Four Snouts Up for Just Mercy in Theaters Now

(:)(:)(:)(:) for Just Mercy in theaters now (just saw it at the Regal Natomas Cinema).  

I had read (and blogged about) the wonderful book Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson in July of 2018,  The Path Not Taken--Some Part of Me is Fighting Death Penalty Cases Right Now.  I've been looking forward to the movie ever since then.  Bryan Stevenson is a national hero.

In this real life drama Alabama death row inmate Walter MacMillian is played compassionately by Jamie Foxx.   Michael B. Jordan plays the lawyer trying to overturn his conviction.  The two of them have marvelous screen chemistry.  Their scenes feel real, layered and deeply affecting.  Wonderful performances also by (Sacramento native) Brie Larson of Stevenson's office manager Eva Ansley and Tim Blake Nelson as seriously damaged prosecutorial star witness Ralph Myers.

Even though I had read the book, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time wondering how it would come out.  This is possibly the only benefit of middle-aged mental status.  I cried quite a bit, but not because its all sad.  It's mostly moving.  I'd recommend it for anybody.  Good for any child over 12, I'd say.  Adult themes but true and powerful -- they might be disappointed not to see Michael B. Jordan win a boxing match or fight a glorious battle.  But I wasn't.  Come to think of it.  He actually does both here.  He just does it in a suit and tie.  My favorite armor.

Great super quick date night by the way is to go beforehand to India Oven in the Natomas Marketplace (right next to that Starbucks).  They have a really solid buffet with lots of yummy choices.  We waltzed in at 6:15pm and ate delicious food immediately.   Even had time for a quick trip to Staples to redeem some $23 in coupons before the 7:20pm showing of this film at Regal Natomas Cinema.  Bonus points if you walk from India Oven to Staples to Regal Natomas but no self-respecting Californian would do that when the temperature had dipped into the low 50s, brrrr--we had to wear multiple layers!

Wake Up California, We're Relevant!!!!

Many Californians suffer from P.I.E.D. or Previously Irrelevant Electoral Dysfunction.  In previous years, the California presidential primary had been so late as to be irrelevant.  We waited around for Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Virginia to narrow it down to 2 candidates and then we voted for the frontrunner.  So it's no wonder that when the subject of the Democratic primary comes up many friends of mine say "I just want the person who is the best to beat Trump" and won't discuss it further.  That response makes a lot of sense if you are not voting until June.  It makes no sense at all when voting in many counties including mine NEXT WEEK.  

The California Primary is on Super Tuesday March 3rd!!!!

The California Primary is on Super Tuesday March 3rd!!!!

The California Primary is on Super Tuesday March 3rd!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Once the nominee is chosen it is a foregone conclusion that California's electoral votes will go to the Democrat.  So if you live in California (or another Super Tuesday state: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Democrats Abroad, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia) and you're excited about beating Donald Trump, you have a chance starting (here at least) basically next week to influence the candidate that you think is best equipped to beat Trump.  Why would you not want to participate in that process?  

Forgive me sweetie, but is THIS what you were picturing on the ballot?

Democratic Candidates for PresidentPlease Choose One

[  ] The person who is the best to beat Trump

[  ] The person who agrees with me on the issues who won't beat Trump

Sorry.  It's a little harder than that.  It actually requires you to make a decision and a choice in this election.  You are basically an Iowan this year.  Why aren't you acting like it?

How about this instead?  See if this helps

Democratic Candidates for President Please Choose One

[  ] The most inspiring Democratic candidate of my lifetime

[  ] The one who is rallying 10s of thousands wherever they go

[  ]  The one who is bringing forth workable popular proposals to address the biggest issues facing the vast majority of Americans

[  ] The one who is expanding the electorate with the most diverse coalition ever assembled

[  ] The one is the most popular Senator in the country many years in a row

[  ] The who is an independent who appeals to independents and swing voters because they are not perceived as beholden to either party

[  ] The one is known for their honesty, their consistency and their trustworthiness

[  ] The one who is tied for first in Iowa, is in first in New Hampshire, is in first in Texas and has climbed to a close second in South Carolina.  

