The Couple

The Couple, originally uploaded by Robbi Baba.

Krista's folks kindly hosted their niece Angela's baby shower. Here she is, with the daddy, Spencer. She was wearing an adorable skull and crossbones top and a crystal necklace she got from her late grandmother.
I've always really liked Angela. She's been a dare devil and has suffered many an accident. She's facing child birth just as fearlessly as jumping off a cliff into the Eel River. But hopefully she'll chill out a bit once the kid arrives.
She's only 17 and when we heard she was pregnant I was dismayed. It's hard work raising kids and it takes a lot of responsibility to do it well. But then again, Angela has lots of energy and enthusiasm (maybe more energy than I had at 30 when India was born?).
And I was pleased to meet Spencer. Notice he's holding a water bottle? Not a beer.
I think they've got a shot at it. Happiness I mean.
Good luck kids!

Lightening Up

Lighten Up, originally uploaded by Robbi Baba.

Last Thursday was the final night of music at the Plaza in Sebastopol. A band called Free People played and they were really good. We're lucky to have lots of friends to hang with there. It's a nice scene, with all the kids running every which way, people dancing, having picnic dinners.
The weather has been unusually warm too. Often Sebastopol gets cold air coming in off the ocean.
I cherish these warm nights.

This Was The Only Table Open

This Was The Only Table Open, originally uploaded by Robbi Baba.

Zoe and Eden came with me to Real Goods, up in Hopland, where I got some biodiesel. We fed the fish and fed the ducks and ran around their cool grounds. Actually it was over 100 degrees that day.
I took them to the Bluebird Cafe to get a milkshake and fries. This was where we sat, much to their horror!
The food was great.

My Old Pal Frank

My Old Pal Frank, originally uploaded by Robbi Baba.

We ran into Frank the other night at the Plaza in Sebastopol. I seem to bump into him every 6 to 12 years or so.
Frank was my best friend in 4th grade. We were very close. His mom was a divorcee--sort of a swinger back then (was that 1969?). She went on to marry a millionaire and Frank moved up to Lake Tahoe and we lost touch.
I saw him again my sophomore year in college at UCSD. Must have been 1979? He moved into my little dorm mid term! What a surprise that was, and not altogether good. Frank seemed a little unhinged. He never bathed and finally a bunch of guys dragged him out on the lawn, stripped him down and hosed him off, because he smelled so bad. I stayed away. After a few months he dropped out, telling us that he was on his way to Israel. I heard that he got turned back at customs and had to fly home.
Fast forward to 1993 or 1994. India was pretty little and we had been living up in Eugene for a few years. One day I was walking in the park and someone called my name, in a questioning sort way. Rob Nelson??
Frank came to visit us two or three times. He was a self described hobo. A hobo with an ATM card--his mom was still married to that billionaire. But Frank lived out in the parks and wilds around Eugene. He had his sleeping roll stashed and two changes of clothes (so he could always have a clean set).
We had some interesting visits, but then one day he opened up about his belief system. He talked about the anti-christ and Armageddon and Israel and the mark of the beast being a bar code and lots and lots more. He talked and talked and talked and we were pretty much taken aback.
Our reality was mostly centered around our precious little baby girl and his scary nut job diatribe sort of hit me the wrong way. I asked him (kindly I thought) to please refrain from mentioning all that again.
We didn't see him again in Eugene.
Our next face to face was here in the park. I guess he's probably still a hobo. He's still mixed up in some sort of dark fundamentalist mental illness (he alluded to it anyway), but it was still great to see him. Good old Frank.
I guess I'll probably run into him again in 2020.

At The Station

At The Station, originally uploaded by Robbi Baba.

It's been almost two weeks since we drove India down to the Amtrak station in Martinez. She headed up to Eugene to join 99 other unschoolers from across the US and Canada for Not Back To School Camp.
This year she's not only doing two sessions, she's also staying at camp between sessions. Almost three full weeks! This was also the first year she took the train. It's a long trip--about 14 hours or more. I don't think she slept much, even though it left Martinez at 11:30pm. There were a bunch of campers on board already and I think they all stayed up. Ah youth.
We miss our girl, but she always comes home super charged from the experience. She'll be back September 5th.

Wellness Fair

Just a reminder...tomorrow I'll be offering free EFT mini-sessions at the Sebastopol Masonic Lodge from 11 to 4, as part of a community Wellness Fair.
Actually, I just checked and it's called the Alternative Healing Day. Oops.
"an exciting mix of cutting edge, new holistic modalities and caring practitioners". The address is 373 N. Main Street, Sebastopol, across from the Safeway. Free Admission!!! Woo hoo!

Last time I did this I worked almost non-stop giving at least 23 sessions. It was intense! I'm hoping to have another great turn out.
I'll let you know how it goes.
rob

850 Third Street

850 Third Street, originally uploaded by Robbi Baba.

My new office is in this building, on the second floor. After six months of subletting I decided I needed my own space. Today Eden helped me bring 5 new plants over and it really feels ready to go (although I've been seeing clients already).
I've had a lot of help getting this place together and it feels wonderful being in the room. I think it already has a good healing vibe and it will just keep getting better.
I'm also excited because I plan to re-open my massage practice. I just have to pull the table out of my closet and I'm ready to go. For the past four years I haven't taken on any new clients, since I was seeing them in our living room! I've actually turned away business. Now I need to print up some business cards again and get going, though I want my main gig to be EFT.
Thanks for all the help everybody.

