Bob,

We were talking about earthquakes. I asked him if he could give me a smile and if he lived near Vesuvius. He gave me a smile and said he did live near there. He told me to continue to learn the language and wished me a hearty appitite to learn, not eat.

As you know Sonoma has many wonderful places to dine. However, my favorite is to pack a picnic lunch and sit at the Earthquake Trail in Olema and listen to the wind in the trees, watch the little moles come out of their holes. But most fascinating is to stand beneath the two trees where part of one fell during the 1906 earthquake. One gets a feeling from there and its rather ominous. I am uncertain if it is a trace from the past, or if its a harbinger of the future. But one cannot stand there long, as the feeling is most unpleasant. In the most part it is a wonderful place to visit and I have been there many times and will go again. It has these wonderful Madrone trees that are perfect to climb even when you're not young anymore.

On my last trip with my professor from Sonoma State we got to go where the tourists are not allowed and walked where the post markers are that mark the San Andreas fault. Its a little steep there, and then you have to jump over a fence to get back on the trail, but you know how I love adventures and that was fun as well.

Today I cannot walk there from my accident injuring my sciatic nerve on the left side. I am in therapy and it is very painful. But I was told I can start to walk a block or two and eventually work my way back to the four mile power walk I once enjoyed very much.

In life I have been blessed with noticing small things, a flower in a field of weeds, an unusual bird on a fence as one drives by, the first buds on a flowering tree and the wonderful appearance of a small child with hope in their eyes and taking every moment of every day like it was the first. For some with age, they forget to notice the glory of this world, the endless fascinations of the approaching springtime, the glimmer of rain drops on a fresh lawn that look like sparkling diamonds.

Earthquakes are the same, each unto its own, a little something that tells us we are all floating on land, not living on a permanent structure. However, I believe that as nothing in this universe is random, all having perfect order in everything that occurs, seismic activity has an order as well. We just don't understand the order that its in. So we must continue to learn, study, keep interested and one day, what seems a mystery to everyone, will not be so.

Smile, Its Sunday, A day of peace, rest and in there a blessing of another day.

Pat