The Stanford Inn by the Sea - Resort and Spa

Whatever I write here is of little consequence when considering the Iranian people's use of blogs, Twitter, Face Book to help let the rest of us know what is going on in their country. The Daily Show has recently reported on Iran - remarkably portraying Iranian's awareness of the rest of the world and their compelling passion for American ideals. Barak Obama's carefully crafted comments seem to me gauged to help shield pro-Democratic, pro-western, and particularly pro-American Iranians as targets of the Mullahs' anger about the protests to the irregular election.

Lately my blogs have concerned the lives of our animals. I haven't dealt with issues concerning the environment, health, and well being that dominate the newsletter we hand to our guests when they check-in. I haven't felt compelled to write in these areas - due to lack of real interest in so many of the people that are coming to the Inn. Many are interested - the "choir" as it were
- there are some who question our restaurant and ask why The Ravens' is vegan and give it a try. And there are far more who are uninterested or demonstrably annoyed by our "greenness." Many people won't stay because our amenities are costly and we are slightly more expensive than other inns - our food costs are two to three times that of inns buying standard commercial products; we have a heated salt-water pool enclosed in a heated greenhouse, we have extensive gardens, offer organic, house made desserts at Afternoons at the Inn. The average cost per guest is $20 per breakfast!

We recently provided complimentary accommodations to a travel writer. The writer had requested dinner at the inn and walked in declaring, "we are carnivores and don't understand the food." The staff sensed this statement to be ridicule not a joke. Perhaps they -we- are oversensitive. But we gave them information, spoke with them, providing opportunities for them to ask us to explain the cuisine. The point, and they didn't get it, is that the only sustainable diet is a whole food vegan diet and our job is to help make this diet accessible - easy to prepare, and a joy to eat.

I am whining about the lack of awareness of some of our guests and a writer. In the meantime, some news casts are covering the separation of Jon and Kate, who apparently have eight young children, and some very fine people have been killed or jailed in Iran. But just because these events are mentioned in the same paragraph, they are not equal.

Perhaps if we, I, can maintain perspective our, my, life will be less conflicted - i.e., no upset regarding guests and writers who don't get what we are about. It isn't important, except of course, with regard to oil. The American (and, for that matter, European and others) addiction to an animal based diet in part creates the context leading to the death of Iranian students on the streets of Tehran. Nearly half of all energy used is in the service of the production of animals for food - beef, fish, pigs, chicken. The American presence in the Middle East is a direct result of our need to control the flow of oil and our presence intimidates much of the leadership in the area.

We have had a series of small miracles.

It is so beautiful here, the depths of greens the thousands of blooming plants - the shapes and textures. The joy of animals running through the grounds, of birds circling over the gardens and of our guests who find themselves surrounded in beauty. All of this is miraculous to me.

I was stunned by Cardy's death, though expected and natural. I did not experience the beauty here then. Yet, while speaking with guests a couple of days ago about sustainable lifestyles, I found myself suddenly and ecstatically in the moment of the beauty here. Nothing theoretical. No thought - just magnificence - the magnificence of beauty, of nature - and of the people I was with who didn't notice. All beautiful!

Can Do, Can Too, and Can So, three 9 month old baby llama boys came to join our older llamas and horses this week. They are stunning. And this picture does not do them justice:

It is wonderful to have young llamas again and we hope that they get the older llamas more intensely interested in life. At this point, the older llamas are pretending the three boys don't exist.

The three llamas have reminded all of us of the miracle of life - of birth... and, of course, death.

Houston is back! Many of you who know us and have been to the Inn probably met Houston a tabby cat with white paws who appeared here about 1992, jumping on the back of Matt Jenks, wrapping herself around his neck. I was interviewing Matt for a summer job at Catch A Canoe. Houston arrived here on the same day one of our favorite cats was killed on Highway 1.

This past weekend, Houston found Dana who was en route to the East Bay and who named her Clover. Clover was a stray in a gas station in Cloverdale. Dana is director of the nurseries and assistant manager of the Inn and she didn't mention that Clover might be Houston - reincarnated, a phenomenon we have experienced here, before. I walked into the room Clover was staying in yesterday and was overwhelmed by her "Houston-ness" and I was not expecting anything. It was the behavior, the energy of the cat. I mentioned this to Dana and Dana noted that Clover has the tendency to wrap herself around your neck. Before walking into that room, had no idea that this cat was Houston, returned

Some of you may not believe in reincarnation. And that's all right, of course. I believe that animals particularly horses, cats and dogs are manifestations of spirit helpers, or guides. They love us usually without condition, they help heal us, they carry us, and they sacrifice their lives for us.

