Brad, Lori and Ava were back in town this past week for the first time in over a month, this is the first time I've been able to see them since Thanksgiving.  It's amazing how good Ava looks.  She's walking around, smiling and doin the baby talk thing – you'd never know she was sick.

Looking at pictures from the last few months it's hard to remember this is a little girl who learned how to walk with tubes dangling from her and has spent almost a quarter of her life in the hospital.  She acts like any other one year old, happy to see family and running around at high speed with her grandmother sprinting after her.  That’s one of the great things about being home for a week, Lori knows her mother is hyper aware of everything Ava does and she can breathe for a minute.

The community response has been amazing.  Lori and Brad have received calls, letters and donations from people they've never even met as word has gone out about Ava.  The spaghetti dinner fundraise at the Canfield High School pulled in hundreds of people and over fifty baskets were donated for the Chinese Auction. It was an amazing turnout and a wonderful show of generosity from the community.

The next fund raising event will be a Dinner Dance at St. Nicholas Social Hall, Friday, April 24th from 7 – 11 pm, tickets are $20 each.  764 Fifth St., Struthers, OH.  For reservations call 330-536-2136

Brad, Lori and Ava head back to Cincinnati for the next round of chemo today.

Almost a month ago I had a car accident coming home from a fair.  I was a bit shaken, but the car was messed up and insurance declared it dead.  Thus began one of those months were every little flaw, flub, and flailing in your spiritual practice is thrown into a glaring spotlight.  So, ok, I still have first chakra issues.

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I've been dreaming about New York again.  Nothing profound this time – There was a time when I would dream about packing to leave NYC when I would get overly stressed – these are dreams of walking through my old neighborhood.  Shopping at Big Jin's market for fruits and vegetables, eating at Rice Avenue or just walking out to where I used to park my car; everyday activities that I used to love.

These are the things I miss most about living in New York City – the quite, every day moments of life.  It's what I always love best about were I live.  I love walking around the yard, poking at the garden or the compost pile, taking empty side streets and looking at my crumbling town, being alone and quite in the space.  Soaking in the energy of a place and becoming a part of it.

It's why I resist going back to visit places I used to live, especially if I no longer have real roots there.  Coming back to Ohio I could still walk the same paths because my family lived there.  For a while it was easy to go back to Virginia and hang around the A.R.E. and stay with friends, but NYC... is different.  Especially as a visitor, it can be hard to move slowly there.  To visit the markets and not buy fresh produce, what would I do with it?  To just absorb the sounds of life.

I turn 33 this month and it has me looking back at the last year.  What were the ups, the downs and the level patches.  There was a lot of good this past year as I changed my focus to that of a full time psychic 

It's a very weird job and can be hard to explain, I mean, if you introduce yourself as a carpenter no one replies, "Carpenter huh?  Idunno, I'm a skeptic.  Prove it, build be something right now!"  You get variations on that all the time as a psychic.  Also, as a younger member of the community I get a lot of un-asked for advice.  Some good, some bad, some just plain strange.  I've been told: I change too much, I charge too little, my readings are too long, I need to wear costumes or outfits, I need to wear suits, I need to be more professional, I should stand on my head at fairs more often (I did that once), I need to relax and enjoy the ride, I shouldn't put my pictures on everything, I need to be more sensitive (screw that), I need to open a shop or hang out my shingle, and best of all – I need to stop doing readings my way and start doing them your way or I'll "destroy my gift."  Strangely, no one's told me to cut my hair or respect my elders.  I think what I really need for my birthday is a shirt with that old line Elvira used to say, "When I want your opinion I'll beat it out of ya."

As you can see, I've decided to keep my own council on most of that.  The one thing I have learned is that the more people see and hear me the better I do.  Whether it be readings, lectures, teaching or just talking, passive advertising doesn’t work for me.  They need to see my face and hear my voice, so this year is all about getting as much exposure as I can with fairs, lectures and teaching.  There's a lot I want to say and a lot I want to do, so many people are wandering around and anything I can do, We can do, to help them along their perfect path would be my honor.