"Getting Married"

Looking back over my post yesterday, I was struck by my description of the casual ease with which Ellie and I were able to go out and get married, and by the realization that today, thirty-six years later, thanks to the fearful mean-spiritedness of certain California voters, there are still many in this state who are disallowed from going out and getting married. Not to mention all those other states where such a thing is still inconceivable. I bear them all in mind...

That said, we did have a wonderful day of celebration: a morning walk on the neighboring hill, following a different route from our usual one, engaged in a deep conversation about such things as dread, fear, anxiety, and the strategies we can use to help us live with them; breakfast at home, out on our lovely balcony; a very early, excellent dinner at Gingergrass, a local Vietnamese restaurant that we have not visited for quite some time and rediscovered with pleasure; and finally a meeting with our artist's group--more accurately, with both our artists' groups, now consolidated for the first time into one. A great success. More good discussion, centered mostly on the rituals artists devise to get themselves into the studio and to work.

Ah, and... at the end of our session, a celebration, where we invited everyone to join us in a glass of champagne to toast the day.


One of our number--the artist whose newest work we had just been admiring, a great step forward for her--had also brought a chocolate cake


(seen here with our benefactor...)



... which was devoured with gusto. We ended our session considerably later than usual, and settled down in bed to cackle over The Daily Show before turning out the lights.

It's a busy day today. I have two phone interviews for my "Art of Outrage" podcast, a lunch date, and a dinner date. I'll be back to The Buddha Diaries, I expect, tomorrow... I still need to talk about dread. Any ideas out there?