More catching up from LA trip

What a great weekend! I spent most of it in the garden, catching up on all the planting that didn’t get done due to my being gone much of the last 5-6 weeks. There is nothing like planting to raise my frequency to joy! There are still a few things I need to procure, but for the most part, the main elements of my 2005 garden are in place, and that is very satisfying.

Let’s see…I was going to tell you about the booksigning and talk at Rigsby Frederick’s in Baton Rouge…How to describe Rigsby’s home? It’s in a gorgeous upscale Baton Rouge neighborhood, in a deceptively normal-looking transitional-contemporary house from the outside front, but you discover its uniqueness very quickly once you enter its door. It is filled with remarkable art treasures—sculpture, photography, paintings, furniture—and the really amazing part is that a large proportion of these treasures were created by Rigsby, himself! And when I say “filled,” I mean filled. There is no room that isn’t blessed with art and artifacts that you would be excited to find in a contemporary art gallery. At the back of the house, main floor, is a balcony overlooking the huge backyard which looks for all the world like the grounds of an art gallery or museum. It features a large manmade lake and very large sculptures. Really impressive. What I was the most excited about, though, was his studio, in a separate building, with a deck that overlooks the lake. It looked like it had just been scrubbed, and it is huge—at least two stories high open space with a huge stone fireplace and a conversation area as well as worktables and counters and tools. It would be easy to be inspired in there! At the time my talk was scheduled to start, most of the guests were out walking around the lake or hanging out on the studio deck. I was truly astonished that they all—or nearly all—came in and assembled to hear my talk. It went really well and I found lots of “yes-nodders” in the group—if you’ve even given a talk, you know you always seek out those folks who are so into what you’re saying, they nod “yes” to much of what you say! After the talk, we sold a bunch of books, though not as many as I would have liked! Probably half the people bought books. But I wasn’t disappointed—to be honest, the way it had been billed, as a “party” and booksigning, I was a little surprised as many people seemed to be attuned as were! It was a great group. Thanks again and again to Rigsby, who opened his home for me without even knowing me (on the basis of Ellen's and Anne's endorsement, of course)! And thanks to Ellen for providing the food and wine! Thanks, too, to Kenwood for helping Rigsby get the grounds spiffed up. It was a really great evening which everyone enjoyed!

The other teaser from the last entry was that Andrena (a participant in the weekend) presented each of the workshop folks (all women, as it turned out) with a piece of her handmade gemstone jewelry on Sunday at lunch. She said that being in the first session Saturday had opened her up so much, she felt drawn to making us each a special piece in appreciation! And the coolest part was that she channeled the jewelry design based on what she intuited about each of us. Andrena is very psychic, but just hasn’t felt very confident about utilizing her skills in a focused, specific way. Each piece turned out to be just perfectly matched to the person’s energy and needs. We got out Melody’s guide to gemstones and minerals and looked up each person’s stones and their significance. She was right on EVERY time! I hope she will start to share her talents with others! My piece was a gorgeous necklace with aquamarine and amethyst, and some river pearls and other stones. GORGEOUS! Thanks again, Andrena for my great piece!

Well, my eyes are closing, so I guess I’d better sign off for now and look toward coming back with more real SOON!