Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde & King Tut walk into a bar...

Self Portrait as Sailboat & Sky

Yes, the above image means the camera is still AWOL. Oh well.

I just had a treatment from my acupuncturist--I was her first client after her return from a shamanic retreat in Peru. I'm sure I got some extra-great energy because of that. Now she's got the nervous system tuned up to the level that it will help the massages be even more effective. One more massage & a haircut & then it's off to the north.

I'm mostly packed. How long does it take if you're just taking a backpack & a toiletries bag? Well, as Mark Twain or Oscar Wilde or King Tut--I think it was one of those guys--put it. "I'd have written a shorter letter but I didn't have time." When you're packing that lightly, everything must be carefully chosen.

Today we have rain. Yay. A gentle soaker. Sounds fabulous, falling on the roofs & trees & streets. Punches up the colors. Feels soft & cleansing on the skin & hair. (Yes, that means I didn't have an umbrella in the car when I went to get my mail & have lunch downtown after acupuncture. Also it means that I didn't have any change & had to park several blocks away from the restaurant where there was a space without a meter. Which was great, because it was a gentle rain & I'm not QUITE sweet enough to melt. Grin.)

Okay, so time to finish packing & straighten things up & maybe paint some more & order a course or two from The Teaching Company. (I'm thinking My Favorite Universe & Consciousness & Its Implications. The ancient Egypt one is REALLY long & I'm not quite desiring that level of detail at this point. (48 lectures!))

So, if you are among those whom I will see in Minnesota & Montana, see you soon. If not, well, um, Bye.

Blog alternative:
141. The universe is 13.7 billion years old, according to the current best estimate. I like to think of it--let's say her, just to personalize things a bit (& make the end of this sentence less awkward)--as a teenager, so close to 14 she fudges a little. So think about the universe as a young teenager. Think how well she's doing, how much she's learning, how much lovely life is ahead of her, how glad you are that she exists, pimples & gawk & all.

Fonting at the mouth--we think she's rabid!

House in Order

I was going to give you a photograph of a painting, but I can't find my camera. Let's hope it's temporary. Not that I don't need a new camera, but the old Olympus would be a great back-up, & it has a big ole memory card in it... Hence, another little quick paint program drawing for you.

So, yes, I have been painting, which is great fun. Can't show you unless you happen to be in Asheville, or I find my camera. (If you're psychic & you see where it is, could you email me & let me know?)

On the mental front--& yes, I know, Cathy, you think 24 lectures on quantum cosmology qualifies as mental--I finished the dark matter, dark energy lectures. (Have already written a poem about string theory as somewhat of a slut.)

Plus lots of other stuff, most notably

"Going Back in Time"

(you'll have to imagine the purple part crossed out
(overstricken?) leaving only "in")

has been published!

Check out the Oct/Nov All-Star Anniversary Issue! of

Fantasy & Science Fiction

I know, fonting at the mouth, but this is exciting. I've already received fan (e)mail. (Hi, Jeremiah.) I love quantum physics. (In a dreamy-eyed groupie sort of way, rather than a fervent, in-the-trenches, do-the-math sort of way.)

Oh, & my massage therapist surprised me last week by saying, "Well, I think I've got you finished off in an hour & a half. You're so much better." This week he dug deeper in other tissues, but all the while complimenting me & my musckles on our progress. I am SO much better. Still more flexibility on its way. I have one more massage before I take off for a couple weeks in Montana. Will my relatives recognize me as a puddle of goo? More important is the fact that I am indeed beginning to recognize myself that way.

I'm not taking my computer to Montana. You should see how I'm planning to pack: 1 backpack (of the sort that students haul books around in, not the sort that will take you into the wilderness with pouches of dehydrated food & a sleeping bag) & 1 toiletries bag that is big enough to hold a journal in its largest pouch. That's for 2 weeks! I'll always be places I can do laundry & should I need a winter jacket--not likely but still not out of the question for Montana at the end of August--I have plenty of relatives who would lend me one. Anyway, I may or may not (with an accent on may not) post much while I'm out there. (& you ask me politely why I am telling you this, since I've been not posting much here. Grin. Guilty. The numbers don't lie. Just think how much fun I've been having while I've not been writing about it!)

Blog alternative:
140. Consider time travel. When would you go back to & why? Think about how it might make now different. Would you still go? What if you could just go back & observe something, invisibly?

A watched scarf never doubleboils

Heart Flower

Happy August 11th.

I've been doing fun things like watching Dark Matter, Dark Energy: The Dark Side of the Universe. Much more intense & brain-stretching than the The Joy of Thinking: The Beauty & Power of Classical Mathematical Ideas. (Which I also really enjoyed.) I'm getting up to speed, kinda sorta, on current cosmology. Very interesting. I haven't broken out the Greek mythology one yet--6 more physics lectures to go first--& I'm already planning to order one on ancient Egypt. So, let this be a warning to you. The Teaching Company is delightfully dangerous!

I also did some silk painting, a little 11x11 scarf, with my new scroll frame & the black gutta (that's the stuff that keeps the dye contained in the area you choose it to be contained in--providing you've put it on correctly. Sadly, it is all too easy to let pink bleed into yellow & blue, as I discovered on the scarf. I'm sure I'll get better.) So, I have a big pot of scarves cooking on the stove right now in the double boiler. Not only hadn't I done any more silk painting since my class, but I hadn't "cured" the ones I did then. I hope this works well.

My plans for Montana are set. I'm going to fly to Minneapolis, visit with friends there (gotta arrange that--if you are a Twin Cities friend & you are reading this, get ahold of me, pretty please) & have Zach pick me up in his racy car & drive to Montana with him. He tells me I won't like it, since it's loud & uncomfortable, but I'm willing to put up with that for some concerted hours with my car boy. Then, after my parents' 50th (happy!) anniversary & my dad's birthday, I'll fly back to Asheville from Billings. & all on frequent flier miles. Yay me. Plus Nick & his girlfriend are going to fly out there as well. Should be a fabulific time.

We've had some hot days here, but we're in the middle of a beautiful spate of cooler ones. Hark, doth Autumn approach?

I've talked about the weather now, so all I need now are religion, politics & sports. Oh, & my health--which is better than everbefore, I believe. Okay, politics: I'm excited about the upcoming election. I have my preferences, but I truly believe all is well & what we've just been through & continue to go through are setting the stage for a powerful new reality. Spirituality: I am more purely-centered than I've ever been. Sports--okay, you've got me there. Hmmm. Sports. Sports. Oh, yeah, Tiger Woods won something or other, didn't he? If walking is a sport, I had a nice one the other day in Flat Rock, where Carl Sandburg lived.

Blog alternative:
139. Look at some partially-finished artsy project. Do you want to finish it? Go ahead. Or at least set it up to finish. Assemble the tools/ingredients & make a list of the next steps. Do you NOT want to finish it? Give it to someone who might. Or set it out on your step or on a park bench for a random stranger to find. Or throw it away.