Special Events
DECEMBER – Mom and I took the ferry from Mare Island to downtown San Francisco on Christmas Eve to eat a nice dinner and walk around. The food was great and it was a beautiful evening.
AUGUST – For my birthday, Mom got us reservations at the Ojai Valley Inn. The golf course was developed in 1923, and the inn began in the 1930s. It is a spectacular place. The movie, “Lost Horizon” (1937), directed by Frank Capra used Ojai and the country club to depict Shangri-La.
I had a plate of “Black Pasta”, which has ink from squid or cuttlefish mixed into it. The ink both colours and flavours the pasta. It tasted good, and was amazing to eat.
FEBRUARY – My friend, Cameron Hill graduated from bootcamp at MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT, SAN DIEGO. He invited me to attend. I had such a good time.
Unplanned/Unexpected Events
- In the mid-1990’s, my friend Michelle Dowling-PonTell, made a small statement to me, and I never forgot it. She said she had been searching for a “spiritual retreat”, and found a Catholic monastery in the High Desert, where she was spiritually re-energized.
- This year, I found myself hungering for more spiritual food, more challenge, more insight…. than what I was experiencing.
- Long story short, I found the St. Andrews, Benedictine Catholic monks living only 1 hr away in Valyermo, CA. I attended my first retreat on Christmas of 2019 …. “The Psalter, Mirror of the Soul”. It rejuvenated my relationship with God. I needed new life/purpose/motivation/direction/depth, and God gave it through a brown-robed, rope-wearing Monk… worshiping in Latin…. LOL!