WHERE'S WALDO, NOW!!!

I loaded up, one more time, and headed for New Orleans. I have agreed to stay at my friend, Bev's, home and take care of her buddy, Joe.

On the way down, I called her sister, Lacy, and we agreed to meet for lunch. I got to the Jackson, Mississippi area before she did, so I scouted a place where we could eat and have a drink. We ended up in Byram, Miss. at a place called Reed Pierce's Place. It was a combination pool hall, dining hall and bar. Here's Lacy after she told me to take the picture "high up so you can't see my double chin!" We had a buffet lunch, with catfish, grilled pork chop, cornbread dressing, lima beans, green beans, and other accoutrement to satisfy our food cravings.

I arrived in New Orleans at 6pm and got unloaded, in the shower, and ate my chicken salad dinner before Bev arrived

home. It's always my pleasure to be here with her. We spent the rest of the evening watching the telly.

Here's Joe, aka Joe Friday. He is the sweetest dog, very accomodating. This morning she was cleaning out her pantry and found Joe's raincoat. He stood there while his mommy put it on him and then "allowed" us to take his picture.

Look how sweet he looks. Joe is a Catahoula Leopard Dog. They were trained to hunt wild boars, so are also called Catahoula Leopard Hog Dog.

He and I are going to spend alot of time together while Bev flies to Costa Rica for a visit with my twin.

Stay cool, stay dry, and stay in touch!!!!

THE STORY CONTINUES!!!

I am now back in Memphis after having completed the Divine Love workshop in Texas yesterday afternoon. I got back home at 10 pm and was totally exhilarated and exhausted. There was so much information being given, some of which felt "right" to me, and some that did not.

AJ told us about this shirt the day before and described it as one that his "mates" told him not to buy. So here he is, "cowboy Bob" in his very Texan-looking shirt. He said in Australia, when he wore this shirt, he was a "poofter". In other words, he looks like he's gay. We had several laughs over his shirt all day, which helped to lighten the mood.

In my lost post, we defined love. Yesterday, we discussed "love of self". So here are some ways we can demonstrate self-love:

1. By not catering to our own addictions/denials/

expectations.

2. By a desire to feel ALL of our own emotions/pain.

3. By telling the truth to ourselves and to others about ourselves.

4. By feeling our own pain and no longer trying to justify the pain.

5. By only wanting what is loving for ourselves.

6. By our desire to grow more loving and truthful.

7. By being secure in our own belief system.

8. By not wanting others to share in our pain and by not wanting others to "reduce" our pain.

(Pain is always an indicator of correcting something within ourselves.)

Here's the pearl of wisdom I got for myself:

If I am really loving myself, I could live without one single person loving me and I am still happy.

That's definitely not where I'm at, so I have some things to look at. The couple to the left is Enrique and Anna with their daughter, Luna. A very cute couple from Las Vegas, Nevada.

This is Michael and his girlfriend, Daina. Michael lives in Florida and was the contact person for getting AJ's dvd's copied. He also taped the entire session this past weekend.

This was a really gregarious fellow, named Peter. When he came into the room on Saturday, he was late and entered the room and bellowed out, "hey, AJ, I'm Peter!". As soon as I heard him, I thought "Oh, good, one of the disciples is here!"

On Sunday, as I was getting ready to leave, I saw him and this woman, who I think she said her name is Diane, eating on the tailgate of the car. I walked over to tell Peter how much I enjoyed his energy in the group and found out that he teaches survival skills in Arizona. I was thrilled to hear this because I've been thinking about learning some of these skills for the past couple of years. Now I have a contact person to connect with in completing this goal.

Hope you get something out of this information. The most important piece of doing this work is about getting in touch with our emotions and allowing them to be expressed, and I'm not talking about "vomiting" our stuff onto somebody else, simply finding ways to express which help us to connect with God on even deeper levels.

PEACE IN!!!! LOVE OUT!!!!

COMING FACE TO FACE WITH JESUS AND MARY!!!

How would you react if someone told you he was Jesus from the 1st century and his wife was Mary, also from the 1st century.

