Roald Dahl quote

http://zero1blog.com/?p=16434

Hello. Good morning.

I woke up in Olympia today at the house of my dear friends.  I was on the couch, so I literally (but comfortably, fortunately) rolled out of bed (couch) at 6:15 to get up and enjoy some morning time with my gal who had to be at work at 7:00.  As I stretched myself awake, I had this song in my head, so I sang to my gal while she was making us some coffee and reheating muffin-sized spinach frittatas (yum!) before I drove her to work (which made her man very happy cuz it meant he could head back to bed). 

I really love waking up in Olympia, so much so that I'm ready to come out and say to the internet world that it is my New Year's resolution to get my bad self out of the woods of Potlatch.  It's been a beautiful stay (3.5 years at this point), but I have been weighing the pleasure and beauty of Skokomish territory living against the centrality of moving back to the O for some time now.  It is time to start looking.  Dear Oly friends, I love you dearly, and it seems I will be closer to you again soon.  And then I won't have to crash every time I want to do something later in the evening on Oly nights.

Talk is cheap, but having no game is a detriment to your well-being

Places I've lived

Little yellow house: Age 0-2
Danville, IL
Reason for leaving: Family moved to MN

Parental Unit Home: Age 2-18
Fairmont, MN
Reason for leaving: Goin' to college. Gettin' out on my own!

Dorms @ U of M Twin Cities: Age 18 (2 months)
Mate: I forget her name
University Ave
Minneapolis, MN
Reason for leaving: Dorm life sucked, got out of my contract just in time to move in with Katie!

Sweet upper duplex: Age 18-19 (4 months)
3229 29th Ave. S.
Minneapolis, MN
Mate: Katie, then Haley too a few months later

Reason for leaving: It burned down!

Transition after fire:

• Walked around with all my worldly possessions in a backpack for a few days (and the Kvande's?)
• Stayed at a lovely Clinton area Minneapolis studio for a night (a friend's place)
• Stayed in a hippie house's basement for a day or 3 (left because they wanted $50 more for sleeping in the scary basement)
• ummm....

Cockroach hotel (efficiency apartment with a bathroom shared with an old lady whose apartment--and the bathroom--smelled distinctly of hot dogs): Age 19 (2 weeks)

11th and 18th in Minneapolis, MN

Reason for leaving: Cockroaches and Katie found a new place for all of us. Tried to sublet the roach motel for two weeks, but that sure as hell didn't work out.  Had to leave a lot of items behind to avoid infestation.  My only two weeks of living alone until my late 20s.

Phat pad: Age 19-Age 20

Mates: Katie, Danielle, Eric and Pat
Lake and Portland

Minneapolis, MN

Reason for leaving: Lease over, too expensive to heat, and a crackhead landlord (the best was when he came in at 3:00AM asking to fix the sink which we had been bugging him to do).

3-month sublet: Age 20

2 other subletters

North Minneapolis, MN

I painted here.  Rode bikes a lot to the Wespank.

Pagan Penthouse: Age 20

North Minneapolis, MN

Eric and 4 women and a kid and a cat or 5

3rd Avenue Apartment: Age 20-Age 21

Overlooking the Franklin Avenue madness by Coin Laundry

Shared with my buddy Eric

Minneapolis, MN

Reason for leaving: Soul adventure

Spice Factory/Art studio (simultaneous to house on 3rd): Age 20-21

Mates: Tracey, Justin, Erin, Wade, others, randomly

25th and University

Minneapolis, MN

Reason for leaving: Confidential and no way am I posting why online.

Danielle's apartment in Seattle...then Mpls., then...

West Seattle Ferret Factory: Age 21-22

Mates: Eiche, MarcAnthony, Iafay

Good times

Seattle, WA

The Rat House

Mate: Eiche

West Seattle Basement Plex: Age 22 (a few months only)

Seattle, WA

Frederick Street lofted room in revolutionary syndicate home: Age 22 (a few months)

Mates: Top Secret

Olympia, WA

Reason for leaving: Other people stayed for free, but I had to pay. Also, overrated.

Deer Run Apartments: Age 23 (a few months)

Mate: Let's forget

Olympia, WA

Reason for leaving: BLACK MOLD!  Also, cwazy woo-mate situashun.

Little house on Walnut: Age 23 (2 months)

Mates: Lora, her friend and her friend's daughter

Olympia, WA

Reason for leaving: Intentionally temporary

Little house in West Oly: Age 24 (3 months)

Mates: Anna and Jesse

Olympia, WA

Reason for leaving: More mold, my room was a converted garage and we liked it cold for environmentally friendly reasons.  Healthy times, but enough Oly, time to move back to Seattle...

