the birds, and the dove that allowed us to get just a few feet away from it, with its sleek brown body and dark eye. I cleaned out dead leaves, fed the plants, scattered some more beautiful cobbles in the bare space around our tiny pond, and puttered about for hours. I swear the plants and the birds return more than we can ever give to them in food, care, and love. Suffice it to say that I came away from this activity feeling very fulfilled and happy.

So my Valentine wish for my readers is this: May you see and feel the connection with all of nature, with everything around you, bonding with it in a love that will never grow old and never break. We live in our Mother, our breath connects us to the Out There, coming in, going out, coming in again. We are part of a larger whole that keeps and holds us in Love. Love is the glue that binds it all together!

A PICTURE OF KAMLA AT THE HELM

Payson said to me when I sailing and was at the helm: you can be my captain anytime! And I replied, 'yeah, you say that now, but I know that you only want me to be a deck hand!' It was a funny moment, with a little bit of truth thrown in!

HUMANS ARE NOT AUTOMOBILES, OR, AGAIN, THE VALUE OF SLEEP AND REST

Just want to say that in that transition I spoke about in my whine, to change from one mode of being to the the next, the value of rest cannot be underestimated. Humans are not like automobiles that can stop with one gesture of the foot on the brake. Inertia is a large part of our bodies and psyches -- we take a long time to stop, and a long time to start up again. This is very crucial to know because so many of us get ground down to meat trying to stop or start up. It took me three days after a busy month to be able to rest enough to rejuvenate. Some of us rest so long that we have difficulty getting our motor going again. How tricky this business of living can be, and more difficult, the less aware we are.

WHAT? OR THE POWER OF A WARM/HOT SHOWER, MEDITATION, AND YOGA,

I feel like writing another post, just that little itch that wants to scribble, but I don't know what. Let me, as we always do when we don't know what to say, talk about the weather. Here in Southern California we are so spoiled that one cloudy day sends us (me, at least), into a funk. But that's all I have to say about the weather so I'll chew on something else.

It seems to me that transition times are the hardest on the psyche. Last month was a busy month: travel, family, a rental house that needed to be fixed up in a big way, ill-health, dentist appointments. I am in the space between busy-ness and slipping again into a very congenial solitude which hasn't happened yet. And the problem with transitions is impatience with the time needed to transition to the next stage. I think that impatience is the root of many of our troubles.

There is, however, something we can do during transitions that ease them. The trick is remembering to do them -- and I swear by them. I meditated after my whine, just twenty minutes, took a shower, and did yoga for 40 minutes. I am a new person, and ready for my day.

THE TWISTED WAY IN WHICH THINGS TURN RIGHT

Remember the post on pain? Well, here is the outcome. I was in so much pain that I had to take ibuprofen in mega dozes and also two pain killers. The result? An upset stomach, yes, but my sacrum is miraculously healed, and my hip is about 75 % better. It is, all for the best, after all!