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I went to visit a couple of my kids.

It was a sweet way to celebrate my birthday and Thanksgiving and kick off the holiday season.

No one appreciates magic more than children. We managed to pack in many fun moments, so many, that I hardly picked up my phone for most of ten days. I took a few pictures, and watched with our just turned three, granddaughter, toddlers getting their hair washed. (I used to know how to do this, but it’s been awhile. YouTube was helpful for us both). We learned that she should point her chin at the ceiling and make faces while I poured water on her head.

Trees were lighted, Santa was seen, ornaments were made, mantles were decorated, cookies and popcorn and hot chocolate enjoyed.

Probably my favorite thing about hanging out with kids, is play. Almost every activity can turn into a fun game. Three year olds love to run and a game of chase can spontaneously break out any time. I didn’t know that Frank Sinatra singing White Christmas would inspire running. I put on as many fun holiday tunes by Frank, Ella Fitsgerald, Bing Crosby, Michael Jackson, one after another, causing us to run for the entire time her parents were at the store. We were T rex and Triceratops. With mood music.

My six year old granddaughter invented a whole game about an explorer observing animals in the wild. I was the explorer and she was a tiger, then a mountain lion. We also spent an afternoon throwing a Barbie party while the babies of the attendees became little ninjas and caused all sorts of havoc while they were supposed to be sleeping. At one point as we were getting everyone dressed for the party, I picked up one random doll. Six year old looks at me in horror. That’s God. That’s heaven. She’s not wearing a gown, she isn’t going. She has to stay in heaven.

Ohhh.

My kids don’t practice a religion so I was curious. I wondered why God was a young Barbie, (like Skipper).

Here’s the answer I got :

“No one knows why God is a girl in doll form, Grandma.”

So there you go, no one knows.

At one point our three year old wanted to sleep in a ‘nest’ next to her bed rather than in her bed. We had been just hatched baby dinosaurs earlier.

I love the world from their perspectives. It really helps me to know these small people and how they matter of factly process the world. I love their big imaginations. I like hearing how they think.

Our nine year old wanted to talk about how we all see and feel things in different ways. He wondered why it wasn’t all the same. He used the words ‘relative’ and ‘relativity’ like a philosophy student.

At one point we grown ups got on the topic of connecting. Everyone has a different way of hanging out and connecting. I feel extremely thankful for our family’s way of being together talking, playing and enjoying experiences with each other. It was a fast ten days. Low key. No stress, peace, love, fun. Laughter. Ease.

Exactly my favorite way to hang out with some of my favorite people.

Month

What’s your favorite month of the year? Why?

I read a bunch of responses while trying to figure out MY favorite month.

The posts surprised me. I wouldn’t have guessed November and February would have made the list but they did.

No one said June or July. It seems that October, November and December are the big favorites.

I like most of the months pretty equally, with the exception of November and February, which I think I like a little less but not much, depending on where I am in the world. February in Western Canada is just cold and dreary and unmagical. In So CA, it’s the beginning of Spring. I had a PTSD thing about that month for some years, but it seems to have dissipated.

My favorite month in New England might be May. Spring is a beautiful time here.

My favorite month in California is September because it’s the end of tourist season, and the weather is amazing.

The ocean

Ocean

What is your favorite place to go in your city?

I have several beach locations that I like to frequent on both coasts.

Lately, besides our dock, or just sitting by the window looking out at the blue horizon, my favorite place to go is Crescent Beach. It has a big park with old trees and a path that crawls along a bluff overlooking the ocean. On windy cold days I feel like a Brontë character. The path leads to a boardwalk that arks along the beach for over a mile. From there I can either go under the road and stroll through town, or circle back along the boardwalk. Either way it’s beautiful.

I used to walk for miles on the sand in CA. I miss that stretch of ocean, but will be walking it again soon.

First Impressions

I hope I come across warm and friendly.

I never know how I’m being received. Sometimes I feel like I bounce in too upbeat, other times, I stand back remembering to be respectful.

I generally seek out places that I feel comfortable being myself. I’ve spent more than enough time not fitting and I don’t enjoy it as much.

First impressions? I hope they are pleasant enough that people stick around and get to know me.

Maybe I could seem a little interesting. I’d be good with just that…

The Untethered Soul

What book are you reading right now?

Right now and still, I’m stuck on ‘The Untethered Soul’ by Michael Singer. I started reading a couple of other books too, but keep returning to that one.

(here’s something weird. The last few days I’ve been able to answer the prompt question directly)

Today after yoga and the meditation class that followed, we got talking about mind chatter, thoughts that won’t stop and all, which led to throwing around the term ‘non duality’. Along with its apparent opposite, duality’.

My mind usually starts to wander and I’m pretty sure my eyes glaze over when things get too philosophical, so I’m not sure I was paying enough attention when I blurted out that I didn’t know which team I was on.

This led to our instructor giving a pretty clear definition of both, which after reading about consciousness repeatedly in the ‘Untethered soul’, I was able to wrap my head around.

I don’t really recommend this book. The more times I read it, and talk to people who’ve read it, the more I think it can be taken in too many ways, not all of them helpful. So unless it comes along on its own and you can’t stop yourself from reading it, don’t bother.

There are plenty of interesting things to read out there, no need to open this can of worms.

Plus, I didn’t even know that these two perspectives were so opposing. I feel like we have enough reasons to disagree with each other on earth right now, no one needs to explain AND defend philosophy perspectives. We can surely save that for another time.

Meanwhile, I’m oddly comforted by what I’m getting from these pages. I need these concepts right now. Remembering that I am an observer. Observing my thoughts and feelings. Not trying to not have them, just falling back into a place of nonjudgmental observation. Even finding compassion for myself and others because aren’t we all a little lost in the dramas that surround us?

Like Dr Sueuss pointed out in ‘The Lorax’ “it’s hard to be a human”… There’s a book I haven’t read in a while

Coolest Thing

What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever found (and kept)?

I love cool things. I love finding cool things. I’ve learned to let most things go after awhile, even if they are cool. I used to feel terrible about giving things away or throwing anything out. Especially if it was given to me.

Over the years, I’ve had so many start-over times in life, that I’m better with letting go of things that I still love.

My life is an ongoing lesson in non attachment, but somehow I’ve managed to hang onto a very impracticable, clunky, crazy cool balloon mold.

They don’t use them anymore, not this type from what I understand, which is fine, since I have no reason to make balloons, I just happen to love it. I imagine a different time, when balloons were rarer and probably all the more magical and fun for kids.

I like odd vintage things and fell in love with this immediately. I’d never seen one before, but I knew

Cool balloon mold