Phoenix, AZ
Saturday 4/3/04 we went to a Tobias
Circle to hear a Tobias channeling with the Crimson Circle group there. It was
a long trip, but well worth it. The channeling was very interesting.
We went to the Church of Religious
Science the New Vision Spiritual Growth Center. I keep a file of all Religious
Science Churches, Unity Churches, and independent metaphysical churches on the computer by city for all the states and found
this one. It turned out to be the church of Michelle Medrano, who was an associate
minister at my church in Huntington Beach, CA. She remembered me, that I was
a practitioner, and led the Course in Miracles while there. She offered me the
job at her church, but we wont be here for long enough. We went to lunch with
a group of the church members and I sold one of my books to one of the attendees. We
went back to the church the next Sunday and delivered the book to her and she had sold her sister on the book, sight unseen,
and I am send her a book, also. Another friend was listening to the conversation
and was interested in buying a book, also, so I went to Michelle and told her about the book and I think she will put my book
in her bookstore, also. Still have sold only one book on ebay. I plan to put the books for sale on the Crimson Circle site, also.
While we were sitting in the church service, a friend of mine from California came in with his wife and sat down right
in front of us! He was the man who introduced me to Lifespring which changed
my life completely. I took Lifespring in the early 80s. We had a nice visit with them (Jerry Cuckler and his wife Marlene) when we get to California. After church we went out to check out some RV resorts that are closer to the church that we can stay in
next winter. Found several, but have tentatively settled on one in Mesa. We plan to come back in the winter and stay for 5-6 months next year. We really like Phoenix. Karen (daughter) and Bryan, her husband,
came out for their 10th wedding anniversary to visit with us and his father and stepmother. We got to spend the evening over a nice dinner.
4/10 We went to Verde Valley about
a 2 hour drive to ride the scenic train through the valley. It was very nice
great views. That was a 4 hour trip and afterwards we stayed at a motel and the
next day went to Montezuma Castle and Montezuma Wells, where they had cliff dwellings.
Couldnt get close, but it was an awesome sight from a distance. Finally
got our taxes done, at least to the point where we could file an extension. On
to California!!!
Lancaster, CA 4/18
4/23
It has been VERY windy here gusts
of about 40-50 mph! Had to pull the slides in and it was difficult to sleep because
the 5th wheel was rocking quite a bit. Lots of classes to take here
took classes in every time period. It was difficult because it seemed that every
class I took brought up more questions and concern than I had had before. They
didnt have time to answer all my questions, so I am stuck with them for the time being.
It seems that we get different answers from different sources. Lots of
products are being offered for sale. We bought an antenna for our cell phone that we hope will improve our reception. It attaches to the outside of the 5th wheel and the lead comes in and attaches
to the phone. It seems to work very well-the # of bars went from 2 to 4 when attached. We also got a reverse osmosis water
filter for pure water availability. Made lots of friends, played Mexican Train
dominoes. I lost big-time! Leaving
for Oceanside and the beach!!!
It is a little chilly and
windy up here in the high desert. Had an uneventful trip out stayed at a Walmart
overnight on the way. There will be 1000 rigs in this fairgrounds and lots of
classes to attend and people to meet. Found our friends Ellen and Cosmo Baraona
in the crowd, was nice to see them again and catch up on each others travels. We
have started the 2nd fast period on our Isagenix diet. Have lost 13#
so far in 5 weeks by myself (Bud).
Oceanside, CA 4/23
- 5/23
Its wonderful to be near the
ocean!! We are staying at the Paradise-By-The-Sea RV Resort in Oceanside, about
200 yards from the Pacific Ocean. We have been biking up and down, around and
around since we got here 4 days ago. I was looking forward to seeing some of
my friends from before I left here 8 years ago, but only had some 8 year old telephone numbers. Believe it or not, the one for MaryBrenda McQueen was still good.
She and Syhd Clopton, Peg and I, met for coffee and renewed old acquaintances, then went to Devotional Singing which
was very nice. It turns out that the Miracles Retreat, which Syhd, MaryBrenda,
and I started 10 or so years ago, is still going on, and by golly, they just had two places come open so Peg and I can join
them in Julian this weekend! How exciting!
Those retreats are always great experiences.
