(not necessarily in that order)
Today we had the great pleasure of spending time with members of the Ananda Virtual Community in their weekly “Say Yes to Life!” satsang.
We shared about what living in spiritual community has meant to us, and how important Ananda’s music is to living in community.
We also answered some great questions on a wide variety of topics.
What a joy to be able to have satsang in real time with people in California, on the East Coast, and in the UK!
Today saw the sharing of many more photos of yesterday’s Harvest Festival, but this one takes the cake for me.
No idea who this little one is, but the combination of her and the hula hoop is simply too adorable for words!
Hats off to the team who were inspired by a vision, put out tons of energy, and manifested an absolutely wonderful Harvest Festival here at Ananda Village!
I couldn’t go during the day, but attended the Farm-to-Table dinner at The Expanding Light Retreat in the evening, which was a huge success as well.
I love my community. 🧡🍂😊
I really resonate with this today. In fact, I have three bags for the thrift store in the trunk of my car.
Something shifted over the past week and I seem to have reached an inner limit. It’s suddenly not okay to hang on to items that I haven’t touched in years. I’m tired of the space they take up — both physically and in my psyche.
It’s also meant talking back to my inner critic and resisting self-recrimination. It’s meant forgiving myself for thinking I would use something or wear something…and being wrong.
Three bags is barely a start but hopefully I’ll be able to keep it up, a little bit at a time.
Tonight we made time for dinner with some dear friends.
We were three couples, who ate, shared, told stories, and ate some more.
But most of all, we laughed. There was so much joy in simply being together.
I feel extremely fortunate in my friends.
The other day I realized — out of the blue — that it was fifty years ago this past July when I visited Europe for the first time. The realization gave me pause, perhaps because — despite the passage of so many years — my seventeen year old self suddenly felt very present.
I considered writing about it. I even looked for, but couldn’t find, my photos of the Blue Saints tour, when we spent five weeks traveling and performing in five European countries. But other things came up and I forgot about it.
But then I saw that the movie, “The Exorcist,” premiered fifty years ago today, and more memories came flooding back…
The twenty-five members of the jazz band I was in ranged in age from sixteen to twenty-one or so. I was one of only five girls with the band: two instrumentalists, two singers, and someone in charge of wardrobe.
So, we’re driving first through Belgium, then France, Switzerland, Germany, and Denmark. And at a certain point I notice that Jack Sanford, one of my fellow saxophonists, instead of gazing at the passing scenery has his nose stuck in a book. For hours on end!
I finally ask him what he’s reading that is so gripping and it’s something called “The Exorcist.”
Fast forward to our return to California, when I get hold of a copy of the book and start reading it. Of course, I couldn’t put it down and read into the wee hours of the night. At which point I couldn’t close my eyes to sleep because I was so freaked out.
I finally got to sleep around dawn, waking up later in the morning determined that no matter what I wouldn’t read the book past 3:00 in the afternoon. If I hadn’t finished it by then, too bad, it would have to wait until the next day. Needless to say I was finished by 3:00.
When the movie came out, there was absolutely No. Way. I was going to subject myself to an audio/visual, live action representation of what I had read in that book.
Fifty years later, I’m grateful to say that I don’t actually remember the book in my own mind. Reading the article about the movie I can relate to some of the references, but only in an extremely vague and neutral way.
* By the way, the photos are from a band trip to Washington D.C., I believe the same year as our trip to Europe. In the second photo I’m avoiding the camera while sitting next to Grant Geissman, who went on to have an exceptional career — starting with the Stan Kenton Big Band, then recording with Chuck Mangione (in fact, Grant is the guitarist on the famous “Feels So Good” solo; listen below); and he just went on from there. It’s fun to be able to say “I knew him when!”
I love how this photo captures the joy shining in all the faces and how, if you look closely, you can feel the bonds of divine friendship flowing through the entire group.
And this was at the beginning of rehearsal, before we had sung a single note!
Our Christmas concert preparations are definitely off to a great start.
One consequence of these past few days of intense activity was missing a fairly important anniversary. In fact, it was on October 12, 2022 that I had my final doctor’s appointment at UC Davis Medical Center and was declared officially “done” with the hospital part of my stem cell transplant process.
I still had a few (preventative) prescriptions to take. I also had to keep in mind that rebuilding my brand new immune system would take time…as well as the eventual repeat of all my childhood vaccinations.
Now it’s hard to believe all that was going on just over a year ago. It simply doesn’t seem quite real.
But the feelings of intense gratitude remain and are very real indeed. I’m pretty sure they’ll be that way forever!
Left the house early for rehearsal. Participated in an amazingly beautiful Sunday service. Took a break for lunch. Then went to our first meeting and run-through for the Christmas play.
I was completely wiped out by the time I got home.
So, what did I end up doing? I went outside and sat in the late-afternoon October sun, enjoying the stillness while watching (and listening) to grasshoppers hop around and do their thing.
Today we left early to drive to Sacramento, then spent four hours in an important family meeting. Afterwards we drove back home with a little time to spare before getting ready for tonight’s astral ascension ceremony.
The eclipse happened while we were on the road, but we were headed in the wrong direction and couldn’t see it at all (not that we had made any preparations for looking at the sun!).