Two Dorothy's

In 2001 I went out to do a load of laundry but it was a full house. I ended up visiting my friend Alex instead – he lived in the apartment above the laundry mat. During the visit, he got a call from Lisa reminding him that they were going to see a lecture about a medical clinic in Nicaragua with a speaker named Dorothy Granada, a US nurse from Santa Cruz and the director of the clinic.

8 years later and Dorothy Granada has retired from the clinic, and I'm hacking out the spreadsheets that calculate this labor of love called The Mulukuku CD Project. Sales, numbers, consignments, and expenses. My ego wants BIG numbers to prove my success.

My heart wants me to finish because it's time.
Procrastinating on Mulu has driven me Kuku.

The blessing is the story that I carry in my heart, the songwriters who donated tracks, the countless friends, collegues and strangers who supported the CD - and who still support the clinic.

I still have a few CD's left for sale through my website, www.writeinside.com. (There's even a younger me yapping about it in a Utube clip.)

When the CD's are sold, Steve Aiena of NewMediaDimensions.com will upload the Mulukuku Download Project.

Hooray for technology.

Laundry

When I first learned my rental lacked a washer & dryer, I almost decided against it. I had vowed to be able to do laundry in my own place, but realized that living alone was a step up from the house share in Capitola. Plus I called Mom and asked for advice.

I live two blocks from the laundry mat. I live so close that I leave my car parked and walk home and have lunch while the clothes are washing. Sometimes I walk to do errands, go shopping at the Abundance Thrift shop or read magazines in the car. Yet, I snivel as if I have to lug my laundry two miles through the snow.

Basically, I spend more time complaining about the laundry than doing the laundry. Turns out I can have a washer and dryer on the property – but right now it’d cost more than it would be worth.

The reality is that some very good things have happened as a result of hanging out in laundry mats. Wash on a Friday night in 2000 led to producing the Mulukuku CD Project. Once I wrote an article about Nancy, owner of the former Washing Well in Morro Bay. (Politics and dirty laundry: keep an eye on the spin cycle. How's that for metaphor?) I recently spent time talking with Tiffany, a young woman I wrote a song about when I moved back to this area in ’93. She lives in my town AND we have the same laundry schedule.

All this and clean chonies too!

May all of your experiences be washed and thoroughly dried,

Dorothy

Thanks, Hank!

When I first moved to SLO from LA I worked at a temporary staffing service in San Luis Obispo. One day, a co-worker and I went with a group of people from a radio station to a concert in Tulare. It was hot, the opening band’s lead vocals were impossible to hear, we didn’t like Hank Williams, Jr. tunes anyway and a fight broke out a few rows ahead of where we were sitting. It stopped when one of the sales reps from the bus ride decked the guy who started the whole thing.

Just before Sherrie and I headed back to the bus where the drinks were hopefully still on ice, I whispered, “Just think for the rest of our lives all we have to do to be happy is realize that we could be at the Hank Williams. Jr. concert instead.”

Sort of like the motivational speaker Anthony Robbins shouting to himself, “Thank God my feet don’t stink today!” Anything to stop the negative thought.

The point is to pivot away from what you don’t want and head for what you want. And humor releases energy even in grim circumstances. That’s not to say don’t feel what you are feeling or try to slap a happy saying on a sad experience.

Everyday I have the same goal: to feel good. Humor helps me let go of whatever thought that is creating the internal drama-rama that my Monkey Mind is so fond of creating.

Today’s my day off. First I woke up at 2am, then 4am, then 5am and finally got up at 6am. I started out tired and grumpy but thanks to Hank, I feel tired but good.

What will you do to feel good today? I really want to know – so please Comment.

May you pivot towards what you love today,

Dot

PS: For more information on pivoting, check out www.Abraham-Hicks.com.

Achy, breaky, but?

Whoops.
I meant achy, breaky butt.

I had a 4am wake up noticing that my left butt muscle was tight and achy. But it could have been the dream I was having about rich people.

Basically the startling wake up had me wondering, what is this metaphor trying to tell me?

And is everything a metaphor?

Since I didn't write down the dream I'll let you figure it out.

POST YOUR COMMENT OR EMAIL ME & I'LL POST IT FOR YA!

(you can use writeinside@kcbx.net or any other email you have for me)

Blessings to you and your glutamus maximus,

Dot

Library Love

1968: The first time I came to the library with my class I left empty handed because I didn’t know how to spell my last name. But I have practiced on a magnetic board with brightly colored letters. S E G O V I A. Now I can confidently repeat the letters to the big boy at the library desk. Mrs. Teacher and I are here during classroom hours and we have the library to ourselves. I quietly search the shelves. This will be the first library book that I borrow on my own card. The book is called The Little Bear and it is blue.

