( http://www.katu.com/news/national/80296737.html)
By Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Last month, marine scientists counted more than 1,500 sea lions on fabled Pier 39, a record number that delighted tourists and baffled experts.

Why so many? Why were they sticking around?

But now, almost all the sea lions are gone, leaving the experts guessing where they went - and why.

"Most likely, they left chasing a food source," said Jeff Boehm, executive director of the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, which runs an information center and gift shop at Pier 39. "It's probably what kept them here in the first place."

On Tuesday, 10 seals lounged and swam and dove from the docks, spreading themselves out where the animals were stacked three and four deep just a month ago. The bulk of the herd probably followed their favorite foods, sardines and anchovies, Boehm said.

The animals began leaving in droves the day after Thanksgiving, almost as if someone had issued an order. But Boehm said the fact that so many sea lions stayed for so long is even stranger than their disappearance.

"They do move off," Boehm said, adding that in the fall, older sea lions head to breeding colonies in the Channel Islands, off the coast of Southern California along the Santa Barbara Channel. Younger sea lions, he said, "don't mind those rules and tend to travel far and wide."

The younger ones still sticking around Pier 39 were enough to satisfy hordes of visitors huddled against the wind to watch them. The seals huddled together, dove off the docks, and honked and barked,

"We're happy with what we see," said Carmen Fernandez of Miami Beach, Fla., who was watching the seals with her husband Carlos.

Despite the sea lions' abrupt disappearance, Boehm said the Marine Mammal Center is not concerned that they have left for good. While more then the usual number have left - usually about 40 remain - it is very unlikely, Boehm said, that they won't come back. He said the herd will probably come back, as usual, by the spring.

>>>>>> http://www.katu.com/news/local/81019802.html

"Nature never repeats herself, and the possibilities of one human soul will never be found in another." Elizabeth S

" Do you have the patience to sit while the mud settles and reveals clear water"

" Your like an indian summer in the middle of winter"

Tears falling, hearts opening, Love pours in.

The fires here in California have gotten pretty bad, send up a prayer.

"I think continually of those who were truly great.
Who, from the womb, remembered the soul's history
Through the corridors of light, where the hours are suns,
Endless and singing. Whose lovely ambition
Was that their lips, still touched with fire,
Should tell of the Spirit, clothed from head to foot in song.
And who hoarded from the Spring branches
The desires falling across their bodies like blossoms.

What is precious, is never to forget
The essential delight of the blood drawn from ageless springs
Breaking through rocks in worlds before our earth.
Never to deny its pleasure in the morning simple light
Nor its grave evening demand for love.
Never to allow gradually the traffic to smother
With noise and fog, the floweing spirit.

Near the snow, near the sun, in the highest fields,
See how these names are feted by the waving grass
And by the streamers white cloud
And whispers of the wind in the lightning sky.
The names of those who in their lives fought for life,
Who wore at their hearts the fire's centre.
Born of the sun, they travelled a short while toward the sun
And left the vivid air signed with their honour."

-- Stephen Spender . Taken from Touched with Fire By, Kay Redfield Jamison 1993

My mother has been fighting cancer for the past 5 years. The reality of the situation never really hit me until I seen how much she went through in trying to fight this off. People take life for granted every day ... They wake up and jump into the same routine day in and day out, moving further and further away from truly being engaged with the life they are living. How would you feel to loose your life to death knowing you walked half of your time in a Sleepers sleep, never fully in the moment? How does it make you feel thinking you kiss and share space with your lover, but so often thier presence is taken for granted and looked over ? It pains my heart deeply to feel that people are missing the point. That they are so locked up in there heads thier hearts become closed off. Cant we all come into ourselves and remember to Love. Love ourselves, our health, eachother, this world.

Today is May 1. A day where many people celebrate and honor life.

So Live Life, Love Life, Be Life -- whole.