Well, this weekend, I am in the presence of just such a couple, seen here. They are from Brisbane, Australia, and yes, A J Miller claims he is the reincarnated Jesus from the 1st century.

I am in Texas attending a seminar put on by them and the topic of discussion is "Issues Preventing Growth on the Divine Love Path". I was not surprised to hear that the number one issue is, of course, fear.

I came into the weekend seeking some pearls of wisdom from this person that I had been "studying" for over two years. I've watched a number of his dvd's and found his message to be quite captivating. When I heard he was coming to the States, for what I thought was the first time, I knew I had to travel to see him. I think you can tell by this picture, he has a very warm and engaging personality and his wife is also quite captivating.

So, a couple of gems I got today is our session is this: 1. Many people expect spiritual development "on a plate". In other words, they want it easy, without any real need for effort in the change, instant enlightenment. Many people have "spirit" running every aspect of their life, when what God wants is for us to change by developing our own character, and it's not an instant change.

2. A heart that's open takes risks. This one really hit me because lately I've felt as if I've moved myself into a comfort zone and there's a part of me feeling as though I need to pull back, and pull into myself. Although I've spent many moments of my life taking risks, I'm feeling somewhat frightened and less courageous about stepping out into the world. I know many of you are saying "what?, that doesn't sound like the Corky we know and love!" You're right it doesn't, but it is something that's going on with me right now.

Tomorrow, we finish up by redefining what love is, not the kind of love we're all used to. Here's some of the ways the group defined "love": sweet, weak, vulnerable, caring, risky, condescending, foolish, conditional, blind, impractical, unreliable, painful, sacrifice, fleeting, hurtful, irrational, sex, limited, and earned. Not very positive is it. I hope when we start to redefine love by way of self, others and through truth there's a much more positive take on it. I'll be sure to let you know.

In the meantime, I really love each of you!!!!!

MADE IT TO TEXAS!!!

I left Memphis at 10am and as soon as I got on the road I called my BFF, Shelia and sang "On the Road Again". I told her how much I was missing her as my road buddy and she agreed she hated she couldn't go. When I hung up I decided to draw some insight from the Osho Zen Tarot and asked Spirit to guide me as to what this emotional stuff was all about. I drew the 5 of Water (Emotions) and my message said: "The young woman (with a block on her head with all kinds of images within it) is so busy clinging to the past, she doesn't see the champage glass behind her beckoning her to enjoy the present moment". It really hit me upside the head and I decided to let myself be in the moment and to see what this weekend has to offer.

I arrived in Irving, Texas at 5pm. Made excellent time considering I arrived in the Dallas area at rush hour.

Got checked into the hotel then drove over to the meeting place for the workshop. I wanted to make sure I knew how to get there. In case you don't remember what I'm doing this weekend, I am participating in a workshop with A.J. Miller and his wife, Mary, from Australia. AJ teaches for an organization called Divine Truth. He also claims he is the reincarnated Jesus. So essentially, I'm going to be in a conference with Jesus and Mary all weekend. Tomorrow I'll fill you in on what I got from the workshop so far.

I left the hotel at about 6pm to head to Whole Foods to get my supper. It was 11 miles from the hotel where the conference is being held. Got there very quickly, purchased my chicken salad and headed back to my Best Western room, about 15 miles away.

I put the address in my Garmin and off I went. Everything went just as expected until I got on the International Parkway headed to the DFW Airport. To say I hit a black hole, would be a mild description of what was happening. If I turned around once, I turned around at least 4 times, trying to find Texas 114S. I finally ended up at a toll booth, after having made another u-turn, and the young man from India was gracious enough to give me some insight as to what direction to head. At this point, I didn't know if I was going or coming, headed North, South, East or West.

Fortunately, I had arrived at a ramp very close to the toll booth and was home within 10 minutes, after having driven for nearly an hour to go those 15 miles.

Champagne dreams!!!

CELEBRATING MY BIRTH!!!

Yesterday afternoon I had no specific plans to celebrate my birthday. Sometime later, my best friend, Shelia called and asked if she could take me to lunch. "Yes, that would be great!"

