I'm very thankful to be living in Sonoma County, California. Surely one of the most beautiful places to live on Earth. Here it is late November and we have roses blooming alongside the gorgeous fall leaves.
I'm also grateful for my family! We had such a nice friendly Thanksgiving dinner, with so much love and care put into the meal and so little drama to endure. We're all quietly doing our thing in the world and it's working out pretty well.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Another Year to Be Grateful For
Making Ravioli with Jerry
On Tuesday, Eden and Aja walked over to make pumpkin raviolis with Jerry. After a brief struggle over who got to wear the pretty pink apron, they got down to business, making the vegetarian centerpiece of our Thanksgiving dinner. Young inductees into the slow food movement.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Uncle Mike
My Uncle Mike came to visit from Florida. He was staying up in Windsor and we had a number of great days together. This was our first day. We had breakfast at Howard Station in Occidental, then drove over Coleman Valley Road up at the top of the world, down to the ocean.
I'd planned on Schoolhouse Beach, but there were enormous waves crashing in, making it totally unsafe.
So we joined a small crowd at Salmon Creek Beach. There were no surfers at all--the waves were pure chaotic foam.
On the way home we stopped to see Florence Avenue in Sebastopol and all of Patrick Amiot's great sculptures.
Monday, November 23, 2009
The long lost tale of hope
One of my favorite Flickr contacts is lichtmaedel. If you'd like a wonderful dose of serene eye candy, click here for a long slideshow of her photography.
Saturday, November 07, 2009
The Artist Krista Brown
Last weekend, which just happened to be Halloween and Dio de los Muertos, Krista had her first open studio of the year.
I wasn't much involved with setting up for the show, and to be honest here, I was a bit grumpy about the whole thing. Krista seemed to be working non-stop for weeks getting ready. She'd come home alternately tearing her hair out with frustration, or all smiles. Crazy making. But when I finally went over and saw the place I was moved.
Her open studios have always been really cool. It's not just paintings on the wall, she has the place packed with little altars and displays of curios.
Well, this time it all reached some sort of critical mass threshold. There was so much intensely interesting grooviness packed into that little space it felt like it was glowing somehow. A beacon of beauty and wonderment.
And I'm happy to report that it was far and away her most successful open studio to date.
For one thing, there were people visiting the entire time and the studio was actually crowded for much of Sunday. Our wonderful Tumbleweed play group showed up en masse and that was a rush! But even after they left, we had a full house all day.
Even though we'd done the lamest job ever at advertising, we were just about "at capacity" most of the time.
Krista sold at least six or seven paintings, which is a new record. In fact she sold some of just about everything on offer, including her groovy "energy elixirs", a Bali sarong, stickers, cards, prints and even a magnet or two (my contribution). It was a wild success.
But best of all, the fantastic energy and 'never a dull moment' feel of the event was tremendously affirming.
I know that I'm terribly biased, but I honestly feel that Krista is one of the great living painters--and her career is still very young! To see her get such a walloping dose of well deserved appreciation made my heart glad.
Seeds & Shadows Open Studio 2009
Jerry singlehandedly turned Krista's open studio into an "event", by manning the cob oven the entire time and turning out an endless stream of fabulous wood fired pizzas--I'm guessing close to 30 of them.
This added such an amazing dimension of sensual pleasure and a spirit of true generosity, that I believe it helped fuel the quantum leap in Krista's success.
Sunday, November 01, 2009
Likely Suspects
Our Halloween this year started the Friday night at the fabulous High Street Party. I wore this mask and really creeped people out! Except for Donna. I think she said I reminded her of an old boyfriend.
Krista was a 30's starlet. And we met up here with the Mad Hatter.
More photos on Flickr.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Thoughts on Education and Creativity
Ken Robinson has some important points I wish all parents would consider. Plus he has a nice British accent!
Monday, October 26, 2009
Zombies for Health Care Reform
On Sunday Eden and I joined a throng of zombies down at Courthouse Square to draw attention to the need for health care reform.
I reckon there were about a hundred of us, along with a marching band and a lot of photographers.
We marched down Fourth Street, down past the library and up Third. I have no doubt that we made all the difference, just like the final snowflake that starts an avalanche. Harry Reid announced today that the Senate bill will include the "public option".
Ironically, it's the corporations that are the true undead.
