I believe

NPR has a part called "This I Believe"  people write essays and then read them on the air.  There are also printed collections of these essays.

These are some of my thoughts so far.   Consider this a work in progress.

I believe in the interconnected web of being.  The web that connects me with every living thing on the planet.  I try to do what is the best for this web.   I try also, to do right by the earth, the air, the sky and the water that sustains our lives.

I believe in family however YOU define and live it for yourself.   I have family I can reach out and physically touch, some I touch through telephone and internet.   There is my family of origin and longtime close friends who often feel and act like family.  And there are the ancestors. 

Teaching

I missed watching the Obama Inauguration and hearing the complete address of our new president.  I was teaching an ESL class.   I heard pieces of the address on the radio during the day.   Today I returned to the same classroom.  One of the students brought the text of the speech to class.  I asked the class if they would like to read it aloud.  They did.  I walked among them and listened in awe as the speech was read in a dozen or more different accents.  Amazing.   We spent the two hours with Obama's words.  They asked about some of the phrases.  The unfamiliar metaphors and idioms.   

I have taught ESL for ten years and this was one of the most exciting, difficult and satisfying class I have taught.

San Francisco

On a perfect Saturday, I walked seven miles with a group of friends.  We walked all around the Presido in San Francisco,  we walked along the beach and were rarely out of sight of some part of the Golden Gate Bridge.

We even found the buildings currently occupied by Lucas Films and here I am with a statue of Yoda.  Looks good, he does.  The building was closed and through the windows we did see Darth Vader.

San Francisco Bay was dotted with sailboats and rowing crews.  We think they were racing.

An end and a beginning

  Thoughts about the end of 2008

1. Secular Christmas:  

        Black Friday should be discontinued.  Someone died.

The commercial with dancing corkscrews wearing red and white Santa hats singing Bev Mo lulia.  Sick.  (This may have been a California thing)

2. Keeping Christ in Christmas.  

      Please bring back 'swaddling clothes" for Jesus.  Dressed in cloth doesn't work for me.  

     Glad Tidings is better than good news. 

      Sore afraid is better than terrified or as one pastor said 'So scared they peed their pants." 

The list could go longer but I have some positive things to say.

1,  Going to the Nutcracker with Shae and Skyler and Robin.

2. Shae and Skyler playing in the fresh snow until their hands were cold, cheeks rosy and a very short snowman decorated the yard.

3. Christmas eve service ending with candles and Silent Night.

4.  The quiet that falls over the city when most businesses close for Christmas day.

5.  Cards, family photos and newsletters.

Looking forward.

It's a new year with 364 fresh new days ahead.  I spent the first one having brunch with friends and then a long walk under foggy skies.

HAPPY NEW YEAR everybody.  

Two Saturdays

These pictures are for the baseball fans among us.
Last Saturday I spend a little over three hours on a 10K Volkswalk through five cemeteries.  We went to Colma, CA, just south of San Francisco where the dead of SF have been burried since the late 1800s,  There are fabulous statues, mausoleums, stones of all sizes and shapes and monuments large and small.  I would guess every nationality and ethnic group is represented, some in their own cemeteries.  A lot to see.  For more history google, Colma, CA and got to the city site for the history.  I will have to go back because I didn't get to see the Wyatt Earp grave.  (Because it was the Sabbath) He is in the Jewish cemetery because his wife was Jewish.  

Today, 11/22/08, I drove through the early morning, rather heavy fog to Davis to walk the 5K Turkey Trot.  I walked with some of my friends.  I had to work hard to keep up with and pass my 83 year-old friend who claims not to be competitive.  Jan and I crossed the finish before she did because she was distracted by talking to someone.  Coffee, scones, muffins, coffee and conversation followed.  This year's t-shirt is ugly.

Ruby Tuesday

Here's a Ruby Tuesday sunrise from my balcony.

Election

The clear sky and slightly crisp air on Election day put everyone in a very good mood.  I walked to my poling place.  There was a line of about twenty-five people.  Everyone seemed ready to party.  I voted and on my way back home a woman stopped her car and asked if I needed a ride. I claimed my free tall coffee from Starbucks.  

The world watched us on Tuesday and I believe we can be proud of ourselves.  Thank you, LaDawn for your words from France.

I want to share this story about my friend who has lost her ability to communicate  due to rapidly progressive aphasia.  She lives in a memory facility.  She has worn an Obama for president button, daily, for the last two years.  Legally she cannot vote.  However it was her wish to vote.  Her daughter talked with the memory care director at the facility and it was arranged for Elinore to 'vote'.  She was given an absentee ballot and voted for her candidate.  According to her daughter she was on 'cloud nine' today because she had voted for Obama in this historic election.