Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Coming into the light, almost, maybe...
Our sympathy goes out to the families of those killed by terrorists last month in Mumbai. It is pause for thought. It stops the rushing. In other words, don’t dangle or dither. Take a straight path and go for it. Easier said than done. Sometimes I feel like I am just blowing in the wind or circling on the circumference of a lighted candle. This was before the forty foot branch fell off the pine tree in back against our house. Then, our large stone pine had to be taken out altogether.
I’m thinking that I’m not satisfied any more with a tea bag in a mug of hot water. I want it black and whole leaf—
Rambunctious dog, Brizzy and Tuvi luvi, our black cat continue to give us pleasure and exercise. 
Our precious little
This has been an interesting year. Changes at work are profound but now I am on the Professional Recognition Committee and participate district-wide. My office, with its view of the hills, continues to sustain. The website and the Heritage Room are my domains.This picture was taken on the one day it snowed in the San Jose foothills.
Bill works on a variety of projects. He had a retrospective figurative show at the Pacific Art League in December.
Natala has moved to TeachStreet where she is Director, Product Management in
Holly came out to visit us in California, too. With Adrienne and Walter, Bill and I visited 
Something wonderful happened on a bright, shining trip to 
Blair Williams has published another book on Anglo-Indians: The Way We Are and I have a chapter in it—Five Flags. It is available from CTR (Put your curser over the cover to enlarge it, scroll down for purchasing information.) It was very special to meet several of the other authors of this anthology. Moira Breen PhD, who is 84, I have known via the Internet for years but we’ve never met in person. Blair and Ellen and all the amazing, supportive Anglo-Indians who were there, thank you for bringing me home again. Come to the West Coast Anglo Indian dinner/dance fundraiser on April 25th, 2009.
In what seems like a parallel life, The Pacific Art League in Palo Art has been taking our time, energy and thoughts for the past several months. We are both on the Board of Directors, Bill since January when a new slate of members took over to save the historic building that was due to be sold. Bill spent many pro bono hours on a design for a seismic retrofit, historic renovation and an addition. I have painstakingly and professionally pulled the archives and records together. We’ve had five board chairs since January. There have been three turnovers of the board. There are moves to start a second building committee, factions, and special interests. Egos rule. We hope that the new board elected at the end of the month will bring experience and levity to the situation. The real question may be: what role does art play in life?
Bill and I wish you had a very, merry Christmas. May the New Year, 2009, bring you peace, economic equanimity, tolerance in all areas of your life and expanded horizons—intellectual, communal and geographic. May your life be blessed by music and art and all that you believe is good. As Yi-Fu Tuan says:
The good life, under its aegis, has an air of lightness—even playfulness; but if it is truly good the playful thrust must be anchored in a respect for truth and in a reflexive awareness of one’s own mortality. This idea of the good life is, in a deeply serious sense, also the most authentically human.
May you live your best life and live authentically in 2009. ’Won’t matter what comes.
