The DayMaker

Leaving our Footprints on San Miguel

2012-02-24T20:30:00.001-08:00

"Take only pictures; leave only footprints."~ Girl Scouts of America But, when people enter or land on any place, we cannot help but have an effect. We leave something behind or cause some kind of reaction, no matter how careful we are. Often the resulting change is planned and beneficial.How have the people affected this place? That question is the second part of geography’s theme of ‘place.

Charmed by San Miguel

2012-02-11T15:02:00.000-08:00

After a five-year absence, Judy and I have returned to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. It’s our third visit to this place and the people that we love. From the minute we arrived in this charming colonial town northwest of Mexico City, we’ve felt right at home and experienced a kinship. On our rooftop patio What beckons us here is the delightful atmosphere and appearance of the town, the

Creating Vision Boards

2012-01-24T17:09:00.000-08:00

It was as perfect a time as we could have hoped for -- that mid-January weekend that my daughters, Amina and Asila, returned to Bakersfield for a visit. We always get together in May for Relay for Life, but this January was a bonus. As a mom, it’s casual time such as this with one’s adult children that warms my heart. Amina suggested that we make vision boards, and Asila and I enthusiastically

Seeing What We Look For

2012-01-12T08:17:00.000-08:00

It’s true. We see what we’re looking for. That’s a phenomenon that motorcycle safety folks have known for a long time, as a result of research on motorcycle accidents and human behavior. The most common thing that people who’ve hit a motorcyclist say is, “I didn’t see him.” Nowadays, the motorcycle safety bumper sticker phrase is “Look for Motorcycles.” We see what we are looking for. A gratitude

Try Intentions instead of Resolutions

2011-12-31T07:07:00.000-08:00

“In the new year, I’m gonna…” Millions of people make New Year’s resolutions, putting themselves on challenge to either stop or start doing something. Maybe it’s to lose weight, quit smoking, eat healthier, spend less money or spend more time on something or with someone. Maybe it's all of these. Millions of others don’t bother to make resolutions. Why? Because they always break them.

Save Some Time for You

2011-12-20T21:27:00.000-08:00

That time of the year is fast approaching. We have way too many items on our “to do” lists and too little time. Besides, it’s cold and gloomy outside, and the days are getting shorter. In order to get from Point A to Point B, we have to keep going. There’s no way around it. And, as we look forward to the holiday season, we bring in more and more “Point B’s” – places we have to get to,

A Room of Her Own

2011-12-10T08:31:00.000-08:00

After 18 years of sharing, she finally has her own space. No more being pressed against the wall with zero wiggle room, trying to stay out of everyone’s way. She is Big Red, my candyapple red Gold Wing. She’s always been pinched up in that narrow space in front of the cars in our garage. Her front wheel fitting in at the end of the cabinets, but not too far in or her fairing would come to rest

Why Wait?

2011-11-30T02:21:00.000-08:00

One month to go in 2011. One month to get done what we’ve wanted to accomplish this year, to tie up loose ends. Or, one month to make a good start on something that remains on our “lists.” This week I met a new woman in the dressing room after yoga class at Body XChange Fitness Spa. She was asking about different classes that are offered. Having spent this year working on my goal of keeping fit

When Friends Become Family

2011-11-19T20:26:00.000-08:00

Families are like potlucks. We partake of whatever’s there. Some dishes we love and want more helpings, and others we take with a grain of salt or test a spoonful at a time. A few dishes, we may have sampled before and know that they are not to our particular taste so we leave them alone. Gene & Elaine The Women of Substance Friends are different. Circumstances or the Universe bring us

Art for MY Sake

2011-11-09T07:57:00.000-08:00

Art uplifts me; it refreshes, heals, and inspires. Art makes me laugh, cry, and think. Sometimes it frightens me. It makes me see things with new eyes. I may be seated in the audience, immersed in making art, turning the pages of a novel, or traipsing through galleries or museums, but no matter my level of involvement, art changes me. I marvel at the talented performers at our local Spotlight

Look for the Gift

2011-10-27T06:44:00.000-07:00

Dawn, night, and taxes are three things that we can all count on as we go about our daily lives. And, we’ve heard of Murphy’s Law, where anything that can go wrong will go wrong. We need to roll with the punches – take it in and let it go. Make lemonade out of lemons. The clichés are never-ending. It’s also said, “It’s not what happens to you, it’s how you react to what happens to you.”

The Gift of Life

2011-10-14T20:00:00.000-07:00

Blood. It's not just for Halloween. More than 20 years ago I became a blood donor -- something I’d never imagined I’d do. But, one thing that inspired me was a book I’d read, Eric, by Doris Lund. It was a mother’s story about her vibrant, teenaged son who was diagnosed with leukemia and his and the family’s journey through the illness. Lund educated her readers on the importance of giving

Clearing the Clutter

2011-10-04T20:52:00.000-07:00

From 1995 to 2000, I was a grad student at California State University, Bakersfield, in their counseling program. This week, I threw away my masters degree notes and papers. If they had been kids, some of those notes and papers would be old enough to drive a car. I hadn’t intended to ditch my college notes, hadn’t even thought about them in several years. But, one thing does lead to another,

Advice from a Redwood

2011-09-21T09:27:00.000-07:00

The words leapt out at me from the heading on a tall, thin plastic bookmark on the shelf at the Visitors’ Center at Prairie Creek State and National Redwood Park. We’d spent the day hiking amidst these natural monuments and decided to take one last look around the gift shop. “Advice from a REDWOOD.” Hmmm, I thought, reading the rest of the text. This is an excellent message for daily life. So, I

September 11, 2001

2011-09-10T07:14:00.000-07:00

They changed our lives -- the attacks of September 11, 2001. We witnessed the devastation, felt the sorrow, and suffered the losses as individuals and as a nation. Though watching from across the country, we west coast Americans felt the impact as surely as if it were in our own back yards. It wasn’t “them” who were attacked. It was “us.” My friend and colleague, Bobbi Emel, featured her

The Book Signing

2011-08-31T18:07:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday was a gorgeous day for riding my Goldwing over to Books by the Bay for my book signing of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Inspiration for the Young at Heart. The sun glinted off the newly-polished bike, and the look of it hid the fact that it is a 1992 model with almost 144,000 miles on it. When I bought it in 1993, the odometer read around 2,000. We had to do a bit of shifting around

Coastal Mini-Vacation

2011-08-24T19:44:00.000-07:00

Bridge over the Rogue River at Gold Beach How many times had I breezed down Highway 101 on my way to “somewhere else” and wondered what was down a river road or how the beach looked at Nesika? How many times had I wished I’d been going slow enough to pull off at a viewpoint or could explore a waterfront area? Everytime. So, we decided that this time we would follow every nook and cranny,

Sharing my Exciting News

2011-08-11T08:38:00.000-07:00

The medium-sized mystery box, left by UPS, sat on the tiny wind porch. I hadn’t ordered anything. Examining the label didn’t give me any clues of the contents. Then, my eye fell on the blue illustration that encircled the bottom half of the box, and I read “Simon & Schuster.” Then, it computed. “My BOOKS!” Last winter, I submitted a story to Chicken Soup for the Soul for their upcoming volume,

Turning my Goals into Action

2011-07-31T18:03:00.000-07:00

Working to achieve a goal can be frustrating and downright discouraging if we're not making headway. For a goal to become more than a wish or a hope or a dream, I had to figure out what would best help me reach it. The goal writing lessons that I used with seventh and eighth graders in my classroom became the technique that would work for me. It's good for any goal, whether I'm working on a

Making Goals become Reality

2011-07-23T13:46:00.000-07:00