[  ] The one who came in first in national head to heads with Trump in the last New York Times poll

[  ] The one who won the Michigan and Wisconsin primaries last time and was close in Ohio

[  ] Or the one who is the best to beat Trump

Which one did you pick?  

Democratic Candidates for PresidentPlease Pick One

(okay it was a trick question, they're all the same one):

[  ] Senator Bernard Sanders (D-VT)

[  ] Senator Bernard Sanders (D-VT)

[  ] Senator Bernard Sanders (D-VT)

[  ] Senator Bernard Sanders (D-VT)

[  ] Senator Bernard Sanders (D-VT)

[  ] Senator Bernard Sanders (D-VT)

[  ] Senator Bernard Sanders (D-VT)

[  ] Senator Bernard Sanders (D-VT)

[  ] Senator Bernard Sanders (D-VT)

[  ] Senator Bernard Sanders (D-VT)

[  ] Senator Bernard Sanders (D-VT)

Tradition One for Democrats: Unity--Can We Dems Get Smart about Staying Together?

Can we get smart in the Democratic primary about our common welfare? In a spiritual path that I walk, we have traditions that set the guardrails for our behavior with each other and in all aspects of our lives.  We joke that the traditions are there to prevent homicide while the self-reflection parts of the path are there to prevent suicide.   Since there are 12 of them, I try to focus on one each month.  This month I am studying tradition one with the guiding principle of Unity.  It reads:

Our common welfare should come first; personal progress for the greatest number depends upon unity.

"Coincidentally," a friend of mine (who also follows this path) mentioned to me today that she thinks people who want to defeat Trump have to get really smart really fast about how we don't let (and participate in) the opposition dividing us.  She noticed how she as an undecided who wants to go all in to defeat the incumbent was already starting to feel impulses of disunity.

She heard, like many of us, that a certain celebrity who may have espoused beliefs that neither she nor I share, is supporting a presidential candidate whose values we otherwise support.  And she noticed that she had the surge of a thought, "oh my God, I can't support this person."  And then she noticed, "oh wow, this is how they do it."  "We can't let them do this to us."

Granted, all primaries are at least temporarily divisive and highlight the differences amongst candidates and then we inevitably come together in the general to support.  Remember, despite all kinds of bad feelings about losing in the electoral college, that coalescence did happen in large part in 2016.  Folks from all walks center to left came together, many of us, like myself, holding our nose (due to old & new resentments against her) to vote for the Democratic nominee.  As a result she handily won the popular vote.  Unfortunately, she also lost in key battleground states where there was depressed Democratic energy and enthusiasm.  This coming together regardless of result is bound to happen in the 2020 general.

We also know that between Russian bots and their allies in the US, there are forces already meddling in US politics and trying to divide Democrats or depress turnout in all kinds of ways.  These operatives have already been hard at work dividing us.  They know exactly how to do it.  They know that we can turn on each other quickly over issues of gender, race and other matters.

This is a tender area to even talk about because to imply that we remain united regardless of differences that have been highlighted may risk implying that issues of gender or race or whatever else they are trying to divide us over should take a back seat to other issues.  I don't think that.  But what I do think is this:

Our common welfare should come first; personal progress for the greatest number depends upon unity.

What I know about the application of this tradition or principle is that it never seems convenient.  And when I feel attached to my rightness my point of view and what I want and believe (as I totally do at this moment by the way), I am singularly uninterested in the concept of common welfare.  Or, more accurately, it seems like a cop-out or a fake thing perpetrated by "the man."  But what I have learned is that in many other circumstances, principally my marriage, my family, my neighborhood, my spiritual communities, my work life, that if I can get my little self out of the way and get interested in this question "what is our common welfare?" and ask for humility and guidance on this matter.  I get it.

I say aloud to the universe something like this, "please show me what our common welfare is here and how to be interested in it.   I don't know.  I don't know how to tell what is really important.  Please don't let me be caught up by differences between us.  Please let me actually care enough about this higher good that I get myself out of the way of it." 

