A letter from Sendai, Japan.

A letter from Sendai Things here in Sendai have been rather surreal. But I am very blessed to have wonderful friends who are helping me a lot. Since my shack is even more worthy of that name, I am now staying at a friend's home. We share supplies like water, food and a kerosene heater. We sleep lined up in one room, eat by candlelight, share stories. It is warm, friendly, and beautiful. During the day we help each other clean up the mess in our homes. People sit in their cars, looking at news on their navigation screens, or line up to get drinking water when a source is open. If someone has water running in their home, they put out a sign so people can come to fill up their jugs and buckets. It's utterly amazingly that where I am there has been no looting, no pushing in lines. People leave their front door open, as it is safer when an earthquake strikes. People keep saying, "Oh, this is how it used to be in the old days when everyone helped one another." Quakes keep coming. Last night they struck about every 15 minutes. Sirens are constant and helicopters pass overhead often. We got water for a few hours in our homes last night, and now it is for half a day. Electricity came on this afternoon. Gas has not yet come on. But all of this is by area. Some people have these things, others do not. No one has washed for several days. We feel grubby, but there are so much more important concerns than that for us now. I love this peeling away of non-essentials. Living fully on the level of instinct, of intuition, of caring, of what is needed for survival, not just of me, but of the entire group. There are strange parallel universes happening. Houses a mess in some places, yet then a house with futons or laundry out drying in the sun. People lining up for water and food, and yet a few people out walking their dogs. All happening at the same time. Other unexpected touches of beauty are first, the silence at night. No cars. No one out on the streets. And the heavens at night are scattered with stars. I usually can see about two, but now the whole sky is filled. The mountains are Sendai are solid and with the crisp air we can see them silhouetted against the sky magnificently. And the Japanese themselves are so wonderful. I come back to my shack to check on it each day, now to send this e-mail since the electricity is on, and I find food and water left in my entranceway. I have no idea from whom, but it is there. Old men in green hats go from door to door checking to see if everyone is OK. People talk to complete strangers asking if they need help. I see no signs of fear. Resignation, yes, but fear or panic, no. They tell us we can expect aftershocks, and even other major quakes, for another month or more. And we are getting constant tremors, rolls, shaking, rumbling. I am blessed in that I live in a part of Sendai that is a bit elevated, a bit more solid than other parts. So, so far this area is better off than others. Last night my friend's husband came in from the country, bringing food and water. Blessed again. Somehow at this time I realize from direct experience that there is indeed an enormous Cosmic evolutionary step that is occurring all over the world right at this moment. And somehow as I experience the events happening now in Japan, I can feel my heart opening very wide. My brother asked me if I felt so small because of all that is happening. I don't. Rather, I feel as part of something happening that much larger than myself. This wave of birthing (worldwide) is hard, and yet magnificent. Thank you again for your care and Love of me, With Love in return, to you all, A.

What is on the bottom of Jörg's shoe?

