Good vibrations in Sedona, Arizona

                                          A backseat view of my sister JoJo blissing out
                                           in the front seat as we drive through Sedona


      For years I've heard snippets about Sedona -- words like "magical, mystical and spiritual" are common descriptors. Since I've never been there, I was pretty excited when my step-mom Michele arranged a women's long weekend there, just for the ladies in her life. Count me in!

      My sister JoJo and I were sort of awestruck as we drove into the outskirts of town. She had never been there either -- our jaws dropped as the gorgeous majesty of the place slowly came into view.

                                                     We kept muttering "Oh my God..."

                                      My sisters JoAnna, Laura and Kirsten wasted no
                                                 time getting comfortable and having fun!

                                      Catching up in the infinity pool. Everyone's so busy
                            and geographically separated these days, so we were grateful
                                             for the time to just relax and hang out together

                         The first night, we walked up to a nearby "vortex" to watch the sunset


                      The Sedona tourism website says that Sedona has several "vortices" --
                             areas where there is a concentration of positive energy
                          conducive to spiritual experiences. I tried to do some research on
                        the subject, but the science appears to be a tad lacking. But does this
                                                    mean it isn't real? Who knows?

                                                 A marker points the way to the vortex

                         Well, I don't know about the vortex, but the views were spectacular

                                                         We were definitely feeling it...

                                                  "X" marks the vortex spot

                                                 Laura displays her magnificent rack   ;-)

               The next morning dawned with unspeakable splendor. Michele spared
   no expense with the home she rented for us. We had the best view in all of Sedona!

                  We headed into town to do some sightseeing. This "Aligning Light Center"
             is typical of the businesses and organizations sprinkled through the little village.

                                  Some claim aliens are drawn to Sedona because of the vortices...
                               or maybe it's that the aliens were here FIRST, and THEY planted
                                                     the vortices...I can't keep it all straight.

                                                                To the north of town

                                                                  A Sedona front yard

                            How do you like the view from the place we ate lunch?

                                                 ...or the view out the window of this bar?

                             Most of the gift shops featured fare related to crystals, rocks,
                                      gems, etc...implying that they had special powers

                                              Does a "crystal" emery board file my nails more
                                                  mystically than a conventional one?

                                         Several of my family members bought Sedona rocks
                                                  and crystals from the shops in town

                                     This card with the moonstone rock purchased by one
                          of my sisters describes the powers that they claim the rock emits

                               Three women in our group sat in this room for a psychic reading

 
                                                                   Sightseeing is tiring

                        There is a 100 year old sycamore grove right in the middle of town

                                                              The view south of town

                                                                             The main drag

                                                       West of town

                                                              rock and sky

                                                     The view to the east

                                                           blooming cacti

                                          Back at the house, we fell into gender stereotypes        
                                                       and did each other's hair...   :-)

                                  We went out to dinner at a charming Mexican restaurant

                                After dinner, it was back to the house to crank up the iPod
                               for some music, dancing,  and yes...drumming! This was
                           Michele's wish, so we couldn't very well not go along, right?

                                              Insert Shania's "Man, I Feel Like a Woman!" here

                                                               Everyone took part

                                          How about a little B-52's "Love Shack?"

                                                 Some couldn't dance as well as others,
                                                      but a fine time was had by all

                                            How about a little Pharrell Williams "Happy?"

                    And of course we had to include Sister Sledge's "We Are Family"

                   You know, there's something freeing about not having any boys around...

                         ...we found ourselves surprisingly uninhibited, being just us girls...


                              Was it the power of the vortex? Or maybe the peach vodka of which
                               many of us were partaking? The power of music? The fact that we're
                               all a bunch of goofballs? Or maybe it was our actual love and affection
                                                           for one another? Who knows?


                                           Anyway, it's a good thing we already did the swimming
                                         in the pool thing,  and the sightseeing thing, because the
                                                               next morning, a storm blew in...

                                                 ...it SNOWED!


             Since it was snowing outside, and all of us girls were stuck inside for the day,
                 obviously the next indicated step was to cuddle up in the living room and...

                                         ...watch "Bridesmaids," of course!    (image: Fandango)

                                                             The blustery view out the window

                                                                Spectacular Sedona sunset


                        And just like that, the weekend was over. A gigantic hug and kiss to
                          Michele for bringing us all together and giving us an experience none
                                                       of us could ever forget. XOXO

       
                    So, what to make of my experience here? Are the vortices for real?
                                                     The crystals? I don't know.

                        There are also many conventional Christian churches in town. 

                     All I can say for sure is, spiritual feelings ARE evoked by being here. 

                                         Everyone who looks up FEELS something. 

                          For myself, as much as I love science and figuring out why things are, 

                        spirituality is one of those things that are maybe better off left unexplained. 

                                   Does God exist? What happens when we die? 

