Author’s Note

Vista Del Mar is my temporary home and landing pad in Santa Barbara, a place of rest and quiet rebuild while I slowly imagine and move toward a new life in Ojai, the house and land have become a sanctuary.

A dear friend, Susan, generously offered me her entire home while she spends a few months in India. In exchange, I care for her beloved cattle dog, Chica. Chica and I became fast friends almost immediately. She’s an older dog, easy in her ways, with an energy level that mirrors my own. She loves walks on the beach and along the bluffs overlooking the ocean. Playful, expressive and affectionate, she happily joins me on apartment hunts and unhurried wanderings through Ojai. She has become a steady, joyful companion.

Here, under the California sun, surrounded by sand and ocean, a quiet pool, fresh fruit, and enough space to rest, write, and paint—I’ve found myself living inside a healing rhythm I first began to explore in my Yoga Through Cancer series. That work attends closely to the body, the breath, and the small rituals that make endurance possible. The Chronicles emerge from the same place, just expressed through a lighter, more playful voice.

At Vista Del Mar, my practices of listening, of stillness, of silence and breath have softened into something more whimsical. In my observation and relief, my nervous system, given time and safety has begun to return to play. Animals become teachers. Plants offer commentary. Stillness makes room for laughter.

The Vista Del Mar Chronicles are born of this pause. They are meant to be playful, occasionally philosophical, and gently observant… small moments gathered from the ecosystems that surround and support recovery. If Yoga Through Cancer holds the steady ground of healing, these Chronicles wander the garden paths that open once the body feels well enough to roam.

They are offered as a menagerie of moments, silly, tender, reflective… shared from a place of rest and stillness. An invitation to notice what begins to speak when urgency quiets, and to trust that healing, too, has room for joy and play.

All visual images for this written series were inspired by my imagination, paintings, writings, and the landscape of Vista Del Mar. Collaborated with and designed by AI – ChatGPT. 

All rights reserved by the author.