I have closed up shop on this site, for now, at least, and have moved my recent posts to leahbrooks.com. Join me there!

we're ready to go! We are off to New Zealand tonight. I'm not taking a computer or a cell phone - but we have iPods full of music and audio books and podcast videos - so there has been some concession to the tech obsession. I am expecting to see some very beautiful scenary and make new friends. Because we are hoping to sleep a lot on the plane, it's okay that I woke up at 5am today. Perhaps it will help me fall asleep, or add to my crazed lack-of-sleep anxiety at some future point. Let's hope for the former.

Last night our next door neighbor knocked on the door and asked if we'd like to see the rings of Saturn. We bundled up and went over to his yard, where he had set up his newest telescope - a huge tube about two feet wide and six feet tall. The rings of Saturn were just as bright as the planet itself, which surprised me, as most photos show them as somewhat translucent. We also saw an astonishing nebula in Orion, and Betelgeuse, as well as an open cluster of stars and the North Star with its tiny twin twinkling over its shoulder. All this with street lights glaring right in front of us, and the sky appearing more blotted out than usual with our town's ambient light. The miracles of the universe, right there all the time for us to see, if we open our eyes wide enough.

I hope to keep my eyes and heart open during our trip, so that I can see it all.

Listening to KPFA this weekend - they are playing songs inspired by Dr. King, and his speeches. When I hear his words and the way he used them, I am always brought to tears. Unbridled optimism like this:

"I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright light of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word."

What a powerful voice. I remember clearly the morning when I came down to the kitchen for breakfast, and Mom was sobbing. The news that he had been shot seemed like more of a personal, family tragedy than when the JFK was killed.

Where have I been, anyway? right here, but, as the young folks say, hella busy. You'd think at this time of year, there'd be some reports of quiet times around the entertainment center, or feasting with friends. Well, it's not like we haven't done some of that. But we took the three kids down to Universal Studio between xmas and new years, and we've been trying to see a lot of the new movies, and the quartet was busy ... well, most of all, we've been getting ready to TAKE A VACATION.

Yes, we're going down to New Zealand on Jan 25th. It's going to be a great trip. First of all, it's a group of barbershoppers, so music will be a huge part of the trip, and second of all, my sister has signed up to join us, and third of all, it's New Zealand, and it sure looks pretty! I have been wanting to go there since the 70s, when my Swedish exchange sister, Vonne, went there and worked on a sheep farm for a while. She didn't really like it, because it rained a lot and it was culturally backward for women, but her descriptions of the landscape and the slow pace of life drew me to it. Then movie directors started to use it as dramtic backdrops (like in the Lord of the Rings trilogy), and my interest was piqued even more.

I have joined the iPod world, and am having some fun digging around iTunes and getting some of my music uploaded. We also got a new digital camera (5 megapixels), so look for some photos once we get there. I'm planning on keeping a travel journal, so that I can post some of our travels afterwards.. looking at our itinerary, it doesn't look like I'll have a lot of time to sit in internet cafes, updating my blog.

I used to have vivid dreams quite often. These days, sleep is more elusive (they say insomnia is a national epidemic), and a shorter night's sleep seems to translate into fewer dreams of quality. The other night, though, during a wild wind and rain storm, I managed to eke out a full night's sleep, and with it, came this dream.

A woman had written a novel about a coffehouse that was located in an unnamed, isolated, rural town in California. The people that came to the coffeehouse, the folks that worked there, and the magical events that occured, made for a delightful read, and the book was extremely popular. In fact, Oprah had reviewed it, and well, you know what happens after that. The general assumption was that the book was at least semi-autobiographical. The public was so taken with this book that many people spent vacations and spare time driving around the state, looking for the coffeehouse. Many online message boards posted theories about where the coffeeshop could be located.

The author of this book lived in obscurity and was very private. So private, in fact, that when she was kidnapped, no one really noticed. She was kidnapped by a tv network that was doing a reality/makeover kind of show. While she was in captivity, they picked a town (Lotus, California), and built a coffeeshop there that fit in every way the details from the book. They hired people to work in it who looked like the book's characters.

When the woman was released, it was into this coffeeshop. Really, there had been no coffeeshop that the novel was based upon - it was purely from her imagination. When she entered the shop, it was as if she, too, was dreaming - here was her imagination brought to life, albeit a stagey, made-for-tv kind of life. I was there in the coffeeshop when she came in. Rather than protest, she simply went behind the counter and started taking an order. I sat at a table, and she came over and sat opposite me. She was an expert tarot card reader, and I asked for a reading. Instead of using a deck of cards, however, she pulled out a big piece of paper and started to draw images on the paper. I watched as she sketched stories from my future.

I may have blogged before about our nearest architechtural wonder, the Marin Civic Center. This beautiful and strange building, less than a mile from our house and used as the landmark by which we give directions, was finished in 1959, after its designer, Frank Lloyd Wright, passed away.

The civic center is our county seat, where we go to the library, pay traffic tickets, wait for jury duty, walk the dog, attend the county fair, see performances, and most often, buy our vegetables at the twice-weekly fabulous farmer's market. The building is distinctive due to the bright blue roof top that, viewed from the sky, looks like tinted genetic strands or a very large children's inflatable bouncy toy. There is a large bocce court for the local boules players (of French and Spanish and Basque origins). There is a nice cafeteria that looks out onto a duck pond, where, in the spring, the baby ducklings bob and waddle across the concrete deck. The views of Mt San Pedro from the building are quite fine.

My favorite part of the building is the round windows that nestle up under the eaves. Here is a page of photos, some taken by a kite photographer. I like to imagine the kite bobbing over the hills, scoping out the golden smokestack that rises like a spear, clicking photos as it bisects a V of canada geese that wheel over the pond en route to the marsh and the bay.

People say that we should relish each day, because it's a gift. However, many of our days just don't feel that way. Yesterday was a gift. I feel that way each time I get to spend my day in song. The quartet sang a full three hours in a coaching session with Jan. She gave us so much. The sound we produced was so joyous and full, and every ringing chord was like a wave of healing energy that pulsed through our bodies. No wonder your arm hairs stand up when music is grand! It feels like the whole body is resounding in kind.

After the coaching session, we went on to the mall, where we were hired to roam and sing for two hours. People seem so astounded when they hear live music in public. They stand and stare, or sometimes they scuttle by, too shy to stop, and keep turning their heads back, wondering and listening. The best moment was in Coldwater Creek, when we started to sing, the crowd at the cash register line spontaneously burst into applause. And as we sang the line "tiny tots with their eyes all aglow" in the Christmas Song, a woman pushed her stroller close, and the child's eyes were transfixed upon us. The grandmother cried.

Today, another gift, as we go into San Francisco for the Harley Toy Run. This year, there have been so many disasters in the world - tsunami, hurricanes, war. Sometimes it is hard for my heart to carry all those stories of loss. IPerhaps the reason for the holidays is to fill up the heart with compassion and love, so we can carry on another day, another year.