Robert Dodge Dodge

No

Which one?

Japan; Glenview, IL; Chicago, IL; Evanston, IL; Oakland, CA; Los Osos, CA; Healdsburg, CA

After high school, I joined the Air Force. After basic and tech training, I was stationed in Monterey, CA for one year of language training; then in Japan for two years. I returned to Chicago area, working at The Northern Trust Bank for 22 years, meeting and marrying Margaret. I retired in 1990, moving to Oakland, CA for 13 years, then to Los Osos on the coast halfway between SF & LA for 19 years, then to Healdsburg, CA, ~ 50 mi. north of SF.

I have traveled to Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the Carribean, New Zealand, East Africa, China, Sweden, Italy, Japan, France, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Portugal, and Spain, and many parts of the U.S. from Florida to Alaska and Hawaii to Maine.

I have painted in oil, acrylic, encaustic, collage, and mixed media (even tar!), have exhibited from Washington State to Southern California to Chicago to Maine, and have work in private collections all over the U.S. and even Japan. You can see my work at www.RobertDodgeArt.com.

I continue to paint, enjoy cooking, writing poetry, reading and exploring the coast and the wine country near our home. Margaret and I are in several food-oriented groups, a wine tasting group, and several art groups. We are in separate book groups; mine consists of several retired professors, a retired judge, a wine writer, and myself. I waste excessive amounts of time on Facebook.

Margaret and I have practiced Zen Buddhism since 1997, when we took our first trip to Tassajara, one of the facilities of the San Francisco Zen Center (www.SFZC.org). We have returned many times since, and have participated in a number of activities with our Zen teacher, Michael Wenger (www.DragonsLeap.com).

I am chagrinned to recall receiving an F from Ms. Herrod for an essay on the awkwardness of having a runny nose...Not considered an appropriate subject. Write not about snot!

I'm too attached to outcomes; better to focus on effort without desire. I waste time waiting; there's always something better to do with the mind. I'd do better to learn to rest WHILE I work. I waste too much energy on anger and other dramas that could be spent in so many better ways. I try to anticipate too much; I'm more effective when I just meet what arises. I fret about the way my work is going before I've had time to really see where it needs to go. I usually don't know what I think I know, and sometimes know what I don't think I know. In fifty years, I haven't really learned much, or maybe I have. I'm a completely new person every moment.