Veggie Voyagers

Clearcutting

2012-02-11T21:43:00.000-08:00

Meagan Malachite and I drove up to Anderson to demonstrate with Occupy Redding at the Sierra Cascade Logging Conference. I've captured some of the signs but the dynamic was distressing in a number of ways.

As expected, folks were polarized and there were many more of the people who seemed to be in support of clear cutting than those who did not support it... even though, even if you subtracted all the environmental effects, it isn't in the best interests of loggers because of the mechanization where these monster machines only really need one man to pop a 100 year old tree out of the ground in two minutes. You can't do thinning with these big machines so more workers are needed for thinning.

At the Forum for the Forests after the demonstration we really got into the ill effects of clear cutting in depth through expert panels. We learned about the threat to our clean air and water--about carbon sequestration, about plantation farming and fire risk, about polluted streams due to herbicides and rodent-cides and sedimentation, about the loss of diversity, about the costs to taxpayers.. a lot of bad stuff. Clearcutting destroys air quality, water quality, depletes the soil, contributes to climate change and destroys biodiversity.

There were also some lovely fierce defenders of the earth, like this family from Montgomery Creek. People from the headwaters communities live with the destruction and you can see the intensity in these kids who have had to live through what the loss of the forests mean. Check out the website they keep-- www.stopclearcuttingcalifornia.org and get involved.

2012-02-10T15:59:00.000-08:00

Welcome spring peach blossom special!
I've decided to post a photo a day (when I want to, not as some project or self assignment,) since the way this blog posts now I imagine many people only read the first flash of a page anyway. So today we went walking and some goats had gotten away from the neighbor and were in the back of the property being goatly (i.e. eating.)
So much work has gone into all that planting there was a definite alarm bell sounded and fence building was begun within an hour.
At any rate, on the way back we met up with this sweet little tree which has nothing really to do with what I wanted to write about either and so far has not met the hungry goats and is totally enraptured in its own perfection and fertility seeking.
Here's what I wanted to say--I want to free up that part of me that holds back from saying/writing...to let myself feel into the current of aliveness and make whatever note of what is sensed in my awareness without self censor. Maybe it will only be about the need to rebuild on old truisms about "strong fences make good neighbors" or about the ethereal frailty and exuberance of spring bloom. Even though there is nothing new in either of those ideas I have faith in the openness and goodness of this whole expansive availability so have spoken of it the best I can at this time.

2012-02-06T20:57:00.000-08:00

In these days every dinner meal is some combination of broccoli, kale, lettuce and onions since that is what is profuse in the garden. I wanted to post with photos from our CSA (Complete Self Attunement winter deepening) but not a single photo seemed to come out but when I got home and appealed to my usual subjects they just did their beauty school best to shine for the camera.

The ones that have been the most difficult are the pussy willows. The camera has its own mind about the focus on these shots and we go round and round me trying to trial and error it without ever reading about the camera.. Amazing to see the detail on these willow flowers though.. the earth and her spectacular variety and expression. In the meditation I happened on the word "clean." How we humans don't really (seem to) care so much about our recycling or our water or our air... we've accepted a level of dis-ease. In plants, who have short lives, you can see what happens when things are out of whack. In the spring though everything is new and beautiful-- no aphids yet, no drying petals to set seed, no plain old willow leaves after the soft and surprising pussies.

What was most surprising is that I was out of touch with the moon cycles... I rode home on my bike along Big Chico Creek last night and was totally gaga on the sycamores and the sense of the cold and my own progress (met two raccoon on 7th St.) but somehow didn't know this would be the full moon tonight. So strange.

Our retreat was at a wonderful house that backs up to the creek. Four days of expanded awareness and a new commitment to staying in openness. Here where words, photos and the unknown space of possible relationship are held but more importantly in my everyday life.

2012-01-30T22:25:00.000-08:00

Well, amazingly enough, since we were these few days away the Pentagon has decided to cut the Global Hawk drone flown from Beale! The cost is too high in these constrained days.. unfortunately it will not effect the rest of the government's expanded drone program whether it be for spy drones or hunter killer drones. There were lots of circling manned spy planes circling today at the North Gate and the protest was also visited by persistent M.P. and sheriffs on the topic of our First Amendment Rights to be out there leafleting the drivers from the traffic island between ingoing and outgoing base traffic. Toby just missed being arrested for her persistent stand for those rights.

More pleasant and picturesque was this band of about 50 horses who passed by adding glamor and grace to our message of One People One Earth.

Cathy and Ann came down from Chico. Cathy is a stalwart in the peace movement and Grandmothers for Peace. We know that Northrup-Grumman will be lobbying hard to keep the Global Hawks flying so political push back from peace activists will be important in the coming days.

Never doubt that these small groups of determined individuals can make a difference. It seemed like today there was a definite shift in attitude to a friendlier and more positive response to us. It is possible the air force personnel didn't want to phase out the U-2 and it's piloted operations in favor of robotics either... It is possible many of them agree with our messages and are just stuck.

2012-01-30T21:52:00.000-08:00

Traveling on bio-diesel can be difficult. We called around to see where we could get it and ended up going to the mountains via Roseville for B-20 at a Propel 76 station... which is about the right blend for freezing mountain nights. We stayed at the sno-park on Donner Summit and skied up the Pacific Crest Trail with every vintage and description of human and dog... even kayakers.

I decided if I ever write another book it will be all about everything that hurts on my body since on these ever repeated Day 1 outings getting up these mountains is such an achy and book length affair filled with a litany of complaints that only I am interested in. But then I was at the summit of Castle Ridge and all was right with the world again until the inevitable aches and pains of going down again. Three times I fell flat on my face in the snow this day--that's all I'm saying.

So that's why Michael is skiing down with my skis on his pack.

Today, coming out of the mountains, we picked up 51 gallons of B-99 Simple Fuels bio-diesel from these wonderful folks, doing a great business of green home interiors in Grass Valley. This was a good day for Peaceful Valley Farm Supply spring seeds, potato starts and rasberry canes too before going on to protest drones at Beale AFB.

2012-01-23T21:44:00.000-08:00

It definitely wasn't right for a gal who worries her head most of the time about the destruction of the environment to drive to the mountains after the snow storm via gasoline powered car but that's what happened. I fretted at how fast it was melting below 5000 feet... it was like moving through a foot of setting-up concrete by Panther Meadows. Then we thought we'd let the snow mobiles break trail and go to Morgan Summit but miraculously there was no sign that the behemoth crowd had been there so next we went to McGowan Lake trail and Michael broke trail for about a city block before the urge for lunch took over at which point a couple pushed past..

And next I called it for Lassen Park which turned out to be wreathed in wonderful late afternoon light. What you can't see in this photo is two ravens at the top of the pine sitting right next to each other making that rolling chortle sound they have and kissing at each other with their preening.

We had a track up to the Sulphur Works and by then the shade was deepening and it was time to turn around and ski back, although Michael was all for going on. Hard core skiers earlier in the day had created ribbons of sensuous tracks down off the old ski area - it was good to know that others felt the pull of the mountains.

If you click on the photos you can sense the beauty of the day up there. I'm so grateful I was able to go and be out in it. Sorry planet, I couldn't resist you.

The cusp of Aquarius

2012-01-22T15:36:00.000-08:00

So great that it is raining again. I give Thanks to the natural state of winter for precipitating on us in our houses or out tree sitting or in a soggy tent. This is how it should be. Yesterday Michael and I walked up Comanche Creek from Riparia. The water level was low and the sun bright on all the gray tangles of roots and branches. The sun through these blackberry leaves caught my eye.

The Barber Neighborhood folks, with the Conservation Corps, hacked a path through the blackberries at Wrex Court along top of bank to the open area adjacent to Park Ave. on the north side. I didn't want to walk the other side... was a bit dispirited by all the garbage from campers, blown by wind and in the creek itself.

These urban issues don't get a lot of air time...people are used to how it is and it really is quite over-whelming how the garbage manifests no matter how much you personally pick up. I think I mentioned my cigarette butt picking up day last week on the National Day of Service? I was going to take my little collection to City Council but instead have sent the story to the News and Review. Such a small, mundane issue. Will they cover it? How can our creeks and rivers and creatures survive these constant assaults of toxins. How much longer can they?

Meanwhile the green and growing and glowing world of possibility is always there to nurture our bodies and nourish our hopes.. Enjoy the rain, wash us clean, clear our minds and spirits.

Happy 83rd Birthday Dr. King!

2012-01-16T17:44:00.000-08:00

Today I was able to participate in the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service with many others of Love Chapmantown. First, picking up roadside garbage, then visiting and photographing folks working on the compost bin at the Chapmantown Community Garden.

Next, pedaling past Chapman Primary School I could get a view of the junkyard that is almost adjacent, (that the city gave an extension to for their clean-up.) You can see the big Sierra Nevada beer storage tanks to the left.

Over at the Dorothy Johnson Community Center I found Rev. Vince Haynie and others shoveling wood chips for the landscaping. Rev. Haynie has galvanized the community into a caring, connected body. This isn't a great picture of him--he's in the purple shirt. He walks in the shoes of Dr. King everyday.

Then there was some time digging along the garden fence, trying to get out bermuda grass from the strawberry bed at the Dorothy Johnson Educational Garden for the after-school program that continues for over 40 years. The woman at the gate was cared for there after school. Orien was cared for there when I was working when she was a kid... by Mrs. Johnson herself who is retired now but still in good health.

After that I did about 15 minutes with the Occupy presence and then jammed with the Chico Peace and Justice Center to help clean up their garden area behind the center.
My last act of the National Service Day was to pick up 141 cigarette butts in front of the 33 Steaks, Booze and Jazz Bar and Restaurant at 305 Main-pushed into the city gutter by their maintenance man to wash into Big Chico Creek in the coming rains. I want to stick them under the noses of our City Council tomorrow night if I can make it there. (I've already tried a citizens arrest, council member, code enforcement..)
Dr. King, I Love Your Memory. I Loved starting my day with Democracy Now today and hearing your speech at the Riverside Church the year before you were assassinated. I feel renewed by all those who love your memory also.

2012-01-15T21:22:00.000-08:00

We are just back from the Wild and Scenic Film Festival in Nevada City. We camped in the V.V. and watched a steady stream of films from Friday night through Sunday eve. My favorite thing was the puppet play inspired by the Tim DeChristopher trial. If I can get the script I want to put that on in Chico. It was really a powerful piece presented by Peaceful Uprising. Meanwhile Tim, AKA Bidder 70, sits in Federal Prison in Herlong for saving one of the most pristine areas on earth from oil/gas leases. The above puppets are "our children", Tim, Hansen (the climate change scientist,) The U.S. government... missing are corporations and us, the jury.

There was also a lot of activist workshops in the old City Hall. This was so special-- people picketing the activists going into the activist center regarding the needs of the homeless.

I present these street activities because they are more photo-interesting then our own activities of watching the films themselves... but my head is filled with those wonderful films.

Lastly, Friday before we left I went out to Pine Creek and my old friend Howard presented me with copies of a book of poetry I'd given him some years ago. He'd had his friend Dorothy print out the Pine Creek Poems and had the books bound. I read the poems on the way up to the festival and hardly recognized that part of me that had lived in that cabin on Pine Creek from 1978-1980 but was glad to re-meet her. I really appreciate Dorothy Davis for helping Howard with this labor of Love and Howard, of course, for letting me live on his beautiful land.

2012-01-08T19:33:00.000-08:00

This project never would have happened without Emily's persistence. She applied for this 3 year National Resources Conservation Service grant and purchased the plants, planned the project areas, organized the planting of the hedgerows and this natural forest buffer along the creek. This is her with some manzanitas for along the border. Below are some of her friends and volunteers-- Sandra and Liz in the foreground on this shot.

And this is another of Addie's friends from school, Emma.

And Collin's mom from GRUB collective, Stephanie.

And finally, the ever graying Riparia partners. I can't help but be grateful for being pulled into this project. It will be wonderful to watch everything grow, especially out in the back where the fire destroyed the grove of old trees. Thanks to all the good people who gave of themselves to restore this land.

2012-01-08T19:14:00.000-08:00

Members of Addie's Chico High School Environment Club planted native trees and shrubs with a group of about 20 this afternoon. Below is our next-door neighbor Wendy planting.

Elliot and Hannah were a brother and sister planting team.

Our neighbor Dash is seen here with a critical element in our weed control strategy.

And Collin, our youngest helper, completes the process... watering the wood-chip mulch and newly planted tree.

It was sure a nice few hours together in the winter sun. Hope all our little trees (and young people) will grow strong.

2012-01-06T19:50:00.000-08:00

This disturbing lack of rain is balanced by beautiful mild days and chilly nights. I caught these chard on their way to Farmer's Market, gem-like and pre-delicious.
Occupy Chico continues with the help of some lovely elders-- Diana Fogel's mom and aunt. With budget cuts to IHSS coming from the state of California I can only appeal for people to refuse to let the most vulnerable and post-delicious suffer. There is enough money. Our children and elders are our first priority.

And on that note, Sisko and the Frontal Lobe Society posted a new ironic cap-off to all such seriousness... best not be late for the mayfly convention, y'all.

Meanwhile, back at Riparia, Guthrie, Kyle, Alek and Belen joined us for potluck and gift exchange last night (from Vermont and Ecuador.)

It was wonderful to meet Belen and see how happy she and Alek are. I praise the cycles of life and look forward to partnership meeting and land work day this weekend.

Transition to 2012

2012-01-01T20:37:00.000-08:00

We walked out to the bluff above the Iron Canyon section of the Sacramento River to start the new year. Michael has Shasta perched at his shoulder in this first photo and in the lower, kind of harsh lit one, the view is out to Red Bluff and the haze of many small fires as people seemed to be burning piles of leaves for the new year... Turkey Vultures were lazily riding the thermals out around us hoping we'd fall from our aerie so they'd get a decent meal. The river level was low and there wasn't much activity to be seen..just an osprey, bluebirds, juncos, Lewis woodpecker, ruby crowned kinglet, nuthatch... a few others.

The day was bright and warm and the walk was rocky over the Tuscan mudflow of the eastern foothills. My legs were stiff and argumentative. I realized my weight and age and did some of the same resolving I did last year at this time.

We stayed the eve and night a little further up, on the same BLM land, at the next pull-out called Hog Lake Flat and walked 2011 off with winking sun to the west

And glowing Mt. Lassen and Broke-off to the East.

Other people can say the inspired things. I'm just grateful I had this time in the simple beauty of nature with two beings I love for the New Year.