                                                  I don't know. 

                                    But I do know that if try to live my life as IF God exists, 

                                                   then things tend to go well. 

                                                        Beyond that...why ask why? 

                                             

Espiritu in Arizona, and other little surprises

    After sailing Espiritu through Mexico, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Honduras, Belize and finally, Florida, we shipped Espiritu across the country and back home to SoCal.

                                                          Espiritu sailing through Arizona


                 It was a tough decision, but we're so happy to have our girl back home.
                                                   As always, it's been a busy spring.

            Today is Easter Sunday, and I'm the midst of my "natural" egg coloring experiment. I'm using strawberries, tumeric, blueberries and peas. I'll let you know by sundown if it works. :-)

         We did finally get some snow this winter and spring. This shot is of a pastoral art scene which developed naturally in the cracks on the icy surface of our frozen Green Valley Lake.

                                                    And another icy view...

                                                   Green Valley Lake and sky

                          Our Christmas gift to each other was a juicer. This is one day's portion.
                                   We survived a 3 day fast. Will we do it again? Time will tell...

             The 100+ year old town of Redlands is at the bottom of the mountain,
                       and it's where we go when it's time to do some provisioning.

                          Chris: "Where shall we go first -- the watch repairman or the cobbler?"

                                                                The sky over Redlands

                 I've been doing some actual paid gigs in our little bluegrass/old-timey
                 band "Grits 'n' Grady."  Chris just joined the band as well. Yeee-haw!

         I've been doing some babysitting for this local GVL charmer Sylvana in recent months. Her parents were kind enough to recommend me for a job in the local mountains...


     ...and I'm now a camp nurse for the "Inside the Outdoors" science school, which bring 5th and 6th graders from the Orange County School District up to the mountains for 4 days of nature, science study and fun.

                                               I couldn't be more grateful.   :-)

      I photographed this spectacular White Ermine moth on the door of the nurses office. He stayed there for almost an hour. I'm pretty sure he wanted some medical care, but he doesn't speak English and was unable to tell me what his medical complaint was, so he finally flew off.


           

                            And finally, last weekend our impossibly photogenic family got together
                             on a rooftop restaurant in Laguna Beach to celebrate several birthdays.

                                         

My niece Lauren and the matriarch, Nana

                          My niece Paige's iPhone -- I can't believe this thing still works!

                                                              Lauren, Matt and Courtney,
                                               who is fresh back from a semester studying in Paris

                                                     Grampa, deep in contemplation

                 My niece Lindsay, and blonde hair flying everywhere in the ocean breeze



                                   Next up? A family ladies trip to Sedona, Arizona.
                  Can't wait to share the photos with you. And you? What's up with you?
                                     Do tell. I want to hear EVERYTHING...   :-)

Movie Review: Dallas Buyers Club

                             2013's Dallas Buyers Club is nominated for several Academy Awards


     Dallas Buyers Club is based on the true story of AIDS patient Ron Woodruff. The tale unfolds back in the dark, deathly 80's, when AIDS was a guaranteed death sentence. When told he had 30 days to live, Woodruff developed an underground system to obtain non-FDA approved treatments for himself and his comrades in arms battling the fatal disease.

      Let me say right out of the gate that I've always been a big Matthew McConaughey fan. Admittedly, he usually plays characters that don't seem very different from -- well -- Matthew McConaughey -- but really. Charm, good looks, that easy, randy Texas smile -- what's not to like?

   Directed by Quebecois Jean-Marc Vallee, the film delivers a well-acted, powerful story. Its message of perseverance and tolerance deserves to be seen. And Jared Leto's portrayal of transvestite Rayon was a thrilling surprise (I'm pulling for him for best supporting actor). 

  And yet...and yet...there's a huge roadblock preventing me from giving Dallas Buyers Club two gigantic thumbs up. 

                                                       Looking good, Matt (not)!


  Yep. What bugged the heck out of me all through this film is the EXTREME weight loss Matthew underwent for the role.

                                 The "real" Matthew McConaughey, in better days

                                     Jared Leto performed the same extreme weight loss circus act


       Now, to be fair, these guys aren't the first ones to do this. But people -- it's gotten out of hand in Hollywood. Trust me: they can insist that they attained their death-like cachexia through eating only kale shakes and green tea, but that's a big lie.  You want to know their diet plan? Here it is: 6 months of bulimia, amphetamines, and thousands of cigarettes. That's it. Go ahead and try it, if you dare. But if even Matthew McConaughey comes out looking like a dried out old geezer, what are the chances for the rest of us? Right. Don't do it.

     Mr. McConaughey famously quoted his David Wooderson character from 1993's Dazed and Confused when he exclaimed "Alright, alright, alright!" upon winning the Golden Globe for this role.