My New Office

My New Office, originally uploaded by Robbi Baba.

That's my chair. I'm going to be doing a lot of tapping in that seat. And my new plants and Krista's painting "As A River Like A Snake" on the wall.

Love Seats

My New Office, originally uploaded by Robbi Baba.

My friend Steve helped me lug the mission style sofa up the horrible flight of stairs. It was heavy! We had to partially disassemble the thing just to get it around the corners. But it feels great to sit in.
The solid blue sofa is astonishingly light weight! I think it only weighs about 30 pounds. India and I were laughing when we carried it up yesterday. We also brought up the carpet, which looks a lot busier than it actually seems in the room. I got it for $10 at a yard sale down the street. The people I bought it from are moving to Tasmania!
I'm very happy my little Chinese acupuncture doll has a good home. I've been lugging her around office to office. The sarong is one Krista and I bought in Bali. And the little aloe plant I got today and potted in a sweet clay pot we got at the Oregon Country Fair from our friend Charlie.
Lots of stories in the room already.

The Desk and Eden

The Desk and Eden in My Chair, originally uploaded by Robbi Baba.

Krista's folks just gave me this fabulous antique desk that's been in the family for 30 years! It was coming apart a bit (especially after we lugged it up the crazy stairs) so I borrowed a pipe clamp from Danny and I'm gluing it back together.
You can see one of Krista's paintings hanging over it. A very 'energetic' painting for my energy psychology office.

On the South Yuba

Water Boy, originally uploaded by Robbi Baba.

This weekend we headed up into the Sierra Nevada's to camp out with our playgroup. The camp site was gorgeous, right on the river and all ours. The only downside was that Interstate 80 was about 150 feet away up a hill. There were thousands of cars and even more 18 wheelers roaring by--all day and all night. It took some getting used to.
In fact, that first night was pretty bad. It was sort of a hobo experience, camping out next to the ol' freeway. Ugh.
But we made the best of it and really had a good time. There are lots and lots more photos over on my flickr page, or you can see them bigger and on a black background here.

Ethan

Ethan, originally uploaded by Robbi Baba.

Gallery

Considering the godawful traffic noise, we look fairly happy. Check out Krista's new bloomers!

Gallery, originally uploaded by Robbi Baba.

Attitudes

Attitudes, originally uploaded by Robbi Baba.

Young Spectators

Young Spectators, originally uploaded by Robbi Baba.

Watching the burning girl and patiently waiting to toast those marshmallows.

The Burn

The Burn, originally uploaded by Robbi Baba.

The End

The End, originally uploaded by Robbi Baba.

Our wonderful little biodiesel car. Doesn't hold as much as those SUVs, but it got us there and back.

Made it. Barely.

Well, the fair is over and we’re here at Nancy Bright’s lovely home again. It’s hot and I’ve been flopping around all day, too tired to do much of anything constructive.

That last blog entry is a hoot. Everything was going to plan. That’s how you make god laugh, right? Tell her your plans?

An hour after I wrote that entry the van was broken down. It was broken down right in front of the Sundance health food store here in Eugene, where it sat for about 7 hours. Turned out a part in the steering column sheered off! A steel part. So it wouldn’t start and wouldn’t shift out of park.

Krista said ‘well, maybe a mechanic has a business card over there on that bulletin board’. Sure enough, there was a card for a mobile mechanic, who showed up on his bicycle pulling a bike trailer. He was also headed out to the fair but stuck with the job until he got us running again.

For a short (intensely stressful) time it looked like it couldn’t be done. Our van was packed so tight and so heavy I couldn’t imagine how the hell we could get all of our stuff out to the booth. But he got it back together and showed me how to hot wire the van to get it started. He only charged us $135! Including parts. It was hellishly hot in the van too. The poor fellow was dripping sweat. So was I. Nancy rescued Krista and the girls and took ‘em home.

I picked them up about 8pm and we got to our booth just at 9pm. We had to rush the unpacking and ended up setting up in the dark! With horrid mosquitoes too. So much for our rested and relaxed fair.

The next day we played catch up. It’s just so much work! But we kept our spirits up for the most part. Even with the break down and being about 6 hours behind instead of 6 hours ahead, we were still much more relaxed than the last few years.

I’ll try to get some photos up soon and tell a few stories. This was my purging entry. Sorry you had to read it!

rob

OCF

We arrived last night in Eugene, after driving through the semi-hellish landscape of Northern California. Very hot and very smoky from all the fires. We had planned to leave at 5am to avoid the worst of the heat. Oops--we made it out before 7 and that was almost good enough. No air conditioning!
This was all part of our brilliant plan to avoid stress and exhaustion. We were supposed to have finished making stock July 1st. Instead we were making 'fairy furniture' and Eden's 'ugly dolls' until 11am.
As part of our new improved plan, we left a day early. We enjoyed an excellent picnic in Ashland wading in the beautiful creek in Lithia Park. We pulled into Eugene about 6 and found a great motel. This was really a first for us. We never stay in motels!
So we had a nice walk around the UofO campus and another picnic on the veranda of our motel. We had lovely showers and a good night sleep. Krista is sewing eyes on the dolls while the kids watch Galaxy Quest.
We're going to go get our food for camping and hit the fair site about noon, rested, clean, and about four hours ahead of usual. So far so good!
Here' s a link to last years OCF photos on Flickr.
Thanks for all the help getting here!

Chain of Laughter

You could wait until you're feeling depressed. But what the hey....