I've been in Gilroy a little more than a week. The mood has been very upbeat, considering the huge shift that is taking place in the family. My sister came down for the weekend for the memorial services, and my aunt and uncle have been here since the 2nd helping my grandmother deal with all the work related to my grandfather's passing. We've all been pitching in around the garden, bringing it back into shape after months of neglecting the yard in order to take care of grandpa.

I'm starting in on projects to keep me occupied and sane while I'm living with my mother: I went to church on Sunday, visited with Tom and got lots of books and CDs out of the library. I'm planning on digging up one corner of our yard on Carmel Street and planting a low maintenance landscape and vegetable garden in the place of a big patch of rocks - which currently act as a heat island in the summer and make the yard unbearable. I sorted through some old clothing today, and I'm planning to make a braided rug with a seven-pointed design for my room at the co-op when I get back (which I also plan to build a lofted bed for to maximize floor space).

Next week, I'm going to be sewing patches onto shirts, hunting for a job for the season in Gilroy, and working on putting together some sort of brilliant lecture for when I'm in Los Angeles. (Getting out of Gilroy on a regular basis is one of my other goals for living up here). However, tomorrow I'm going up to San Jose for some errands, and then to Santa Cruz on Friday to visit folks and to go back to the Sufi Zhikr that I went to my first week on the road.

Now that I'm not technically traveling, I'm also hoping to get some writing and recollecting done in the next couple months - which will be posted to this space to complete the "living manifesto" part of this piece.