2011 Dignity and Land

2011-12-31T11:54:00.000-08:00

The lone tree sitter at Oscar Grant Park in Downtown Oakland expresses that which resonates with me the strongest. Let that lone wolf look for his mate. Leave the wolves and the mustangs alone! Get the garbage out of the water and leave the water in the aquifers for recharge of surface waters. Stop destroying the forests, the wetlands, the public spaces... plant non-GMO gardens and make room for all creatures to share in the bounty. Public Lands like this little park can house the homeless. The existing housing stock could better house the homeless.
I drove Orien to the BART and picked up 200$ worth of biodiesel...enough to run us 1600 miles plus attended this rally called by Egyptian women to stop the violence of the military against civilians, especially women. (202-224-3121 Cut Military Aid To Egypt -- I want to say cut all Military...)

It was a gray day, only about 50 people were there and the park was soggy and deserted except for some residual Occupy/homeless and an Interfaith tent. The media was there so the police weren't. They'd arrested a number of people at the site earlier in the day. It was hard to listen to the stories of rape, beatings and incarceration by the small cadre of Egyptian women, knowing that military is financed by the U.S.

It's been about a year since Tahrir Square began. Since the Arab Spring erupted and inflamed the world with hope, since Wikileaks pried open the lies of empire and enraged the Middle East. Finally in October Occupy sprang up against the caste system in the U.S. and the criminality of the 1% who robbed the country blind. All of us were forced to face the issues of homelessness and the brutality of the homeland security armed police forces.

For me there is still huge hope. Like these hopes hanging from this tree in Chico. I'm becoming like a smooth stone and I'm becoming like a mind, caught in a tangled tattered sky. One minute the one, the next the other. I lean toward the suckers on this cut tree, the tree that Park Commissioner Mark Herrera chained himself to. We can rebuild from our own deep roots in community, from our own skills and from our own vision of a world where the earth and the people are respected.

In Harmony with all that is best for each of you, for me and for our planet in 2012. Occupy Namaste'.

Boxing Day at Beale

2011-12-26T15:14:00.000-08:00

As you can see we were out at Beale at dawn this fine Boxing Day. (The day the British Empire 1% would give a boxed gift to their servants, a swell day I bet.) Here in the U.S. it was a quiet day after Christmas at the base. There were five of us and only a few more of the military coming in and out of the gate. We had our usual discussion on free speech rights with the county policeman called by the base guards. (Quoting Toby, more or less, "if you fought for our freedom don't you think you should give us the right to exercise it?")

I got my artistic Bradley Manning sheet up for a non-viewing and the cows were very impressed by Toby's heartfelt support of Bradley Manning. Toby had a ridiculous jerking, singing, lighting up elf hat (probably made by bemused but disadvantaged Chinese people,) that she activated for the sleepy service personnel--quite an early morning apparition!

Our little group of five included sign-maker of the fantastic Peace Panel Project, Charles Withuhn, Pat and Toby from the Bay Area and Shirley from Grass Valley. I liked the sign Shirley made. She interspersed names of American war casualties with those of Pakistanis. It was a huge relief to hear there has been a moratorium on drone strikes in Pakistan for the last six weeks-- CNN said something to the effect that the U.S. is trying to figure out who better to target. (Not the right message for we civilians of the world family.) Firedog Lake said some new regs have gone into effect so drone pilots can only (joy stick) fly 3 drones at once instead of 4 (!) I'm not sure that makes me feel even a little bit better either.

We moved our vigil into Marysville after warming up a bit and Charles put his wonderful panels out Burma Shave like down the main Hwy 70 entrance to town (interspersed with a non-English-speaking pizza sign advertizing gentleman.) This afternoon Toby and Pat will be joined by Caroline and Peter out at the base gate with our messages that Drones create Enemies and that the More Drones there are the Less Secure we are. Slowly people are starting to join us. We need to stop this technology in 2012.

2011-12-25T22:08:00.000-08:00

Orien is 31! It's been a flurry these last few days since she came home. Yesterday was her birthday. Before we met up in the morning I had some time to remember my mom who died 6 years ago, also on Christmas Eve, then after yoga Orien and I went out to breakfast and to the Farmers Market before going our separate ways. I spent a little time at the Peace Vigil and then went to Food Not Bombs in the afternoon. In the evening we went out to dinner and then to the Trausch-Johnsons' for a gift exchange and birthday cake.

Bob just got back from Belize and all his family was there. It was a good gathering

... followed by another good gathering at our house in the morning for waffles followed by the Bird Tree. We've been doing the bird tree since Orien was little-- filling up orange rinds with seed and throwing popcorn into the branches-- as close as we ever get to snow here in the valley.

I'm really proud of my "made in Chico" dear daughter who is now an attorney and looking relaxed and easy going. These wonderful moments, like at Christmas time, I really treasure. I hope you have been lucky enough to be with those you love or to find satisfaction in what you have been doing. Peace in our World.

2011-12-22T09:24:00.000-08:00

Last night after the Occupy General Assembly I walked the Chico Labyrinth with my old friend Karen Stinson. We lit candles and addressed the four directions before and after the Labyrinth. It was cold and dark and thoroughly worth staying downtown late after a day of work to do.
This morning the new dawn of the rising light rose over a cold and frosted earth and I went out to wander my wonders with wet hair and appreciation for the visible manifestation. Calendula framed in ice crystals. Fennel seed heads drooping from umbel to dripping tethered fireworks display.

Our brothers and sisters across the creek aren't up yet until the sun warms their tent.

There is still color back in Max's orchard... the last brilliance of fall.

And in the radiant stalks of Bruce's chard of pink, yellow, salmon and red.

In all this I rest in my not knowing. I surrender to the incredibility and the open heartedness of being this creature in this time. I wish you well in your practice of being and becoming before any expectations of Holiday cheeriness. It is enough to be and to be part of the changing of the seasons and to enjoy what good health and friendship as there is. Happy Solstice and the New Year.

2011-12-16T09:45:00.000-08:00

The Occupy ranks have thinned but the issues grow more urgent as the Defense Authorization Bill will pass voiding Constitutional protections for even American citizens. As we move forward I remind myself that none of this Occupy has been easy and to have patience. There's a part of me that is deeply discouraged and wants to run away but really there is nowhere to go. If the Keystone XL goes through this next week our poor planet will suffer even greater temperature changes. This is my community. This is where my life is. For now I will stand up here for for a sustainable future.

Deepika and Javesh had a big party for his third birthday that was attended by many of their supporters and admirers. Javesh's dad Amit was killed by a drunk driver when he was in utero and then Javesh was premature with a serious heart defect. Now he is a sweet little guy with an incredibly strong mom. Her strength shows the human spirit at its best and most loving.

Here at Riparia the most beautiful (green) parts of the land are Bruce's. Here he is with his indoor endive, fennel and lettuce.

We had just a few hours of hiking this week up above Chico. This is below the disc golf course and in the folds of the rising canyons of oak and gray pine on the great swath of Tuscan mud flow which is hard to walk on for the rocks hidden in the pale grasses and burrs. It is a relief to be out there though wandering up and down and around in the ancient terrain.

One week til Christmas and I am in the least festive of moods. The mistletoe shown here feels like my heart rather tight and balled up. I await the solstice. The natural shift. The dark night of the soul where that flicker of light is cherished and revered. Life itself is the gift. If the glass is half full the alchemy is to live from that part which is still full. In the awe and gap of surrender I salute you as we pass through this together.

2011-12-10T07:48:00.001-08:00

It's the best I could do without a tripod. We parked the VV back in the back of the property, between the GRUB field and Max's orchard. Even at 11pm the frost had made the ground shiny and crunchy. At 6am we were making big footed crisscrossings across the field. I was looking for a branch or trunk to stabilize the camera and Michael was just enjoying himself and staying warm. Sasha never really warmed to the idea of being out there. They're still out there, back asleep.

Every month the search for the full moon calls on me to wander around. Last night I cut through Emily's plantings and along Comanche Creek over the berm and alongside Elizabeth's studio out to Meyers and Ivy. I had to include this photo of a partially buried single use plastic bag. The local paper says we don't have a problem with them in Chico and that poor consumers shouldn't be burdened with another regulatory burden of having less access to them (or so I paraphrase.) For me they have been a burden and a pain as anyone who reads this blog knows. I can say here plainly that I hate the whining of the teabag folks who are so doctrinaire on their single minded crusade to keep themselves free of public policies that will benefit the earth.

La luna llena. So beautiful. So generous.
This earth just floors me. After I came in to download the photos and post this the light did another brilliant flash, illuminating the tips of the trees and the dangling ivy with their pale pinkish leaves. Everything was consumed with brilliance and I just watched mesmerized and held back from pulling the memory card out of the lap top and rushing back outside. Just as quickly the scene muted with a soft layer of intermittent clouds so now everything seems flat, silent and peacefilled.

My hands are still stiff with the cold. After the still eclipsing moon set I wandered the frozen land. Caught these persimmons with a mantle of ice that showed up in the camera but not for my eyes.

I walked out to Estes Rd and shot back toward the industrial zone that borders Riparia. The lobulated valley oak leaves grabbed the shot. So simple, so complex, so perfect.

2011-12-07T20:02:00.001-08:00

I don't want to move on without a salute to the beauty of fall folliage. It's easy to start talking about getting away with the wander I did shooting multiple pictures of bolting dill umbels and leaf on brilliant leaf. Almost as soon as I shot this (11/28) the spectacle is over.

One other spectacle I wasn't going to miss was seeing Orien sworn in to the California state bar last Friday in S.F. Here is Lauren, who is also now an attorney and Suman, who is finishing up her own area of study as well as my own sweet child and proud me.

After going to lunch we wandered back to the BART via the Occupy Encampment. Lively with human interaction and "stuff" it was in a hum with warm weather and high (both meanings) spirits. I'm sad to say that a police sweep last night dismantled the camp, kicked everyone out, destroyed private property, including the library. I was discouraged with some of our local process issues but not with the movement itself and am eager to see where we go from here in Chico as well as the entire country. Occupy Lives!

We picked up bio-diesel at Bio-diesel Oasis in Berkeley and made it as far as the Delta. We camped in a gale of constant knock-you-over wind on Sherman Island among fisher-people of all nations for the night. Great place to have wind turbines though.

The next day we crossed the valley on Hwy. 12 and ended up spending a lot of time in Grinding Rock (Chaw' se) State Park. This was home to the Miwok people for the last 3000 years and is the largest grinding rock in North America with 1185 mortar cups, the only place you can see intentionally decorated petroglyphs among the bedrock mortars.

We wandered along learning about how the Miwok Nation had built their homes, their roundhouse, their playing field and about their foodsources, healing methods, basket plants, etc.
At some point I was visited by a very serious image of women bound together in great terror in the area where the viewing platform is now. That image has stayed with me and I have been plying it with spoonfuls of love and relaxation since it came to me. I have no doubt of the veracity of my vision. I did not go into the museum and learn about what the gold rush era whites did but I know it was another genocide. An energetic blueprint of those horrified women is frozen over that tableau that should be one of industry and sisterhood and I am returning to it when I can to give what support I can to unfreezing the past and freeing those spirits.

And at Caples Lake we saw a literal freezing event of great beauty. The wind in the high country had created beautiful shapes at the north end of the lake in the previous days.

We went on to complete our loop to Reno. We stayed one very cold night at Lower Bear Lake and then swung up to Grover Hot Springs before cutting back down to the East side of the Sierra to Reno where we spend an illuminated night in the Peppermill parking lot before picking up the Veggie Voyagers book from Sundance Books (wonderful bookstore.. so sad not to be wanted by... small whines and whimpers but no major howls or growls. Unrequited Love... too bad and toughened up.) We picked up more bio-diesel from Simple Bio-fuels in downtown Vinton before lowering down the Feather River canyon to our valley in the glowing jewel of dusk.

2011-12-01T22:34:00.001-08:00

Today started off very rocky for me. I was down again. Struggling with concerns about the Senate vote on the Defense Authorization Bill that would allow terrorism suspects anywhere to be detained indefinitely under military control and without right to trial. The other thing that sunk my spirit was the FDA ok for horses to be sold as meat in the U.S. It just seems like our country is becoming craven, shifting further and further from government by and for the people, founded in justice and shunning cruelty.
So, thanks to a nearby errand I walked the new labyrinth and it did me a world of good. I recognized almost immediately how I have a certain default for depressed mood when the news is bad, that I lack flexibility and judge easily. On the way back out of the labyrinth I forgave myself and felt lightened.

Last weekend we had our first ski of the winter. There wasn't much snow but we picked up 24 gallons of veggie oil and got to check in on Einstein the goose at Child's Meadows. We did ski but it was less than perfect with people trying to drive their big trucks into the woods looking for Christmas trees, roaring their engines to avoid getting stuck.

The big event today was the CSUC student Occupy General Assembly. Riding my bike past the new parking structure I had to reflect how ironic it is that they are being forced to pay higher tuitions and to become indebted for projects like this that should never be built (aside from cost, the issue of climate change and the fact there is no need for this project.)

Everyone was attentive and focused through a long meeting about what to do about the fee increases. I heard the consensus to occupy but left before the place was determined. I went to an authors event at Lyon Books. The Veggie Voyagers book continues to not sell well. I've come to accept it.
My last act of the political day was to walk in the World AIDS Day candlelight walk, my thoughts on all those who have died, those living with HIV/AIDS and those at risk. When I was an HIV counselor we had plenty of money for testing. Now Stonewall Alliance has to fund raise for testing-- 12$ a test. More ridiculous priorities -- underfunding testing and feeding an epidemic.

Tomorrow my dear Orien is sworn in as an attorney and we will be in SF for that and then heading to Reno to pick up books that didn't sell on consignment... con sigh. Running on bio-diesel so I'm just going to enjoy getting un-occupied for a few days.

2011-11-28T13:57:00.001-08:00

Megan and Alfredo visited at Thanksgiving with their two darling kids and Orien was home so we got to be surrounded with kids, almost as good as having grandkids of our own.

Ajani and Chase came by for a second but Orien borrowed the camera for kid-time at Caper Acres.

We had some of our usual foggy winter weather and I got a shot of us smooching out by the creek.

The Best part of Thanksgiving this year was serving food and being with the people in the park at Occupy. Our own Riparia gathering was quite small. This photo is of Susana who is a wonderful cook.

As the new week starts I am filled with concerns about what is happening with the Defense Authorization Bill in Congress, the Climate Summit in Durban.. the anxiousness starts to build back in but last week was wonderful, in the shelter of normal activities like cooking, eating and visiting. I'm grateful for these breaks. Grateful for the people in my life and for this beautiful planet and our place here at Riparia.

Buy Nothing Day

2011-11-25T17:28:00.001-08:00

Happy Buy Nothing Day!