And it works.  It actually manifests.  Often I reluctantly resentfully give way and later realize it was the right thing.  More rarely the peaceful knowing descends on the front end.  It matters little because I come to know that the common welfare mattered and I come to support it.

My guess is that if this works in my little spaces, it will work in the Democratic primary.  Who is with me? 

Can my Body do in Physical Reality what is Can do in Mental Reality?

I am very interested in this question, as are many.  I believe I have gathered a great deal of evidence that it is so.  Four years ago, after a year of being unable to walk more than a block without terrible pain in my right knee, I finally broke down and had meniscus surgery.  I assiduously did all the rehab exercises (not hard to do as I had a long track record of regular exercise).  No progress.  Nothing.  Still couldn't walk without pain and extreme discomfort.  Six months of that.  Still no progress.

Then I heard about Dr. Joe Dispenza.  I signed up for his progressive workshop, the prerequisite for which is hours and hours of his intensive workshop.  All of it designed to teach us more about the scientific fact of the power of the mind so that we can really believe it can heal the body.  After hours of study, I started doing Tuning Into New Potentials and picturing my body easily and effortlessly not only walking but backpacking.  After only a month of listening to the meditations, I was walking miles without pain again.  After a little more than a year, I was able to backpack again. 

Part of my healing was also Bikram Yoga.  I had a strong Bikram practice before I injured my knee.  Then I took it back up when I finally was able walk with ease.  There were numerous exercises that i couldn't do anymore so instead I lay myself down on the floor and pictured myself doing the yoga poses with ease.  One by one, even ones that seemed impossible to do I was on my feet and doing again.
Now I'm pairing up with Michael Kinsey, director of Bikram Yoga, to teach a meditation version of the Bikram Yoga sequence.  It's coming up Sunday, February 9th.  If you're in Sacramento, we'd love to see you.

$20 pay in advance at Yoga Loka 

or http://www.PayPal.me/AllisWellNow

$30 day of

In Denial Around Climate Deniers

It's come to my attention this year that, in addition to driving a zero emission vehicle, one of the single biggest ways an individual can cut down on contributing to greenhouse gas emissions is to eliminate unnecessary airplane trips.  I find myself angry about this growing understanding.  Why I gotta be the first generation of empty nesters with enough money to do so that doesn't get to jet around the world seeing all the places that I haven't seen?  And please don't tell me to Greta Thunberg my way across the world.  I do not like anything at all about boats.  When I was 14 I took a luxury cruise with my family from North America to Poland and when I was 18 I took a luxury cruise of the Greek and Turkish Islands.  On both I spent all time at sea in my stateroom vomiting.  And, yes, I know that Greta Thunberg was on a wind-powered vessel not a dirty cruise ship.  I'm just saying, I have never liked boats of any kind since then (except kayaks and canoes and no, not using them to cross the world).

I have been absolutely fine with everything else.  I have happily driven smaller vehicles.  I co-own an electric hybrid vehicle.  I recycle.  I reduce.  I reuse.  I am now accustomed to thermostat levels that most Americans would find obscenely hot or cold.  But the prospect of air travel being removed from me literally brings up so much frustration and anger that today I actually felt for a minute the possibility of becoming a climate denier.  It was just this absolute tantrum that waved over me, you are NOT preventing me from visiting Africa or Asia!  You are NOT going consign me to northern California.  Oh.  Hell.  No.

And then it hit me: I have felt this before.  This is familiar.  I felt this when I had to give up chocolate chip cookies because I can't eat them in a controlled fashion.  I felt this when I had to start consciously scheduling nights and days where I didn't work or try to do anything because otherwise I hyper-scheduled every last minute.  I felt this when I had to start tracking every expense because otherwise I was weird and vague with money.  Every single one of those things was impossible for me at first.  Every single one of those changes was infuriating.  Every single one those seemed and still seem terribly unfair.  And the only way I was able to make those decisions was by my coming out of denial and being willing to see and experience the price I was paying by overeating, overworking and vagueness with money.  

