Sunday Shameless Savors
Unexpected encounters with Janis Joplin’s BFF. A first-and last-date. Ceremonial plants & shadowplay. Farm visits are the new going out for drinks. Duck face & other ways I'm luxuriating in the storm.
Holy crap June’s done and here I am, happily writing like I’ve done every. single. day. for the past weeks. I’m loving Substack so much, I’m considering ghosting TikTok and breaking up with Instagram to give my wholehearted devotion to this space.
Speaking of breakups, I had quite the 1-year anniversary reaction to shit hitting the fan last year when my spiritual GPS dissolved into a void of nothingness.
In case you missed it, you can read about how it’s been going here.
Anniversary reactions tend to creep up on us like a silverfish coming out from the crack between your sofa cushions. But they don’t have to be so distasteful.
They can be fresh moments to celebrate how even though life broke you, you made it through the shit and are still here. Maybe even feeling more vibrant with less fucks to weigh you down. So here’s what’s keeping me vibrant lately as I celebrate the 1-year anniversary of getting through last year’s heartaches.
My Shameless Savors
As I keep letting life drive while I luxuriate in the backseat eating way more pork chops than normal (4 days straight and counting), I’m loving all the surprising places I’m being taken to that I could have never imagined on my own.
The common thread weaving it all together? Being good with not knowing. And being willing to talk to strangers.
The people you meet while eating tacos at Jose’s farmstand
This is Kathy. She was buddies with Janis Joplin and Joan Baez back in the days when she drove Pink Floyd around San Francisco and made jewelry for The Grateful Dead. She’s a world-renowned artist, but you’d never know it unless her husband was next to her telling you she’s a world-renowned artist. He’s so proud of her. 🥰
I met her husband while stuffing down a sashimi tostada and fish taco at Jose’s. We quickly bonded over the stupid shit people say when meeting someone for the first time (that he used on me), and so began my unexpected friendship with two people who’ve done more acid than Jerry Garcia - and are still alive to talk about it.
Kathy decided to teach me art (as in pass down to me her painting techniques that put her artwork in museums). Which quickly became a class in life. And so began my journey of learning to see movement in stillness, to focus on the dark to reveal the light, and to be fucking open to saying “hi!” to whatever life puts on your path.
Here’s a clip of Kathy during my first art lesson:
One of the perks of meeting Kathy & her hubby is meeting more people through them than I’ve met in the past 3 years. Including a cute man that led to a lunch date. And to me realizing that with the very unique people I have in my inner nest who fill my life with soulful chats, a fierce devotion to our friendship, and who come from the same cloth that luminaries are made of, it’s gonna take a very unique man to join my world.
I’m thinking of having you meet my inner nest of luminaries so you can receive the magic we get from each other as we make fun of life, so stay tuned for more…
Going to the farm: The new going out for drinks
I used to be that SF city gal who wore Prada heels for a *quick* Sunday stroll through Crissy Field before heading to Fillmore Street for champagne brunch. Nowadays, I go from barefoot with dirt from my garden stuck between my toes to throwing on a naco piece with my bright red espadrille slippers and heading to the farm with Lovebug.
One of my fav farmers recently introduced me to his fav farmer who is quite the gatekeeper of his sacred land. One day, he invited me to his farm. And holy shit you guys. I met a plant friend who TALKED TO ME.
She decided to chat through casting a shadow on my arm (see below). That delicate design you see? It’s the ankh symbol ☥. Known as the key of life representing immortality, death, and reincarnation. Could this plant be any more specific when talking to the woman who wrote the book on loss??
I fucking love nature.
When you need a break from the over-processed crap in life, meet me at the farm.
Creating magic with duck face
I woke up today with lips and cheeks so swollen, you’d think I just got back from a Botox session. My gut tells me it’s the 5 unwashed rose apples I ate in a row yesterday from the farm.
Even moments of bliss can bring inflammation. Which is why tending to my creative side has been such a healing salve for me. When I’m in creation mode, which has pretty much been every day since I returned to Mexico after last year’s shitshow, my nervous system uncoils. My mind releases the gunk taking up space. And my heart gets to express herself in ways that have been pretty magical.
Like making this hand-painted card for a friend who celebrated her birthday the day before going into her 2nd chapter of chemo…
Or this new heart-opening & intuition-expanding tea elixir I made filled with foraged flowers & leaves dusted with some of earth’s ceremonial magic.
In case you haven’t heard (no one has really until very soon when an article I was interviewed for goes live), I’ve been making these hand-crafted tea elixirs to let people dip their toes into plant medicine's pool, minus the full psychedelic plunge. I don’t believe we need to be pushed through the doors of consciousness to learn to love ourselves. It’s definitely a powerful, healing option for many and I’ve partaken in it several times. I’m just at a place in my life where I don’t want that big push anymore. I prefer to expand my capacity for love & deepen my awareness simply by being. Outside with Lovebug and my plants. Sipping my tea.
I had no idea where this new creative endeavor came from but I rolled with it because that’s how I do life now - saying “hi” to whatever shows up. And guess what I learned today when my aunt called me out of the blue to say hi…
My grandmother made remedies from the plants she foraged in the mountains of Mexico. I knew she was a medicine woman (white witch as they say in my culture) but it didn’t dawn on me that she was working her magic through me as my hands intuitively prepared these teas. I swear, you just can’t make this shit up. I should call these creations Abuelita’s Answer to Personal Zen.
So that’s it.
My heart’s been full savoring all this creative newness. As my aunt reminded me in our chat, you gotta have one thing you look forward to each day to keep you going when you have no will to keep going.
For me, the one thing I look forward to now is the unknown - and letting life reveal what’s next in its most delightfully curious ways.
To luxuriating in the storm.
🌹 Gladys
Oh! Duck face. Here it is. WTF. Whatever. Gonna make an elixir for it now and have decided it’s gone tomorrow. I’ll keep you posted.
AND! If you’re my paid supporter, keep scrolling below for a few treats I brewed up for you in case you missed them…
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