Sweet house in the Central District: Age 24 (? months)

Mates: Eiche, Ajay, Jenn

Seattle, WA

Reason for leaving: Back to Olympia 

Cooper point duplex: Age 24-25

Mate: Eiche

Olympia, WA

Reason for leaving: well, the break up sorta i guess

Hilltop House: Age 25-26

Mates: Jo, James, Ryan, Lacey and Alex (RIP)

Olympia, WA

Reason for leaving: Got a place in Skokomish

Cottage in the Woods: Age 26-present

Potlatch, WA

I love living by myself.

But I'm thinking about moving again.

Because the feather-and-headress-wearing set got under mah skin this weekend...

Lost Tlingit Peace Piece

http://www.adn.com/2010/08/29/v-gallery/1430508/long-lost-tlingit-peace-headpiece.html#id=1430506&view=large_view

5 holes, 20+ stitches

I got a bunch of moles from my back removed about 24 hours ago and now IT HURTS!!!  It's a dull ache that makes me feel minimally woozy and nauseous, and since it's ridiculous to complain about it to my co-workers, I'm posting it on my blog, even though I still hate that word: BLOG!

In 1950

Such beautiful people

Berry season is wholly and fully upon us!

The little drops of sunlight-infused nectar are ready for our mouths!

EE + Mpls = LOVE

I match the wall!

If you like dancing, this is awesome...

Murs & 9th Wonder- The Problem Is (Ft. Sick Jacken, Uncle Chucc) *NEW 20...

Note to Self

Please
Please
Please
Do not forget
That you are an artist

We are golden

“Every atom in your body came from a star that exploded. And, the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than your right hand. It really is the most poetic thing I know about physics; You are all stardust. You couldn’t be here if the stars hadn’t exploded, because the elements - the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution and for life - weren’t created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear furnaces of the stars, and the only way for them to get into your body is if those stars were kind enough to explode. So forget Jesus. The stars died so you could be here today.”

- Lawrence Krauss

Recognized

Despite my occasional experiences to the contrary, not everyone is obsessed with blood quantum.  In fact, I know that most people I come into contact with are more concerned with the content of my character than some federal government-created concept designed to divide, at best and eradicate, at worst.

Canoe Journey! Imagine me, happy and free, fully inspired, wood through water, fueling and cooling my fire

Canoe Journey is so awesome.  I feel like being on Journey is my real life and this other life (work, bills, etc.) is the "work" that allows me to live the life I want to live, as fleeting as the annual tribal journeys may be.  I love being on the canoe so much, the people, the views, the clarity, ahhh.  I have some shoulder/neck issues, and they are so relieved by hardcore paddling: it's like physical therapy, the right muscles being used the way they were meant to be used, none of this desk/computer crap.  I also feel like I my body was born to do this, as if I am awakening something in my genes.  I'm really glad I'm going back out there after working today and tomorrow too, because I think I would cry if it was already over.


We pulled from Potlatch to Brinnon the first day and it was for real hella crazy exhausting.  An article about our first day landing:

 http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20100713/NEWS/307139988/windy-welcome-for-skokomish-pullers-as-tribal-canoe-journey-begins

 I was on the only canoe that made it that day that the article talks about.  Ed Green, the skipper in the article, is the skipper of the canoe I am on (he is really safety-conscious and experienced, and here is proof so my Mom doesn't worry).

The second day we landed in Port Gamble (I have seen no article about that: ha ha).

And here's an article about yesterday's landing in Port Townsend:

http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20100715/NEWS/307159995/0/news/tribal-canoe-journey-travelers-come-ashore-at-port-townsend

Pre-Journey

It's nice and hot here in the Pacific NW!  It's about 90 degrees this afternoon here, but it should be cooling off soon.

I just had a nice conversation with my grandfather this afternoon.  I had a dream last night with all four of my grandparents over at my house for a party.  I was telling Grandpa that at one point in my dream, I was making him smell my sauerkraut (in awake life, he had been making apple cider vinegar, so that's the connection there).  That dream also included coyotes and buffalo so I was definitely busy in my sleep last night.

I was also telling him about Canoe Journey, which starts on Monday.  I'm getting packed this weekend and also, I am going to be sanding the cedar paddle that the skipper of the canoe (Ed) made for me yesterday:

Here's a map of where the Canoe Journey is going this year:

http://paddletomakah.org/routemap.pdf

The route I am going on starts in Skokomish and it's a pink line out of the Hood Canal on the map.  We will then join up with other canoes coming from other places and head out westward across the northern coast of WA to Neah Bay on the Makah Reservation.