What a pleasant and low-tension level photo session I experienced yesterday for the new album, LIFELINES. The fabulous photographer, Jörg Steinmetz ( www.visual-food.com ) kindly consented to shoot the pics here at my house. I was hesitant to ask him whether we could change the venue from his studio to my house, but he is very flexible and kindly agreed.
He arrived shortly before ten with his assistant, Maike. I showed him around the house, suggesting different corners and objects I wanted incoorporated into the shoot. Then, I took him to my neighbor's house who allowed us to photograph there, too. (I have GREAT neighbors!)
Soon after, the make-up artist, Jutta Krantz, arrived. I didn't know her, but Eddie did as she is one of the make-up ladies at the theater. The relationship between a make-up artist and her "victim" is tricky. She not only has to have the skills and materials to do a good job, there also has to be good chemistry between them so that the visagistin understands what the customer wants. I had a few magazine photos and we talked and she went to work on my make-up and hair while Jörg and Maike set up the equipment downstairs.
It was the first warm day this year. About the time we all got to work, it was over 21°. And the sun was pouring in the house.
Jörg used the time I was being labored over to take still photos of various objects in my house that are "lifelines" for me: objects that have sentimental value or tell a story. Ami Falk showed up at that point. She is doing the graphics for the album cover/booklet and she was able to direct Jörg to things that she wanted to employ in the collage. Ami is due to have a baby next month so we tried to get her to sit down as much as possible because, honestly, she looked like she would just pop at any moment!
Eddie agreed to keep the snacks and food coming, Luke assisted in my "styling" and we just all had a great time together.
What a team!
Jörg took probably 1000 photos. That is not unusual. It takes that many to find the hand full of pics that say what we want them to say, if you know what I mean.
Jutta did a great job on hair and make-up. She stayed with me the entire day, which was reassuring having her trained eyes looking out for wayward hairs, crooked collars, lipstick on teeth, etc. And I felt like she really understood what I wanted. When she initially asked what style the photo shoot would be, Eddie replied, "Somewhere between Nina Hagen and Angela Merkel"! I think she got it right.
I think we all had fun. I think the day was successful: we didn't break anything at the neighbor's house, the clothes covered up my "love handles", the make-up covered up my wrinkles, Ami didn't have the baby, the food was good, the weather gorgeous, and we all parted as friends. What more could I ask for?
When I booted up my computer this morning, Jörg had sent me this one photo. He thinks it should be the cover of the new album. What do you think????

Today, I cashed in my one and only Groupon purchase; an hour-long facial at a Beauty Lounge. I was really looking forward to this. I'd had one before at another place and it was just divine. So relaxing and it did my skin good.
This one was different.
First of all, the woman talked for one solid hour. I don't think I could do that if you paid me. She was immersed in telling me exactly what she was doing and why and with what and why not.
It started off badly: She removed my make-up and used some sort of motor-powered rotating brush to foam up the facial cleanser on my skin. She rotated the foam right into my nose, and because I was on my back, it immediately ran down my nose, burning like fire, and down the back of my throat. Have you ever accidently gotten soap in your nose? Well, that's what we're talking about here.
My eyes started tearing up at the pain and I asked her to stop so that I could blow my nose. It didn't help. There was a burning pathway of pain leading through my nose and down the back of my throat. But I told her to continue. I just kept swallowing and coughing.
Did I quit? NO!

When I left the place an hour later, my nasal passage still burned.

Then she did an acid peeling (or something like that) She put some wet stuff on my skin which started making sizzling sounds as if my face was cooking in a skillet. And then it started to burn. She informed me that it MIGHT burn a bit, so she turned on a fan to cool my face while the top layer of skin was basically burned off.
Did I quit? NO!

Several minutes later that came off and then she used some sort of razor blade to beat my eyebrows into submission. She also used it to shave off irregularities on the surface of my skin. That caused quite a bit of bleeding. So, she had to stop.
Did I quit? NO!

Then she informed me that she would now massage my face with some kind of good moisturizing stuff, and to make it go deep down into my skin, she would massage it using an electric current.
She put one end of the electric charge on my chest, and one end on her leg and then put on gloves and started massaging my face. It tingled and vibrated a little bit, but was really quite pleasant. Until she got close to my eye which was still tearing a lot from the nasal passage damage earlier. When her fingers touched that path of tears, the electricity passed right up and right into my eyeball. My eye burned and is still quite red from those shocks.
When she finally finished with that massage, she took her gloves off explaining to me that the gloves disperse the electric current. Otherwise, if she touched me I would get a shock. She accidently demonstrated this by reaching for the end of the electric charge on my chest and touching my skin instead of the metal disc. Yep, I did get a shock. I have a little red burn spot now where she touched me.
Did I quit? NO!

After this hour of tension and pain, the lady tried to put some make-up on me, which was kind of hard because my nose and eyes were still dripping.

But as I left and was walking to my car, I ran into a girlfriend I hadn't seen in a while and she commented on how young I looked. (Considering how old I really am- I guess)
And when I got home, Eddie touched my face and commented on how soft and un-wrinkly my skin looked and even Luke said I had a "glow".

So, will I do it again- you betcha!