Life of Wry

Will you look at that…. shirt sleeves, shadows, green grass.  The boys are back, Crush practices have begun.

It’s January, true, but we’ve had a string of 60+ degree days, the sky’s been blue, buds are forming on the trees, it smells a teeny bit like spring…   and suddenly, one can kind of imagine baseball season.  For sure, it’s too early for real spring training, but on this winter Monday, with the junior highs all having a day off, and the weather being what it is, the Crush coach called a practice.  So for today, it’s all about baseball.

In fact, their season is starting early this year as they prepare for an upcoming February tournament.  No fantasies–the next couple months will find us dodging rainstorms, bundled and shivering in the bleachers, and wondering why in god’s name Peter picked baseball as a sport.  In this early part of the early season, we know not to expect a lot of these 60 degree days… but we are enjoying this one.  In January.

Day two of exploring Albuquerque.

Spent time down on the Rio Grande this morning.  Albuquerque’s wetlands are full of Sandhill Cranes, Canadian Snowgeese and lots of other migratory birds.  It was nice to see the cranes in this flyway, after seeing them a couple weeks ago in our own Pacific flyway.

Not a birder, but added the Flicker, Hooded Merganser and Wood Duck to birds I might (might) recognize if I ever see them again.

This is a Welcome Poster that greets you in the Albuquerque airport, a taste of things to come outside those walls…..mountains and sky.

….. and this is my picture of a similar mountains and sky scene…

(A whole lotta that in New Mexico.)

I went to Albuquerque to visit Carol and her husband Bill.  Carol and I have been friends since we met as volunteers at the International News Kiosk during our UCD days.  A visit with Carol and Bill means serious hiking, exceptional red wine, great cooking, interesting music, political conversations, and a lot of catching up.  Truly a sweet time.

Always good advice.

Nice hand, huh?

I drove Jay to Union Station in downtown LA today.  The drive was unexpectedly fun.  We opened the windows, cranked up the music and it felt like 40 years ago.  Roundabout came on and I could smell high school.  Between us, we pretty much knew all the songs, artists, lyrics, famous bass players (Jay’s territory).  Familiar and comfortable… dated, but Just. So. Fun.

Union Station is beautiful. Glad I took the time to walk around.  Really liked driving among the people, art and new (to me) buildings in downtown, too.

After I left him at the station, I drove back south on the 110, west on the 10, north on the 405 and got off on Sunset to meet Kath at that cylindrical hotel with the restaurant on top and the killer view of West LA.

After lunch, I went back out to the beach, joined Betsy and we spent a couple of hours wandering around Hollywood Riviera.  On a couple of whims, we ended up getting massages at one of those $25/hr reflexology places, and got our nails done.  Really.  On a Wednesday, while everyone else was doing real Wednesday things.

Anyway, LA has its charms.  Coming back, I see how human and multi-cultural it is, and like it.  I love the beach cities and certainly don’t mind the weather in January.

I have to say, I feel both at home and in a foreign land.  I walk and drive around in a contradictory state–a tourist who owns the place.  It’s not my home, but my roots are here.  I’m grateful to be a northern Californian, but the southland is in me, lodged deep and remains familiar.  It’s like hearing old rock songs… really fun to relive, but has a nice place in the past.

Early morning down at the beach. Crazy number of seagulls doing their seagull thing–this morning sunning in the warm sand, a massive number of them, their little heads all facing east. Didn’t seem bothered when I walked past them; I tried to pass quietly.  The water this morning had that thick, smooth, light blue look, and the waves turned over sort of delicately. Just lovely.  It was misty right at water’s edge, otherwise, the sky was luminous and sparkly blue.  And then: 80 degree temps.

At that hour, a few surfers, some joggers.  And me and the seagulls.

And, omg, these!  Back, forth, back, forth, back, forth.  Repeat.

Yeah, January 18.

Sometimes the perfect project just comes along..

Last summer, I met David Breaux.  Most people in town are probably aware of him as he has been standing on the corner of 3rd and C in downtown Davis on and off (but mostly on) since June 2009.  Jim and I got into a lengthy conversation with him one day and learned, among other things, he is publishing a book.

After graduating from college (he attended Stanford) and working for a while in the Bay Area, he began, in his own words, a journey of inquiry.  He was inspired by the words and teachings of Martin Luther King, Gandhi, the Dalai Lama and others, and started to think about how he might turn his passion for peace into action.

He decided to devote his life to the study and promotion of compassion.  And he decided to start his journey in Davis.

David has been collecting comments about compassion from passers by who write their thoughts in his journal.  After nearly two years, he has filled dozens of journals with thousands of comments.  He has painstakingly transcribed these comments and compiled them into a book.

And here’s the great project:  I offered to proofread his compilation, and he graciously accepted.

So, in November he gave me his first draft and I read it over Thanksgiving.  I read the second draft over Christmas, and as of last night finished the third and final draft.  And now the book is finally ready for publication.  I’m not the only volunteer on this project; there are many other people who came forward with offers of assistance who are working with him on layout, cover design, photographs, and many other publishing details.   But I feel lucky to have had a role, and have thoroughly enjoyed my small contribution.

For sheer proofreading, it was a dream job.  Each entry is anywhere from one word to 3 or 4 sentences, short and easy to consume.  The concepts are simple, but inspiring.  Not only are they all about compassion, kindness, grace and love, they are comments written by thousands of different people, who often have very different ideas about the concept of compassion, and all of the people are just ordinary folks, folks who live in my town.  And interesting, having read these thousands of definitions three times over, I read different things into them each time.  My mood affects my reaction to them.  So does my attitude at the moment, or alertness, or focus.  I read them differently and find different nuggets of wisdom each time.

And nevermind I’m reading these comments about charity and goodwill toward human and animalkind during the holidays, during the Tucson murders, during a most wildly uncivil time in our political discourse, during the anniversary of the Haiti earthquake, and on and on.  Lots to think about while reading.   The reading also coincides with my own time of self inquiry (what time isn’t).  So.. you know.. interestingly timed.  And the dead of winter.. nothing like burrowing down in the big chair in front of the fire on a dark and stormy–or foggy–day and reading thoughts on compassion.  Bonus: I get to correct spelling, punctuation, grammar, syntax and so on.  OCD heaven on top of it all.

So yeah, great project at a great time.  I’m hoping that as David roams the world, continuing on his journey of compassion, he’ll keep me in his roladex and call on me again for subsequent volumes.  Probably not, but who knows?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Finally, for a nice bit of synchronicity, it’s Martin Luther King’s birthday today, so I’ll close with one of my favorite of his quotes, even though it doesn’t deal directly with compassion.

“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”

Man, but we’ve had a lot of this this winter..

… but the lemon tree’s very pretty.

If you’re a pre-teen, and it’s Saturday, lasagna seems like a pretty good breakfast option.  (With a vitamin chaser.)

I’m experimenting with the macro feature on the camera, which will open up new doors for detail (she said with some trepidation).