anado

This is my favorite time of year.  The Heavenly Blue Morning Glories have bloomed from seed droppings from last year.  I always take it as a good sign that the planet continues to give us a show.  However, the recent rains are of concern to me….Way Way Way too much rain.  The fields below our property are under water.  When I went into town today, I had to cruise through a small pond at the bottom of the hill.  The road leading to the bridge to Cruz de Palmar is washed out.  Earth in Upheaval as the license plates used to declare in Sonoma County.  Global Warming is as a matter of fact as the New York Yankees…always with us.  I will be posting the Pet of the Week tomorrow here at Casa las Ranas and the Chapel of Jimmy Ray.  I know all of you are sitting on white knuckles as the ballots come in…you just may be surprised…..

For the gathering at our house for Tom Robbins last week, Sudheer rose to the occasion.  He dressed up as Switters the main charactar in Robbins' "Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates", who travels around in a wheel chair.  He is forced into this position because a curse given to him by a Shaman in the Amazon with a pyramid shaped head.  It is safe to say that our Beloved Sudheer had never heard of Tom Robbins until this past Spring.  He may have heard of "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues", but only because it was a movie.  Sudheer's interests are different and unique.   This Switters, who is a CIA agent with a twist, loves Broadway show tunes.  Right up Sudheer's alley.  Sudheer arrived in the midst of the gathering last Thursday in a wheel chair dressed as Switters and serenaded Tom and the crowd with some show tunes.  It was over the top.  He closed his medley with a little tune called "Hello Tommy", sung to that infamous tune we all know.  Well, Dear Friends, Sudheer stole the show.  We all howled…at least those of us who have read the book.  As they say in some circles, "You had to have been there", luckily we were.  By the way, that is Susan Page dressed as the nun, Domino Thiry…one of the characters in "Fierce Invalids…".

Way back in the 90's, after a most amazing trip to Peru, I hustled my way into a brief career as a copywriter.  I met this fellow Bjorn, a swashbuckling hedonist who had a thing for Asian women. I am telling you about his particular sexual appetite because I felt he wanted me to know how cool he thought he was.  And you know…he was pretty cool…if I may say so.  For a living he produced upscale catalogs and led a fast post 80's yuppie life.  We became friends after a particularly intense male bonding experience on the Inca Bridge.  I told him about my writing days in New York and he encouraged me to send him some samples of my work and he said that maybe  he had a place for me as a copywriter.  This seemed like a better way to bring home the bacon than my stint as a Leaf Blower Technician in gardens of the rich and famous.  He liked my work and I got the gig.  Almost immediately I was up for the job as the copywriter for Cher's new home furnishings catalog.  That I could dig…being the star struck type.  One day Bjorn told me that Cher was going to call and do a personal interview with me over the telephone.  He told me to stay home and wait for her phone call.  The next morning I mentioned in my journal that I had to wait around all day for Cher to call.  I remarked that I was probably one of few people writing in their journal that day that they were waiting for Cher to call.  Anyhow, I waited all morning and late into the afternoon… Cher never called.  About a week later I finally met Cher with the two other finalists for the job.  I think I scared her off with my long hair and beard…too much like one of those Allman Brothers that she had once been hitched to….I didn't get the job…however, it quickly became water under the bridge.  Recently I have been approached by a newspaper reporter from up north.  She wants to write an article about our place.  I find myself in that waiting star struck place again…that is the source of the writing of this blog entry…So, Dear Anado, keep it loose…not to worry.  The work here is of the real importance…so I wait.  Waiting without anticipation is the lesson here…this precious moment is the important thing.  I believe waiting for the heavenly blue morning glories to bloom is in order.  The end results are so beatific.  And besides, I got me, babe.

Today we hosted a coffee out here for Tom Robbins.  It was a lovely event.  This man is very cool and unassuming.  He was with his wife Alexa who is beautiful and it turns out that we had some friends and acquaintances in common.  There must have been 70 people here and it was very colorful and festive.  I wish that Richard could have been here to enjoy it…Lolita and Patrice too.  I took the folks down to the Chapel site and showed them Casa Kali…here are a couple of photos.  One with Tom and myself and the other of some photographer guests photographing us…Love to all!

Last night I went to see Tom Robbins speak.  He is a wonderful soul and very bright.  I found myself listening very intently…but there was something distracting: it was me.  A part of myself wishes I were famous.  I look in the mirror and wonder about my image consciousness.  I would be a liar if I denied my secretive liaisons with Vanity.  Walking down the street and catching my visage in car windows…these colorful clothes and shoes that adorn me…we all have our quirks.  Back to Tom…he has the goods, he is a well traveled trickster on this Path to Nowhere…he gave the tee shirt a plug which made me feel good.  Five seconds into his speech he said, "I hope I can live up to the excellence of the tee-shirt.  I'm So Vain…I probably think this blog is about me.  He is coming out here for coffee tomorrow as part of the Literary Event…I look forward to meeting him.  Maybe we can trade queries about the fountain of youth or the best store windows to catch our reflections in.  I will keep you posted.

This is a first in the Casa las Ranas Pet of the Week Award.  I went into the bathroom (Sudheer would call it the Powder Room) downstairs and found this divine creature in the sink.  It was raining outdoors and all the  cats were inside.  So Sueño is the Pet of the Week hands down.  In the upper corner of the photo is Mocha, the most Divine Cat of all time.  Sueño is a direct Soul Descendant  of Mocha and the brother of Cielo also known as Grey Groovaine, the Queen of all things….we love our divine creatures.  In fact, as I type, six very groovy dogs are downstairs lounging in the studio…Love to all!