Beginning at age three, we lived across the street from a park and my dad worked at Mc Clellan Air Force Base.  The most appealing thing in my life at that point was, when we would go to the base to pick up my dad, the guard had this really neat brass whistle hanging around his neck suspended on a woven line and occasionally I watched him blow it.  Well!  That was the attraction of my tender years and I had to have one of them.  Across the street there lurked the appeal of the bridal trail which wound through the park and over the railroad tracks behind the zoo and eventually after many excursions seeking the horses and riders who came and went I discovered the great Sacramento River.  In telling my parents where I had ventured in quest of the above and where it had ended my mother told me to stay away from the river as there were Gypsies who camped there and surely they would steal me away.  That was all she had to say to summon all these exotic images and the very next opportunity I was on my way.  Never did find any, just a little old man who lived in a shack and with whom I'd visit, who listened to my stories.  I did come home with a horseshoe which I prized highly.

Will add somemore at a later time.  The thing with this recollection is that by the time I had a son who was this age, I never let him out of my sight and we now lived by a trail entrance gate acrosss from another park, Folsom Lake State Park, and it was attractive because of it's remoteness and no patrols so all the stoners hung out there.  also there were some Manson gang devotees who lived in our area.  Give me the Gypsies, please!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 11/21/02 3:15:56 PM Pacific Standard Time

...I once drove from Philadelphia to Fairfax county, Virginia, Oakton, to be specific, in 90 minutes. Impossible, but I left at 2:15 and got to my son's school to pick him up in Oakton, before Day Care started charging at 3:45. No problemo! It was over 90 miles down interstate 95, around the Tysons side of the Beltway, and out route 66, in traffic. [I suppose the trip normally would take 2.5 hours. It's a close shot from Philly to New York City, 300 miles from D.C.

...Another time, I was at George Mason University in west Fairfax, Virginia, and I had an appointment across town, near Newington, Alexandria, in 30 minutes, and I made it at rush hour. Impossible. And it was a breeze. Yet, ordinarily, that could have taken an hour and a half because there were no freeways involved---all, across town driving with stop signs, signals and turning traffic in front of you. But, I had to make it on time, so I did.

...Time-stretch experiences are strange because you don't feel as if anything is out of the ordinary. You just do what is physically impossible in a given interval.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 11/21/02 6:37:23 PM Pacific Standard Time

Dear Kent,

I'm an old hippie feeling a very heavy weight right now from things going down- have children and grandchild. I really appreciated your Just Say No! message. Been trying to face the "it's a one-on-one deal now" for a while. Anyhow, I have a little tidbit for you that I thought you would appreciate.

I discovered on a live concert CD of Donovan's that George Harrison had written a verse to Hurdy Gurdy Man when he was writing it and they were all together at the Maharishi's place in India. He didn't record it originally but he talked about it and sang it in this concert. It goes like this: "When the truth is buried deep beneath a thousand years of sleep, Time demands a turn around and once again the truth is found.....Twas then when the Hurdy Gurdy Man came singing songs of Love, then when the Hurdy Gurdy Man came singing songs of Love...."

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 11/23/02 1:00:08 AM Pacific Standard Time

Kent ,Do not get depressed .Have faith that it will be alright.I think you have and are, doing a great job here and that the web wouldnot be the same without you.Remember the fascists have been in America since the second word war ,if not before.I went to Berlin this year and Hitler's traces are hardly there any more.Neither are Napoleon's for that matter.Have heart and keep your faith strong that good will prevail.I think the mark of a civilization is how it looks after its poor ,sick. vunerable and venerable .That leaves America such a lot to do at home.As do we all. For example America is at one pole as far as women are concerned.They have a certain amount of freedom yet you use their bodies as commodities to sell mostly junk.this is an insult to Muslims and I suspect quite a few other people.So they are affronted by it as it is their custom to keep their women restricted and covered .and so polarisation grows. I,beinga woman think neither position is right.Women and men are different but complementary .We all need reuinification through balance ,both side have to move to the center.What is good for the goose is good for the gander With freedom comes responsibility. With power and authority comes service to the whole .We could have a whole world where diversity is respected and nurtured and where money isn't the only God.With the earth changes maybe we will realise that there are powers greater than man around here and have a little respect for nature, other people ,etc. When I was young I was told if I wanted to do something and I wasn't sure whether it was right to do it or not, to ask" would I like someone to do it to me ?"If the answer was no then I shouldn't do it.If we could just apply this to our lives a lot of our problems would get less .I suppose we first have to wonder whether something is right or not .Oh well.Here in England we seem to be forgetting our manners.I hope today finds you in better heart.My regards to you and your family With love Maria