Here's news from Haley Romanik White in SLC

Joel and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary last Wednesday. we didn't really do anything but take the week
off work. We went to see Indiana Jones, and had dinner. It was nice. I have to go back
to work tomorrow. I've been working in the garden alot lately. I hope everything works out. I've got peas, lettuce, tomatoes, broccoli, peppers,onions, carrots, garlic, pumpkins, cucumbers, zucchini, watermelon, and some herbs. I love gardening, it's really satisfying work. I'm also trying to start a compost pile. I don't think I have my ratio's right, but it's coming along. Joel's doing good too. He's on a softball team this year. They have lost every single game so far, but it's fun to watch. He went snowboarding on Friday and golfing on Saturday. The weather out here is crazy right now. I've got some bacon in the oven.....yummy!!! we are going to try to ride our bikes to Thanksgiving Point today (which is at the point of the mountain). I hope I can make it. Well I wish we lived closer. someday I'll come visit you I hope.

News from Ms Debra Lafon in Tahlaquah.

Things are a bit hectic here. Zac is here and we are having a good visit. He has grown up so much and appreciates his mom now. Seems to be doing pretty well, has seen and done many unspeakable things and talks about some of them a little bit. For the most part, he seems to be doing pretty well. He got his drivers license and a new car in the same day and is planning on driving back to WA state which makes me very nervous.....driver's training in a 25 ton truck is not exactly road experience. But I think he will do fine. He will be leaving on Mon or Tues.

Malan Anthony is almost ready to leave for LA. He will also be driving, and will be leaving Mon, Tues or Wed. He is excited and apprehensive at the same time, leaving behind a very well paying job, ins and benefits for not for sure what awaits him, but feels like it is the right thing to do, and things are falling into place. He will be pursuing his music and has a really nice girlfriend there as well, who is not only beautiful on the inside, but on the outside. He is pursuing life to the fullest, alcohol free and excited about his future possibilities. He will be living in a rented room in Hollywood Hills.

Rachel was offered a job in IL which she took (this all happened in the last 3 weeks) She is packing up with her boyfriend Nick (Erin). His family calls him Nick, he was Erin when we met him. I have been packing up some of little Malan's things he can take.....they will live in an apt at first so most of his stuff will stay home. He wants to check it out for a couple of weeks to see how it goes and knows he can come back home if he wants, but I think it will be a good thing for him to go with his mom, as much as I hate it. They are leaving on Mon or Tues.

So I guess I will soon be an orphan.........or whatever you call it. I am excited for Rachel, but have never been away from little Malan before...I am a bit distressed about that. Plus Rachel has always lived nearby. Now they will all be too far away to see often, but that is how it goes.......as you well know.

I went to visit Ben the other day and he is doing pretty well, it is hot and there are lots and lots of mosquitoes right now. He always seems to be upbeat, but I think the noise/heat and mosquitoes are taking a bit of a toll. He looked thin and tired, but good.

I went to see Jenny and Hannah, her new house is quite lovely....like an Italian villa........architecture digest came to mind....She has done a really wonderful job of decorating and it was all clean and light....lots of windows and "French" doors. I am really happy for her to have such a beautiful home. They are working on the yard and planting bamboo trees, bushes and there will be a "hot tub" and small pool put in soon. She and Hannah look really good and seemed to be very happy. I will use some of her ideas to help make my little "dump" look better someday.

Best Book I Ever Read

It wasn't even hard to decide that the best book I have ever read, and that includes my childhood favorites like Caddy Woodlawn, and Heidi, Alice in Wonderland, and all the self help books that took the place of having a mother, and Nabokov and Tolstoy and Thomas Mann, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and Dostoevsky. This is it, The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie. Too finely done, too full of cliches that only the "in group" could relate to, too much like listening to music. He has my vote and the Nobel people liked him too and now he is to be made a knight, and his photograph in the back of Satanic Verses when he must have been the same age as my grandson Jon Mikael, looks just like my grandson Jon Mikael who just graduated, by the way, from University of Chicago. This book must be owned. My son Richard who is the book man, (current and priceless books) has a first edition copy. For me it could be used as is the bible, dipped into a chapter here and there, not as a life guide but comparable to finest art and finest music. It is difficult. Don't say I didn't warn you.

You are a Writer !!!

So since you are a writer, I will tell you about some things. First of all, I am having a no good very bad day and have not gotten up yet even though it is 2:32 pm. I decided that depression forced me to stay in bed and suicide would be a good idea but I have too many things undone, so not today. Anyway, I decided to check my library book shelf to see if I could find some sort of "self help" "how to climb out of your bed and depression" book, to inspire me to climb out of my bed and depression. So I found this book, How to Become a Famous Writer before you're Dead, to start and find interesting and then since being a "2" and a codependent is such a part of me, deciding to share this information and inspiration with you good writers. It's about time, I think. So this is by Ariel Gore and she has or had a "zine" or blog. Here's to your abilities and please become a famous writer before you are dead IF you would like to. Love you, Peace to you. Back to bed for me.

By the way, part of her process seems to be doing The Artist's Way, which is the book on creativity by Julia Cameron. "I know Julia Cameron. Julie Cameron is a friend of mine." (sort of a quote) She wrote that book on the front lawn of Dori's Cafe in Taos. She was a friend of Dori's and so Dori asked her to let me come to her sessions as a scholarship student, and she did, and she later bought Dori's house near Arroyo Seco. I was her assistant for a time. That way I was able to talk to her former husband and father of her daughter Dominica, Martin Scorsese and type out some of her screen plays which have not been anywhere nearly as successful as her, The Artist's Way. Anyway, she certainly became a famous writer before her death. This is just to let you know that I have been around.