June Catchup Time

I have so many other pictures I need to post here, but it's not their turn. I got this "Red Neck Fire Alarm" pic from a friend a while back.

I've got a few things waiting to get here tonite. Here we go. First some bobJuan.

Where do you draw the line on what you care deeply about?
How can anything annoy you? Where does annoyance come from anyway?
Unliking is the source of all my problems. Unliking causes problems.
Unwanting is the place for me.
One good reason to do anything at all is because it makes you happy.
I knew my guru would end up being a clown.
Once I saw absolute love, the game changed to play time.
It's very scarey business, this taking responsibility for my own happiness

From some real people now:

Lo I am with you always means when you look for God,
God is in the look of your eyes,
in the thought of looking, nearer to you than your self,
or things that have happened to you
There’s no need to go outside. Rumi Be Melting Snow p. 13

Try and be a sheet of paper with nothing on it.
Be a spot of ground where nothing is growing,
where something might be planted,
a seed, possibly, from the Absolute. Rumi Be Melting Snow

You can only believe what you do not know. Merton. NSC p. 126

Finally I know the freedom of madness (Rumi No Flag. p 29)

The Time Traveler's Wife

My best friend Ken Moore turned me on to this book. Yes, you are all my best friends, get over it. I started reading it and Cider House Rules on the same day right after I finished Reading The Broom Of The System. Ken's son Daniel recommended Broom. I won't. The author, David Wallace could have played more with some of his deeper themes for me, particularly the part about being told. He does some side stories and play that pleases my story loving self. Anyway, we'll leave that one alone, we're talking about a different book today. I ended up leaving House sit next to my power spot while I finished the Wife. I'm ready to get back to Wilbur and Homer at the orphanage.

Time Travel. Yum. My last such themed read was Replay. I loved that one too. The Time Traveler's Wife is another love story with a super fine twist. Henry travels forwards and backwards. He meets Clare his wife when she is a little girl in a meadow. She believes in him right away, and waits ever so patiently and powerfully for the day when she meets him in real time. She waits for him forever really. He shows up from their future naked and hungry. She always has food and clothes for him. She always has everything for him forever. She meets him in the real world when she is a woman. She sees him in her future from his past too. The ending is amazing, a subtle twist in time and blessedness.

Her love for him is the real juice in this story, made straight from the fruit of his love for her. Audrey gets us close inside both of these two, which is one of my favorite forms of bravery and style. She tells a damn good tale here. Anyone from Chicago will probably recognize much of the scenes for she doesn't hesitate to vividly cast her story where she lives. Street names. I bet you could Google Earth most of the books locales. The book jacket says this is her first novel, and Google says she has others. Would love to hear from anyone who's read anymore of her work. I heartily recommend the book. Like I said, there's a bit too much Chicago for me, and some of the details of making paper art are more than I want, but the story telling is brave and warm and hot where it needs to be.

Aaryn Michelle McCandless

Another reason to remember
be kind and love each other, everyone
a new sister was born to this world today
There is no such thing as enough love.

Aaryn made it to our world around 1:00 this morning. I'm sure you'll get to see some way better pics here soon. I didn't see her first, but she's mine! I hear her, Andy and dad (Ryan1) and sister (Ryan2) are all doing just fine. Andy told me a couple days ago that baby Ryan had pretty much given up believing there was a baby coming. Well believe it darlin.

I'll have more later.

Catch Up

Here's some of the latest. Cathy and I made another trip down to Rocky Point last weekend. Absolutely wonderful. Perfect weather, food, people, relax. Yum.

Here's some of the latest from your bobJuan.

If you don't see God everywhere, you won't see Him anywhere.

Still waiting for happiness? How vain.

The undisciplined calories of boredom, they're the worst.

It was wrong for her to stay with him for all the right reasons.

It wasn't until Friday that I believed you could be high on life.

Sober, it's just like drinking, only not as fun.

you are always creating everything

put the pen down

put the book down

lay your burden down

create from the emptiness.

And now from some real people.

Let the beauty of what you love be what you do. Rumi

Love in which there is no sense of restraint cannot be born of a conviction which is based upon things accessible to the mind. Meher Baba.

