I am sitting in my living room with cat whiskers on my nose and face waiting for the door bell to ring, for trick or treaters. A bunch came by early and now none.

Full moon outside. Sent all my flashlights with the kids so they could find their way and nto get hit by cars.

I am slowly eating all the candy.

I went to a grave side funeral for a friend I have known for a long time. She was two months younger then me. She struggled with cancer for 18 months and then died.

I had difficulty believing we were really going to bury her in the ground. I wanted to knock on the coffin to see if she was alright.

The family knew and were crying. I thought it was all a mistake.

The good news is another mouse was caught in the trap last night.

The bad news is that he made a mess with the table cloth before he was caught.

The good news is that my roommate is going to take him to the park to be released. I don't have to do anything except wait for him to get up.

Two days of wind have scrubbed the air of all dust.

Tonight the stars are bright and close.

San has blown across the freeway.

Most of the leaves have blown off the downtown trees.

Yes it is fall.

Stopped by the library this morning in time to see a bunch of mothers bringing in their toddlers for story telling.

The mothers were so fresh and healthy and good looking. I bet they don't know it.

When I look at pictures of myself as a young mother I am surprised at how good I looked.

Went to Copy King to copy the November calendar. When I got into the shop I realized I brought the wrong piece of paper. I drove back home, picked up the paper and then went back to Copy King and had the copies made.

Where was my mind.

It is so beautiful outside this afternoon.

I sat on a bench eating my pralines and cream cone down at the plaza watching people walk by.

so many languages on a late Sunday afternoon are in the air.

Everyone seemed happy, I wonder what is going on besides the fall sunlight. I wonder if it will happen again.

Today I don't want to leave my house. I don't want to get dressed. Yesterday there were too many people, too much talking. The well went dry.

So today I putter around, drinking tea, napping, sitting zazen, reading and already I am better.

Tomorrow is a busy day and I will be ready.

I knew what I wanted to buy at Whole Foods. Really I did.
But I got into a trance and drifted through the store looking at all the beautiful food, filling up my shopping cart, feeling so special.

At home putting the food away I knew I was nuts. Who do you think will eat all of this? I began putting some of the food in the freezer for another day.

How to stay grounded at Whole Foods?

The rodent count is now three mice and 1 rat and still we hear sounds coming form the kitchen at night. So the trap is up again tonight. We take our catches to the big park near by.

I wonder if anyone worries about this.

I don't want to kill them and fantasize that they will make a cozy home near the garbage cans.

But really what we are doing is relocating them into refugee camps up at the park.

I'm feeling restless, want to go shopping but there is nothing I need but that doesn't stop the restlessness.

Maybe tomorrow I will find something I want to buy

Monterey Wharf #2 report

Clear sparkly October weather.
A bit of green appearing on the hills.
Fliers on the East Village windows announcing music events.

High tide,
Piles of sea weed on beach
gigantic celebrity cruise ship anchored close to shore.
small transfer boats running between the wharf and the ship.

Several long neck grebes floating by the wharf.
Two gulls chasing loudly after a sea otter

Benches still wet with morning due.

Went to the Cherry Center in the dark. cold dawn air. Stars. I hate getting up so early but when I am actually outside it is magical.

We sat and chanted and then went to the bakery for talk. Not much new and yet everything is new.

Went to see the World's Greatest Dad at the Osio this afternoon. A good movie but was so depressing. It's taken hours to let go of the despair of this movie.

I spent several hours this morning day dreaming into the new paintings on the walls at the Cherry Center. they are wonderful. I want to live int the world created by Margaret Rinkovsky.

Met my sister for lunch in Moss Landing at the Whole Enchilada. While waiting in the back parking lot I noticed a pelican sitting on a telephone wire. That's weird. He was big and he was able to keep his balance.

The harbor was dirty brown and murky. An ocean breeze was coming off the bay.

We ate and talked and took a leisurely walk round the marina.

Moss Landing is only 15 minutes away but I frequently forget how wonderful it really is.

I am back to normal. three days without power is a challenge. I've just finished throwing out the bad food in the refrigerator.

I am beginning to feel like normal. I am looking forward to watching TV tonight and going to bed.

I forget how dark night is when the power is out.

The fierce storm wiped out my electricity last night. I am using the library wifi to check my emails. The strange thing was that it was warmer outside then inside. Didn't sleep well.

The emergency radio station said that we would all be fully powered by 4pm. I hope so. I am waiting to see what survived in my refrigerator.

I got my flu shot today at Safeway, a store I don't go to very often. It was quick and easy. Now I am waiting to get my swine flu shot and I will be set for the winter.

I had no doubts about these shots,

I don't like getting the flu and I have a somewhat positive belief in the government. I should be more cynical but it is just too painful.

cold overcast Sunday. Did a bunch of errands in the morning and then spent several hours cutting out a pattern for a friend.

Now I am going to lie on the couch and read Margaret Atwood's new book. No sun all day.

At class this morning a friend gave me a small brown paper sack. Later as I opened it I saw it was acorns form his large backyard tree.

Tomorrow I will start planting them in the front yard where the pine tree was cut down. In some years I will have shade in my bedroom again.

Had lunch with a friend who told me about his life. He read from his journal and I read from mine. We have been meeting for years and still our lives are interesting.

I'm currently reading THE SNOW GEESE, THE STORY OF HOME by William Fiennes. A wonderful nature narrative and travel story.

A flock of tiny birds live in the neighborhood. This morning I could see them jumping form limb to limb. There must be enough bugs for them.

We've set up the mouse trap again in the kitchen. We've caught one rat and one mouse and now their relatives are looking for them.

I am slowly weaning myself form reading the New York Times daily. Too much news for me. I am down to one or two papers a week.

This morning I bought the paper at the Works, my favorite coffee house in Pacific Grove.

Tonight I read the paper as I ate my dinner. No more. less news, more fun.

The second pine tree has been cut down, one hundred years to grow and two hours with a buzz saw to bring down.

I plan to go to the cemetery and pick up acorns from the large oak trees and bury them in the front. No more pine trees until they are safe from the chancre disease.

I miss these trees.

I went to the Cherry Center to visit a friend. The work crew was busy sanding the floors, busy refinishing these old worn surfaces.

Sun was out, the pine trees were standing guard.

The floors are going to look so good, I just know it.

Next week we start sitting at the center again.

I started watching Ken Burn's National Parks show and had to turn it off. It was too beautiful. The scenes were filmed in their most beautiful time and then enhanced to the highest degree

It's a set up for disappointment when I actually go to the park and see it as it is, beautiful probably but not in the enhances technicolor style.

Photographs sometimes spoils one's view so I can't really see and enjoy things as they are.

I drove up and back from Redwood City today for an all day chaplain symposium. The wind picked up in the afternoon and by the time I was coming though the strawberry fields the newly laid plastic sheeting had been whipped apart leaving the fields in shambles.

The sand Dunes near Monterey were alive, blowing and moving through the air.

My new boxy car was a challenge to keep on the road. But I made it and here I am at home.

In that half awake state I saw the gleaming stars last night. Shinning through the skylight, bright, clear reminding me all is unknown in this world.

Yesterday I saw a root beer colored Honda element just like mine on the road. I had thought that I had the only one, but no, someone elses is driving a car just like mine.