Yesterday we had two Thanksgivings. One at the Occupy. It was a miraculous gathering of food providers who turned into food samplers and people who came simply to eat. All of us in a fine mood on a drizzly afternoon. The second dinner was set to be another big Riparia feast but few showed up so we enjoyed ourselves none the less but felt a little less than our usual over-flowing at the seams selves. All in all a memorable and wonderful day.
The photo is of Susana, a superb cook, in her full-on Cornucopia Goddess self.

Today was Black Friday, what we call Buy Nothing Day with the proviso that Local, Green, Fair Trade, Home-made are way o.k. So many people are out of work. So many of us thinking about our shared values in regards to consumerism and exploitation and expectations and the whole conversation around Christmas buying.

Folks from this Occupy sponsored vigil were on all four corners of the main entrance to the Chico Mall on 20th Street. A local printer donated his time and made the wonderful signs and all these sweet people got out there to make these strong points.

Tomorrow is Fair Trade Day at the Chico Peace and Justice Center. I hope people will do what they can to slip out of the clutches of corporate control and do what is needed to save our planet and people.

Thanks Due

2011-11-21T14:13:00.000-08:00

My spirit went down for the count when I saw this destruction of the Peace Endeavor bench and planter and the murder of the tree that lived there. It had been a place of frequent circles, group photos, quick meetings. It had also been a place where homeless, using, and mentally ill people hung out and the businesses on the street wanted it gone and in compliance with the other park benches that don't shelter from the street. I thought I was ok with it but I wasn't when it came to my feelings based on all the memories going back to the time when Willa, Helen, Jessie, Art and Margaret, Delilah, Joan, Doug, Rose, Frank, Gerald, Shar and Theresa (and others) were with us. A place of meeting in gentleness and loving strength. Gone for commerce.

So I had a little moment there. Nothing new really. Sometimes the grief wells up and the powers of what needs to survive is dwarfed so badly by the powers of greed that a huge dualism is set up and its like a wall inside my psyche where a mythic battle is being played out so long it sets up into something impenetrable.

That's when meditation, actually a CSA attunement (www.csa.com) really helps. With gentle listening the area was identified, deeper and deeper sensing and the wall was entered. (Thanks Kath.) More time, more surrender into the way it was and a virtual tree emerged, sequestering carbon, breathing out oxygen, a river of quiet exchange, free of content, vast and opening into a universe of the 100%.

I'd been so worried about the Occupy. That the tents would come down, that folks would drift away from determination and purpose. That all the concerns we share (going all the way back from those peace-keepers who have left us,) would become amorphous again, buried under every day business.

But, the presence continues. The future is unknown. Orien passed the Bar. Let Thanksgiving begin.

With the 99%

2011-11-15T20:34:00.000-08:00

Fall is stalking slowly along. The leaves along the Esplanade are turning brilliant about two weeks late. Asters and sunflowers in mid-November. We've had some frost but only barely. Tender spring is erupting from the last wetness, now turned dry. It's been intense lately too. A lot of energy and push.

Occupy Chico continues, after about a month. The young folks who began it are getting burned out and everyone is realizing we have to step in and help the core group. CT Butler, founder of Food Not Bombs and author of books on Values Based Consensus process, and his partner Wren Tuatha, did a weekend training on Consensus that really galvanized us and I'm sure will help the General Assemblies and our Occupy decision making ability. Some Occupiers have impressed me with their level Best/ rock solid natures-- like Tammy, our Chico Peace and Justice Center coordinator speaking with a regular plaza dweller below. It's been really impressive to experience the determination and clear headedness of some of the Occupy folks. It is a huge learning curve for all of us, this direct democracy.

As in every other Occupy encampment in the U.S., the Occupy folks become charged with how to be present with the homeless, head injured, mentally ill and substance using unemployed who fill our city centers. The media reflects back scary issues of violence and outrageousness and the Occupy people cope as best they can. It is really challenging to be at the tents at times.

And other times it's just fun and important, like vigiling with Peter, a Vietnam Vet, and a student (whose name I forgot) on Armistice Day with Robert and Chuck playing peace songs and the overwhelmingly positive response we got from the passerbys.

Bank Transfer Day

2011-11-05T15:34:00.000-07:00

Today was Bank Transfer Day. 76,000 people have moved out of the corporate banks. Folks are appalled at the consolidation of the banks, predatory practices that continue after the bail-out, like unethical lending and foreclosures, the piggy fees and the big CEO salaries. We have moved to local Credit Unions which are non-profit, accountable to members and which invest in the financial well-being of our communities. For me it felt great to pull my pension out of B of A and move it to Star Community Credit Union.
Marchers hiked from the banks at the north end of Chico to the Hands sculpture by the city offices for a rally.
There were about 75 people and we stood in a large circle. The energy was great as we started off with our intentions for a positive future--very important to not always be focusing about what we don't want! Then we had the support of the Doin It Justice Choir members in a number of unifying songs before marching to the other big banks with our message of empowerment.
Great way to stay warm on a cold, gray day. Expressing Truth to Power and Transferring Power to the People!!!

Beale, bunny, babe et watermelon

2011-10-31T20:32:00.000-07:00

Nice warm afternoon bannering and leafleting against the U.S. robotic drones that are killing so many these days and specifically against our own little multi-million dollar slice of the war machine, the Global Hawk. We were few but representing many geographic areas and peace affiliates. The word is spreading and people are realizing we need to exercise our rights not to be rabbits waiting for the hawks to take us out... see Toby as precious pink bunny below.
And speaking of precious, here is my own Orien. She showed up rather abruptly but it is a treat no matter what the occasion. In this case she needs to get the Vulcan "Live Well and Prosper" fingers a little more crisp but otherwise she is a wonderful Trekster.
Once again I was forced by the garden to use a watermelon for my pumpkin but I like its scary (bloody) innards that shine out into the night.
While I don't take the commercial Halloween too seriously I do appreciate the Day of the Dead and the sense of winter closing the door on light and warmth. In the radiant stillness something quieter emerges, a clearer link with that larger space where all life and death reside on a continuum. I heard a guy on radio say about gardening- the plants die back of contentment when their season is done. It's that contentment we seek in the living, in the searching, in a "good death,"as well as in the spirits of those who have gone before us who we sense out this time of year. Not by any fool's errand Global Hawk but by our own listening, in silence.

Who are the VVers Now?

2011-10-31T10:16:00.000-07:00

This is a very short transition to tell about since it happened so fast. The VV camper shell has rotted out. The materials were flimsy to begin with and our driving habits didn't help keep water from finding its way in. Michael can rebuild it but its sorry state brought up intense discussions about our next steps in the world of road voyaging. There was an ad online for a well-made cab over made by the Bigfoot company in Canada. The questions remain-is it too heavy for our old Ford Truck? Is it too high? We drove up to Chiloquin, Oregon to find out this weekend and.....

The main issues besides the financial ones are about how we transition the Veggie Voyager lifestyle into something this pristine. Will we start adding oil cans to the back and pods to the top? What about the canoe? The white carpet? All I can say is that I will love not getting dizzy when I cook, having the insulation when it is freezing outside, not having the big climb into a tomblike bed, having room to cook and not step on the dog, having a seat where I don't have to twist sideways. Humans and our comforts... Will this stop us from driving the bad roads? Will the mileage be terrible? We are dazed and amazed about our jump into this upgrade. In shock. Delighted.
Where the road of life takes you remember this Hallomas that life is short and complex and that each day of good health is precious. Love to the living and those who have gone ahead.

2011-10-23T18:14:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow it's my brother's 60th Birthday but I note on FB that is also the Birthday of the wonderful Anna Kastner of KZFR's Native Song program Mondays 6-8am, shown here with the equally wonderful Laurel Avalon, host of the Peace and Justice Program every other Friday 11:30-1pm. It's Pledge Drive and I think it would be great if folks would call the station early tomorrow in honor of Anna's Birthday--530-891-0131. Laurel had John Trudell on as well as yours truly who was also womaning the phones.
Last weekend we got away to ride the second portion of the Rails to Trails from Goumaz to Susanville. We camped at Goumaz one night and one night on Lake Almanor and also paddled around Juniper Lake, shown here with Mt. Lassen poking up behind it. The fall colors along the Susan River make this a very good time to bike the "Bizz."
Meanwhile Occupy Chico continues with lots of energy. Linda Furr (with the Honk sign) shown here with Susan Samadhi received the Peace Center Peacemaker award at the Annual Dinner for her dedication and involvement and for carrying forward the Chico Peace Endeavor for the last six years.
And Renay Davis of Code Pink sent me some photos from our Creech arrest. I was singing in this shot and look pretty dumb but it was a dramatic time as I think you can sense from the photo. I'm next to Jim Haber of Nevada Desert Experience and others from the Catholic Worker. (I got to know and enjoy the women from our jail booking but not the men since we weren't allowed to communicate with them at all.)
Things otherwise are pretty quiet. Michael built me these fire salvage log raised beds and with the continued warm weather my winter vegetables are doing great. Today I planted garlic--they say to plant on Halloween but I couldn't wait to fill up the last spots of the beds. It's good to be home. To meditate, eat waffles with our land partners, clean up a bit, dry apples and freeze strawberries... we are very lucky, I know it.
My job is threatened but I haven't been thinking about that...yesterday did 7 hours of clinical breast exams for the Free Mammography Day with the local Soroptomist group and North State Imaging. There were many stories of women losing their jobs and health insurance and that is why I keep our garden and preserve food, because you never know.

Delights of the Desert

2011-10-14T08:40:00.001-07:00

The desert is often sacrificed as if life didn't thrive there but it does. We went wandering where diversity thrives in the foothills and around the springs where there is fascinating variety. We also had fun with the odd things we found--like Eleanor with this "Portajane" (perfect for Code Pink.)
We went above a sprawling Nevada prison (in line with Yucca Mt., the Nevada Nuclear Test Site, Nellis AFB and Creech AFB down that long Hwy 95 corridor into Las Vegas) into joshua tree and wild horse country to watch the horses from the road as they watched us back. We joked about the dead horse that wasn't-- one was flat on her side without even an ear twitch and her belly looked bloated. We were very sad about her until she stood up and walked away...
This is a line-up of earthly Code Pink goddesses of this high point of my life.. Funny, creative Liz; thoughtful, grounded Renay, the already praised Toby, Maggie who I didn't get to know well, and pragmatic, fabulous cooking Eleanore.
Lastly, I want to mention that which is foreign, that which frightens or keeps us hesitant. This goddess statue of Sekhmet (www.sekhmettemple.com) I felt that distance from--thought it edgy and weird. Right before I left I spent a short time in the Goddess Temple and had a really strong resonance about my own life power (what gets in the way, the particular strain of who I am and how power expresses through me..) and just want to quote to you what the plaque at the base says: MAY WOMEN TAKE OUR POWER AND BE STRONG AS THE LIONESS GIVING BIRTH TO THE FUTURE. These are times when we need to know our resources and make use of them. Each has a responsibility and a calling.

Code Pink Vigils at Creech

2011-10-13T20:39:00.000-07:00

This is Toby. I don't like to say that she is the most committed and most focused activist of the Code Pinkers I've met because everyone cares deeply but she does definitely stay on task and inspire others and consistently stays on message about the negative aspects of war and especially drone warfare. We were arrested together, hand in hand, before the open South Gate. We had a choice of crossing onto the base and incurring Trespassing charges with a lengthy sentence vs. stopping short of going onto the base and getting a citation. I certainly wasn't prepared to cross the line so we ended up with guess what? Jaywalking citations! (This is because the military doesn't want to get publicity about what it is doing at Creech.) The 5 hour booking procedure at the Clark County Jail in Las Vegas was a real eye opener, filled with interminable waiting, nonsensical requirements and many uncaring abuses of ordinary people. I'm going to ask to do an article about it in www.chicosol.org so please watch for it--there's so much more to say.
The Code Pink banners remind the air force personnel and the civilians who work on the base that they aren't just going to an ordinary job each day. It's urging them to think about what they are doing and challenging them to consider the loss of civilian life and the costs of doing war. Over the week that Code Pink was vigiling twice a day they all would have had plenty of opportunities to see us and many miles to think about what they were participating in-- for me a very worthwhile use of my time out on Hwy 95.

Here's Ming. He's not Code Pink but looks grand in Pink! He's an RN, an organizer and a very knowledgeable and agreeable person, currently with Nevada Desert Experience. He's standing right where the military turn into the South Gate of Creech each morning. The Code Pink gals got us out there well before dawn to be there for the shift changes. I set my intention to each motorist (usually driving alone up from Las Vegas, about 30 miles south)- Peace to you. Peace to you. Peace to you. That and the peace sign and a smile...what else could one do during those long hours of "bannering?"
This is where we hung our words and bodies for the afternoon shift coming out of that same gate.
Liz and Maggie came up from Phoenix for the vigils and Leslie flew in from SF; Toby came from the www.october2011.org (Stop the War Machine) actions in Washington, D.C. We were a keen feast of peace mongers and we also had a very good time.

The most bombed place on earth

2011-10-12T21:56:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, October 9th our Code Pink contingent went up to the Nevada Test Site to join Western Shoshone Nation representatives, the Catholic Worker Gathering and Nevada Desert Experience in a prayerful and powerful symbolic action at the Nuclear Weapons Test Site.
In this photo the Western Shoshone headman addresses the military across the line about the stolen lands, the contamination of the land and the common good. Having the leadership of the Western Shoshone people, their drums, smudge, and wise words really touched me. I could sense their heritage as true caregivers and appreciators of the desert lands and it gave me a deep understanding how things could be.
The Catholic Worker folks had come together from all over the nation for their time together cumulating with civil disobedience at the test site as well as at Creech. These are the people who follow the voluntary simplicity and lives of service begun by Dorothy Day in the 1930s. They live and work among the poor and walk the walk.
While some sashay the walk and get there just the same with unique spirit, strength and caring. This is Nancy from Code Pink and Marcus from Nevada Desert Experience. Check out his postings on www.catholicworker.biz

And some people were quiet heroes and icons of the peace movement. Above, Father Louis Vitali who has been jailed so many times for peace he does not recall the number anymore. Below is the granddaughter of Dorothy Day who read from the writings of her famous grandmother and I'd like to just write that out below from the liturgy that day, prior to the 50 people being arrested.... Her reading had me sobbing, considering at a gut level the horrifying potential and history of nuclear weapons (which rely on testing.)
"Mr. Truman was jubilant. President Truman. True man; what a strange name, come to think of it. We refer to Jesus Christ as true God and true Man. Truman is a true man of his time in that he was jubilant. He was not a son of God, brother of Christ, brother of the Japanese, jubilating as he did. He went from table to table on the cruiser which was bringing him home from the Big Three conference, telling the great news; "jubilant" the newspapers said. Jubilate Deo. We have killed 318,000 Japanese..."