More important than learning how to recall things is finding ways to forget things that are cluttering the mind. Eric butterworth.

We have a huge barrel of wine, but no cups.

That's fine with us. Every morning

we glow and in the evening we glow again.

They say there's no future for us. They're right.

Which is fine with us. Rumi.

Our minds are like crows. They pick up everything that glitters, no matter how uncomfortable our nests get with all that metal in them. Thomas Merton.

Until next time.

my best, your bobJuan.

Oh Little Jeanne

Today is Jeanne's memorial service. Here's what I got.

Jeanne
June 1st, 2009

[breathe]

The last time I was in this place, I was on a date with Jeanne We did dinner and a Monk. This Tibetan robed bald guy drinking a star bucks with a Rolex on his wrist entertained us from a grand chair on the stage. A lovely nite with our Angel and a Dahlia Lama protégé.

To the Labine family, thanks for including us, and blessing us with your kindness.

I’m certain we all have our own special connection with Jeanne. Didn’t we all order the Jeanne Special? I’d like to share a bit of my version.

I’m famous in my own mind for one-liners. Here’s some for our girl.

I’ve lost a big chunk of my sunshine.
My world was so much bigger with you in it.
I am so much better because of you.
I’ve never lost anything so precious to me
The planet must feel this loss too, for
you don’t get souls like this walking around every day.
Anything ever touched by this precious feels the loss.
We are the lucky ones, to have known our girl.

That laugh. The alpha and omega of laughs.
Storyteller (ok exaggerator, embellisher)
Language Slayer. You know what she did to English…..
you should have seen what she did to conversational Spanish at Phoenix College
gusto
generous
wise

sensuous, she could give a clinic on sensuous
She got every ounce of pleasure out of every situation
If need be, out of thin air.
human, woman, friend, mother, lover, she did it all the way
loved animals, food, art, earth, family and friends … all things about a man.
In short, she loved living her life.

She ferociously loved her daughter
It’s hard to find a picture of her w/o a dog in it!
Sidney, we’ll watch over you darlin.
It’s hard to find a picture of her w/o Carrie in it.
Carrie, we’ll watch over you darlin.
It’s impossible to find a picture of her w/o a big smile in it.
bravest of all
to be able to let go of so much love

house fire,
cabin flood,
carrie’s h.s. parties
and we all know about so much more she endured
no, she thrived and inspired
over and over again

Did you ever get a chance to grill a steak and watch the stars at the Prescott Cabin?
You remember the one she paid for with credit cards? or so she said.

The Office:
She loved that job
And she loved Mr. Todd.
And everybody there
if you think about it, for most of us, the last really nice raise we got was when Jeanne was there.
I had the fortune to be with her off the clock and hear her love stories about the office and you.

From Eric Able: Thanks bobjuan for letting us know. Jeanne was one of the good people in the world. this is a sad moment for me as it is for you. As much craziness as there was at the County back in the day, Jeanne was always a bright spot. I'll never forget her laugh.

From Mr. Todd: Thank you Bob, I’ve been going back into my office a lot today and I just close the door and cry some more. It was late in the morning when I had a little break and opened up the ol’computer and read Carrie’s e-mail first thing and I just went to the bottom of the world and everything just fell in on top of me. I looked at the letter over and over and just said I don’t want it to be true. My heart just broke into pieces and then I put some back together and re-lived that last big hug from Jeanne when we said ‘good bye’ at the restaurant. I’ll never forget her. Doug

If only the animals could write this
how many dogs and cats are we talking about anyway?
I thought I heard Buford singing in doggy heaven last nite.
They know what I’m trying to say.
We were loved by the consummate lover
We dined with The Connoisseur of Life
We laughed until we cried
We cried until we laughed.
We celebrated everything, every time.
We tasted only the best of it all, and it always tasted the best with Jeanne.

Thanks again my friend, for every single year of friendship.
For the calls, the trips, the meals, the walks, the talks, the drinks, the hugs, the laughs and the tears.
For filling my life with sweet sweet love memories.
And from now on, if I ever need a smile, all I have to do is close my eyes, and think of you.