(Pictured are Clover and Zack.)

The week has been one of miracles that bring meaning and joy.

By the way, below is a link to sign up for emails regarding health tips that we have learned and believe are worth sharing, news of the Inn, events, and particularly information regarding the new Mendocino Center for Well Being, Catch A Canoe, Massage in the Forest, and & Bicycles, too!

Cardy died last Thursday, She was surrounded by those who loved her: Dana, Skye and Ryan caressed her while Mark, Barney, Mark's dog, and I watched. Mark, his wife and dogs are regular guests and had returned to the Inn the night before. Mark has always felt a special connection with Cardy and happened to be walking Barney to say hello to her, when he came upon us.

Since the last post, Cardy had a few good days. She hung out by an apple tree which she could lean on or spent time with the other horses adjacent to her paddock. She quit trotting away from me, when I quit serving her bute which did not seem to provide relief. Cardy ate, but it was clear that she was weak and early Thursday afternoon, she lay down and could not get up. Cardy left us with a gentle wind.

Later that afternoon Dana brought me a bird's nest which had fallen out of a tree. It was empty, of course. It was constructed in part with Cardy's hair, which Dana had combed out more than a month before. Birds collected her hair to create a soft bed for their broods. We need no reminders: Cardy is a gentle and attentive being, a horse who like most horses is so much more than what we normally expect of a horse. Guests related to her, were concerned about her.

Cardy was brought here to die, but she lived nearly six years longer than her previous owners most likely expected. She loved watching guests and their dogs and perhaps the always changing flow of people as well as Scooter, Storm and Badger - the other horses here invigorated her life.

We came home after watching a wonderful movie "Dot.com" one of the outstanding selections of this year's Mendocino Film Festival. Before leaving for the movie I had prepared a bucket of chopped hay and molasses and alfalfa pellets to give to Cardy after dark. Ravens love her food and spread it around her paddock.

When we returned, I went into her paddock to deliver dinner. Cardy was not in sight. I saw Storm, a pinto lying down near the fence and a dark form lying near him on Cardy's side. Cardy was resting! The day had not been easy for her. She had spun around occasionally, struggling to keep her front and back legs coordinated. She suffers from ataxia. I retreated, not wanting to disturb her leaving her food at the Gate, where she often likes to stand.

On Wednesday, a veterinarian came form Willits to care for Cardy. She found Cardy to be in reasonable condition, but with very bad teeth, undernourished, and ataxic. The vet prescribed a diet of chopped hay with molasses and the alfalfa hoping that Cardy becomes strong enough to undergo dentistry. Cardy was clearly happy to be led away from this caring woman: she didn't like the taste of worming medicine.

I am selfish - I hate to see any being suffer and I will do anything to avoid this - call in vets, buy medicines, find energy practitioners: whatever it takes so that I don't have to see the suffering. In Cardy's case, there's not anything we can do. I have no concrete idea if she is hurting - only that it is very hard for her to deal with the lack of coordination between her front and back. I don't know if she's eating. I do know that her food disappears. I do know she will trot away from me when I bring "bute" paste. Clearly she's not always ataxic.

It hurts, literally, to see her running from me.

Cardy Update.

Last night Cardy stood silently, eyes neither open nor closed. Her nose inches from Scooter's tail. I walked by the horses who were either unaware of Murphy and me in the middle of the night or chose not to acknowledge us.

Cardy is not walking in circles. When I let her out of her tiny paddock this morning I noted that she didn't pick up her feet. She shuffled over to the other horses and then through the larger paddock sniffing the ground thoroughly to check out who had visited during the night. She's not picking-up her feet. And I wonder if she is eating. She certainly likes to smell her hay but smelling hay provides little nourishment. Cardy is dropping weight.