2010: It is Tuesday, my favorite day of the week: library day. I have my bag ready to go. In it are the Sheryl Crow Wildflower Tour, an 80’s thriller starring Mimi Rogers and Tom Berenger, and a yummy novel by Kristin Hannah. I still have a pile of CD’s, books and the latest Oprah to return with various due dates. I’ll also use their computer to check my email – tomorrow I’ll take my laptop to post this blog. But not today; today I’m restocking my home for another week of inspiration.

Over the years, I have driven to the library for the thrill of walking out with a stack of CD’s and the latest People. In the past month I devoured Naomi Wolf books (The Beauty Myth) as research for my musical which is currently being edited. The libraries are a blessing plethora of resources. Libraries are also terrific for gathering community. The Los Osos library staff recently brought in strawberries, mint juleps and a big screen TV in honor of the 2010 Kentucky Derby.

One great benefit is that you can peruse the library shelves and request books, movies and music from the comfort of your home by visiting http://slolibrary.org/. I’m signing up to be a sponsor. For the Los Osos branch, it’s only $10.00 a year for an individual membership or $15.00 for a family membership – they can use the help. If not, visit anyway. And be sure to tell a friend.

May all of your days be filled with shelves of library love,

Dorothy

1967: It’s Saturday and I know how to read. Everyone is safe inside our stucco house. I’m wheeling my covered baby carriage down the gravel driveway when the neighbor lady stops to tell me that I am taking my baby for a walk. I open the carriage lid and watch her sandaled feet take one step back. She gasps. Solemnly I close the lid and continue across the lawn with the pile of thin, hardback books. I lean against the tree and spread the books around me as far as I can reach. I stay outside forever.

Creative Shopping

I have a cigar box that I covered with a collage. The top cover is a black and white picture of a boy proudly holding up a jar with a frog in it. The lining is an ad of an avocado shaped into a flower with the words ‘delicious ideas are in bloom.’ And inside, well. Inside are magazine photos of my dream closet, an orange wing back chair, an eco-friendly washer and dryer, four brightly colored trench coats, flowers in yummy vases, an African safari vacation, and a giant storage shed on sale for only 499.99!

I listen to music or a book on CD while I shop the Sunday sales, clipping items from my lists. Sometimes I shop willy-nilly through magazines. I place the images in the box affirming “I want this because it delights me or because I’d love to have more storage space or because I….” The operative sentence is “I want it because.”

The art of creative shopping appreciates that I will always want to expand towards my desires. Finally, this Orange County girl can enjoy the thrill of the chase while saving for what really matters: trips to the olive and cheese aisle at Lazy Acres in Santa Barbara. The art of shopping isn’t about buying. It’s about possibility. It’s about the magic of desire for the sake of desire.

Prior to my “I want it because box,” I felt overwhelmed by what I wanted or needed. I worried about how to pay for tires or other necessities. Worry coupled with messages about consumerism (four trench coats?) left me feeling guilty. Somehow I got wanting and spending all mixed up. By releasing the images to the collage box, I’m also releasing any negative feelings – regardless of manifestation. How or if the objects appear in my life is not my concern. The process itself is rewarding. Once I’m done with my shopping spree, I’m done.

One important thing to know about this method is rebel energy. Rebel energy is the part of you that may rail against money boundaries; especially if you spend to mask unexpressed emotions. I give this rebel energy mad money to spend each paycheck. Even $5.00 is fun if I am creative and head for the thrift stores. In fact, I often come away with gems such as my $4.00 Dirt Devil from the Abundance Thrift Shop in Los Osos or last season’s best sellers.

Fiction anyone?

So I’m in the children’s section of the library, hogging the perfectly cute white little bench seat, ferociously checking my email before the battery ran out. My final read was the pithy blog by my novelist pal Anne Allen on the topic of fiction vs. nonfiction. After dashing off a quick comment claiming my interest in non-fiction, I realized that fiction kinda freaks my left-brain out as useless; though I often fry said brain on People Magazine.

After locking my laptop in the trunk, I walk back into the library to wander the fiction shelves.

First I perused the large print shelves of new fiction thinking I’d enjoy reading without my glasses. This brought up so many questions about my own mortality, not to mention eyesight that in desperation I ended up by squinting my way down the fiction shelves and ended up with two trusty favorites: Elizabeth Berg and Garrison Keillor.

I discovered Berg when I read her non-fiction article entitled Struck by Life (New Woman, 1994) where she talks about how she left nursing to become a writer after she had a health scare. Her writing is simple and plain and true. She cranks out novels like she honors a regular writing routine. Her novel, The Year of Pleasures “is about acknowledging the solace found in ordinary things….”

Garrison Keillor is famous for his Prairie Home Companion radio show as well as his morning NPR The Writer’s Almanac. I’ve been thinking about him since running across Lake Wobegon Days at the Abundance Thrift Shop here in Los Osos. I ended up with his novel, Love Me which I’m hoping will make me laugh because, well. I obviously need to. Check out the blurb:

“A hilarious and hearfelt novel about ambition, success and failure and the virtues of real love and a steady job.”

Ahem.

May you happily wander the fiction aisles seeking the stories of your life,

Dorothy