In this time of staying at home and entertaining ourselves, I have noticed that our habits are changing.  People are reaching out to others in newer, quieter ways... innovative ways of maintaining contact without being physically close.  I have had five Zoom meetings which have brought multiple people together; a Skype meeting and FaceTime conversations staying close and I have meditated from a distance (two days driving) with one of my daughters.  I have reached out to relatives and friends from long ago and more recent friends to tell them that I am thinking of them. But it has been a quiet reaching out with lots of time for self introspection and time to think about what is important to me in between.  

I have a small deck garden where I do some of my artwork during our beautiful sunny California days whether it is sculpting or jewelry making or reading (although I do most of that before I go to bed at night).  No matter what I am engaged in, mostly I have just enjoyed sitting out among the beautiful Birds of Paradise, palms, ferns  and roses of my garden with my little dog, "Inspector Gumby" (so named because he is very inquisitive), listening to the springtime birds with their new little ones and the children playing in our cul de sac in front of the house.  The children are close enough for me to hear but not close enough to be an interruption as the roses (just budding now) and palms, and a peach tree beginning to bear its delicious fruit, form a green fence between me and the cul-de-sac (besides, children are the happy sign of life and I love hearing them).

I think that this is a time for us to be quiet, go within and think thoughts of love for our world and all that inhabits it.  I hear that the animals have come back to Yosemite, the waters are getting cleaner and the air is less polluted.  There are some good things that have come from this pandemic, and although my heart hurts for all those who have and are suffering, I also want to point out some of the beautiful things that have come from this and send out love to everyone

During the coronavirus stay at home orders, it can be difficult to keep little children entertained with enough to do when they have to be distant from friends and entertaining activities. Please remember that all nine books in the Lae Lae collection have matching coloring pages that go with each book  and related stickers that can be printed out over and over again to create stories and picture  montages.  This can be fun when little ones are getting bored and have nothing to do (or have finished their other coloring books - whichever comes first) in this time of mandatory stay at home orders.  Just go to the books page on the web site and and scroll down.  You will find pdf downloads of coloring pages and stickers for each book that can be printed out on any home printer.  For the stickers, put full sheet label paper in the printer.  Staples and other suppliers offer home delivery, Print the stickers and then, with safety scissors, your child can cut out the stickers and have fun making them  into a story or vision board montage.  A fun activity would be to combine stickers from different books to come up with new stories endlessly.

So in this difficult time, please remember to stay home and stay safe.  It's a time to be loving to your immediate family,and send love from a distance to your friends, the people you know and all of those that you don't know but who are sharing in this crisis with us.  Please don't forget to give love to all the animals who give us so much and send love to the beautiful world that we all share.  We will emerge from this pandemic soon.  The earth is waiting for us.  We need to heal and be ready for it.