Greece (Athens to Chania, Crete) – day 3 (Creativity Retreat)

Our flight wasn’t until 1 pm with our ride coming at 10:30 am so after we got ourselves mostly ready to leave, we went out to breakfast at a cafe nearby called Aioli. We both had toast with cheese, ham, and a fried egg and cappuccinos. It was perfect. I snapped a few photos on…

US to Greece (LAX > Frankfurt > Athens) – day 1 (travel + Acropolis, National Garden & Plaka)

Let’s get those travel days out of the way because they were mostly unpleasant. Sandy arrived in Long Beach on Monday. We had a nice evening chatting with Mom and her watching me putting my bag together. On Tuesday, our Lyft driver (Paul) was there on time and got us to LAX by 11:30 am….

August Break #1: morning light

My bedroom window faces east. That means if I forget to close my blinds at night, the early morning sunshine streams brilliantly into my room. The head of my bed is right under the window. In the summer, I keep the windows open a bit so I can catch the cool night and dawn air,…

Have a poet read your stars

As a gift to myself for my birthday, I booked a session with a poet friend of mine from back in the day who now has a PhD in Depth Psychology with a specialization in Somatic Studies. One of the services she offers is an astrological reading to support personal healing. Shortly before our session,…

end of December, end of 2020

Here we are. I didn’t write as much as I thought I would, given the pandemic and all, but I probably wrote a bit more than I would have without it! I sometimes wonder if I can even call myself a writer or a poet because I don’t really have a regular practice. Maybe that’s…

November is here

I would normally take some time to recap October, but I remembered too late that I meant to write earlier (if that makes sense). So I’ll just take a moment to say that the presidential election (as well as the election of many other positions) is this Tuesday. I’ve already voted. The state officials had…

Five months

It was five months ago today that CA Governor Newsom ordered the shelter-in-place order for the state due to the threat of the COVID-19. As of this writing, 8:41 pm, California has lost 11,686 of its people to the disease. And it has the highest number of confirmed cases in the U.S. at just over…

NPM 20 / 30

Woman in Her Second Act I have long surveyed this landscape mapped rivers of tears scaled mountains of unreasonable doubt struck motherlodes of friendship shacked up in ghost towns I’ve built bridges constructed dams dug tunnels traversing my life’s terrain choosing the less traveled path when possible with age and experience it’s now easier to…

National Poetry Month 1 / 30

That’s right, friends, it’s National Poetry Month. I skipped out on 30 for 30 last year because I was going to be leaving my job, and I simply couldn’t handle the pressure of writing something new. This year, I’m taking on the challenge, and I have a feeling this coronavirus will be a major part…

Welcome to 2020!

This week, I’ve been working on my “Unraveling” workbook. I’ve completed the workbook since 2015, I think. It usually takes me a few days. First you look back at the year that is being ushered out and then you look ahead to the year that lies ahead. This exercise isn’t just write down some resolutions….