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It was Spring, yet I had lost that in my step. In my driveway lay a blue dragonfly, motionless and rigid like the brown earthbound autumn leaves. I picked up the winged one and placed it in my palm. So light, it's weight imperceptible in my hand. It seemed strange to have one born of flight, of air and river life, leave it's remains on an asphalt grave. A metaphor, my life in my hands. Breathing three times, gentle, warm, across the cross that lay so still. Then, a tremble, a tickle, a straight vertical ascension, above the treetops and out of sight. This is where the miraculous meets the mundane, and the future moves beyond our imagination.

Someone asked.

Yes, This actually happened, it's not just metaphorical. The dragonfly did fly away straight up and kept going after I breathed into it.

No, I can hear you thinking, I wasn't on anything. I'm one of the most unintoxicated people you'll ever come across.

Raymond-

Have a drink.
Have another.

It'll do you some good

Dragonfly is associated with the nature angles, devas, and faries. If one flies into your life it may be time to hike, camp, or play with some plants. Reconnect with your elemental nature by going outdoors and finding the divine all around you. Dragonfly’s wings are clear but can appear colored in different lights. Similarly, our emotions color our reality, Dragonfly urges you to look beyond illusions and see the truth that is right in front of you.

El Anonimo, what is happening to you?

One minute you are funny and nice...and then you are just plain mean!

Are you having a drink...and then another?

hell anonima,

it has become apparent to me that you are asking for help. when you stated that Ojai has no soul, you actually were projecting your current state of being. i know that at times our soul can feel like it has abandoned us. thus, your callous and hurtful remarks accurately paint a sad and desperate picture of your inner world.

clearly, it is time for you to shed some skin and begin to perceive the divine in every being that you come in contact with. you see, that is the key that has been forgotten. and like raymond's dragon fly and lazarus and hercules you will be reborn. it is always darkest before the dawn. forgive your self, forgive the trespassers and cultivate feelings of gratefulness. like a garden, your body needs nourishment, water, night and sunlight. seeds like to germinate in darkness. it is the very longing that you are feeling so deeply right now that is creating space for your soul to grow.

namaste

Thank you ALL

I am healed.
It is a miracle

I'm off to the monastery to pray.
To ask forgiveness.
To repent.
To eat vegetables.
To listen only to Soul Music- Aretha, Otis, and Wilson, are you with me?

See you all next month

...applause

I'm sorry this should really be happening on an "Open Thread", not hijacking the StoryTelling Fest.
But with Dvorah MIA, SOMEONE gotta pick up the slack...

Once upon a time, in the Village of Ojai, there lived a trickster named El Anonimo. It was a time of deep magic, an era where people communicated by tapping on a keyboard and all the people in the whole world could instantly see what that person was thinking.

Now, it so happened that El Anonimo was very clever. No one even knew who he was. Some imagined he was a handsome devil on horseback. Others imagined he was a cranky old soul puttering around the house with a walker... One day El Anonimo woke up with a grand plan swirling around in his head. He decided he would tell everyone he was going to flee to a monastery to pray and eat vegetables, but instead he...

El Anonimo
R.I.P.
never was
never is
never will be

I for one thought Raymond's story was first rate.

Anyone who feels called upon to criticize, it seems to me, owes us one of their own.

Raymond is Jesus
Millenium is the Messiah
but neva the Twain shall meat

the last supper
they were grillin snappah
and chillin oh so dappa

pass the black-eyed peas
i ask you please
for the string cheese

fly trans-love airway
i found the stairwell
to hevvun AND hell

more...???

i think NOT

I thought Raymond's story about the blue dragonfly was beautiful too.

Oh yes, it was AMAZING!
After I read it, I emailed it to 10 friends...
and everyone of them either fell in love or won the lotto instantly!

But that's not the AMAZING part.
Oh NO, not by a lonnggg shot.

Right after those 10 had their luck completely change,
the earth completely stopped revolving and almost everyone, for an instant, had a moment of cosmic consciousness.

Did y'all notice?
The whether dropped about 3 degrees,
Toilets reversed their coriolis
and Rolling Stones guitarist and rock-and-roll bad boy Keith Richards is to become the new public face of Louis Vuitton.

But what's REALLY amazing about all this is...

The tone and direction this post has taken is representative of much of the blogging I see here and elsewhere. Mean-spirited people hide behind anonymity to be able to see their clever takedowns in print. Tyler, have you thought about having two posts, one anonymous and one signed? If you did, I might even use my name. In the meantime, I'll just go back underwater for a while.

Oh boyyyy! what's really amazing about all this is that my 10 year old dog has begun speaking to me in broken english with a heavy spanish accent. But, actually that's not the amazing part, the truly amazing part is that he claims to be El Anonyous and that he's been channeling an an old hippopotamus that's been cooped up in a cage that's so small he can't even turn around. Yeah, total bummer, all that the old hippo can do is shed big salty tears and dream about rollin around in a big ole brown pond. Now, I know that you are all thinking that I must be on drugs but I'll pee into a cup to prove that I am one of the last of the sober humans. And, of course my dog Charlie is sober too. Ole Charlie is a vegan german shepherd and has finally talked me into getting him one of those new fangled iphones. I have been unable to convince him that he need's fingers to operate it. Can anyone out there talk some sense into my dog? He's on a hunger strike and has been tossing out random quotes from Ghandi.

#16- coot.
what some folks find mean-spirited i tend to read as funny and creative.
the tone of this blog is relatively tame- as is most of ojai.

I have just returned from the Harvard Intergalactic Conference on Neuromolecular Reprogramming and find to my astonishment that some sarcastic fool has misappropriated my name! And doesn't even know how to spell it!

The nerve! Where is that lawyer in town who knows how to sue for ten million dollars?

Too bad this post has taken such a turn. Raymond is the only one out of these 20 commenters who followed directions...and he did so eloquently I might add. Give him the tickets.

Lisa what is your T.V show??

this is one of the funniest threads I've read anywhere for quite a while. thanks to all who contributed - including the ones who don't get *it* because they take themselves (actually their words) to0 seriously - lighten up and smile, you'll feel better. And Ray, I loved your story as well, quite inspirational.

FYI: dr doo, what you wrote was sarcastic. dr do's piece was a satire.

In the spirit of story telling…

My T.V. show is a variety show and talk show that’s all Ojai all the time. I usually open the show with a humorous monologue about how I spent my previous day in Ojai (trying to decide exactly which slice of lasagna I wanted from the Rainbow Bridge deli case, for example). Then I have a guest join me for an interview, someone like Earth Friend Jen, who explains her unique Ojai connection. After the break, entertainment from the local area is featured, like Azure Sol, the drumming hippies from the park or a Robert Peake poetry reading. One of the local non-profits usually makes an appearance to let the audience know what they are up to, followed by a health/fitness pointer, such as a yoga pose from Suza. The show wraps with a dining tip, highlighting a local hot spot and their fare (like the Go Green wine flight at Movino or the Mexican chocolate gelato at Azu).

What’s your T.V. show?

Sorry, #24 was me...

Lisa you're FUN!
Drumming hippies? eh....

#24, 25-
Please more from you...

...you are deliciously delightful