And then it further hit me:  I had never actually seen any connection between my own denial of overdoing and climate deniers' denial.  I never even noticed they were the same word.  Moreover, I have also had people in my life who seem to be complete denial about their drinking, their behavior, their mental illness.  And when they deny their conditions, I get angry and I get manipulative.  I try everything to get them to change from coaxing, nagging, education and manipulation to anger, shame and blame.    And each time I have been absolutely 100% sure that they are the problem.  I am the one that is right.  I am the one that has got my act together.  I am the one that knows what to do.  They have their heads so far up their, um, elbows that they can't or won't admit the truth or do anything to change.

This litany above is designed to sound familiar.  This whole reaction is exactly how I feel about climate deniers.  Yet, I've learned that exactly NONE of those tactics work to help addicts get out of denial.  Interventions seldom work either.  The only thing that ever seems to help is if the self-righteous people who are angry at the addicts take care of themselves, clean up their side of the street and get out of the addicts' faces and oh, yeah, stop insulating the addicts from the consequences of their actions (or inaction).

I'm literally not all sure how this all applies to climate deniers except that I'm sure it does.  I'm sure that one of the single things we can force our policymakers to do is to make the cost of all fossil fuel burning choices reflect the true cost to our human habitat.  If, when I looked on Travelocity, instead of a roundtrip airfare to Nairobi of $600 I see one that costs $6000 maybe I'll get a lot more interested in a trip to Crater Lake (which is a short drive away from where I live).  But please don't drive up the cost of chocolate chips in retaliation.

The Ups & Downs of The Crown from Netflix

Six episodes into Season 3 of The Crown on Netflix I am ready to pronounce that it has bounced back and transformed itself from a mid-century pageant to a brilliantly acted and conceived experience of Queen Elizabeth II's household.

Allow me to back up briefly.  And, really sweeties, don't worry if you haven't seen it yet, how can there be spoilers on a historical drama? "Oh my God, I had no idea London was bombed!" has nothing on the Red Wedding (which by the way, the actor who plays Season 3 Prince Philip actually attended).  Come to think of it, there were really no spoilers to be made of Game of Thrones either except where it departed from the books.  But I digress... (someone must have a blog or a handle of @ButIDigress, right?  There was a time I bought up domains like they were Baltic Avenue or Reading Railroad.  You never knew when someone was going to land on them.  Now it turns out, you do know.  No one ever lands on them.  Check out www.ButIDigress.com if you don't believe me.)

Anyway,  we thoroughly enjoyed Season 1.  Queen Elizabeth II was beautiful, young and learning on the job.  Her guide was John Lithgow as her first prime minister, a stunning characterization of Winston Churchhill.   Some of the later scenes with Lithgow out at his country home when he was getting his portrait painted were among the best television I have ever seen or contemplated--so well-written and executed as to change what is possible.  

Behind all that were the costumes, the cars, the castles, the time backstage with people who are simultaneously historical and seemingly perpetual contemporary figures in my lifetime.  

From those lofty heights it was a steep decline to Season II.  It took a few episodes to notice that John Lithgow, the writing and the novelty had all left the palace.  What remained were the gowns, the cars and too much of annoying Prince Philip and Princess Margaret jealous of Elizabeth's power and rehashing much the same conversations. 

The production gap between Season 2 and Season 3 may not have been particularly attenuated but it was long enough for me to forget that I was done with it even though  I watched so much better television in the interval.  And so, when it came to my attention that The Crown Season 3 had arrived, I eagerly dove in.  (Come to think of it, I should ask my husband why he even wanted to watch it.  I remember us being SO bored in the second half of Season 3.  Unlike me, my husband doesn't usually forget that he didn't like something). 

In Season 3 (unlike almost anything I've ever watched, unless you count the move from Dick York to Dick Sargent to play Darrin on Bewitched), the leads are all recast as they move from young adult to middle-aged (Elizabeth and Philip), or small children to young adult (Charles and Anne).  

