November 1, 2003
Ojai, California, USA

11:47pm. It's cold. Fall hit fast. It was over 100 degrees last week. This morning snow glistened on mountain tops as Sebastian and I walked home from an all night Halloween party at huge mansion built by a mafia boss, now occupied by beautiful Burners. I'm wearing a knit hat, fleece socks and got a fire cracking in the stove here in Lynne's cabin. She's at a party near LA.

Last week, Amy, Bernie, Lynne and I were in LA for a Day of the Dead celebration at Hollywood Forever cemetery. Individuals made elaborate alters for dead relatives or anyone they wanted to remember, live music was played on stage for a huge crowd, the mausoleum was a gallery for dark photos and paintings, and a thousand candles were spread throughout the graveyard and around reflection pools. It was an awesome scene... only in Hollywood.

It was scary here a few days ago as ash fell from the sky like snow and the air was thick with smoke from near-by forest fires. All day the light was orange like perpetual sunset. Over 1500 houses burned down between here and San Diego and at least 20 people died. They expect to find more bodies as the rubble is searched. Eleven people on an Indian reservation where trapped in a canyon as they ran for their lives. What a hellish way to go.

My shows at the Library and Art Barn were full and well received. Tomorrow, after the dragonfly beading workshop at the Art Barn I plan to drive to Joshua Tree to camp and climb with Kalib, Ian and Stacy, then continue to an independent education consultants conference in Scottsdale, Arizona. I'm interested to hook-up with reps from all the different schools and to hear a talk on risk and insurance when leading trips.

Last night I saw a movie on crop circles that blew my mind. The web site for it is cropcirclesthemovie.com

This lovely lady in the photo with me is Pixie, who I met at the LA decompression party, and in the other are gang members chillin' after the Art Barn show.