Taking down the Yurt started as a case of many Chiefs, each with their own very clear but different ideas for how to take down the yurt - not enough Indians. [Gallery]

Today was the official closing “ceremony” of the Center, which consisted of a Puja or Hindhu/Buddhist offering to the deities associated with the key offerings of the 7Centers experience. [Gallery]

It seems like all of Phoenix has come up here to the high desert for the weekend to escape the heat and find water to sit in. At noon it took almost 15 minutes to travel three blocks. With the sun, heat, and dry air, COVID-19 is just not an issue. Or so it seems.

[View Gallery] Today in Santa Barbara, restaurants opened to people dining - outside. It was wonderful to see. We too dined al fresco, and my sister’s outdoor ‘dining room.’

We visited Eleanor & Matt in the middle of San Francisco. It was nice to see that most people were wearing masks, even outside. But it was also just a wee bit scary. We did not see people being carted off. We did not hear coughing. What we saw was a city try to ease, ever so gingerly, out of lockdown before its citizens go crazy from the pressure. We’re not all meant to be astronauts, hanging out in a tin can 100 miles above Earth for a year.

The drive down 199 to the coast is one of my favorites. Right where the highway meets the ocean is a stand of Redwoods that I like to visit each time I do this drive. This time, the stand was closed but we were able to park our car and just walk in - the only humans around. It was beautiful. Without humans, the undergrowth was in lush bloom; nobody spreading dust from SUV’s and nobody picking the flowers. I felt like a trespasser. [More Photos…]

Start of a road trip, we had a porch hang-out in Portland with Josephine before heading on down to Grants Pass.

Gallery: When I was downtown the other day, there was a really strange contrast between the busy, lively tent cities around Pioneer Square, and the almost eerie emptiness of the New Amazonia (as I call it), just a few blocks away.

This one, just parked, waiting. I wonder if they are working for Uber?

Gallery: Seattle, downtown, Saturday. It’s always sad to see the homeless people down there but somehow seems more poignant during the pandemic. On the other hand, I’m guessing some of these folks aren’t doing too bad with their stimulus checks?

I know hearse drivers have to eat. Maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m just being superstitious. Maybe I’ve been inside too long.

We received these wonderful new facemasks from my sister. I like them because they are soft and smooth and conform to my face. But they feel kinda like…you know…

Inspiration from one of our neighbors.

I stole this from Fran’s IG post: “Our cat Mochi has trained our neighbors walking by to ring our doorbell so that we let her in…”