The new Elizabeth and Philip are breathtakingly portrayed by Olivia Colman (who won an oscar for best actress in The Favourite--a portrayal of a VERY different queen and is NOT to be missed as a detective in Broadchurch) and Tobias Menzies (Game of Thrones, Outlander) respectively.  Colman I expected to be amazing.  I had NO idea about Menzies who is basically just blowing me away.   Menzies plays Philip as loving, brilliant, scheming and hapless all at the same time and pulls it off.  

I did NOT expect Bellatrix Lestrange to be playing Princess Margaret but Helena Bonham-Carter (who is not so much an actress as a personality) is totally working for me in the role.  And now I've just met and fallen in love with Josh O'Connor playing 19 year old Charles as he becomes the Prince of Wales.   The relationship between him and the smartly portrayed Princess Anne seems a little incestuous but that just keeps it weird and adds a nod to the Game of Thrones audience who, frankly, mostly isn't watching due to the appalling lack of violence and dragons.  Jason Watkins gives us Labour socialist Prime Minister Harold Wilson (a fairly dull public figure) in a nonetheless nuanced compelling fashion.  

Beyond the writing, the acting and the characters there also seems to be an especially deft weaving and excavation of key moments in mid-century British history (almost none of which I was aware of) and The Crown's participation in them.  Somehow each episode seems to stand on its own in a way that I've rarely experienced.  Each has its own flavor, depth and feeling, more as if each is a mini movie than an episode in a show.  Yet they are connected by their characters and more, some divine intelligence of production has expertly chained them to each other.  

I highly recommend Season 3 of The Crown.   You could even get away with starting on that season and not be lost since you basically know who everyone is and how they got there.  Except for Porchey.  You might have to go back to Season 1 to understand Elizabeth and Porchey's important connection.

 

Democratic Socialism is Already Super Popular in this Country--What is it really? MSNBC Tutorial

Self-proclaimed "democratic socialist"Bernie Sanders is, as The New York Times latest poll found this week leading the pack nationwide for president.  Another way you can tell that he is odds on favorite to win is when cable news is doing tutorials on "what is Democratic Socialism?"  

Democratic socialism means that the decision to provide certain services publicly rather than privately is rendered democratically.  The people's elected representatives vote to use tax dollars and government resources to provide those services.  

The truth is that Democratic social programs are by far the most popular thing that the US government does: public education, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.  Our tax dollars, at work in these programs keep millions of people alive and if people complain it is always that the programs need to have more funding, not less, more access not less, more benefits, not less. 

It's also worth remembering and a subject for another post, that every time social programs are expanded it provides an enormous boost to the economy.  Trickle down economics has been aggressively tried since Reagan and his cronies made it up and it has never never work.  The rich keep getting richer and the middle class is disappearing.  Multiple studies show that Medicare for All alone would likely return an average of $10,000 a year to working families.  Think of the massive difference that would make in their lives and also the massive cash infusion to groceries, clothing, automobiles or whatever they spend it on.  It's staggering to imagine.  

If you're on Twitter, you can watch MSNBC's tutorial below.  But I've basically explained the gist of it above.

What are Democratic Socialists? NOT COMMUNISM

The Day I Stopped Charging and Paying Too Little

A couple of years ago in honor of my birthday, I decided to treat myself to a session in which the professional involved would tell me as much as they could about myself on the basis of certain facts about me.  The cost for this service was very low due to being members of the same community.  They would charge me less than half of what I could expect to pay for a comparable experience.  It seemed more than worth it. 

I answered all the questions in advance that they asked of me and showed up on time on the day of.  The well-appointed studio sat in a lovely conveniently located structure.  It boded well.  

No sooner had the professional greeted and seated me when I started to get a prickly feeling on the back of my neck.  They started to lay out their analysis of me based on the facts given.  Immediately they diverged from what one might call an objective sounding report based on some agreed upon criteria that I matched with and strayed into what sounded an awful lot like a lecture about what I must do in order to improve my circumstances and turn my life around.  