As Krista Brown wrote in her fantastic blog Undercurrents:
After seeing the film The Corporation awhile back and reading Ted Nace’s Gangs of America, this idea of the act of incorporating being akin to creating a Frankenstein is not far off. A corporation enjoys the rights we as individuals do and yet it has superpowers, can shape shift (into new and diverse businesses), has an insatiable appetite (for profit), is immortal and cannot be held accountable. When you start to look a bit deeper at the nature of the corporation, it is frankly terrifying.So, in the legend, when it becomes clear that the Golem must be destroyed, the rabbi can return the monster to earth by “removing the word of God”. When a corporation crosses the line, what recourse is there? That’s where the “revocation of charter” action starts to sound very interesting.
In the good old days, that’s what we Americans did. Revoked charters. Slam. Firstly, corporations back then were limited to the state where their charter was issued and it was so only with the clearest of terms and purpose, with a built in expiration. So when a corporation stepped out of bounds (by causing public harm, for instance), we the people revoked that corporation’s charter and it died. Slam. Death penalty.
Yes, let’s move beyond anemic slap-on-the-wrist fines. Gross polluter? Slam. Violation of human rights? Slam. Repeat offender? Slam. Could the modern day corporation, so different a creature from its early American predecessors, be kept in line with stricter limitations and the threat of death? I really don’t know.
It's a grim business when an able body has no soul.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
The Dreaded Swine Flu - Check This Out
Here's a link to a fantastic site on the dreaded SWINE FLU "epidemic" and the vaccine. Check it out!
Friday, October 16, 2009
It's Alive!
Jerry got the cob oven up to 1000 degrees or so. He's got this fancy laser thermometer with pinpoint accuracy. The outside top got up to about 150 degrees. He cooked the pizzas on the 700 degree bricks. They cooked in about one to two minutes!
We had caramelized onions, two kinds of peppers, red sauce, pesto and bechamel sauce, olives, mushrooms, goat cheese, fresh mozzarella, regular mozzarella, fresh basil and two kinds of roasted peppers. I think we made at least 12 small pizzas, maybe more.
Each pizza was different and I wanted to try them all. Oh dear, I ate way too much.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Yosemite
Last week I took Eden up to Yosemite for four days of nature classes. This was arranged by some local homeschoolers with the Yosemite Institute.
We camped in the Upper Pines campground from Sunday afternoon to Saturday morning. It was incredibly cold in the mornings, especially the first few days. I'd never camped in the cold before. We had extra sleeping bags and wore lots of clothing to bed.
And there were bears. The first night, some idiots next to us kept a box of food in their tent! A bear ripped right through and dragged it out. Rangers came and there was a big commotion (about 2am).
In fact there were bears around every night and we were very careful not to have any food outside the 'bear box'.
During the day we had ground squirrels, jays, black birds and ravens all after our food. We had to be pretty careful! No bugs though.
For me, it was a rare opportunity to be off on my own, all the time while Eden was away with her group. I loved it!
We had been encouraged to bring our bikes and I was so grateful. Yosemite has awesome bike paths, though you want to stop every twenty feet to gape at the views.
There were 13 homeschooling families, with a whole passel of kids. Eden and Aja were in the younger group, which was good. The teen group did some very strenuous hikes! At night we'd have sing-a-longs around the campfire and it was really fun.
After a few days I felt part of this group of very warm, welcoming folks and their interesting kids.
I even got to do a little EFT, helping a little girl and one of the moms with height phobias. I'll tell you, Yosemite is a great place to work on height phobias.
We ran into Meredith and Steve, and Meredith's folks on our last day and got to hang out with them a bit.
I also met a number of really nice international travelers, out there on the trails. I met folks from France, Turkey, South Korea, Denmark, Germany, Australia and Belgium. This helped me appreciate what a jewel we have here in our own backyard.
Eden did not want to come home! But I'm planning a trip back in the Spring, and this time we may even take Krista and India with us.
ps, of course I have lots more photos on Flickr.
Happy Campers
Even though it was VERY cold in the mornings and evenings, Eden and Aja had the best time. Eden did not want to come home. I too loved the simplicity of our meals, and the freedom to wander the park on foot or by bike. The days were sunny and even warm once in a while.
But eventually we ran out of cookies and had to come home.
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