I celebrated my birthday today without wine, without any substance of any kind unless chocolate truffles from Trader Joes count.

Instead I woke up and meditated. Drank some coffee and went to Chester a tiny town in the mountains. Mt. Lassen hovers over it. In the evening my new friends Joelle and Carol took me out for drinks (iced tea in my case). I wish I were the sort of person who could drink wine. I so love it, but I’m pretty sure, no really sure, that I can’t. Something in my metabolism can’t take it. It messes me up. It tears up my body and confuses my mind. Every day without it I feel more centered, more balanced. I may be healthier than I’ve ever been these days.

It’s a fabulous night. The sun has set, but the sky is still fairly light. Pink but filled with heavy black clouds. It’s a rollicking Sierra thunderstorm. Lightening flashing over the mountain tops. It flashes in my studio. It shakes the windows. Streaks of it come shimmering down. It’s the perfect ending for my day.

Radar, the coyote dog, is curled in her bed. Mr. Darcy, the gray and white long-haired cat who decided to live with me is completely freaked out and under the bed.

I’m writing. I’m dreaming.

I so love dramatic weather. These mountains. The wind.