Since I had spent a great deal of time (some might say too much) improving myself prior to that point, I was not unfamiliar with the kinds of deficiencies they were identifying.  Indeed, I might even have agreed that many of the weak points spotted were correctly spotted had they stopped to ask me.  But they didn't.  Instead, on they barreled, speaking faster and faster, advising me in the clearest of terms more and more of what I absolutely must start or stop doing in order to rise above my identified flaws.

Again, had I asked this professional for this sort of advice, I might have been more interested in this litany.  But I hadn't.  I had asked for my personality type, NOT advice on what to do about it.  There's a big difference.  To me, at least.

Anyway around this time my whole system informed me that it was time to skedaddle.  First of all, it had been close to an hour, which was my actual planned time of departure.  Secondly, I checked in with myself and this wasn't a case of me just trying to escape hearing feedback which I badly needed to receive.  Instead, it was a case of stuff I already very much knew and owned about myself, that I was already taking appropriate action on, and that I hadn't asked to hear more of.  So I stood up.  

At that point my counselor looked alarmed and asked "where are you going?  what are you doing?"  I replied simply, "I need to leave, so I'm leaving."  They said, "well I haven't finished.  I have a lot more to tell you and..." [here's the key part] "...you only paid me $X.  I am giving you much more than your money's worth."  

At this, a chill shoots up my spine.  I stand up again this time and this time I really leave.  I realized in that flash that them what say "there ain't no free" were sure right.  This person had claimed that I was only paying them X dollars.  But the person lied.  The hidden cost was MY time in captivity with them and their advice.  This person so desperately wanted a captive audience that they were willing to sharply discount their services to lure someone in.  Not since a time share brunch in Puerta Vallarta circa 1987 had I been so bamboozled (and at least that time involved mimosas and bacon).

Shortly thereafter, I became very grateful for the experience because it taught me unforgetably what I had refused to lose elsewhere:
1) That if something seems too good to be true, it probably is and2) That if I really want people to get the most out of a session, I need to charge what its really worth.3) That if I want someone to really value my own services, I needed to charge them as much as I possibly could.  The more people pay, the more people value what they receive and all the other hidden agendas can fade away.

Some Brand Spanking New Thing That You've Never Heard about Gratitude

Maybe.  Here are my top 10 things I'm grateful for about my gratitude practice:

1.  Because I choose to be grateful for 20 things every day, I have to look all day to find those things
2. Because I challenge myself for those things to be new and unique to that day, I really have to look all day for them and that makes me appreciate so much more in the moment.  Like I'm much more likely to stop and watch someone helping someone across  the street, or admire a beautiful yard.  And that's a good feeling.
3. Because I read some GD study at Harvard that says that gratitude is transformative of your state of mind but not if you just think about it, only if you write it down or tell someone about it, I write it down.
4. Because I'm desperate to find new things to be grateful for, I have learned to mine those things that are the "worst" part of my day not just the best.
5. For example if my feelings about what a particular family member is doing or not doing are really distracting me, I find that after forcing myself to write 10 things I'm grateful for about that family member, usually by the 11th thing I actually mean it and feel a significant shift.
6. I pretty much always go to bed happy now that I use this practice.
7. It is like spiritual prozac and I'm convinced it chemically alters my brain.
8. I have two friends known to the world as Rev. Dr. Melissa Phillippe and Rev. Z Egloff who have a ministry called Oh My God, Life! -- they taught me to do 5 "Future Gratitudes." 
9. They call those "the Magic 5" -- those are 5 things I plan to be grateful for in the future not if they come to pass.  I plan for them to come to pass.
10. But, even though everything I've ever put on my Magic 5 list has come to pass, I often forget to do it.  What?

Adam Schiff is the Queen of England and Other Musings on the Impeachment Trial

In his day and a half in the role, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Pasadena, CA) has been a genius lead manager of Trump's impeachment trial. He delivers his message in a tone that is calm, deliberate, reasonable, firm, angry, utterly believable, deadly dull and rivetingly fascinating all at the same time. This can't be taught or faked.  You have to be born for this role.   In short, Adam Schiff is the Queen of England. 

