HOMEWARD BOUND

Another day on the San Francisco Peninsula... then back home to Crescent City.



What with our May spent in China, and a couple of months of motel living while home renovations have taken place, we will be...oh so happy...to be under our own roof in our own 1,000 sq. foot, "petite" manufactured home. My wife, Cathy, wants to join a gym...and I am eager to go swimming in our local river (the Smith).



To live far from the maddening crowd in rural, coastal California means fewer trips to world-class museums, like the Metropolitan, and fewer visits to the cafes and street sights of urban America...still fresh, running water and walks among the towering trees of Redwoods National Park exert a stronger pull on me than the glamor and glitz of the city.



We are, at last...HOMEWARD BOUND.

A Peace of Place and Timelessness

Back in California after ten days on the East Coast (Manhattan, Brooklyn, and New England).

Been visiting with my 96 y.o. MOM.

Last night I drove her and her friend to a 4th of July party at the home of another member of the watercolor group she attends. About thirty people there. The atmosphere was low-key and pleasant...and she had a fine time. She sat up for three hours...good! for her.

The folks who gave the party had a beautiful, lilied koi pond in their backyard, fed by a homemade waterfall. I sat quietly by the pool for maybe five minutes (when some kids interrupted my reverie)...steeped in the peace of place and time (or timelessness).

The peace of place and timelessness nurtured me more than any fancy pyrotechnics.

4th of July--A New Era

It's July 4th.

Independence Day.

A new era is beginning...in which those with independence of thought and disposition, those who can take a global perspective, those who put children and elders first, those who value education and the arts, those who understand that human interdependence and ecological interdependence are fundamental...will supersede those of narrow sectarian or nationalistic interests.

The process already is in motion...A NEW ERA IS BEGINNING!

From narrow-minded thinking I assert MY independence.

Happy Independence Day!