We have been sheltering in place since March 18. Martha found the field of lupine about a mile from her house. As soon as we were allowed to walk to the parks (no cars in parking lots), we visited. Martha wouldn’t touch my phone, so she took this shot with her iPhone.
Peter Beard in 1982
NYTimes article by Margalit Fox announcing his death.
In “Zara’s Tales,” written for his daughter, he quotes a line from “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell,” a late-18th-century work by William Blake, that seemed to have been a touchstone for both his life and his art: “You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.”
To those emblematic words, Mr. Beard appended a personal capstone. “If you crave something new, something original, particularly when they keep saying, ‘Less is more,’” he wrote, “remember that I say: Too much is really just fine.”
Fragrant Sterling Silver Roses and white iris
Pink and peach roses with blue iris
We have been been ordered to “shelter in place” for the past month to be safe from Corona virus. I am now wearing my expensive French perfume because there is no one to complain. Safe from the “scent-free” people of Northern California, my house is a cacophony of fragrance!
The light drizzle, the first rain in a month, made Taylor Mountain look like a faraway place. I loved how this fallen tree outlined the grazing cows.
This enormous oak tree dwarfed the hiker on the path:
Jill took this photo of me. I’m wearing the embroidered babushka that Peggy gave me because the fabric does a good job of holding my rain hood in place.
Cookies Donated by Olivers
On Sunday, 26 January 2020, Peggy drove us to Blackie’s Pasture on the way Tiburon in her new Porsche SUV. Chris is “feeding” the statue of Blackie the horse who was pastured here for many years. Joining him are Mary, Peggy, Frank and Laurie, along with my shadow.
Chris, Mary, Peg, Frank, Laurie
Blackie’s Pasture is on Richardson Bay, on the way to Belvedere where we drove around admiring the fabulous homes. Peggy had just returned from her fabulous vacation to Sydney, Australia, cruise around New Zealand, and a stay in Maui.
Chris and Mary Rose stopped by the Old Rail Bike Trail sign for a quick snap.
Chris and Mary
The day before, they visited Mom’s grave in San Rafael.
The Corona virus was sweeping Wuhan, China that weekend. Here’s Chris’s version of how it would affect us.
Another picture taken on Peggy’s terrace.
Here is a selfie that Chris took while we were at the park.
Top: Net, Law, FX
Bottom: MR, Peg, Chris
A quick note to self with some grounding practices. First, Max Strom as recommended by Therese Smith. I call this 4-6-8 breathing.
Second, the University of Rochester Medical Center 5-4-3-2-1 technique for coping with anxiety and to reconnect to your body and to the earth.
Slow, deep, long breaths can help you maintain a sense of calm or help you return to a calmer state. Once you find your breath, go through the following steps to help ground yourself:
5: Acknowledge FIVE things you see around you. It could be a pen, a spot on the ceiling, anything in your surroundings.
4: Acknowledge FOUR things you can touch around you. It could be your hair, a pillow, or the ground under your feet.
3: Acknowledge THREE things you hear. This could be any external sound. If you can hear your belly rumbling that counts! Focus on things you can hear outside of your body.
2: Acknowledge TWO things you can smell. Maybe you are in your office and smell pencil, or maybe you are in your bedroom and smell a pillow. If you need to take a brief walk to find a scent you could smell soap in your bathroom, or nature outside.
1: Acknowledge ONE thing you can taste. What does the inside of your mouth taste like—gum, coffee, or the sandwich from lunch?
The techniques to deal with TMS as described by Dr. John Sarno are described Alan Gordon
iRest practices that include listening to meditations on this page and Body Sensing. Feel the earth, feel your feet. Ground your electrical charge into the earth.
Contact water will ground a dangerous electrical charge: take a warm shower, wash your face, wash your hands, take a drink of water.
NYTimes article on Cutting as a form of self-soothing.
Quotes from Carl Jung.
Could Humility Be the Antidote to Co-Dependency? Click Image for NYTimes article
60° at sunrise, 90° expected
Carl Inglin led more than two dozen people on a beautiful section of the Russian River yesterday that we rarely get to paddle because of summertime dams and bridges. We met at 9:30 on Sunday morning, completed our shuttle and were on the water at 10:45. Here is how we looked at our 12 noon lunch stop near Bohemian Grove.
The biggest surprise was at the Vacation Beach temporary bridge which was still up. There was a large fish counter on river right. We all got out to check the little weir that had been installed which was clearly marked with orange triangles mounted on I-beams that were parallel to the shore.
Vacation Beach Bridge
Vacation Beach Fish Counter
Several of us ran it, including me. Most walked their boats to the other side of the bridge. The biggest surprise was a VERY strong current immediately past the drop that tended to push me into the bridge stanchion. Carl remarked on it, too. I think it was man-made to drive the fish into the counter. The inflatable boater below is just entering the strong side-current.
Strong Side Current Into Fish Counter
Debi made the drop successfully in her new Eddyline. Many happy boaters on this trip.
Debi Celebrates Making The Drop
Brigitte
Deb Turner
John, Jan, Mark
Because there typically little boat traffic on this part of the river, there were lots of large wading birds like herons and egrets. Here is the view from our lunch beach. We were back on the water at 12:30 and I was loading my boat back on my car in Guerneville at 2:30. Very successful day.