The journey to Creech

2011-10-11T23:07:00.001-07:00

I'm going to tell the story of my visit to Creech Air Force Base over the next few days. The saga physically began on Friday, Oct. 7th when Elenore and Renay and I met up at the Sacramento Airport and drove I-80 to the Nevada Hwy 95 corridor down to the Goddess Temple at Cactus Springs, a journey of 14 hours.
The photos are all turned around, as usual, so I have to jump the story around to tell it. The first photo was of the labyrinth and this is the Goddess Temple, built in appreciation to the Egyptian Goddess Sekhmet. The photo was taken after a ritual there the first night of our stay at the guest house and I don't know what the camera was doing with the candlelight and moonlight through the door and roof but it was magical.
This is how the outside looks in the stark blueness of the desert daylight -- still magical.
About three miles down the road is Creech Air Force Base, where the opposite energy prevails. Creech is one of the places where the U.S. targets unmanned drones against people in other countries who surveillance drones think may be enemies, often times raining absolute terror out of the skies onto civilians in Pakistan, Yemen and Afghanistan. It's a rogue and exquisitely expensive technology that is against International Law and a weapon of Terrorism and we had come to take a stand against the Drone Program.
This is the very mundane looking south gate where I was arrested with 17 others on Sunday.
And this again is the natural beauty of this part of the desert, north of Las Vegas with 11,000 foot peaks in the distance...the first photo I took from the Goddess Center. Below is Candace, the kind, wise, easy going and thoroughly sane priestess of the temple whose hospitality I appreciate very much.
I just got home and need to work tomorrow so more on this tomorrow. Peace to you.

Somethings fishy

2011-10-02T22:51:00.001-07:00

We went to San Francisco and visited the Academy of Sciences with Orien. They have a newly designed bio-dome with rainforest conditions. The roof is a habitat too. Orien's room mate feeds the sharks and told us about behind the scenes care for the many fish and other species. I was so struck by the beauty and variety of not just the fish but the anemone, the coral, the sea horses...
We did lots, even went to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, speaking of erosion. Up here on Turtle Hill in the Grandview Park you earn your fantastic views out in every direction with a long stair climb but the poor tree roots are so eroded at the top they are losing their grip. I took photos of that too but when you have so many shots you just want to show the "good ones."
Before I left, after work on Thursday I went along the Feather River and shot pictures of salmon off Bedrock Park and also up at the fish ladder before the first impassable spillway, I was going to do a whole post-- and it would have been a sad one--on the wondrous salmon and how they are artificially spawned these days. Here they are in their ancient beauty though as incredible as any around the world.
Lastly, Orien has come home with us-- I'm so grateful for every small visit. This was a good one though--lots of delicious food, down time for movies and football, even the beach and World Vegetarian Day! I did try to find the encampment for the Occupy San Francisco people too but didn't have good enough directions to locate them... All our city miles were logged on foot or the muni... great to leave the car quietly sitting except to come home in (on Biofuels Oasis biodiesel.)

Ground the Drones!

2011-09-26T15:13:00.003-07:00

This is amazing Toby of Bay Area Code Pink and her "nickleharpa" (if I have that right.) Organizer, activist, creator of banners and Musician for Peace. It's Thanks to Toby we Chico Peace and Justice Folks are finally organizing around the drone program at Beale Air Force Base and other places.
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism estimates that at least 2,292 civilians have been killed and at least 1,100 wounded in drone attacks since 2004 in the name of the war on terror. However, nothing can be more terrifying than to live your life in fear of this kind of sudden death.
And you may not know that Italy, Hezbollah, Israel, China, Britain, India, South Korea, Iran and Turkey all have drone technology? It is past time that the citizenry of the world stop seeing this as a convenient way for us to wage war and keep our soldiers safe. We are breaking the international laws of war and bankrolling a continuously escalating beast that is robbing our civilian sector blind. The U.S. government funded $335 billion in military contracts in 2010...We have to reverse this because the government won't.
It was so wonderful to be together with all these activists from the Bay Area, Alpine, Solano, Nevada Counties... Plus, we got a gorgeous rainbow and sunset, owls all night, a beautiful sunrise and morning meadow larks... there's a lot to be said for overnight camping at the Beale West Gate.
Hope you'll check out www.chico-peace.org or "friend" me on Facebook if you can get involved. We need your help, each and every one of you.

The space of a day

2011-09-26T14:38:00.000-07:00

Earthdance in Cedar Grove was an opportunity for a huge circle to join in a World Peace Prayer. There were demonstrations of alternative technologies, vendors, food, dancing and community Thanks to Eartha and Tanya (below) and many others.
I'd taken the electric bike to 5 Mile for a picnic with Randy Larsen, his friends, mom and grandmother. Our topic was "beauty" and some said what Beauty meant to them, others read poems or sang but Randy's mom spoke tearfully about her mother's hands-- the work, the love, the creativity of them over 90+ years, now so fragile.
Along the way was this devastation as road crews kill trees in preparation to widening Hwy 99, something that is really not needed at all. The only life soon to be left is the depiction of life on the cement girders.
And on the way home Michael and I looped the downtown plaza park where Pastels on the Plaza had taken place, finding this gentle reminder about the need for Peace in Congo. Thank you unknown peace person for reminding us about this forgotten tragedy. The more we know of the world the more we love it and the more responsible we are--near and far.

Getting to the Coast

2011-09-19T22:04:00.000-07:00

We got over to the coast at Navarro but the river doesn't make it out to the sea. It blunt noses into the bank of sand and grows wider but no more insistent as the summer ends.
As evening came on we had to settle out in the paid campground or go wandering and we decided to hunker down in the fog and just enjoy staying put after such a long journey.
It is just such a treat to sink into the warm sand and have a bit of a nap-- I just couldn't let a summer pass without getting out to the sea and Sasha, looking becalmed here, liked it too.
On Saturday we did the creek clean-up in Chico. Michael spent most of his time hauling tires from three separate locations where they'd been dumped in ditches feeding Comanche Creek. I spent my time in a long hot ditch pulling obnoxious strands of gray plastic from the mud/clay soils. Then on the way to the ocean we cleaned a section on Cache Creek where we stopped for a night and then did the post ocean clean-up of odds and ends at the beach. We saw the film, "Bag It" on Friday night which spurred us onward in our efforts.
And all this was to coordinate with picking up the unsold consignment copies of the Veggie Voyagers book (see the center orange spined books?) from Real Goods in Hopland. I was sad about that reality but with the love of the land firmly with me in each new adventure the fate of the book isn't quite so hard. We combined it with wine tasting and organic garden walking at Campovida nearby which lifted it another notch into idyllic but still some realities seem clear. Clear Lake isn't clear, it's green with algae. The sky in the valley was filled with smoke and not clear either. Perhaps we shouldn't have gone but I avoid regret--this was our time to do it and I'm grateful we were able to do it on Bio-diesel.

Ten Years 9/11

2011-09-11T11:53:00.001-07:00

A sweet group of activists now grown old, a tree and bench that are going away because they provide too much shelter to homeless, a strict heat and lots of activity yesterday. Today is stillness and listening. When we circled after the Chico Peace Endeavor Vigil yesterday the whole ten years struck like circles around a stone which were the 9/11 murders, all the suffering of the occupations, terror, war, injuries, mourning--it was like the last visions of one's own life but all of it based in travail.
Before that I'd participated in the Critical Mass bike ride in solidarity with the students who are pointing out the stupidity and injustice of the new parking structure being built on campus. The structure which the Associated Students overwhelmingly voted against will encourage more cars and will be built with their tuition money. They have every right to be angry that their tuition has risen so it is mostly unaffordable to go to college now. There have been injustice piled on injustice in these last ten years but none worse than the redistribution of wealth away from the middle class and those barely surviving below.
Despite all this I look at the sleek glee-filled smile of water and forest activist Jim Brobeck to know it is better to be dancing or tooting our horns, jingling our bells, or quietly planting out our delicate onions and broccoli like I have been this sacred morning.
As in meditation this morning, I surrender to gratitude. To our unity, to the pricks of adversity, to dryness, age, stiffness and to a full and open heart.

Michael and I picked up 55 gallons of waste veggie oil up in the Lassen area, camped a night up on a quiet summit, wandered around on Mill Creek and on the back side of Wilson Lake but I left the memory card at home so hopefully the memories remain in the mentioning.

Ten Year Loon Lake

2011-09-05T21:00:00.000-07:00

We had hoped to return to Loon Lake with Linda, Ann and Paula on the 10th anniversary of our first visit but Ann broke her ankle and it didn't seem right to do a group visit without her so just Michael, Sasha and a big chunk of humanity also went. We got up to the lake (by biodiesel) at dusk with crazy Rubiconers below where we were parked on the spillway. We spent the night there and the next morning we paddled out to where we hoped we could camp where we last went two years ago with Ann and Linda but that was taken. We paralleled the high granite rocks almost to the end of the lake until I spotted the possibility of a trail and that turned out to be a fine spot with a level place for the tent and some built up rocks for cooking, a fire ring but not much shade but beautiful views out to the lake, privacy and vast slabs above for wandering on.
That first day we just wandered around and swam and got settled into camping which has many different challenges than the comforts of veggie voyaging. Organizing the food, being comfortable for the scrabble challenges, getting the foodstuffs high hanging off a branch at sunset.... just to name a few.
On Sunday we hiked to Spider Lake which isn't a hard hike but neither is it easy.. my knees are stiffer now than ever before and the hike we hoped to make, to Buck Island Lake, got called due to topography. I recall how bummed we were by the Rubican 4WD people after the horrors of 9-11 but also how it seemed somehow constructive for people to be out challenging vehicles against the environment. Now it was just background and didn't really phase us. I hope the commemoration can be as psychologically easy but I doubt it--so much has been lost in these 10 years.
Each of us makes our perch in the rock and searches deep for sustenance. We are alone even in the midst of everything that distracts us. The struggle itself is intense, beautiful and recognizable. I'll see what I think next week in the thick of it. For now, nature soothes.

Pride and Wedding times

2011-08-27T22:21:00.000-07:00

Kelsi and Jarrod married tonight out by the creek in a beautiful ceremony and lively party.. It was all lovely and it seemed that they should be delighted to have brought so many people together in such a lovely way. I never think in these big terms so it amazing me when so much comes together in such an opulent and grace filled way. I just hope their marriage will be a happy and strong one.
Today was also the Pride Day extravaganza downtown. Shouts out to Karen here in front of symbols of the commitment to equality... silly bounce house struggle which I won't discuss and the lovely yarn bombs. Karen who gives so much to the Shalom Free Clinic and keeps on smiling. Blessings and Respect for her and Nancy for their good works. These other women with the NoH8 message. Their strength in all our veins.
Meanwhile Michael continues to research on these Sprinters that get 25 MPG and can still do all we need for camping and high clearance. Veggie Voyaging? We'll have to see. I think we go back on the road next July...
And these are some of our beautiful "kids", beautiful women all grown and doing their lives elsewhere-- Jasper, Kira, Kyle and Amani (still with us, thank goodness for one of four.) I'm so grateful to them for coming home for Kelsi and Jarrods' wedding so I could feast my eyes on them.

Reverence and Gratitude

2011-08-21T14:10:00.000-07:00

We went to a Celebration for Randy Larsen who after 9 years has gotten his doctorate on John Muir's conception of Gratitude. I haven't read the dissertation and can't wait for the book which will follow but know in my deepest resources what these reverence and gratitude feelings are about-- for the squash flower, for the scallop and color of this wild flower at Black Butte Lake (reminding me of our home datura.)
And the sun and all it has done.. the garden feeding many -- two potlucks, a sick friend, a friend with a hankering for tomatoes.. all for the harvest. Thanks to water, earth and sun for making this Amazing beauty and variety and letting me live to see it and savor it.

Well, no excuses here. It was my idea-- to be able to go out on big lakes, like Lake Powell or up rivers where it is too hard without a second vehicle. We got a 2 HP, 4 stroke engine and Michael got the mount for the Soar. We drove the small truck, the one that runs on gasoline, out to Black Butte Lake to try it out on a hot summer afternoon. The pumping and assembly was tedious but once out on the lake you could see why so many people like their engines, aside from the noise. We had a wonderful 5MPH toodle along the wild shore, a lovely swim and gooshy walk in the gray clay earth. We returned in sunset, in the coolness and the deer dropped down on the blond grass hills below the black buttes, fish jumpin' and grebes diving.
There was another wonderful gathering of Emily's family and friends and she pulled out her harp to play a bunch of the old standard folk songs that all our generation knows and that pulls us together.
The datura flowers are still blooming but also setting their dangerous seeds. This was a plant from the Don Juan books. I guess it is my friend since it showed up unannounced a few years ago and now it is the glory plant of my late summer.
Not that summer is always so kind. I tried to get myself in closer to take this wild wasp nest photo but kept a prudent distance. I never fear a honey bee but these guys...nothing but distance will do. There is a lot of life that is like this...approach, avoid... do something if you dare, or let it ride all within the wide world of appreciation and wonder.

Leo times

2011-08-15T21:56:00.000-07:00

Emily turned 70! We had a potluck out by the creek and celebrated her. We have been together 23 years on Riparia and we are all looking gray but Addie and Imani spark up our photos alot.
Michael and I went out on biodiesel this weekend. One place was back to McCoy Flat Reservoir with the canoe to explore the lake. It was really cold up there last night, reminding us that winter is right around the corner. Still we saw frogs, lizards and a snake so they aren't too willing to give up summer yet either. We crawled along in the Susan River and showered off with hot water on the side of the VV before heading home-- a totally sensuous treat.

The day before we camped here at Echo Lake with the mist sprites dancing in the early morning light. We hiked into Star Lake without a trail, just using the GPS. It reminded me of what the contour of the land is naturally like without the benefit of trails, all the deadwood trying to trip or impale you and all the manzanita wanting to imbed you with ticks... but still it was a rewarding experience to get to a truly wild lake, just following the faint trails of deer. Next week starts bow hunting season so we will stay away from the high country.

We've all been pretty upset about the false crisis here in the U.S. Emily was one of the main organizers of The Rebuild the Dream Rally here in Chico Saturday and there were some great speakers and signs. It is time that our numbers swell though or we will lose everything that the previous generations worked so hard for to the controlling interests of corporate greed and the war machine.

And here again are those summer Goddesses, mostly Leos. Women of the Sun, warm, open, strong, opinionated, and loving. We had a wonderful party Friday evening, enjoying being together and having manicures, pedicures, massages, hair treatments and facials. Quite a few juxtapositions in my monologue aren't there?
Despite the doings and comings and goings of us humans none of us are as colorful or "put together" as this red dragon... click on the photo for the details. Enjoy.