Gypsy Update

Every night a family of raccoons comes to the deck. They ffinish any remaining cat food, play in the cats' water and then sit down on the mat, watching us watch them. They are actually waiting for the last walk of the night. To get Murphy and Gypsy past them without killing them, I throw cat kibble onto a corner of the deck, and the raccoons scurry over and eat, now out of the direct pathway to the stairs down to the ground.

On this last walk, Gypsy was sniffing at the margin of the grass and driveway in front of the Barn. The raccoons were finishing when a marauding racccoon attacked them creating a loud disturbance, The lame Gypsy began barking and ran over to the stairway, and quickly trotted up one-third of the way up the first flight before stopping when I called him. We usually have to help him by tugging on his harness to get up the steep stairs.

By the way, raccoons are part of the bear family. They are closely related to pandas - no surprise in that pandas and raccoons are both masked. The European and North American bears are one line of descent from common proto-bear - pandas and raccoons are another.

Last week Cardy, our rescued 35 year old New Zealand trotter, began slowly spinning in a meandering pattern in her paddock. Her movement reminded me of the teacups in Disneyland's "It's a Small World" ride. When Cardy was still, which wasn't often, her hip was not over her stifles, but shifted to the left - not a stable position - and one she could not hold for long. Clearly, she was in pain.

Today's story is part of our horses' stories and underlies the power of this land and the power of human intent..

A bit of history - Cardy came to us in 2003 at the winter solstice. Carol Miller, a well known Mendocino advocate for animals had heard that an old mare was to be shot in Covelo, but that the owners preferred to find someone to take care of her through the remainder of her life. Carol, a former employee, knew that we had a lonely horse, Dan, who the town's kids had named "Miracle Horse" in 1988 because he had survived a broken leg, much like the break suffered by Barbaro during the Kentucky Derby three years ago. Dan's break was more difficult in that it was his front right leg: the front legs carry sixty percent of a horse's weight. His break was a spiral, compound, complex fracture of the radius that resulted in the radius having to be fused to the carpals. Once Dan had healed to the extent that he could walk without a splint, he could be in the field in front of the Inn. Dan and his pasture mate, a beautiful black Morgan named R.J., became "herd-bound," R.J. watching over Dan while he lay in the pasture to rest his legs.

In May 2003, neighbors moved in across the highway and allowed their two dogs to run. The dogs crossed the Coast Highways and ran into our pasture, scaring R.J. who slipped while running away breaking his right femur. This break was fatal - irreparable - unlike Dan's. A vet came to put him down - but R.J. left his body, just as the needle was inserted. That alone felt to be a miracle.

Dan was now alone. I went down to him in the mornings and evenings to feed and medicate him. I talked to him and handle him, but I was not R.J. When Carol called about Cardy, Joan and I said, "Yes!"

Last week, Cardy almost toothless, lame was in pain. She circled in an attempt to become stable and was not eating. On Thursday, Ryan, who is our chief engineer - he handles everything from special building projects to overseeing every aspect of maintenance - spent part of the late evening brushing and talking to Cardy while Joan and I were out. His time with her helped Cardy to get through the night. The next morning she circled again and becoming increasingly exhausted.

Dana who multitasks as a Master Gardener, our sustainability expert (her MA is in sustainable international development), and assistant general manager, went to the pasture along with our newest massage therapist and energy worker, Wilea. They hung out with Cardy and after a while, Cardy felt safe enough to lay down. We believed that she was down for good due to her age and the extent of her lameness. Cardy slept, her lips quivering. Dana stayed with her, under a large garden umbrella that we brought out to protect her and Cardy from the constant rain. A couple of hours later, Dana called and had me look from the Inn. There, in the rain, Cardy stood next to her. Cardy hasn't been spinning since. Dana created the second part of Cardy's miracle. The vets came who had expected to put her down, checked her out, and then went up to the inn for some food. Karen Novak happily again prescribed "Bute" - phenylbutazon - a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory, which Cardy had repeatedly refused in times past. Due to her soreness she was tractable. She suggested that Cardy be severely restricted in her movement which she hates. Horses depend on their ability to run to avoid protect themselves from predators and restricted spaces are not "safe" for horses not acclimated to them.

This morning the Bute is helping her. She wants out of the small paddock we created for her. She is alert and she is eating. I truly believe that without Ryan and Dana's efforts she would not be with us today.

