I’m still in the Bay Area staying with my son out in San Ramon. I plan to leave Sunday early Sunday morning.
I drove with Karie up the California coast from Oceanside to Big Sur on Wednesday, August 26. We stopped in Santa Barbara. I wanted to see Dave Richo.
We spent Wednesday night at Deetjens in Big Sur. It was a beautiful afternoon and evening with the fog offshore but creeping in close at some spots. We stopped to see the Elephant Seals resting on a beach close to the road and I marveled once again at the beauty of this magnificent coast.
We had a glass of wine at Nepenthe and I slept well in the Van Gogh room at Deetjens looking forward to my eggs Benedict at their small restaurant the next morning.
We stopped in Monterey to stroll around Cannery Row and then headed north to Marin to spend the night at my friends, Daphne and Bill’s, house in San Anselmo.
That night we ate ice cream cones at my favorite organic ice cream shop in Fairfax, The Scoop. Yum!
The sailing plans fell through for the weekend but I did get to visit the East Brothers Light Station. It is now a B&B operated by friends of Karie’s. I had met Ed previously but not his wife, Ann who is from Belgium. Ed picked us up in a skiff at the San Pablo Yacht Club and took us out to the island. There is a beautiful old Victorian house on the island that is now the B&B. Ed and Ann do everything on the island and run the B&B. Their plan is to run it for two years and then take off cruising in their boat Mucho Gusto.

East Brothers Light Station

The B&B on East Brothers Light Station
Ann is a fabulous French cook and served us a delicious lunch along with glasses of red wine. The weather was perfect and it was a wonderful time full of beauty, sailing stories, and plans for future adventures.

Ann's lunch that she put together from leftovers
I spent Sunday participating in a day-long meditation retreat at Spirit Rock Meditation Center (www.spiritrock.org). The retreat was hosted by Jack Kornfield, one of the founders of Spirit Rock . He is known worldwide and has written a number of terrific books. I admire him greatly and he exemplifies what it is to be a good person through the practice of Buddhism. It was instructive and powerful to spend a day with Jack. His goodness, peace and power seem to rub off a bit and changed my internal structure. We did sitting and walking meditations and had dharma talks with Jack and Phillip Moffitt, who assisted at the retreat.
We stayed Sunday and Monday nights at the Marin Headlands Hostel. We lucked out and they gave us a private room. There was a weekend wedding party taking up the whole building so we stayed out in the smaller annex.

Marin Headlands Hostel Annex
My birthday started out a fine day. The weather was fantastic. I spent the day in Sausalito and went for a walk by myself at Blackie’s Pasture in Tiburon for a few hours. That evening I hosted a small dinner party at Avatars in Sausalito with my son and a few friends. It was a quiet but good birthday.
I spent the last couple of days with my son, Max, out in San Ramon. I also got to spend time with his girlfriend, Sarah, who I enjoyed getting to know better. I sure appreciate both of them: they are good and loving people.
Karie left on Wednesday and I am glad to have my time alone again. My plan is to drive to Tahoe and then down 395 on the east slope of the Sierras through the Owens Valley and then to Phoenix before arriving in Bisbee next Tuesday or Wednesday.