Catching Up

2011-08-12T15:11:00.001-07:00

Hiroshima and Nagasaki Commemorations have come and gone. I appreciated very much our time together at the CSUC amphitheater. We said a unifying "prayer for peace," rang bells, made intentions for peace while tossing flower pedals into Big Chico Creek, while the candles ringed the old WPA era wall. I love the intention on these faces. I love these people.

ahhhh, So good to be able to upload my pictures again without the slow misery and lack of success.
Here is Sasha in the snow patch below the unnamed hill/mountain we got to on the Colby Mountain trip we did. The last good snow roll of winter 2010/2011 and she took full advantage of it.
Gosh I'm brain dead. This is from our trip to the Warners. You turn left you get to this falls-- I think Mill Creek and right you get to, I think, Clear Lake (not the Lake County Clear Lake.)
And this is said fire Look Out at Colby Mountain where a Desolation Angel and his wife have put in a lot of amazing years.
And this is Mantis who created the world according to the Bushmen people of the Kalahari. I appreciate this world very much. At this time the datura is also blooming, starting in a tight twist and then unfurling into a dazzling white bloom. As the world turns so do we live on with all that implies in every phase of life and time of mankind.

Time with Ema and Orien

2011-08-08T16:13:00.000-07:00

...and the babies and Cedar and Cary too... My dear Orien has completed the bar exam and she came home for a little while to get caught up with sleep and see old friends. We were lucky to go up to Cary's house for delicious meal and time with their family. Orien and Ema have been friends since they were little girls and we got to watch some of the old vintage plays they put on on tapes Cary dug up... I haven't laughed that much in a long time!

Fiona and Nyla are really different and are giving Ema and Cedar a good workout. Orien demonstrated her old clown skills by fashioning balloons into flowers and dogs---a skill I didn't even know she had.

After Orien left we went back up Butte Creek Canyon so Michael could fix a sink for my friend Barb--this was a butterfly from her yard. After that we circled back to Cary's for a second fix-a-sink and it was more complex, necessitating a visit to the house crawl space where Michael met up with a rattle snake. It was the most primitive and frightening of sounds--I'd forgotten. Despite everything that is happening in the wide world these are the things that seem the interesting to me.

McCoy Flats and the Biz

2011-08-01T22:19:00.000-07:00

After the KZFR Bday party we headed up to Chester with the intention of getting a Burley "nomad" cart for Sasha from Bodfish so we could ride the Biz Johnson Rails to Trails without worrying about her getting over-heated. The first night we just made it to Westwood Junction since we got a very late start.

We stayed the night at McCoy Flat Reservoir, the headwater of the Susan River and a very wild and sweet spot by the dam. We heard from the locals that the Forest Service is going to gate some of these back-country access points. That would be an understandable response to being understaffed but I hope it doesn't happen.

We ended the day at Goumaz today and will ride the rest of the way to Susanville another day. It was good to get away from the tense ridiculousness of the debt ceiling debacle-- back into some beautiful country.

Warner Mountains

2011-07-26T16:58:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry to say I can't seem to upload photos but here is a tempting one. We went up into the South Warners with old Health Dept. buddies Ann and Linda squeezed into the Veggie Voyager with us. We camped the first night at Clear Lake and hiked around the lake and visited the Mill Creek Falls. The next day we went up the Pine Creek drainage to the huge meadows below the ridge line following the wildflower speckled creek all the way and visiting small lakes along the way. We camped that night right near here on sweet little Fitzhugh creek. Next day we went down to Blue Lake which was the only one warm enough to swim in before going home. We packed alot of beauty into four days...

Last week

2011-07-20T21:24:00.000-07:00

Last week is mostly unavailable. We veggie voyaged up to Colby Mtn and camped by the fire lookout. The man who staffs it has worked at the lookout for 27 years... only 50 human staffed fire lookouts remain in California.
The next day we drove on some back roads and ended up biking then hiking to the summit of an unnamed peak that looked out to the ends of the world. That night we camped at Humbug Summit in a beautiful meadow.
My new camera takes great shots but I sure couldn't get the blog to work with them.

So, these are pictures of my final birthday celebration at Sipho's new Jamaican restaurant. Got in some nice visits with Andrea, Carmel and Lorie but best was being with Laurel and Weezie and then being joined by chef Sipho himself. He has a beautiful spirit and it comes across in his delicious food. So kind of Weezie and Laurel to give me gifts, flowers, cake plus so much love. I'm lucky. I know it.

We did have the old camera when we went out on the Sacramento last week. Saw vacated Riparia Riparia (bank swallow) nesting sites and had time for lunch along the banks...

So sorry I can't share photos from the Pastors for Peace dinner or some of the much better quality photos I have now... ironic that I can't post them... I'll experiment more as

we voyage and paddle and feast onward.

change

2011-07-08T15:08:00.000-07:00

It's been so long since I blogged! The reason is that the files are large for the new Canon camera... Michael took this picture of me on my 64th Bday with it... finally a camera that can take photos in low light and get great detail.

These though are of Lake Almanor from the canoe and my old friend, the water proof Pentax option camera. The lake is so full we could paddle from the road and through the forest. Lots of birds were taking advantage of this protected shelter so we enjoyed many species.

When they say something wasn't worth a hill of beans I'm not sure what it means but this was impressive none the less. So much going on in the world...local stuff with redistricting so conservatives can have more clout, in Congress where the repugs are playing chicken to keep the rich and corporations from paying their fair share, at the state level where even the honest governor had to bull his way to a budget deal by wistful thinking because of repub stubborness about taxation. Meanwhile big oil is fracking away, bringing high carbon burning fuels across our most sensitive aquifers down from Canada, spilling oil into long stretches of pristine river... it was hard to get on without a good meditation today as my emotions were choking me.

We're home this weekend and it's hot but last week we were also at Antelope Lake and enjoying beauty there. 'Always have to keep recharging into love and beauty for the work there is to do in this world.

Drone Protest

2011-06-25T23:27:00.001-07:00

For a long time I have been concerned about unmanned predator and reaper drones that kill without conscience. People in the border areas of Pakistan live in terror because death can come at any time. This is terrorism and it is profoundly inhumane and illegal and it creates greater enmity against this country for the grave injustice of wanton violence. We joined Code Pink, The Nevada County Peace Center, Military Families Against the War, Veterans for Peace in solidarity with thousands of people of Pakistan demonstrating in Dharna (a sit-in protest) against the US Drone Strikes that are killing thousands of innocents. We were at Beale AFB where the Global Hawk surveillance drone is controlled. We vigiled from 3pm through about 11am and were joined by remarkable young women from the (PTI- Movement for Justice) in the morning and their voices were heard on KZFR. We all felt it had been an excellent vigil since this was the biggest vigil yet (about 30 of us,) many base goers took our hand-outs, and we got good community radio coverage between the Bay Area's KPFA and our own North Valley KZFR as well as having an excellent teach-in about the drones for our own information.

It's critical for us all to recognize that the Pandora's Box of unmanned killer aircraft is costly in many ways to the future peace of our world. Google the article "Convenient Killing" by Cole and Dobbing to learn more about this and get in touch with me if you would like to participate in future vigils. Thanks to all the good people who we met and stood with and people around the world who work for peace.

Shasta and Lassen

2011-06-21T18:26:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm heading into being 64--thus the finger signs here at the old ski bowl at Mt. Shasta. We skied from Bunny Flat to the ski bowl by the road which is still closed at 7000 feet. The ski area was closed after a series of avalanches and because the road was hard to keep plowed plus it edges a sacred spring of the Wintu people. We stayed up there and watched the constantly changing clouds over the summit for a long time.

We ate lunch quite comfortably on an abandoned snow mobile and Sasha and Michael had to mug for the camera.

I got good views of mountain bluebirds fly catching regular looking flies along the snow line... something I'd never seen before.

The next day we went down to the north entrance of Lassen National Park and first rode our bikes in about three miles to where the plows had stopped (from the Devastated Area.) We skied at sunset around Hat Creek Meadow and the next day Michael loaded up the skis (the photo is out of sequence) and we rode to the end of the road and then skied up the park road where it appeared no one had been-- out past Summit Lake and around the edge of the park with views out to Lake Almanor. The snow was still about 5 feet deep but when we got back to the valley it was 100 degrees plus someone rammed the back of the VV-- first accident since we backed into that guy at the Nuclear Power Plant in 2007!

Women/Canyon rim

2011-06-13T10:57:00.000-07:00

When we stay home on the weekend I get a big dose of amazing people. First here is Phyllis Cullen, anesthesiologist by trade but someone who has not just spent years creating pediatric respiratory intensive care units in Central and South America, bringing docs up for training and instituting Project Saves (recycled medical waste to countries in need,) but is also a fine arts quilter and painter. We were floored by her talent at this exhibit at the Ave. 9 Gallery.

Then the humble flower arranging of Ka, a tiny Hmong woman who does nothing but farm work all day every day but still combines her growing and creative zest for her incredible arrangements. Here she swung the bouquet in front of her face to avoid the camera but her smile and farming ability I've been delighting in for years. I wish the Hmong women who sell flowers could have a collective flower shop of their own. I dream of winning the lottery (even though I don't play) to underwrite something like a cultural center/flower shop they could develop.

Michael is home again and we are catching up with our wandering. This out to the Chico Creek south rim, through and west of the frisbee golf course. Since it has been so moist there are still wildflowers up there and the frisbee golfers haven't denuded everything. I don't like to be negative about them since they are having non-motorized fun but cigarette butts are bad enough downtown (where I picked about 100 out of the planter box at 3rd and Main on Saturday.)

Lastly, Good Luck to Deanna Alexis who is off to teach in South Africa this summer/winter for them. We went to her benefit last night and the photos didn't come out but the memories did. Sweet!

shifting

2011-06-07T22:09:00.001-07:00

We completed our summer Complete Self Attunement meditation retreat yesterday. As always it brought me many hours of inner exploration from subtle energetic states that are very nourishing. Our group was small this year and we had perfect rainy weather.
Poor poppy didn't look so happy though.

My friend Katy who hosted us had the most interesting way to plant... directly into sacks of organic fertilizer...

and despite the cool weather this bee chose my time of gawking over this (?) gaudy agapantha flower to nose dive deep into its center.

Meanwhile, over in Hamilton City, where I roam around at lunch time, the nopales in people's yards are flowering and paddling their big flat leaves to the sun. In Hamilton they aren't just decorative. People scrape off the spines, boil them and enjoy them in many recipes.

Michael is still skiing down on the east side of the Sierra in the Veggie Voyager. A fat slow moving raccoon has taken up in his work and truck park area. I'm enjoying our cautious truce but don't think it will be able to maintain there once Sasha returns.

My main critter problem remains the voles. The earth vibrator thingies don't work... my lettuce went prematurely rootless and one of my kiwi starts got the root chop too. It promises to be a garden with a tinge of struggle this year. I wish yours better.

Picnics

2011-05-30T21:00:00.000-07:00

Wonderful benefit yesterday on the land for Doroteia Pathways work in Belize and Guatemala. Here is Mamuse leading people in one of their songs... harmony and beauty and oneness with the moment and one another.

Today Weezie and I celebrated her birthday with a full day of enjoyment. We went out to breakfast, then to a matinee, then out to the monastery in Vina and walked around enjoying a meditation as well as wine tasting of their wonderful New Clairvaux wines before a picnic on the river.

Lastly wanted to mention that Sue Hildebrand, our Peace and Justice Center coordinator was appreciated the other evening at the garden behind the center and I realized what a remarkable job she has done at bringing people together.

This other photo is of her in her M.C. garb for the acoustic picnic on the creek yesterday. Lovely.

then getting away

2011-05-23T17:56:00.000-07:00

After the excitement of Orien's graduation we decided to get away. Michael processed veggie oil and we camped the first night on the Yuba River where it takes off up the hill toward Nevada City on Hwy 20. The Northern California Greenlife Eco Fest was going on at the Fairgrounds so we went by with some of the Veggie Voyagers books. This photo is of M with a new kind of electric bike that has a lithium battery and is a better hybrid than the one I have. Find out more at www.theelectricbikeshop.org in Sacramento.

We headed up Hwy 49 and had a walk along the Yuba but ended up at the end of the road above Bassets in the Gold Lakes Basin for the second night. In the morning we took a ski off to the East and in the afternoon we skied to Salmon Lake in the basin with dramatic clouds bringing light and shadow to the crevices of the granite outcroppings in a dramatic way.

Last night we camped at Yuba Pass and got some rain but over all the snow was about 4-6 ft. throughout the high country, covered in a light duff but still very skiable. The air was sweet and enlivening and we skied to the south in the morning along the crest, looking out to the vast green Sierra valley.

It's hard to come home to our voles in the garden and land and community obligations but it was a good reminder of the beauty and freshness that's available. Spring is still unfolding in the mid high country and hasn't even started above 6,000 feet.

Grown to Juris Prudence

2011-05-18T21:46:00.001-07:00

Michael, Sheldon and I just got back from Orien's Golden Gate Law School graduation in S.F. We are in settling mode after a lot of anticipation, some nerves, some muni adventures in the rain and time targets in a still strange city. Orien's wonderful friends really are the joy of her life and these are some of them and excuse me for wrongful spellings- Crystal, Kareem, Lauren, Suman, Liat (Happy Birthday!) and Nicki in these pictures but all her other law school friends and their friends and families who we met and ate and celebrated with.... as well as other friends who also shared a toast for her.

We are very proud of Orien and hold her dear in our hearts every single day as she now plows through law review with the goal of passing the bar. Her generation holds our hopes and most profound respect for the work ahead.

Black Butte beyond

2011-05-16T10:19:00.000-07:00

Michael is home again and we went for veggie oil in Orland yesterday and beyond to Black Butte. Enjoyed the dynamism of the weather and for me it was a treat to walk through the long oat and needle grasses along the shoreline. Also went out to Pine Creek a few days ago on my own...it's more prickly there so my walk was more prescribed but the buckeye is blooming and it is beautiful there too.

There is a lot of intensity right now but also the celebration of Orien's graduation from law school. We are headed out for that now. Last night the Doin' It Justice choir sang a song called "It Takes a Village" and I started to think about that added dimension of community and how much it has meant. Thank you for all who helped her and provided her with support along her path.

More Earth

2011-05-09T23:02:00.001-07:00

How you know it's summer is when Little Chico Creek dries up and that is far from happening. These have been delicious cool days and we even had about an inch of soaking rain with a dramatic thunderstorm last night making everything fresh today.

