Thursday, July 8, 2010

Whole lotta shakin' goin' on

Just to let you out of towners know we survived the 5.3 earthquake yesterday. Alan was cooking dinner and I had just arrived home from work. I was thankful that the 'quake didn't spill my wine. I felt another, smaller one, in the middle of the night,but it could have been Alan just turning over.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Back on track

When I set out to write a blog a few months ago, my intention was to post different content every other day. But as you see I missed the entire month of June. Where did it go? I know I've been busy writing, teaching, working at the newspaper, babysitting, working in my garden and visiting with my oldest daughter, but that's not entirely all that has kept me from writing. I've been reading fiction.

Just finished two great books: The Weight of Shadows by Alison Strobel and The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein (If you don’t run out and get a dog after reading this, then you’re cold, cold, cold.). I also have devoured two nonfictions: Bedwetter by Sarah Silverman, Love Always, Petra by Petra Nemcova, Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert and other entries in Interstices: An Anthology of stories, memoirs, essays and poems, of which my story is also included, “Knitting Us Together,” a story on finding Marilyn. These are only the books I can remember reading; I have probably read a few more in between.

At 7 p.m. on Wednesday, July 14, I will be the 5-10 minute “sharer” at the Center for Spiritual Living Capistrano Valley in San Juan Capistrano. My topic will be on how affirmative prayer is in the details. In other words, be careful what you pray and ask for - it always comes true. I’m anxious to try the skills my mentor Rev. Geoff Layng has been teaching me.

Today Alan and I had lunch in South San Clemente at an outdoor cafĂ©. Talk about feeling blessed. While we munched away, six dolphins frolicked right in front of us catching those huge waves that are gracing the shoreline this weekend. “Our” dolphins jumped out of the water over and over and rode the waves like the best of surfers. Beautiful! A reminder as to why we live here in paradise.