<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="">Dear friends,</div><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>As you may know, over 70 gray whales have washed up dead on the Pacific shores this year, 13 of them in the San Francisco Bay Area. Most have died of starvation, some by collision with ships.</div><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>My heart is breaking as we witness what may be the beginning of the end of this magnificent species that has shared this planet with us for as long as we have been human. Our world will be a poorer place without them.</div><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>My friends Doug von Koss, Francis and Judith Weller, Elizabeth Herron and I are planning a memorial service and grief ritual for the whales July 20 at a beach in Sonoma County. We don’t know the time or specific location yet, but will let you know soon. If you are touched as we are by this tragedy we invite you to join us. </div><div class="">In solidarity with all beings,</div><div class="">Larry</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><img apple-inline="yes" id="D91B7F74-00E9-44F6-B026-0E6EA96FBA2E" class="" src="cid:4F53A694-470F-4488-95B7-E9DF5231FE35@gateway.sonic.net"></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Dying Thoughts Of A Beached Whale</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I lie resting half into the sand</div><div class="">And she pulses against me</div><div class="">As softly as the edge of the sea</div><div class="">Envelopes the edge of the land; </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">She pushes but never overmounts </div><div class="">My naked flank like a rock</div><div class="">Or the sunken support of a dock</div><div class="">Stuck just where the tide runs out</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">And the blank dark ceiling above</div><div class="">Shows vision and memory</div><div class="">That astrology and astronomy</div><div class="">Reveal, but these are alive with love. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> - Christopher Woodall</div></body></html>