I've been transplanting a few hundred sunflower volunteers out of my garden spot and will try to find them good homes. I also came up with the probably unsuccessful idea of stuffing urine soaked dog hair along the gopher runs... if I can move them out before the tasty vegetable roots come up I want to do that...there's too many of them to have a very successful garden here despite our good soil.

The elderflowers are lacey and showy right now, the matrix of many fruit clusters to come. I was mainly struck by the light and the structure of them against the dark greens behind them.

Mothers' Day was a fine day with Dance Church, a No on A brunch and later wine and chocolate tasting at the Chico Peace and Justice Center. Next store the Ray Ray gallery is celebrating May as bike month with these unique bikish structures. I love my new bike, which is a girl's cruiser...prrfect and yesterday I rode it everywhere.

The only draw back to this wonderful Fair Trade event in the garden behind the Peace Center was that it was Sue Hildebrand's last function as our Director. She's really multi-faceted and I just hope our next coordinator will have a good fraction of the skills that Sue brings to the job so effortlessly. Here she is with Susan Tchudi, the President of the BOD and KZFR deejay for the Ecotopia (Tuesday eves) program and mom of wonderful adult children. They are standing in front of the fair trade chocolate we got to sample and you can buy very reasonably at the Center. (Shameless advertising I do not regret.... chocolate depends on child slavery in the "free market" and it is deplorable...this is the delicious and living wage way to save other mothers' children on the other side of the globe.) At least Sue will still be our neighbor, which is a very good thing.

Michael is still in the mountains. At least I heard from him this weekend. My dear daughter we'll get to see graduate from law school... that will be the next posting. (Yeah!!)

Endangered Species Faire

2011-05-07T19:38:00.001-07:00

The embrace of Mother Earth lasts far longer than the embrace of our earthly mothers but I love this picture for the proxy embrace by Mother Kathy and her dear Dale inside the Mother Earth with such a loving and sentient look to her (painted by Kathy.) The Endangered Species Faire is about the children and I think today was very successful as many were educated and touched.

You really have to click on this turtle picture unfortunately to get the intricate pattern of its caripace and head. It's a wild turtle of our area. Despite the beautiful puppet turtle you never can touch nature for her brillance.

I got to fly a gorgeous dragonfly, one of my favorite creatures (also made by Kathy Faith) and not endangered but part of the great web of life. When you see a lot of dragonflies you know you are at a healthy water environment. She caught the flexibility of the big head which swings seemingly free of the body. I love all the green in this photo and am grateful for our long spring.

And this for you who might not be good at guessing is a chinook salmon. It's a perfect seque for me to ask you to call our rep this week and say you want GMO altered salmon to be labeled (AB 88.) Perhaps if we demand labeling the consumers will keep the genie from getting too far out of the bottle. For me the idea of altering this heritage species is devastating. (Assemblymember.Neilsen@assembly.ca.gov Jim Nielsen 916-319-2002) They say the great forests of the west are dependent on the life cycle of the wild salmon... their bodies nurture the soils, the trees and the critters. How foolhardy our species is (but I love the little human legs here.)

Happy Mothers for Peace Day tomorrow. One thing more this mother would like to ask. Google Mothers for Peace and help us decommision older nuclear plants like Diablo Canyon and stop more nuclear plants from being built. Celebrate your moms.

Home 3 Years!

2011-05-02T15:16:00.000-07:00

May Day, International Workers of the World, Beltain and Mother Earth all gathering on the stage of these days of Bin Laden dead and War, Ignorance, Poverty and Injustice still alive. All co-existing somehow. Blessings on these commemorations clicking along like frames in a cartoon, round and round split with new events each year.

So Thoreau's sign looks a bit blurred here, "Time is a stream I go fishing in." We were walking along Clear Creek below the Butte College campus in tick infested fresh tall grass enjoying our slow nature infused way to Cherokee to celebrate May Day with friends. Michael picked up 11 ticks and me, just 6.

This morning I had the good fortune to have breakfast with Laurel on her birthday. Here with Weezie, Karen and Anna. What a blessing to have such good people in my life.

Back to the creek and the strength and fortitude of the oak; thoughts on Michael. He's taking off again. This time for a Mammoth to Rock Creek ski, average elevation 10,400 ft. 35 miles, 6 passes. Spring conditions which include avalanches and swollen creeks. Just him and 12 year old Sasha.

Life is precious. I still miss the road (7/07 to 5/08 documented here on the blog) and the constant unfolding of beauty but I also find it here at home. Here the annual return of the fragile and fluttery columbine. Sure is time to go finish my transplanting and stop spinning with my thoughts. All our relations.

Valley to Mt.

2011-04-26T18:04:00.000-07:00

Michael is back! After a day to settle in and attend Pancakes for Peace, we headed up to the snow and wandered into a storm high up on the plateau steps up the flanks of Brokeoff Mtn.

For me it was good to be up in the wild of it and away from Wikileaks and things I might involve myself in at home. We had to put some diesel in the car since I'm out of the Santa Cruz Greenstation biodiesel but at elevation a little of that is needed anyway.

The place below was the turn around place and where we snuggled up to drink our tea, out of the storm enough.

And back home it's almost Beltain and didn't rain here at all. These are some of Bruce's starts, healthy lettuce waiting to be set out, the backbone of many delicious salads.

It's almost three years now since we returned from the Veggie Voyage. From this vantage point I want to continue a little longer with the blog. Please pass the link on to your friends (this Chernobyl Anniversary.)

Earth, Labor, Pancakes

2011-04-24T13:15:00.000-07:00

Chico had a wonderful Earth Day Celebration put on by the Butte Environmental Council. First I want to tell about one cigarette butt campaign before I say how glad I am that they are doing their's.
A guy cleans the sidewalks of some of the businesses downtown. The one that really bothers me is a popular bar where lots of people smoke. He shoots the butts out into the gutter to be washed into the storm drain and down to Big Chico Creek. My attempts to reason with him have had no effect and my appeals to others for help didn't work so finally on Saturday I did a Citizen's Arrest which didn't exactly get him hauled off, which is fine, but now Code Enforcement is going to make him use some sort of a collection device... I am SOOO Glad! And I didn't even have to dress up in a butt suit.

MaMuse at dusk in the brisk and magical evening was wonderful, especially powered by all the people off to the right powering the stage on bicycles. These young women bring environmentalism out from the spirit, recognizing in a deep and fundamental way our connection with our roots as beings in and off nature.

The next day there was a dynamic Labor Rally attended by about 350 people in the same place we had enjoyed the night before. I wish you will click on this sign if you have any doubts about the Righteousness of Collective Bargaining.

The most touching for me were all these clients and their workers together supporting the United Home Care Workers, just one of the many groups of organized workers there. What will happen if these people have their benefits cut and what will happen to the workers? We just can't let it happen.

Finally, Pancakes for Peace and the annual Easter egg hunt! It was a wonderful morning. Last night I'd gone to the Label GMO foods, Right to Know Campaign dinner and then left to pick up Michael at the airport... so good to have him home although I was off to volunteer for my 6:30 shift at "Pancakes" which I didn't mind a bit... so many beloved sweet good Chico people and such a good benefit for the Peace and Justice Center!

Table Mtn etc.

2011-04-22T14:00:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday after a full day of work in Oroville and with a turbulent sky above I decided on the spur of a moment to go up to Table Mountain. It's been a late, mild spring so this incredible lava cap domed plateau is still exploding with wild flowers, made even more dramatic by the brooding clouds. I did about a 10 acre loop covering various micro-climates from bog to the thinnest of dry soils. If you click on the photo above you can see the Sutter Buttes, a tiny mountain range rising up in the middle of the valley that you can see for miles, believed to be the home of the souls of the ancient people of the region.

Other souls, living beings, filled my week with Monday being Tax Day. Some of us peace folks leafleted in front of the downtown post office about the permanent war economy and the need to cut military spending and tax the rich and corporations their fair share (and leave intact our social safety net and environmental protections.) There was also a Tea Party gathering across the street with their cut taxes and government spending but don't bother me with the repercussions folks. Our congressman Wally Herger joined the Tea Party caucus...his pronouncements on everything from Planned Parenthood to Medi-care have swung ever more to the right so with dread but determination I just made a phone call to meet with him. Another Dona Quixote action in the making.

My friend Laurie is leaving the area after I've known her 30 years--nothing I've done I assure you. If I were her I'd stay if only for the plants in the yard... just look at this glorious peony and try to think of leaving it.

Today is Earth Day. I rose with a clock radio (tired after a raccoon invasion last night of our walnuts stashed on the porch.) So much of what I have done today has depended on external energy... even hard boiling the eggs right now to donate to the Easter egg hunt at Pancakes for Peace. I don't at all despair because there is a lot of momentum for change right now but I also don't really feel a lot of hope--I'm sure any reader could understand why without me saying. What I do experience is the moment and the appreciation of community and place--my place in the weeds you could say right now, but also in the rare glory, like this young dogwood. A balance of activism and being in stillness and nature is what will fuel this being and I wish you what gives you strength from your real energy source as the Earth is true to its Day each day with or without us.

Fields are plowed

2011-04-16T18:21:00.000-07:00

We have gone from weedy and lawless to disced and orderly in a matter of days. To me the weedy state is overwhelming but with a good tractor what is green, tangled, lush and difficult in its zest to outgrow or find a niche becomes disappeared in a sea of brown crumbly soil, ready to plant (and again rampage the competition of weeds just waiting for rebirth.) Bruce got his tomato plastic palace up and it was looking quite tidy and he put in some late cabbage family... one can't guess about the weather these days. GRUB is just behind, just plowing so far.

Michael is still in Wisconsin so I went out to celebrate another wonderful Aries on their birthdays and see the Banff Film Festival without him. Patti's tiara is a soup bowl. A bunch of us went to the Empty Bowls benefit for the Torres Shelter last night. The High School students make the bowls and local restaurants make soup for tasting and you get to take your bowl home with you... this is a good community benefit and I'm glad I went even though my vegetarianism left me a few bowls short of full.

The guests at Torres are lucky in some ways. Our neighbors on Comanche Creek have moved on and unfortunately, like the rest of our society, the plastic remains. I'm thinking about doing a Crapathon... offering 100$ to the person who can pick up the most garbage on Earth Day... I'm just concerned someone will cheat... perhaps it should be for the most articles of garbage? I picked up itsy bits of plastic out of the ditch to Comanche Creek today for awhile and don't know how to make the point that this stuff is overwhelming the waterway environments.

I do enjoy mind quieted walks with Sasha a couple a times a day and this is at the back of the land where Rocky's bees are where weeds still reign and spring is still evolving itself.

Into April

2011-04-10T12:28:00.001-07:00

This morning I went and laid in the field looking up into the busy crowns of the old oaks until Sasha came up from the creek and dripped on me. There were a pair of orioles along with others I couldn't make out. A whole world of life we never see when we are walking along and rarely have our line of sight skyward.

Last night was skyward with Emma's Revolution. Part of life must be in the Beauty and in the Yearning for what we know is possible because it is so strong in our spirits. Their voices soared with that quality and that is still where my grateful Sunday self is.

I don't know if the rains are over (here on the Sac this week) but I certainly feel lighter with some of the federal budget stuff decided despite the fact I don't know what the cuts budget will mean yet in terms of suffering-- I was so obsessed about women's health I could barely focus on the rest and I'm sure that was part of the agenda..to sneak in a bunch of nefarious cuts while we were focused on women's health. Next is the state. The Left at least is focusing more and more on drawing attention to the 1% that own the 25% and do not pay their share... Now will the rich and the corporations ever pay their share and will the wars end as a real solution to the budget crisis? I guess, as they say, the battle lines are being drawn while nature goes about her job of attraction, pollination, feeding, balancing, always filling those niches with endless creativity even with death, decay and rebirth. (This old tree and the lupins below it are three blocks from my work in Hamilton City.)

A brother departs

2011-04-04T21:40:00.001-07:00

It was shocking and sad to hear that Michael's brother Bob had died. After a day of that reality, that he is gone, my mind still rebels. There is nothing I can write here except what a sweet man he was and what a great sense of wonderment he had. I wish he could have found his true life, that which gave him joy and fulfillment. Death itself is an adventure and I send love across the divide between us for that great unknown. I certainly don't regret going away this weekend and leaving the sweet spring behind. Now Michael will be away with family for weeks in Wisconsin... it was good for us to do a little Veggie Voyaging first. We did some cross country up to the ridge line above Fredonyer Pass with great views out to Mt. Lassen and the McKenzie Meadows.

And we skied out to the Mountain Meadows Reservoir having to weave around to find creek crossings. A beautiful wild place. Sasha and I will sure miss Michael as his birthday passes while he is away from us.

Farm Workers Viven!

2011-03-31T14:00:00.001-07:00

Just home for a few hours after I had no patients until late afternoon. It's the Cesar Chavez federal holiday and the CSUC students are off and partying up a storm, many in these cheap "sombreros" which are deeply offensive in light of the history and current struggles of California's farm workers. It is certainly understandable that they are enjoying the warm sunny weather but it shows such a huge disconnect between people who eat produce and those that plant, tend and harvest it that I had to make mention. There is a wonderful 4 part series called Pastures of Plenty that is available from www.coastridge.com and it should be ethically required for all of us who shop commercially for foodstuffs. Between the clinic in Hamilton City and Chico, the river is still very high. This is the view from the outdoor seating at Scotty's Landing where I sat in the sun, took in some radiation exposure and read the News and Review. I left the clinic in time to complete the international prayer for the waters of Fukushima; in time to hear that milk here in California is testing with elevated levels of radio-isotopes... but remembering it was the contamination of milk that led Women's Strike for Peace in the early 1960s to move us to the Test Ban Treaties. We have so much to do-- stop nukes, convert to non-fossil fuels, end the wars, respect the workers, sustain good jobs and housing for all... somehow it is all coherent and achievable if we can just get some critical mass of human will and energy. My respect to all those working for social justice. Love across time and space to the legacy of Cesar Chavez.

Mostly Santa Cruz

2011-03-28T20:50:00.000-07:00

This week I made a small trip into my representative's office. Wally Herger had responded to a letter I wrote to save Planned Parenthood funding with total uninformed drivel so I sent his letter to as many people as I could and responded myself. Wally thinks that only one percent of Planned Parenthood services are primary care services and I just couldn't let that go-- so many young women (men and older women,) depend on the services, not just for reproductive care but for cancer and STD screening and treatment and referrals. It's too much to go into here but it is offensive that he takes his ill-informed information from right wing, sensationalistic, rabidly anti-abortion websites. Then Ellen Simon and I took a longer trip to Santa Cruz to visit our old friend Mathilde Rand (on biodiesel.)

