listening party and friendship

So this is an incredible story, especially since I don't like facebook much.  In 2010 I "met" a woman online through a mutual male friend on facebook.  I never even saw a picture of her because she only posted pictures of flowers and cats on her profile.  She loved our family's music, and for years would often comment about and repost songs I posted.  She had a sweet vibe in written word.

Right before we left for our recent summer trip she asked me if we needed a place to stay in northern California, because she knew of a rental.  We had already made arrangements so I told her thanks but we were good.  Soon thereafter she contacted me and asked if we would like her to host a listening party for us.  She had worked years ago as a booking agent in the music business and loved hosting parties.  I had never mentioned that we were wanting to plan one.  She later told me that she had simply woken up with the idea to suggest this.  It was such a generous offer coming from someone we had never met.  She offered us a date that worked for both of our schedules.

When Gary and I met her we liked her.  Her voice reminded me so much of my godmother.  We quickly began planning the party. Invites, a menu of cakes and fruit, folding chairs, a sound system.  The setting was a lovely garden and home.  It all came together easily, and we had so much fun planning, and shopping for the food. Gary and I were blown away by the generosity of this stranger named Juliette.

One night Juliette and I were talking about a glitch with the online invitation. Since our houses were minutes apart I decided to go over to her house to try to work out the glitch.  When I showed up she had a tray with tea and chocolates. We worked out the problem and then spent the rest of the night talking and sipping tea in her outside garden under a pergola lit from white Christmas lights.

I went home that night and told Gary "I think I've made a new friend."

The party was June 30th.  We were going to gather in the daytime but there was a heatwave so we changed it to the evening.  We got a great turnout.  We had so much fun preparing the food.  Old friends showed up, along with Gary's California band and Juliette's neighbors and friends.  We played tracks from Gary's new album as well as Sky's.  Annabel sang and played guitar live.  It was a great evening.

For the rest of our stay in town we spent time together.  Our family, and she and her son.  We had lots of fun.

Thank you Juliette.  I'm so glad I met you!    

california times

Despite a serious heat wave and various unexpected excitement with our house trades we managed to have lots of fun on part two of our California vacation. We stayed in our old home town in the northern part of the state, in a house across the street from a friend I met during a childbirth class when I was pregnant with Sky.  Fourteen years later, our number two kids became fast friends, as you can see from the above photo.

Lots of unplanned fun.  The best kind of vacation.

somehow...

...We've managed to be on the road for seventeen days already.  We flew into Los Angeles and spent a week in an airport hotel that we never left, except to go to Trader Joes one time.  We connected with old friends who were there as well, and ate awesome homemade Indian food.  The reason we were all there was to spend time with Amma, who had come from India to receive, counsel, inspire, comfort, and hug people.

No matter how many times I see Amma, I always gain something more each visit, from listening to her talks, and mostly, from observing her.  She is the most amazing teacher I have ever known.  In fact her life is her teaching, and by continuing to live the life she is leading -- as the years pass, hugging more and more people, taking on more and more work, building more schools and more free houses, visiting more disaster struck areas and helping more people from the ground up, empowering more women, planting more trees, feeding more hungry people, etc. -- she is only more and more inspiring to me.  To watch her in action with so little sleep and food, no personal time for herself, so happy and open hearted and kind and patient with everyone who comes to see her, is absolutely mind boggling.

After our retreat with Amma we flew to northern California and have been there ever since.  We had to nurse a couple of illnesses, including one that came to befriend yours truly.  But all is well now, and since then we have been hiking, cooking, seeing friends, visiting our old doctors, shopping, eating summer fruit, and settling into our first house trade, across the street from yet another old friend.  Annabel has learned to skateboard and Shawn is in a really fun baseball camp.  The girls have taken hip hop dance lessons and the fun has only just begun.        

before

Before we left town there was lots going on.  There were outfits and shoes to be found for various special events.  Sky went to her prom with a group of friends. Annabel had eighth grade graduation where she won an award.  We had no idea.  It was such an honor.  The principal said, "This is an award for the student that exemplifies why we started this school in the first place, asks all the right questions, loves learning, and is a good friend to all."  

I worked hard in the gardens, planting lots of new hedges and flower beds.  We cooked and served one last meal at our local homeless shelter, taking time to pose for Amma's InDeed campaign, launched this summer.    

Gary and I had a nice night out.  We took a drive to the shore and then went out to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants.

Although I have no photos, we had someone banging away in the house for several days, remodeling a bathroom.  Good ol' Tim.

And of course, because there was not enough excitement, we took Nina, Shawn's class guinea pig, in for a week.

mother/son day

Shawn finished school two weeks before the girls.  He had lots of friends over to play during that time, which was great for him, and allowed me to get things done in preparation for our trip.  But one day was reserved for just me and Shawn.  We left in the morning and had a special day,  Shawn's choice of places to go -- the local mini amusement park.   It was really fun, and Shawn got a hole-in-one in mini golf.  On the way home we stopped off at the farmer's stand for fresh coconut water, chopped open in front of us by a guy with a machete.  Which is just the kind of thing Shawn loves to see.

shawn's show

He played a game show host, a valley guy, and a rapper.  He did this show with his school.

corner view~somewhere else

Very soon we are leaving on a trip and we will be somewhere else very different from where we live.  There is lots to do to get ready and despite the craziness of getting it all together, when I think of the flowers I will be seeing when I get there, and the redwoods, magestic and free, the friends I will get to reconnect with, the berries and plums that will be ripe on the vines and trees, the new opportunities that the kids will have there, and going out to dinner with Gary in San Francisco, holding his hand as we walk down the city streets, I am comforted.  

Whenever I have a lot on my plate, I just keep telling myself, it will all get done.

boys hike

700 year old tree

photo by Shawn

We walk through magical places with friends.  The photos serve as a reminder -- they bring us back, because the experience quickly fades to a memory.

a new sky song

Skylar's new album has been released.  She worked very hard on this.  She wrote all of the songs, sang lead vocals and all of her harmonies, and played all of the instruments.  Then she recorded the entire album and mixed it to boot. We sent it to LA to have it mastered.

Sky, I am so proud of you.  The songs are amazing.  (There are seven).

The first song is titled, "Too Wonderful To Be Here."  Skylar wrote this one a while ago, when she was thirteen.  Click here to listen.