I'll be going back to work for a few days in the middle of the journey (I wanted to have some vacation time left for a trip to MN).  I'll be on the journey July 12-14 and 17-19.  The 20th will be a (serious) rest day.   It's supposed to be about 70 the whole time on the journey, so that is wonderful (not too hot).

Indian Pipe

Today I was speaking with my mom on the phone while I was walking through the woods.  It may not seem like I'm fully embracing the solitude of the forest if I talk on the phone while I traipse through the wooded paths, but since I am so far away from her, it's actually the perfect place to talk with her.  We were discussing the oil spill and related deep thoughts of the children in her fourth grade class, when suddenly I looked down to see...Indian Pipe!

I am not sure that I have ever seen it before, but I have read that it is really rare and needs to parasitize a fungus for its nutrients, because it doesn't produce its own chlorophyll.  It is a beautiful plant! Go symbiotic organisms go!

Berry time!

Well, it's that time of year again!  The salmonberries are out in full force!  The first few, tart as they may be, are always the best.  I generally eat a combination of miner's lettuce and salmonberries this time of year.  The best part about berries, of course, is the sharing.  Last year, I went berry picking with my then-2-year-old friend Marin, and this year, she was all about it!  I'd come over to their house, and one of the first things she'd want to do is put on her boots to go pickin'!

Beautiful yellow salmonberries!

Yummy red salmonberries!













It's always a competition between me and the birds and other creatures.  I should really let them just have them all, but I need to enjoy a few for spiritual nourishment.  The saddest part about the salmonberries this year is that a few of my favorite spots for pickin' were a part of the 40 acres of clearcutting that occurred on the land I rent.  Muy triste.

Freakend!

I think all my weekends might be this good, but this one just felt extra decadent.  It started with an invigorating conference on Friday at my alma mater, complete with rich reconnections to some of the planet’s loveliest people and a noon run through the evergreen woods, getting just lost enough to make my heart beat a little fast, but not lost enough to miss the post-lunch breakout session, a little pollen on my jeans.

I let rush hour rush by and then I hopped on the freeway and made it to Seatown just in time to run into a reunion of great friends, sitting on the stoop.  A quick minute of some art and carpentry appreciation, some giggles and bubbly and a little down to earth grounded-ness, just before stepping next door to dance madly to a carefully orchestrated performance that included Night Fox, Mash Hall, Helladope (and oh, yes, they were!), Tilson the Happy, Dark Time Sunshine and Jake One right up until 1:45 AM when I got a chance to basically see the Jake One “Home” video live for the SECOND time (that happened for the Shabazz Palaces encore too). 

Smiling and feeling like an adult who knew how to enjoy an evening out, I headed happily back into the night, back to my awesome hookup of a Capitol Hill crashpad, and dreamed pretty until the alarm told me to get up and meet up with one of my nearest and dearest friends who I hadn’t seen in over a year.  We connected over coffee in Pioneer Square for hours.  He is wise, and I am lucky to have him as a friend. 

I sauntered back up over a hill or two and then blew that city (but not before a Healeo treat!). I rolled into Oly mid-afternoon on Saturday—a local jam band was rehearsing at a friend’s house, and I ended up staying all night, of course.  Those friends of mine just spoil me: 3 kinds of meat, 2 hours in the hot tub and 1 hilarious re-enactment of Mission Impossible/Three Musketeers…and that was just the beginning.  Hot dreams last night, pleasure centers activated fully, and then Pho for breakfast with my peeps. 

Then I rolled back up to Potlatch, tea-timed it with my wonderful, wise women friends and her darling daughter, and then popped back to the homestead to see that all these new little bulbs in my garden that had opened.  Lov-vel-ly.  I am currently jamming to the free CD I caught at the show (like winning the lottery, baby): Dark Time Sunshine’s Vessel and it is instantly amazing, no doubt, thick masculine flows, punctuated by sultry ladies that weave it all together.  Thank you, beautiful Pacific Northwest.  I don't know if I deserve all this goodness, but I'll take it with an open heart and deep appreciation.  Abundance eternal, such is life...

Wellness

Hummingbird buzzed by my window today...I took it as a sign and went out for a walk.  I heard a squeaking, twisting noise like a tree was about to fall, and I hoped it would so I could tell people that I saw and heard a tree falling in the forest, but the noise was actually a bird being all metal and headbanging against a hollow tree.