Besides the beautiful shift in weather from rainy to springy we were able to get me some (Veggie Voyagers) book sales, time on public t.v. on a panel with other non-fossil fuel spokespersons, and lots of bio-diesel to take home from the Green Station.

One of the high points of our time together was the tour of the backyard of this Food Not Lawns cooperative. It was a-buzz with music, hair-cutting and urban gardening and small animal husbandry. We had a lovely time with our tour guide who reminded me alot in her commitment and straight-forwardness with the GRUB cooperative folks here in Chico. Their model is how to lower food costs, learn self sufficiency, and live in harmony with the earth even within an urban environment... It was inspiring.

Another favorite thing, of course, was walking to and on the beach. We got to see and imagine the damage done to some of the piers in the harbor by the tsunami and wander along this old railroad line, now decidedly in the tide line. It was a wonderful visit and I really appreciate Ellen's companionship and Mathilde's hospitality and the friendship of both.

Spring starts

2011-03-20T13:20:00.000-07:00

Spring arrived with great resolve and left us without a view of that fantastic full moon that was a not-to-miss. Nor was I supposed to miss the Spark & Cinder 35th Anniversary but I did. I didn't miss this Moby Dick white whale of a sycamore breaching above One Mile today, its barnacles acorn woodpecker caches.

I was there because I also missed Dance Church, an opportunity I was going to try because Michael is away and I missed the Hallelujah dancing last night. As if by synchrony I met up again with Blackbird and Einstein, who I'd met the week previously up at Child's Meadows. They are a human-goose team who bonded and now I carry concern for-- beautiful fragile beings wandering on the edge of the storms.

Always I've had hope we could turn things around. When we were fresh with the Green Party we met here twenty some years ago. Now I wonder what can work and who it will be who creates the revival. Believe it or not, I wrote to Ralph Nader and asked him if he knew of anyone else who was honest and incorruptible to assist toward the presidency. I mused on where the energy goes and what gets in the way of movement building as I wandered through the dripping spring renaissance, in love with the water, thinking about the tsunami and the snow pack and Michael in the mountains...

Yesterday was the Anniversary of the Iraq War. A hardy and dear cohort of caring people created a small Peace Uprising and I'm sitting here sorting postcards to send to Washington and Quantico, the new Guantanamo. The young veteran speaking here touched my heart with a war story too painful to recount. How he told it reinforced my resolve. Most people care but don't think they can do anything. I care and can't care that what I do might not do anything... I'll disintegrate like those earthworms on the pavement today if I don't try but I'm ready for our Egypt or our Wisconsin... I want the voices of the people strong around me. One person said, why do we let the 1% push around the other 99% of us? Why? Another truthful voice on the radio, just a fleeting bit of truth.... the translator started to cry because the young man she interpreted for had made a statement about how we must get rid of all nuclear reactors and weapons. Yes, we knew that.

At the root of everything is money. Libya=money. I went into the peace rally against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and came out and we were at war with Libya.... one more crazy dictator we supported and now want out.

This disequilibrium with so much coming at us at once is not the way of nature... no rests between cataclysms, no harmony, interconnections not for symbiosis but for greed.

Still spring continues to provide its tidal magnificence. Now it is cold and wet but soon it will peel back and explode with green. Everything in its time and I guess it's just my job to be in the flow.
Gracias a la Vida.

Getting through

2011-03-13T20:46:00.000-07:00

This kind of weather, shot from out by the river on my way home from work, is typical for this time of year. Otherwise, I don't know what is typical of what is going on. I've been worried sick about Japan, Libya and Wisconsin without a real outlet.

Today we went up into a pretty good storm. It was raining until Morgan summit then snow and sleet below Lassen Park where we wandered the day away. One good thing that drifted back into my awareness is how, when you manufacturer a "crisis" by skiing miles into a storm within a forest, the only way to solve it is one step at a time with breath and attention in the moment. It is one thing to be in the heart of the crisis and another to be far distant to one and fretting though. I have some things to try this week--like doing radio (www.kzfr.org 90.1FM) on Friday from 11:30-1pm, filling in for Beau on the Peace and Justice Program...that will focus my urgency and my friend visits tomorrow from Japan and hopefully we can make a plan for how to help meaningfully....

Meanwhile the land is beautiful with some plants bolting and many trees still flowering. Kelsi, one of the kids who grew up on this land, had her baby this week and she is also part of what fills my heart and mind.

Meanwhile, Michael prepares for another couple of big ski trips away. He's been processing veggie oil and getting the VV road warrior ready. I will miss him but know this is what his spirit longs for and I really do get it-- the world is just you and the elements on days like today and the beauty and simplicity resonates just right.

The BIG event of this last week for me was the 100th Anniversary of International Women's Day. We celebrated it with women and men from 129 countries who held bridge events to draw attention to the suffering of women in some of the countries like Afghanistan but also to wake us up to the right wing attacks on women's reproductive freedom here in the U.S. It was wonderful to see the huge support from the motorists below us on Hwy. 99.
One foot in front of the other....

Blossoms frame faces, creeks

2011-03-06T15:21:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I spent mostly with my friend Laurie since it was her birthday but I also went to a funeral for a fine public health expert named Nino Calarco and a fund raiser for our friend Rudy Giscombe who is deeply ill with cancer. It made my heart a bit heavy but it was good to share the time with Laurie as she's moving away soon.

Today I peddled over to the GRUB cooperative, passing gorgeous Carisa (of MaMuse) on the way through the wet world.

I dawdled down to Comanche Creek and got this picture.... maybe it will make it into Creeks of Chico next year. Comanche Creek holds "March" for this year's calendar.

Over at GRUB I got a picture of Lee, who used to be a neighbor. Everyone gets a flower frame these days. How lovely life is with a flower frame.

And to frame in the frame this is Little Chico Creek... no room here for my Lindo Channel shots but that's where Laurie and I went walking yesterday. Let the spring heal your heart-- go outside.

A week of Life

2011-02-27T21:40:00.001-08:00

From snow to snow the week has passed with an important rally in support of organized labor yesterday in Sacramento. It's really confusing to me how so many people can be so misinformed and negative about collective bargaining but I guess it is based on our failure to communicate and then the endless right wing radio propaganda that has people thinking our small pensions are "lavish" and we are on some "gravy train." What about the rich I want to ask?

At any rate. I believe strongly in what we and are foreparents did here in America and will join with my brothers and sisters to fight for our rights. Even though I'm retired from my public health nursing job I still feel part of the union struggle and won't relent on speaking out for our rights to a decent life as working people.

We've had rain in the valley and this little ephemeral waterfall greeted me the day I went up Humbug Rd. to meditate with my friend Kathy.

And today we skied past Jonesville, which is this old house and barn, up another section of Humbug Rd.

Lovely week. Lots of good snowpack.

Voyaging to Mts.

2011-02-21T23:53:00.001-08:00

Michael had to process the veggie oil in the rain under a tarp but we were able to get away for four days. Up at Bunny Flat on Mt. Shasta it was snowing hard and I had a scary experience with not being able to warm my hands and then getting short of breath almost like a panic attack--even after I turned back after about a quarter mile past this sign. It was one of those facing mortality experiences and very unpleasant as I always think death is still quite aways away but maybe it isn't.

The next day we went up to Mt. Ashland and skied and even though where we were at Shasta was 7,000 ft. and this was about 6,600 ft. I was fine. We skied into the Grouse Hut (Sasha waiting for her share of my lunch here,) and the day was filled with gorgeous clouds and Michael got to try out new ski boots and it was almost as if the day at Shasta hadn't happened. It was a relief to be in harmony again with the grand display of beauty around me.

Camping in the cold in the V.V. was also good to remind me of the many things I liked about being snug and the things that are a tad difficult before we do a reading/slide show at Lyon Books Thursday night (7pm.) I don't want to make it sound just too blissful when there is always a balance to be in these amazing places.

The other thing to mention is that the book sales in Redding, Mt. Shasta and Ashland went horribly. I'm in love with book stores and being rejected by the book buyers is kind of like your mother telling you she doesn't like you... even though you get a thick skin on the outside it sort of hurts. You SHOULD LOVE me your baby brain wants to whine. Anyway... it's getting harder for me to put that foot forward so I hope it goes well at Lyon to boost that part of my brain that identifies too much with book sales. Loved the journey, loved the country, felt the need to write the book, appreciated Steve Tchudi for basically putting the writing and photos into physical form, paid the money, got the boxes and boxes of books. Then?

I look at this last photo and remember Kenneth Pachen's immortal words afresh-- "It's only the thinking of clouds that keeps the world on its untroubled course."

pre Valentines

2011-02-13T10:36:00.000-08:00

This last lovely week of La Nina has brought many blossoms to a bloomin and now the rain should return tomorrow which we are all grateful for.

Michael and I will be on KCHO tomorrow night, Valentine's Day (91.7 FM 8pm.) Our topic will be the love of the earth.

Since it will be based on our travel around the U.S.

I've been rereading parts of the Veggie Voyagers book,

thinking back on the concerns we encountered. I can't even believe

the frightening perspective that Contrails are really Chemtrails, that our skies are being consciously poisoned. as thefolks at Farmers Market are saying. 'Can hardly let that in.

Despite any fears the people of Egypt have triumphed and new life is coming. Our Riparian community is kindling love for one of our dear "kids" who will give birth soon. We had a wonderful Blessing Way for Kelsi but as usual my little camera wouldn't do well inside. I'm including a picture of "a land meeting." Such hard work to sit in this perfect spring sunshine together.

Fair Trade Chocolate or not I wish Love to visit your heart with the wide vista of compassion and enjoyment in a delightful lacey honeycomb, sweet and long lasting.

Complete Self

2011-02-01T18:42:00.001-08:00

The winter deepening for the Complete Self Attunement meditation facilitators was very wonderful this year although the group was smaller. Last evening we went out to the pacific flyway for the sunset and from consciousness this gorgeous sunset and perfect conditions were an absolute treat. Our meditations were filled with the same kind of richness and depth and wove an organic direction for us to live our lives with simple expanded awareness. I'm very grateful for this practice. Check out the website if you get the space to be curious.

2012 Meditation

2011-01-30T18:04:00.000-08:00

We are together in Durham for our meditation deepening. Our teacher Don Kollmar (www.csaprocess.com) has been reading about all the 2012 stuff that I have been ignoring. He explained to us what the Mayan prophecies are and some of the other information about catastrophic changes on earth that are projected for December, 2012. After that I spent a huge amount of meditation time in my thoughts, planning how to survive but at a certain point I surrendered to the idea of a known end-point to life and it became like a deep chasm of love and embrace of all. Who knows though? All I know is that panic and fear don't serve.

My bro!

2011-01-25T23:20:00.000-08:00

Well gee, after all this time blogging you'd think I'd have better control of the order of my photos...but no.. Ok. We went to Reno and Lake Tahoe with my brother. Michael processed veggie oil for the journey and we also sold the VV book along the way. On the way home tonight we stopped in Chilcoot at Simple Fuels Recycling and picked up 45 gallons of bio-diesel from a very sweet guy and this is his veggie storage area. I have hope now for Chico that we can get a co-op going with is bio-diesel...

The main star of the show this long weekend though was my dear brother Warren. I hadn't seen him for three years when we visited him and his family in North Georgia while we were on the Veggie Voyage. He was on the west coast for an A.L.S. symposium and was able to carve out a little time, but also had to work some. He and Michael did a day and a half skiing at Heavenly while I messed around riding my bike and skiing a golf course and wandering the lake edge. The main thing was the memories. I've just craved seeing him and so it really satisfied a need I had...it's hard when both your parents are gone and you have just one sibling and no other close family. Besides that, he's a wonderful, compassionate person.

While Warren and Michael watched the Packers game I went up one of the Heavenly bunny hills but even that was intimidating to me. I just enjoyed the views and the crisp air and tried to listen to what the parents were telling their little kids and tried to emulate the 5 year olds.

Stateline, NV was looking kind of shabby, especially the Horizon where Warren stayed. It has been a good place for us over the years. We've always parked in the lot and watched movies there but now it appears to be going under financially...quite forlorn but on the 15th floor we still got a wonderful view of the lake. What matters isn't the rise and fall of human structures it's the health of the lake and I guess you know how that is going. Still so beautiful though. I feel very grateful and very lucky.

Calling Dr. King

2011-01-17T09:14:00.000-08:00

Stayed up late last night watching a film about the plight of Ethiopian coffee farmers who can't get a fair wage for their coffee and therefore are dependent on food aid and can't educate their kids. The prices for the 4 leading coffee buyers are set on the NY stock exchange and coffee drinkers have no idea how dire it is for the farmers. The film is called Black Gold and the answer is FAIR TRADE which cuts out the middle man so coffee goes straight to the roaster and farmers get a living wage.
It is like a giant wave of recognition this Dr. King weekend. The Teach In on Saturday, the Last Chance for Eden film and discussion at Trinity Methodist on racism and relationships, the amazing commemoration at the church, King's speeches this morning on Democracy Now and now listening to David Guzzetti's music... my heart is in the hands of the King of Love.

The earth allows us this time to be inside and in the mood for listening and thinking. Walking around the land with Michael and Sasha we just wander without much to say. The pussy willows are already emerging on the border and the lilac leaves have been pushing out since the solstice. The earth barely rests but for me this is a very regenerative time. A very important time.

I've lost my source of bio-diesel and have to make personal changes so that is one thing but the other is to movement build toward sustainability. (Below is a picture from the water transfer meeting. I've never known the community so unified, we were united against letting southern California suck out our groundwater.) We have to recognize our other general interests-- to hang on to the benefits we have earned, to protect the vulnerable, to have meaningful jobs, to end senseless wars and bring troops and money home, to protect biodiversity and get a handle on the messaging which divides us and promotes intolerance. One earth, one people... we need far greater equality and thoughtfulness. Dr. King has taught us that and I am deeply touched by this "Holiday" of opportunity to come together.

Groups in Chico I urge all to join and support: The Chico Peace and Justice Center, Butte Environmental Council, AquAlliance and KZFR Community Radio... to move in community, to build and support these groups, to give of your time and energy and make this community, this state, this country and planet a place for the survival and health of all.

Lastly, never forget the truth of the past and the continuing pain of oppressed people and how little time we have, all of us.

400 Posts!

2011-01-10T19:02:00.000-08:00

Michael is still away skiing in Utah but I got a bit brave and asked a friend to go skiing. He in turn invited friends who live along the Sacramento so we had a foursome. It has been really foggy in the valley for the last week and yesterday it finally lifted. This was how it looked from their house across the river yesterday when we left though.

Sasha really misses Michael but she's putting up with me, after a fashion. She still comes into the bedroom every morning to carefully investigate his side of the bed. She thinks I have shrunk him perhaps?