Lest you are one of those who are convinced that the impeachment is pointless, uninteresting and all a distraction from the election, I'd urge you to give Queen Adam 30 minutes of your time.  S/he has convinced me that if my goal is to beat the incumbent president at the ballot box, whether by means of (in my descending order of preference) Bernard Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar, Joe Biden or Pete Buttigieg, I should care about the impeachment trial.  It came about because the President is trying to use his vast power to rig the upcoming election and he's willing to go to any lengths to maintain his current office, even those that are patently criminal.  

That's why the impeachment matters.  That's why Bernie's got to be on jury duty instead of in Iowa.  Because none of his campaigning matters unless it's fair.

At least, that's what Adam Schiff says.  And I believe her royal highness.

The Benefits of Daily Writing

The turning point for me on blogging every day came when I realized it didn't matter whether you read it or not.  I didn't care how many readers I had, whether there were 6, as I deeply suspected, or more like 50, as seemed possible.  Beyond that, I didn't care whether you liked it, responded, commented or reposted me elsewhere.

Sure, it would have been nice if you did.  That seems great.  But mainly, I just wanted to write.  It is not enough for me to write occasionally.  Something about the daily aspect primes the pump.  My creative source is enlivened by the prospect of delivering its daily dose.  It thrills at the possibility.  It is forever seeking, feeling, finding what it wants to say next through me.  When I blog episodically,  my muse goes to sleep. 
There is a myth in our culture that the routine is boring.  I have not found that to be true.  The routine, when it aligns with our highest good and desires, is fantastic.  A dog that gets a walk every day at the same time leaps to its feet when it hears the words walk, park, leash or anything in the vicinity of walk/park/leash.  It is beyond excited at something that is as mundane as can be.    A dog that gets walked once in a blue moon mostly sleeps.  It takes some doing to convince him that this is really happening.  My creative source leaps to its feet panting with excitement when I take it to the blog every day.  

For some reason is not enough for me to write in private.  I have tried writing my daily morning pages, from The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron.    Those are wonderful too and source loves them.  But, in my case (and maybe not in yours), source is impatient with me about when they will see the light of day.  I used to think that because source wants them to see the light of the day it meant I was going to be famous.  It does not seem to mean that now.  It doesn't even mean that very many people read it at all (as covered above).  What it does mean is that I have made myself available to my creative source, I have obeyed it and brought forth what it wanted to say in such a way that others might read it when they so choose.  That seems to be more than enough for all involved

Ode to a dependable friend

You kept me dry
(and mostly warm)
especially near that vent on your stairs
where I could hear what was going on below
without anyone knowing I was there.
One time that was too much for me.
But I digress...

I had the best of you
(I didn't know it when it counted)
Light and air,
A view that
it turns out
someone will now pay
a million dollars for
I turned into my fairy books
to escape what I thought was hell

It was not your fault
that I sometimes had to wait
twenty minutes to be picked up
alone after dark
while someone enjoyed more time
in you

It was not your fault
that dinner could
be burned
or late
or angry

It was not your fault
that you only had three proper bedrooms
when we needed four
so one of us had to sleep in your dungeon

And speaking of that dungeon,
what would we have done without it
in latter years,
as a place for those
who had no other place
to hide in and
be grateful for
while they kept us all safe?

And speaking of her
how helpless
for the loss she may feel of you
of your sturdy presence
of your eyes that
must be kept shut
most of the time
so that the neighbors
cannot see all the food clothes and love inside

Now you are naked
looking, frankly,
a bit more battered
than I ever remember you

Do you matter anymore?
Do your dark thick panels
attract enemies or friends?
Do your many layers
beckon or simply
invite us to
waive our liability on the way down?

You are about ninety-two now
I knew you fifty-four years
And I depended upon you
more than I knew

Most of my friends
don't stick around so long