A meditation on Mendocino Weddings

The joining of two people under the auspices of the State and/or a spiritual tradition is always a major event. It doesn't matter what the size of the wedding: if only two lovers, a minister/officiant and a witness, a wedding is joyful. It often represents the joining of more than two beings, but the creation of families, especially when one or both bring children into the relationship. The joining of two is also the joining of their families and their friends, creating extended families and new friendships.

This year is surprising: few people are calling to arrange any size wedding from an elopement to a full wedding. I have talked with area innkeepers and they have experienced a significant drop in inquiries and suspect that its is the 'economy.' As a minister, I am saddened that the decision to become married has become an economic decision. We know, here, that two seeking to be married, regardless of the number of observers can arrange a ceremony and use of Mancha's garden for very little - the cost of a room. This is not about the Stanford Inn by the Sea, but our respect for the process, the currents that underlie the joining of two beings.

Marriage is a sacrament here: In Mendocino, the "divine is active' in joining two people in nature - in an area of incredible beauty and energy. In our secular time, "nature" is the source of grace. And grace is evoked from within, urged by our resonance with - our deep appreciation of the beauty of this special place. Here a wedding is "grace" and here lives are joined in beauty. The act of marriage is more than the recognition by a State of a relationship - but an act of "nature" moving lovers to a reality beyond themselves.

To avoid disease and middle age weight gain, David Noonan adopted the 28 day program in The Engine 2 Diet: The Texas Firefighter's 28-Day Save-Your-Life Plan That Lowers Cholesterol and Burns Away the Pounds. The diet was developed by Rip Esselstyn to help his fellow firefighter adopt a vegan whole foods diet. Esselstyn has been vegan for more than 20 years and is an athlete and son of Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, of the Cleveland Clinic, who has long advocated vegan diets for prevention of disease. (Check out Rip Esselstyn's web site http://www.theengine2diet.com/)

Eating a vegan whole foods diet is a credible way to avoid weight gain and disease. Noonan's conversion is hopeful and perhaps he can affect other people. But this happy development may disintegrate like Oprah's brief foray into veganism providing a hiccup in her climb to 200 pounds.

I have noticed a distinct tendency by many people to be self destructive. Whatever diet they try, they go off it. I know this is true - it is true of me. But years ago I realized that I could not kill an animal for food and that it was not ethical to ask another person to do that for me (which made me sort of like a vulture or hyena). I became vegan to avoid adding to animals' suffering. I did it for myself in the sense that I wanted to avoid feeling guilty. I am vegan because I love animals. This is a diet I have stayed on because it isn't just for me! If it was for my health or to lose weight, I more than likely would have given up on it after a few months - like a former cigarette smoker trying just one and starting again.

For Noonan's article check out this link http://www.newsweek.com/id/189291 .

Except for occasional pain in his left hip, right knee or left front leg that are continuing to heal, Gypsy is in great shape. He has returned fully from the aspirin experiment. He clearly had been losing blood from internal bleeding and now, without aspirin and following only one acupuncture treatment he jumps and gets up on his own, runs after Murphy and always follows me to the kitchen door. His appetite is back: he loves his sea palm strudel and nori as well as Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance vegetarian (vegan) dog food.

Before his first (and so far only) acupuncture treatment, our veterinarian suggested that Gypsy go on to an anti inflammatory called Remedyl. I asked her if she knew if there was any relationship between the drug and cancers. She called the veterinarian head of The Animal Care Center in Rohnert Park. He was amazed that Gypsy was still with us. It was months ago that Gypsy came home from the Center to die. Gypsy is a testament to the power of natural processes for healing.

Some of you have told me that you read about Gypsy and we wanted you to know.

We have been asked thousands of times if we are related to Leland and Jane Stanford who founded Stanford University in the name of their son, Leland Jr. who died of typhoid at 18. We are not. And we understand that Leland and Mary had no close relatives to which to leave any portion of their estate. Our branch of Stanfords is similarly small. Our grandparents are gone and parents are gone - and our branch now consists of only three brothers and a sister and three cousins and all our children. The Stanford Inn by the Sea is a very small family run Inn!

Now we are asked if we are related to Robert Allen Stanford. No! Never heard of him until he was accused of defrauding people of millions of dollars. We will still be asked.