Sunday, March 20th turned out to be on of the rainiest days in Los Angeles in years. The wind was also a factor that made it feel like a true "storm." Even though the forecast was clear it was going to be a bad weather day, we decided to follow through with the event because it was about finding inner peace through prayer focused on the devastation of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that hit Japan on Friday, March 11th. Because of the difference in time zones, it was actually March 10th in Los Angeles, a very typical Southern California day: peaceful, calm, and sunny in a Mediterranean climate zone.

It actually turned out to be a quite productive day even though the rainstorm kept most people snuggled inside their homes. However, as I called around to remind folks to be connected to Japan via meditation and prayer all responded that was an important focus for the day and went further to say they would carry through with that idea. So prayer and meditation for the Japanese people and their natural environment was strong in Jefferson Park. Three homes carried through on the plans for cooking. Jerry did the American Barbeque, Martha made a Mexican chicken salad with lots of vegetables in a mayonnaise-based macaroni, and Margarita cooked chicken birria along with refried beans. What's interesting is that we learned how to execute a distribution of food if it would ever rain on an event in the future. A total of 8 homes feasted on our free door-to-door cuisine delivery.

What also made it a very good day in spite of the gloomy and cold weather was the fact that we had cleaned out the alley in back of the property that was central to this event. The extreme downpour gave us a chance to see how well the guttering down the center of the alley worked. The water flowed beautifully, as if a brook in the countryside. The murals that were done in that alley to begin a process of community beautification also stayed intact, vibrant and interesting to look at.