Later my friend, Anne, called and asked if I had any plans for dinner, and I said I did not. "Good, let's do drinks and appetizers somewhere". "Sure, that would be great!" In just a matter of minutes my uncelebrated birthday became celebrated. How awesome is that, to know your presence is being celebrated.

I picked Shelia up at 11am and we decided to go to my favorite breakfast coffee shop, Otherlands, and had lattes with breakfast foods, and as you can see from the picture, later we played the board/card game called Sequence. Life doesn't get any better than that for me. I truly love playing games with people. It doesn't matter the game, just ask me to play with you!!!

About 12:30pm, I dropped Shelia off at her home and proceeded to my book study group. Here we are just before we started the group. This is the room we meet in and these are the women I so love being with one day a week. This is where I get my spiritual food. From the left Elva, Billie, Phinie, me and Savilla. The only person missing from this group is Renee and she was absent today. I told the group this was my birthday and what I wanted to do was to sing a chant at the end of the session and they all agreed. We chanted "danyavad, danyavad, danyavad ananda" and then repeated it three times. It's a Sanskrit chant I fell in love with while in Scotland that translates to blessings, blessings, blessings, bliss.

As I was driving home, my friend, Anne, had to cancel our plans for this evening and we scheduled our drinks for next week. Then my other friend, Ayn, called and invited me for dinner. Had a great meal and great conversation!! Look at that beautiful smile!!!

I am so grateful for all the wonderful wishes I received and I'd like to thank the following people for thinking of me, sending me birthday songs by voice mail and e-mail, and posting cards, both through snail mail and e-mail: Sherri, Mom, Coley, Jenny, Sandy, Smitty, Shelia, Stefan in Ireland, Silvana in Italy, Donna, Lora, Ayn, Jane, Dixie, Carolyn, Sherry, Angie, Colleen, Margie, Alpha, Douglas, Beverly, Brenda, Jane, Teresa, Cathy, Ted, Magnolia, Joan, and Kyle. I hope I didn't forget anyone, and if I did, please know you helped to make this day so very special. I am deeply grateful!!!! Namaste'!!

A DIFFERENT CHANT!!!

This weekend I spent the most delightful time with my friend, D, relaxing and enjoying some delicious home cooking. I arrived on Saturday afternoon, and from the moment I got here, all my needs were met. I spent the entire weekend in pajamas, lounging in the living room, imbibing on Pinot Grigio, and enjoying such dishes as grilled skewers of pork, red peppers, onions, baked potatoes, salad greens with avocado, homemade quiche with broccoli and homemade pizza crust with pesto, boudain (from New Orleans) and various cheeses.

I KNOW!!!! How great is that!!!! D really did it up right. The best part of the two nights I was here happened on Sunday evening. D had prepared a room for us, and had gotten out her gallebeas (sp?) which are the traditional form of dress in Egypt. Once we donned our garb, she began to light the candles while inviting in the the 14 Angels associated with the Essene teachings, the teachings of Jesus. First, a candle for the Heavenly Father, and the Angels of Eternal Life, Work, Peace, Power, Love and Wisdom. Then the Earthy Mother and the Angels of Earth, Life, Joy, Sun, Water and Air. Once the candles were lit, D asked me to do the opening prayer and then we settled into the chant: Om Shreem Maha Lakshmi Yay, Namaha. This is a totally different chant than I'm usually chanting.

D and I sat there across from each other, and moved into the energy of opening our voices. The really cool part was when our voices began to resonate with each other, and I told D it felt like she was breathing into me and I was breathing into her. TOTALLY AWESOME!!!!

We came out of the room, after finishing up, and D made the homemade pizzas. Here she is with her baby, Delia, a 15 year old min-pin, with only three legs. Delia's trying to guilt her Mom into giving her some pizza. I don't know how anyone could ignore this sweet little face.

What a great weekend!!!! I am so blessed to have friends like this in my life.

Today I travel to Bartlett, about 30 minutes from D's house, to pet-sit for a couple of cairn terriers.

Blessings to each of you!!!