The first time I smoked Pot I loved it.  We were all in the basement apartment of my college friend.  We had purchased a half full baggie of primo weed on the University Avenue for twelve dollars.  Someone passed me a joint as I was sitting in front of the fire place and within moments I was in the fire.  Not literally, but my imagination was like a spider crawling on one of the logs.  It was hot.

   The next thing I did was look at the aquarium.  I was in there with the fish.  They moved so gracefully and it was marvelous to be in that liquid environment with them.  The colors were amplified turquoise.

    Someone brought in a head of lettuce and we all enjoyed peeling off the leaves and crunching that fresh juicy piece of light green nature.  We were laughing our heads off when my friend came into the room and said his landlord suspected something and we all had to leave.  I stumbled into my coat and out onto the sidewalk.  

    The pavement rose up into the sky in each direction and I just started walking.  The next day when we all got back together again I heard stories of people imagining that the trees were exploding.  We all agreed it was so much fun we wanted to do it again.

   That was in 1967.  I have enjoyed marijuana ever since.  I got so it was a catalyst to creativity.  I was never really into using it as a party tool.  About ten years ago I stopped smoking weed.  It just happened naturally.  Oh,  there were a few times when someone gave me a bud or two and I remembered how much I enjoyed it.  When I was the house director in a sorority I used to find buds up on the roof terrace and once in someone's room.  I found a great glass pipe on the living room sofa one morning when I was making my rounds.  Thank you girls.

     The series 'Weeds' shows a hectic, scary side of pot.  The medical clinics are trying to tell us that it can be medicinal.  I am offended that Obama refused to consider legalizing it.  It could be so profitable and getting it out in the open and under control is important.  Alcohol had to be regulated and now alcoholics can be spotted a mile away and helped.  In the end it is an individual journey and we all have to know our boundaries. 

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  Ok  I just took five tokes off that beautiful glass pipe with some home grown that a friend of mine gave me.  I am one step up.  "One Step Up' was the name of a pot shop on the University Avenue in the sixties.  It had colorful hand painted signs out front and all sorts of exotic hookahs and pipes for sale.   We used to walk up and down the Ave and people would offer us Weed, Acid, Mescaline on the street by softly saying those words to you as you walked along.  I remember seeing cops with cameras trying to pinpoint the sources.  

   I remember the time I smoked weed with Wayne Wells in the bushes on campus.  We were so high when the Campus Cop found us.  But apparently he was a friend of Wayne and just walked away and let us be.  Oh I wonder where Wayne is now?  A beautiful, tall, black Artist who befriended me a few times.  "Are you ready to cum yet, Baby?"   Oh I remember that sentence so well.  I should have said 'No'  keep going but I didn't know that in those days.  I ended up sleeping with his short fat friend Fritz.  He was actually a better lover but I still didn't get it all.  Owning your life and what you want to do is important.

    I enjoy smoking pot.  I have Cirque Du Soleil music coming out into the air and I have some time here at my own safe place and my life is somewhat in order.  So I can fly a little.  I haven't done much writing stoned but I have done lots of art work.  Quality suffers but so what?  I can enjoy a little insanity. It is not a bad thing to take yourself less seriously sometimes.  I want to know where my mind is and let it roam free.  Right now it is calling me to start painting.  I already ate a burrito before I smoked a joint so I don't have the munchies.  There goes another myth about pot that my mom actually warned me about.

   She had been in a restroom with two teen age girls.  She overheard them to say "Pot gave her the munchies and she gained ten pounds."   Hello.....My mom knew that there was my problem.  I had the munchies.  When she told me about this I had to just smile.  I wish I had a mom to have the munchies with and play with.  My daughters and I know about pot.  We know it's dangers and its pleasures.  Neither of them smoke much any more.   There are stories there to tell.  Maybe I will do that someday when I can tell the truth and not hurt anybody.    Lots of stories.

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   I had to come back in from painting stucco in the back yard to change my pants and get my camera.  Of course I can't resist sitting down here to type a few words.   My mind has been way out in the universe dancing with former lovers and enjoying my new set of colors.  When I get back out there I am going to add white to my new green as it is almost black.  I am trying not to be judgmental about the colors.  

   I am making a few more mistakes typing than I would if I hadn't smoked a bowl.   I know a person can get so far out there that they cannot function.  I don't like that.  How much control do you want over your life?  I like to let loose just enough to go One Step Up.  

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    I am back again from securing everything in the backyard for the rain that is forecast.  In California they treat rain like snow and things slow down.  That is a good thing for this hyped up area.  The old hippies thought this was a mecca in the sixties and there is some great music that came out of here.   I would like to see it revive.  

   When I am high and doing Art my mind travels.  It goes to grandiose ideas about creating and then way over to friends and family.  It even led me to think of putting an ad on craigslist for a big sexy guy who likes to stucco.  Ha.  I did lots of painting out there today but it is mostly just basic background colors.  I love just playing with the materials which means breaking the rules and pushing the envelop.

    There is a little statue of my deceased friend Peter on my table.  I gave him a little more paint today.  We only smoked pot together twice in four years.  One time I remember falling off the bed with him and laughing.  The other time I remember him sitting there telling me he wanted to be my agent and sell my art up and down the coast.  I told him that would be great but it never happened.  I am not easy for an agent to work with.

       They say those who can't do, teach.  I really don't want to teach anyone Art.  I sometimes feel it is just as toxic as Pot smoke.  It alters our environment and changes our perspectives.  I'm down a little now.  Floating back to a place where the clock is important.  It has been about two hours which is about the same as going to a movie or having a great love making session.  I am relaxed and going to lay down for a bit of a nap. 

       Thank you for smoking a bowl with me today.