Desert Laura

Over thirteen years ago I found this little, 4 month old puppy, running in front of my car and plopped down right in front of me, not moving. Just sat there. Asking to be taken. Demanding that I stop the car and pick her up. I think she was thinking I was going to save her life. Little did she realize that she was instrumental in saving mine. So, over the past 13 years she has been a loyal companion to me and put up with the many, many moves all over this country. Phoenix to Ann Arbor, back to Phoenix, cross country drives back to Ann Arbor, 2 house moves and now, finally, settling in the little house in the barrio for the past 7 years. In the beginning, she has attachment anxiety where she couldn't stand to be away from me. She'd go crazy, literally cry all night. Until I came home. On my longer times away she would get depressed, sleep by the door and not eat for the first few days. When I'd arrive, she would greet me cordially then walk away...pissed that I ...

In about a week I'm packing my bag and going to Italy and Sicily...for 3 weeks. I'm heading back to Italy to spend some time relaxing, eating, drinking and celebrating my new year with some family that I haven't seen in 15 years. It's definitely a trip that I've been hoping to take for a while, just waiting for the right opportunity. Too bad I couldn't convince any of my friends to come with me; and too bad I don't have a cutie to accompany me. The good news is that I'm hoping to find one there...drinking wine alone is just no fun at all! So, my itinerary is pretty flexible... June 12 - June 15: arrive in Milan then head straight to the French/Italian border and the Italian Riviera - Staying in the small town of Torri Superiore nestled in the mountains. Town of Torri Superiore, Ventimiglia J une 15 - 20: Make my way to Tuscany. Spend my days in small towns, visiting vineyards, drinking wine, and wander around the countryside. Maybe I'll get a V...

So my friend turns 30 in two days. It's not unusual for me to give him some guff about getting old, especially since he's a bit nervous about it. You know, the typical scare tactics like "say good-bye to your life as you know it" or "it's all downhill from here" or mentioning the wrinkles, sags, hair loss (which he lost quite a while back) lack of youthfulness. It's all fun and games until you start to think, wait, I'm almost 40! Ok, so I'm not that close to 40, but 36 is close enough. In 4 years, I'll be 40...ughh. Now, keep in mind that none of the things that I say about turning 30 actually happens to me...only a few more wrinkles, the hair is still there, no sagging here, and I feel more youthful now than I did in my mid-twenties. Of course, I do things that help me feel young. I'd say half of the people I know are about 10 years younger than me. This has it's advantages and disadvantages , which is quite complicated...

I heard this poem by Rumi on fasting, it seems relevant to those who are fasting this week for the Anti-Joe Arpaio week of action. 10 people are fasting to call attention to the things that Arpaio is doing to this community; to raise greater awareness of how the Hispanic community is being targeted by the Sheriff. It's also relevant as I come back from my few days off...for reflection. I love Rumi. There's hidden sweetness in the stomach's emptiness. We are lutes, no more, no less. If the soundboxes stuffed full of anything, no music. If the brain and belly are burning clean with fasting, every moment a new song comes out of the fire. The fog clears, and new energy makes you run up the steps in front of you. Be emptier and cry like reed instruments cry. Emptier, write secrets with the reed pen. When you're full of food and drink, Satan sits where your spirit should, an ugly metal statue in place of the Kaaba. When you fast, good habits gather like friends w...

My little hut on the mountain OK, finally, I'm over it. The fog I've been feeling is gone . vanished. I was talking to a friend the other day about how social workers really do a horrible job of taking care of ourselves. Our lives, our work, consume us. Plus, I'm good at telling everyone else how to relax, but I stink at it. So, little by little, over the past 6 months or so, I've been feeling like my emo kids at school...I had the FUNK. And I couldn't get out of it. So, 2 weeks ago instead of going to the desert to volunteer during my vacation, or to Disneyland with my sister and her family, I went to Cascabel Hermitage in Cascabel, Arizona. Yup, hermitage. On Wednesday, I hiked 1/2 hour up a mountain escorted by Daniel my caretaker, plopped atop a mountain mesa with two 10 gallon jugs of water, a table, cot, chair and tent ramada, and left to my own accord until Saturday. Daniel showed me how to use the "toilet" and said he'll see me down the ...

The White House will have a garden. An ode to Spring, I thought this is refreshing news. The New York Times is reporting that Michael Pollan’s dream will come true, as a 1,100 square foot patch of [useless] White House lawn will be dug up and replaced with 55 varieties of vegetables and fruits. As I'm busy tilling my little patch of earth and planting more basil, summer squash, zucchinis and tomatoes, the White House decided that would be a good idea, too I remember when having a garden was a hippy thing to do. Who knew it'd be the "in thing" nowadays to have dirt under your fingernails and find intense pleasure in pulling out a turnip, or discovering your grocery store is in your backyard. Well, at least for me it is. Here are some of my favorite quotes from the NY Times article : “First of all,” Mrs. Obama said, “there’s nothing really cooler than coming to the White House and harvesting some of the vegetables and being in the ki...

Have you ever seen anything in your life more wonderful than the way the sun, every evening, relaxed and easy, floats toward the horizon and into the clouds or the hills, or the rumpled sea, and is gone— and how it slides again out of the blackness every morning, on the other side of the world, like a red flower streaming upward on its heavenly oils, say on a morning in early summer, at its perfect imperial distance— and have you ever felt for anything such wild love— do you think there is anywhere, in any language, a word billowing enough for the pleasure that fills you, as the sun reaches out, as it warms you … from “The Sun,” by Mary Oliver