We've had a lot of heavy frosts and last night was clear and beautiful but in the morning every thing was etched in ice when Sasha and I went out to walk around on the land. I was seeing the beauty of it in everything, especially in the stalled progress of the budding trees. This is good. It's like a real winter not some relentless turn of seasons. Winter should put at least a temporary break on things and it seems to have done that on and off this winter.

This last shot was taken yesterday at McGowan Lake, up toward Lassen. Jim Dwyer, poet-librarian, carried his saucer our entire plus five mile snowshoe/ski trip so he deserves to at least get some recognition for this feat.

Keep warm enough.

quietly into the new

2011-01-03T19:15:00.000-08:00

It's been some quiet time since Michael left in the VV to ski in Utah for a couple of weeks. Yesterday I visited my friend Ann (age 94) and while I was there a pine siskin, a wee bird, flew into her glass door. It was just stunned but we were able to look at it in wonder together. That was the high point of the day. I love that woman but she is fixing to die, as they say.

Today I went out to visit Howard (age 87.) I'd been looking forward to seeing him since his bday in December so it was a perfect day with plenty of sun... not great for photography due to the sharp, hard light but the sycamores were elegant and I had a wander along Pine Creek to suit my need for beauty just fine. His little dog Calista is on her very last legs so there's another dear creature soon behind that memory curtain.

I don't have a whole lot on my mind. Sort of letting the papers go unread. Watching documentaries. One just now on John Trudell. His life message is about the kinship with earth and this is so personal... 'feel bad when my clippers are dull and I tear a branch when I prune...gotta get them sharpened. And, have a bit of a feud going right now with the guy who uses a high pressure hose to clean sidewalks downtown. He sprays all the cigarette butts and garbage off the curb to be washed into the storm drains to the creeks. I have been putting off going to the city about him but I have to tomorrow before I start my next work cycle. I tried to talk to him and he just gives b.s. about how the people who drop garbage should pick it up... yes, well?

It is the time of squash, chard, kale and persimmons. I'm trying to cut back on my carbs and devote myself more to walking and yoga... thus, I ache but feel good in the stillness of these days and the freedom of just being in my own rhythms... even if they don't exactly line up with anyone else's. Have to watch out not to squander too much more of my precious bio-diesel. Hate going to a diesel pump with my "bio-diesel- no war required" bumpersticker. Best in New Year grace and consciousness to you in the beauty of the season.

Passing thru Christmas

2010-12-26T12:12:00.001-08:00

Lovely confused narcissus in winter bloom. It was good to get out to pick up garbage by the road today in the dynamic cold wind, chilling my fingers with the slippery grip of clutching slimy plastic... so good to bend down and excrete another calorie or two during the effort.
Yesterday was a lovely Christmas and quite out of sequence in the photos.

This Santa is Gregory and he's sort of a conspiracy theorist guy and not nearly so jolly as he looks BUT yesterday at the Christmas vigil he gave me a pair of socks and two jingle bells. Even though he is on a low and fixed income he walks around with a big jar of jingle bells and gives them out to anyone who smiles at him in his unique Christmas hat.

Some of the people at the vigil come every week but we were joyed to have a family group join us and swell our ranks and make light out of the rain that soaked us for the last ten minutes of our peace observance. Princes and Princesses of Peace it was lovely to meet them.

In the morning we had a big no waffles barred breakfast and the neighbors and ex-neighbors came and their families and partners, like how it is here at Riparia. None of my photos came out well but I thought this one was sweetish. Master gardener Bruce who you might know from Farmer's Market came with Lucinda, his ex, and their kids all in their pajamas. I loved the morning for food, company, carols and Apples to Apples.

Meanwhile the parallel lives of others emerge through the winter bare branches. These are unknown neighbors tenting across the creek from us.. in the cold, in the rain. Yesterday at the vigil a homeless couple passed by on foot with their small baby in a carrier-- where were they when the rain started? I'm just being with it and giving here and there but this is a community issue. No matter what the behavior, people are still people of intrinsic worth and need shelter and food at the very least.

Hey, really. What would Jesus say? Who else is being born homeless in a drafty barn somewhere? All are our relations.

My dear Orien

2010-12-24T22:36:00.001-08:00

It's hard to believe Orien is 30 years old. She's been independent and living in San Francisco for years and in college in Santa Cruz before that but still it seems amazing to test the reality that we are our respective ages. We had a wonderful gift exchange tonight with our Riparia family and then had deserts... too rich even in small quantities but an old tradition to have an ice cream cake.

Earlier Olivia came over and gave Orien these bling supreme earrings. Gorgeous young women! Olivia is now a practitioner of acupuncture arts and a real healer. Orien has just a semester of law school left-- a doctor of jurisprudence emerging.

Following our old Riparian ways we did the "bird tree" with our "old" kids including Noah and Kira, home for the holidays, and Addie (16) and Jerry and Kim and their little ones. The "really old kids" in the shot are Leslie, Michael, Sheldon, Emily and Bruce.
It's fun to place seeds inside oranges and place them in the tree but best is just letting lose with handfuls of popcorn.

Before we left Tahoe Orien's friends presented her with a large canvas "card" and we had a moment to pose with Mary Carmen, Ema, Megan, Suman, Isla, Camillo, Sheldon, Cedar and Fiona. Another generation emerges and it is wonderful to see Orien's friends pregnant and with their young families.

I'm very proud of my dear girl. I love her sooooo much!

I wish you well this Christmas. Listening to Christmas music, thinking of my mom who died 5 years ago today...(She died with Joy to the World playing.) Such fullness. Partly too much food but a lot of it just the fullness of feeling such Big Love. Enough for all the world... I wish.

2010-12-21T18:29:00.000-08:00

This is less than a quarter mile from where we are staying. The house was barely missed (by about 200 ft,) by the fire three years ago. This view is out toward Fallen Leaf Lake and Desolation Wilderness behind it. It was quite an undertaking to get here from the valley. Michael had to process veggie oil in the rain and then had truck work until 2am the morning before we left. It was a lovely storm for the solstice yesterday though, parting at about midnight to show the sultry red shadow of the total eclipse of the full moon.

We skiied to Fallen Leaf Lake today, Sheldon in snow shoes over the icy roads and through the deep snows. It's great to be at a house on the edge of the forest but there is an undercoat of ice on the local roads that was pretty challenging.

Renting the house was Orien's idea and she did it for her friends and because she doesn't get to see them enough. During the week of having the place she will have had 30 people (at different times) and their kids staying in this gorgeous four bedroom house. She is a very generous and hard working gal and am I glad she was able to do this. It has beenvery fun seeing how everbody pulls together for meals and clean up and how sweet they are with one another.

When we got in we couldn't get up the driveway and a hearty crew came out to clear the ice so we could pull the VV in. I'm very proud of my dear Orien and feel really lucky to be comfortably with her friends AND to have good snow right out the door.

Vets Solidarity Vigil

2010-12-18T17:55:00.000-08:00

I guess you can't read these "tree rings" (a bench in Chico with dates of John Muir's life.) I was waiting here for sandbags to hold the Peace Panel Project signs from blowing over and was struck by the ginko leaf wandered down to make itself part of the impressiveness.

All our love and all our work! Charles is a third generation sign and graphic design maker and I'm so glad he has independently started to roll out these signs to educate the public.

Today at least 70 people (all four corners) participated in the Peace Vigil in support of the +131 Vets and others arrested in Washington, New York and San Francisco on Thursday with a strong call for mobilization against the wars. Their national coverage was just about non-existent but check out the first footage at www.stopthesewars.org for a clear idea of the issues.

I love the Chico peace activists and all the folks that came out today. I don't know how it works that action creates energy and momentum but it does. I feel very touch and moved by the community who gathered to stand together today against the drones, the terrible waste of life and squandering of wealth for these horrible wars.. there is no way to balance it but in our small act of resistance we create a force for change that is somehow able to temporarily block the discouragement and emotional pain of the reality of war.

Here's Michael being interviewed by Tom Gascoyne, KCHO. I hope there will be outgoing ripples that spread and touch others to do more. We are all we have now-- no representational government whatsoever in Washington. (The repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell is good for justice and equality as far as that goes but it doesn't help one less youth decide not to enlist.)

I sure appreciated all the Vets out on the corners today especially. They know the folly first hand and their Truth to Power is the perfect anecdote to all the lies.

fog, snow, work

2010-12-12T11:02:00.000-08:00

This is Comanche Creek, AKA Edgar Slough. The City of Chico is still quite confused about their plan for the area but the neighbors are going forward with clearing out invaisive plants and had a gusto of a blackberry (fore ground) root removal party yesterday. In this peaceful shot down into the creek you can also barely see escaped iris in the creek and scragly ailanthus against the sky and scads more blackberry. The city neglected the creek for a long time...I think they assumed that getting a passive park here wouldn't happen and that the road and bridge would eventually prevail (even though the voters said NO in 2001.) The persistence of the good neighbors is where I'd put my faith. Next work day is Jan. 22nd 11-1pm so grab your gloves and get your back ready...

We finally got up to the snow and were able to collect at least 60 gallons of veggie oil from the restaurants up by Lassen. It was very pleasing to give each a copy of the Veggie Voyagers book. Even though I bet we don't share the same politics I think they are happy to feel part of this sustainability effort.

The snow quality was terrible but being in the woods, in the deep hollow silence that opens your awareness to the slightest sound is something I compare with the twitch of Sasha's moist black nose sensing a much richer world. The afternoon sun and shadow across the crystalline surface of the icy snow also amplifies the richness. Those diamonds become the dancing water down Deer Creek as it melts into the flow--really too bad the snow pack doesn't hold better as we head into deepening global warming.

It's foggy when it is supposed to be sunny but that's December in the valley for you. I'd planned to be in the garden today. It's been a rough couple of weeks for politics but quite sustaining in terms of calories... Our placid neighbors decided to light up the night in a big way and that is a feast for the eyes. Their front yard redwood tree is lit as a Christmas tree (here fancifully out of focus,) and is visible all the way down the road in the still darkness. Despite the unnecessary electrical usage I can't bring myself to dislike light displays- the fact the lights come from China, yes.

(Nobody's perfect.)

There is much left unsaid in this post. I sure hope you are engaged and enraged but also in the balance you need and ready for the long haul... If you are in Chico PLEASE join us at the Peace Vigil next Saturday, Dec. 18th (3rd and Main Sts. 12:30-1:30 as for the last 50 years) to STAND in solidarity with Vets for Peace and others doing Civil Disobedience against the war in Afghanistan in Washington, D.C. on the 16th. Let's demand redirection of military spending for earthcare and civilian needs. Obama 202-456-1111/ Congressional Switchboard 202-224-3121.

"It's crucial to understand that as a society, we can reorganize. We can reorganize socially, politically and economically, and can reorganize according to our values." Rebecca Adamson

Plastic with winter

2010-12-05T16:39:00.000-08:00

The big picture is pretty overwhelming these days with the Repugs in control and the Demos spineless and almost as bad on any given day. I came home from some sobering radio interviews to the Riparia land work day. As previously complained about I don't like the plastic shade clothe that is going around the base of all the sweet little native seedlings that are going in on the border and indeed I completely balked at helping... planted two the way I like with cardboard and heavy chip mulch but that was definitely more labor intensive.

That's the problem. The stuff is so darn helpful and convenient. I definitely can not think of a better affordable alternative for my lemon tree when there are frosts. I just hate the stuff though and it's hard to walk around the land now with the winter exposure showing plastic everywhere. In the case below it's keeping down wild grape and poke which are endlessly difficult to take out by digging.

I take my gripes to the Gods of beauty and light and the Glory of Dog. With all the things to worry about in this world what happens here at home binds up more emotional energy than anything else.

This is Pula Praiser. He's my advisor on how to handle life and so far his advice is working.... I'm enjoying a rainy day and feeling pretty ok despite all the suffering and wrongness in the world.

Thanks time

2010-11-30T21:44:00.000-08:00

I just got back from another loop of bookstores... one day in SF and today in the East Bay. The high points were meeting Craig Reece of Plant Drive in Berkeley and going to the big mama of Independent Bookstores yesterday -- City Lights in S.F. The low point was having my car lock me out at the bio-diesel pump at Bio-diesel Oasis. There were also lots of mini highs and lows in my push to get the (Veggie Voyagers) book to potential readers. Even the Ecology Center in Berkeley was a bit disappointing. They said people are getting their books from Amazon and reading books on Kindle so they are phasing out books. Phasing out books?

Thanks Giving was wonderful with Orien home and a big gathering on Saturday night. Unfortunately I didn't get any human photos but we did have a lovely hard freeze just before we left for the city so I ran around and got photos- a few are here below.

As I write this Michael is listening to the news about the cut backs and closures of state parks. There is a lot of bad news out there. I don't think driving around even with good mileage and bio-diesel is such a great thing. I am committed to a few more attempts to sell the books. If I don't sell them all in a year I'm sending them to libraries.
It was an epic Veggie Voyage (see 2007 through 5/2008 here in the archives.) I (modestly) think its a good book but I don't think I have the sales magic and it's using up precious life and energy.

I'm just grateful to NOT live in a city although I know they can be efficient and energizing places to live..it was good to see more and more folks commuting on bikes and more lip service to sustainability.

I just can't get enough of how incredible nature is... these are the same crabapples that made such great jelly a few months ago and these were the brilliant golden flowers of a few weeks ago.

Hope those without homes will stay warm enough. It's beautiful but cruel, these cycles. Easy to appreciate the photos though. I'm so grateful for my home and community and dear daughter in her amazing city on the bay.

Frosty Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T09:54:00.001-08:00

Two nights ago the frost swept away the color and lives of my summer garden. I don't know if everyone talks to their plants but I do. I wished them good bye and Thanked them for their beauty and productiveness. I harvested the last of everything and gave away some. Now, once this Dia de Gracias is complete I'll pull up the drip tubing and start cleaning up so the garden space can rest.

The winter plantings and the volunteers of last year's winter plantings are offering food and the need for weeding as green shoots of diverse cold tolerant weeds start to sprout. Some years the frost is before Thanksgiving and some years it is after but despite our fears of destructive changes on a changing planet my garden satisfies a basic comfort need I have for predictability. As long as there is summer water we will be ok here in the valley with our lovely soil and dogged sun. I give Thanks.

I pulled random photos from 2009 and 2008 as well as 2007. While I'm sad to be away from my brother's family by three years I'm grateful Orien will be home today and we can spend our non traditional meal of harvested odds and ends from the garden together. I think it will be broccoli and chard and squash for sure... sounds exciting don't you think? To me what is important is to give Thanks for what we have... certainly adding what we bought is ok but it's the food we have grown and related with which nourishes our spirits and bodies best. