almost my last wedding of the year! wow this year was an endless parade of weddings for me. the year is wrapping up nicely. i'm quite pleased with my own progress and growth.

i'm looking back on the past couple of years and it's making me think "what was all the fuss about?!" hahaha

Lana and I worked on our creativity this afternoon. She taught me how to paint and I gave her a manicure. It was a nice break from dealing with adults.

Bad habits are like weeds – a valueless plant growing wild on cultivated ground to the injury of the desired crop in this case, the good habits. Some of us spend our whole life working out bad habits by pulling at the plant and on the surface it may temporarily repress them but the roots will linger until something triggers the regrowth. The path of spirituality asks you to look deep inside, and dig out the entire root system.

I’ve been an avid listener to This American Life for most of my adult life. Earlier this year, they produced a show called, Reunited (And It Feels So Good). Act one was a story about an Iranian couple who were unhappily married for 27 years, divorced, and then two years after that to everybody’s surprise – especially their grown up children – they fell in love and married each other again. This time their marriage was completely different.

I thought it was a wonderful story and wanted to share it with you.

Since some have been asking about my retreat. Here are some pictures of the place taken by their resident photographer Barbara Bingham. The took five pictures and stopped because it was distracting from the purpose of my trip.


Spiritual Renewal Week was held at the Expanding Light Retreat at Ananda Village in Nevada City. The day started at 6:00AM with an hour of yoga and 30 mins meditation in the temple. I opted for a smaller 2 hour group meditation at the cabin below. I shared this cabin with four others.


No internet, no cell, limited electricity was provided by solar panels. The night sky was unbelieveable.


I spent a lot of time walking around the Lotus Lake and meditating nearby. The lotus flower grows in muddy water and rises above the surface to bloom with remarkable beauty. At night the flower closes and sinks underwater, at dawn it rises and opens again. It is the ultimate symbol of spirituality.


After morning meditations lectures were given at the amphitheater.


Taken by: Mrs. Jukes The sunset over the ridge --