I planted today.  Direct sowing a month before the final freeze--oh yeah, just fine.  I planted snow peas, snap peas, 2 lechugas, rainbow chard, radishes and cilantro!  I admired the bloody dock and parsely from last season, such sweet resilience.  I also have a lavender and a sage plant.  The rose bushes are surrounded by garlic (I have my own garlic greens, oh yeah).  The daffodils have been blessing my space for a month, flanked by little purple bulb flowers.  A week ago, I saw the tulips puckering.--today, one is developing thistle-pink stripes and is getting fat! 

I'm never giving up coffee.

As I write this, it's just before 8:00 AM and I've already been at work for awhile.  Each precious sip of warm liquid acid is so delightful as it smoothes its way across my taste buds and makes the world come into clearer focus.  With each sip, I am a little closer to the reality of an empty cup, but this is not sadness.  This is appreciation for life.  And coffee.

P.S. I love weekends so much.

On the precipice of Wild

There is something beautiful and scary stirring within me that I've been ignoring. Well, I suppose I haven't been ignoring it--instead I've been feeding the other parts of my being, leaving my whole self just satiated enough so that this which lies just beneath the contentedness does not rebel and burst forth. But it's a powerful force, a force that has gained nourishment even when I neglect to actively feed it.

There are parts of me that easily die-off if I do not feed them. Vitriol, annoyance, judgment: these things all easy fade if I elect to not seep myself in them. And I have been building a powerful force of professional organizing and development in my life--I do like these parts of myself. However, there is a gorgeous wild chaos that lives at the tip of my tongue and is balancing on the diving board of my heart. There is a storm that brews just behind my lungs and is waiting to leap out.

I love this life I live, and this path is wonderful. I have no need to backtrack to or decommission any roads I've been on. What I need to do next is really make sure that there are not roads that pieces of my soul inhabit that have fallen out of focus on my map. I need to make sure the path I continue along is wide enough to include all the parts of me I want to integrate.

My vibrate-cakes?

Here's one version:

Use [silicon] muffin pans or other pie or mini pie-shaped cookware.

Use a food processor to make these layers:

Crust: Any combination of seeds and nuts [sunflower seeds, flax seeds, sesame seeds, walnuts, almonds, brazil nuts, hazelnuts, etc.], cacao nib powder, coconut oil &/or coconut butter, dried apricot.

Creamy layer: Cashews, lemon juice, huckleberries, coconut butter, vanilla. Alternative delicious recipe is to skip the the berry thing and use oranges or blood oranges.

Top crust: chopped nuts &/or dried berries (or tiny orange slice).

Put in freezer to set 'em, then pop 'em out, let 'em thaw a bit then EAT EAT EAT!

Take to work for good vibes.

Happiness

I met a unique cat on the street the other week. He and my friends and I were all giggles and theatrics for a short set then we all parted ways that sunny day. I was left feeling elevated, remembering how powerful we all are to positively impact each others' existences, regardless of how fleeting our connections may seem. A good thing to remember for sure.

Anyways, one of the things he was rapping about (and I use that word in the 70s context here) was his music projects, so when I was clicking around the other day, I found this video of this happy guy (Tilson) all bouncing around to the beats. A sweet collaboration that makes me wanna make music, which in my humble opinion, is what good art does (inspires one to create too).

Lady, it seems to me you need a little juice in your life

I never really thought I was invincible, but in youth, it is hard to conceptualize aging. As I grow and mature (ahem!), I am also having a few indicators of mild, well, degeneration. Nothing to really be alarmed about, and nothing truly intractable, but in the context of youth, and youth being all I’ve experienced, it is humbling. Bodies age, including mine.

I have also been thinking about my era of life in this context. One of the illusions I recently identified as such was that the first major changes in a post-pubescent woman’s body is childbearing. With that illusion, I assumed that I would see relatively little body change between puberty and childbearing, as if the body was in a static state of “maiden.”

So I suppose that my adherence to the trichotomy of “mother, maiden, crone” is eroding, as I slowly become more of the mother and less of the maiden. I also, obviously, am starting to realize that I need not have children to ‘officially’ enter that middle phase. Indeed, the childless women who are in their 60s are not still in the “maiden” phase, so why should I assume stasis for myself? And on the other hand, there are many women who have plenty of children and yet many never really get out of maidenhood. Judge not, I suppose, while I tend to my own evolution with care and love.

I read people’s online journals, blogs, etc and see these beautiful themes in many of them. Please do not expect from this site any consistency in theme, effort or perspective. Thanks.

*Post title is a line from an Outkast song "Pink and Blue"