Yesterday (4/27) Peg and I went
to LaJolla we love it there, it is so beautiful. We went by the hang glider jump=off
point at Torrey Pines on the way down to watch them fly, but the weather or wind must have been not right for it, we only
saw one of them practicing in the distance. Got lots of good pictures of the
LaJolla Cove and brown pelicans. Had a wonderful visit with new friends Sandy Reamer and her brother Bill Hoover whom we met
at a sidewalk café. Bill picked some nasturtiums (the flower, if I don't have it spelled correctly) - very unusual
taste. That evening Billy Crystal had a one-man show. Peg had read about
it in one of the newspapers. It was sold out, but we got standing-room-only tickets. The show was excellent. They are working
on it here preparatory to bringing it to the big-time in the future. It’s called 700 Sundays and is a
tribute to his father who died when he was 15 thus the title cause that’s how many Sundays he had with him. It was very
moving he had us laughing out loud at some points and crying at others. What a great actor!
I got in touch with old friend
Harv Popick we will get together next week, and hope to see Joan Rudd and many others while we are here. I also hope to distribute a lot of my books between Los Angeles and San Diego.
5/2 We went to the Miracles
Retreat over the weekend. Sufi Dancing, Devotional Singing, Yoga, Course in Miracles
classes, a psychometry workshop, lots of good raw foods, hugs, and great new friends.
We had a wonderful time, with not very much sleep, walking around and doing the various activities. This was the 22nd retreat that has been held. Syhdasa
and MaryBrenda have improved the retreats considerably – I can’t say enough about how much Peg and I enjoyed it
(it might have something to do with how long it has been since I have been in Southern Cal?)
5/10 Have been riding our
bikes up and down the coast, following our diet. My clothes are falling off,
have to get some more.
Took a day to go up the coast
to Long Beach. Stopped at Pine Park, in San Clemente, then to Balboa Island,
where we parked and took the ferry over to the bike trail along the ocean – rode for a while and had lunch. Then went up through the beach cities – Laguna Beach, Huntington Beach, Seal Beach, etc., up to Long
Beach. It was a beautiful day. Afterwards,
went to Harv Popick’s home where they served us a beautiful meal and we had great conversation into the evening –
Harv is a movie star (in the making)! We saw some of his films.
We went to the San Diego Wild
Animal Park, spent the afternoon there seeing all of the animals, riding the train, and going to Dino Mountain where we took
lots of pictures of dinosaurs for our grandson Zach – made a CD and sent them to him.
Met Sandra Shapira and her
friend Bruce Kauffman for dinner – had a great visit. I knew Sandra in
Dallas and found her in the telephone directory when the phone number I had for her didn’t work. We had a wonderful time getting back together.
Went to Huntington Beach Church
of Religious Science on Sunday (my old church) and saw some old friends, especially Dusty, with whom we had lunch and revisited
old times. He was at the first 13 Miracle Retreats! Dusty is one of the people that I most wanted to see while I was here.
At church, he and Ann were sitting one row ahead of us. Coincidence? I think not!
5/12 Met with Joan Rudd and Dusty
Laberge Wednesday night and had a great visit. She and Dusty are calling a lot of my old friends from the Orange County area
to meet at Sufi dancing on Friday night for a reunion – have reserved a table for the meeting before Sufi and then we
can all go to dance afterwards. I hope a lot of people are able to get there
– I am totally pleased at how many of my old friends are still around and that I can get to see while I’m herel.
5/13 & 5/14e have gone out to
the beach to sit and watch the people, kids, animals, surfers, and the surf Thursday and Friday. It was great. Have finally finished updated my website and
sent out a message notifying everyone. We went to Wal-Mart and got some new clothes
for me – MEDIUM shirts and 38-40 pants. The shirts fit loosely and the
pants were a little tight. Still have work to do before I can fit into a SMALL
shirt. Peg is a little disappointed over her lack of huge weight loss, but she
is losing a little at a time and is losing more inches in measurement than I am (of course, we are measuring more places on
her than on me, so that tends to account for that). MaryBrenda sent out an email
to the Miracles Retreat leaders that she has found a restaurant on the mountain in Idyllwild, CA that is for sale and could
be altered to make an excellent retreat center. Very high energy, beautiful grounds
and buildings. We are going up there on Sunday 5/16 to check it out – could
be that Peg and I could be investors in the property if everything looks good and reasonable and a good investment. We’ll see.
5/15 Went to Isagenix training in
Fallbrook. Very informative, met lots of nice people.
5/23 Went to the Course in Miracles
class at Vista on Wednesday morning and saw Jeannine Caryl – I had pulled up the Miracles Distribution Center list of
classes and recognized her name. We had a wonderful time at the class and met
afterwards for lunch. A bunch of her people wanted to buy my book and we are
probably all going to Agape church the last Sunday of this month. She gave me
Linda Schrader’s phone number and I have made arrangements to go to the Huntington Beach Church to the Course in Miracles
group to see her on Tuesday week.