     It took these guys 6 months to lose the weight. Interestingly, Jennifer Garner (who played the 'tacked-on' role of a doctor with a heart of gold -- and the part was, indeed, added -- and it feels it) said later that the shoot only took 27 days. Yeah, I bet! When your two leads are literally starving to death and can't wait to begin the binge process of gaining back the weight (just as unhealthy, by the way), I'm sure the days were long on the set.

 You know that Matt and Jared cried a super loud, tandem "Alright, alright, ALRIGHT!" when the final shot was completed. And off to the races they went. First stop, In 'n' Out burger, no doubt.

  Sigh. I don't know. I just have the sinking feeling that real AIDS patients, who attained the same ghostly, ghastly frames against their will, without being paid millions of dollars like Matt and Jared were, might be slightly offended somehow by these freak show weight loss stunts. After all, to them it's not a game. It's not a joke.

  I wish they would have just told the story, simple as it was, and trusted in the basic humanity of it. But then, I guess that would have been a completely different movie.









 

   

 
   

Scary Winter in Green Valley Lake

                                              Tons of snow threaten to crush the cabin back in 2007


    We love snow. That's why we moved to Green Valley Lake, CA. At 7,000 feet, some years this little hamlet gets 24 feet of snow.

 But not this year.  It's been weeks and weeks since our last major precipitation.

                                      Well, we did suffer this deluge in early January... :-/


    We're not alone. Major swaths of California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas are also suffering the same severe drought.

                                       An Eyewitness News truck sits at the shore of GVL,
                                          waiting in vain for a snowstorm to report on...


   In January, there was even a major forest fire on nearby Mt. Baldy -- unheard of in the middle of winter.

                    The view of the freaky winter forest fire from our street in Green Valley Lake

 
       Some meteorologists predict that due to climate change, this may be the scary new normal.

       What to do, what to do? Panic? Freak out?  Neither of those are good options.

        As always, the only viable option is to just settle in and adapt to the new surroundings.

                                Welcome to the NEW winter in Green Valley Lake:

                                             A robin basks in the February sun

                                          Chris takes a stroll in shorts and sandals

           Daffodils, confused by the warmth of the sun, pop to the surface months early

                                 Chris practices the fiddle outside in the beauty of the forest

                                               And me? I'm back in shorts and sandals.
                                                  Sigh. May as well enjoy it, right?


     Lastly, I wanted to share a nature meditation by Trappist monk Richard Rohr, one of my favorite writers and thinkers:

Go to a place in nature where you can walk freely and alone, ideally some place where human impact is minimal—a forest, canyon, prairie, bog, mountain. Tell someone where you will be and how long you expect to be there. Take adequate water and clothing for the conditions.

Begin your wandering by finding or creating a conscious threshold (perhaps an arched branch overhead or a narrow passage between rocks). Here offer a voiced prayer of your intention and desire for this time. Step across the threshold quite deliberately and, on this side of your sacred boundary, speak no words, but only expect!

Let the land, plants, and creatures lead your feet and eyes. Let yourself be drawn, rather than walking with a destination or purpose in mind. If you are called to a particular place or thing, stop and be still, letting yourself be known and know, through silent communion with the Other. Before you leave, offer some gesture or token of gratitude for the gift the wild has given you.

When it is time to return to the human world, find again your threshold and cross over. But now you have learned to expect God in all things.

Dances with Wolves: 24 Years Later, an Appreciation

Last night Chris and I settled in and watched Kevin Costner's 1990 classic Dances with Wolves. 

                                    Kevin Costner stars as Civil War Lieutenant John Dunbar


   Films like this, that are so iconic to those of us old enough to have seen them on the big screen, sometimes feel like they are beyond discussion. After all, like me, everyone has seen Dances with Wolves a couple a dozen times, right? Everyone knows it won all of the top Academy Awards in 1991, right? What's to discuss?

  But then I forget about the young people. My nieces and nephews coming of age. Kids -- this post is for YOU.

 Dances with Wolves tells the story of a wounded and disillusioned Civil War soldier who gets sent to a deserted, delapidated fort deep into the frontier. Completely alone, he takes refuge in his journal. Slowly he begins connecting with the land, the animals and the sky around him.

 Inevitably, contact ensues with the Lakota Sioux, upon whose land the fort was built. Slowly, over time, the tribe and Lieutenant Dunbar learn to trust each other, and their lives entwine. Together they deal with the reality that the white man is coming. When Kicking Bird asks Dunbar "How many white men are coming?" Dunbar replies: "As many as the stars."

                                      Rodney Grant is the volatile, passionate "Wind in his Hair"

                                  Graham Greene is the wise, curious medicine man "Kicking Bird."


    24 years later, a real tribute to this film is the fact that it does not feel in the slightest bit dated.

             
                                 Well, to be fair, Kevin DOES have a bit of a 1990 mullet here...


    But other than that, it still feels FRESH today. Also, it's completely original. There is no other film in my memory that captures this place and time in such a realistic, unpretentious way. It's really a knockout.

  Additionally, even though this is, of course, a "western" -- it doesn't FEEL like a western. It just feels like a powerful, funny, endearing, heartbreaking, beautiful story.

 And yes, there is romance. The tribe adopted a young white girl whose family was killed by the enemy  Pawnee tribe when she was 9 years old. Now a grown woman, she acts as a translator for Lieutenant Dunbar and the tribe elders.

                                                   Mary McDonnell as "Stands with a Fist"

       In addition to awe-inspiring cinematography, there are humorous moments as well. Yes, the American soldiers Dunbar must content with are portrayed pretty much across the board as buffoons or heartless killers, but there are standouts.

                                       Maury Chaykin nearly steals the whole movie in his
                                   5 minute cameo as psychotic, alcoholic Major Fambrough.
                                                      He's hilarious and heartbreaking.


  Comparisons to Dances have been made to the film Avatar, and I see the connection -- especially in 2014.


 We as Americans have no choice but to deal with the reality and human repercussions of our actions on this continent. The blood is not just on our hands -- it's in our hair and it's caked under our fingernails. And it's baked into the land.

         Dances with Wolves is playing on Netflix streaming until 3/1, when it goes away. Yes, it comes on TNT every couple of years, chopped up by so many commercials that it's enough to break your heart.

See it while you can as God intended: in one piece.

The brokenness of Philip Seymour Hoffman

     My mom called me yesterday in tears. She was distraught and heartbroken over the death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman at age 46.  Philip and his girlfriend had 3 children together. Evidently she asked him to move out 3 months ago as a tough love gesture since he was using heroin. He was found dead and alone in his bathroom with the needle still in his arm.

   We civilians love celebrities for different reasons.  Watching them act out and tell stories on the screen, they help lead us (and don't fool yourself -- for better or worse, they do lead us) through our lives: advising us, inspiring us, often simply distracting us, and sometimes, they are cautionary tales.

  The stock always goes up on any upcoming film when one knows that Philip Seymour Hoffman is in the cast. He's earned the reputation of an actor who chooses only the best scripts and the most accomplished directors.

 Regardless, he's no Tom Hanks or Reese Witherspoon. America's Sweetheart he's not.  I was sort of purplexed by the outpouring of love for the man. Frankly, many of the characters he's played are far from likeable.

                                        He played the brilliant but cruel socialite Freddy Miles in
                                       1999's "The Talented Mr. Ripley (image from E! Online)."

                                           His accused child molester Father Brendan Flynn in
                                                           2008's "Doubt" was chilling.


                                              But he could also be savagely, brilliantly funny.

                                He stole 2007's "Charlie Wilson's War" from Tom Hanks as the
                             take-no-prisoners, genius, multi-lingual CIA agent Gus Avrakotos.

                                  OK, so he was a brilliant actor. So, why did we love him so?

    I've thought about it, and I think his death strikes such a deep cord because Philip, more than any other actor I can remember (ever) bravely showed his brokenness onscreen. His pain, his sorrows, his losses -- well, they were written all over his face.

        Overweight, chain-smoking, he appeared a good 20 years older than his 46 years at his death. But he wasn't interested in fooling everyone into thinking what a cool, together guy he was. He looked us right in the eye through his characters and shared his pain. His brokenness was on display for all to see.

   He was so freaking honest in his roles.  It was shocking sometimes, truly, as in "Boogie Nights" and "Before the Devil Knows Your Dead" -- to the point that you almost had to look away.

   He reached out to us across the screen and shared it all with us, without shame. Yet he never took the easy route by making himself the clown or the victim. We knew he was brilliant and that he had been around the block a few times, and life was taking a toll.  He was simply, completely real. How could we not love him for that?  Such honesty and lack of guile in show business is a rare, rare jewel.

  So, I believe, that's why we mourn. In an era when nearly every word that comes out of actors mouths is pre-screened, buffed and shined by publicists and stylists for our viewing protection, he said screw it and told the truth with his eyes, his words, his face, and even his frumpy body.

  These would be reason enough to love him, but there was one last thing: his playfulness.

He didn't show it often in his roles, but on the rare occasion when this big, broken man shared his impish grin with us, we had to smile too. It gave us hope. As long as Philip found the courage to laugh, then we knew we could find a way to laugh with him -- we merely had to dig deep to find it.

  He was, in a word, brave. And that's not a word I expect to apply to a Hollywood celebrity again anytime soon.

  So, when we heard that this broken man whom we had grown to know and care for had died, alone and with a needle in his arm, mourning the absence of his 3 young children as only a hopeless, relapsed heroin addict can -- it's unbearably heartbreaking.

 So...we mourn.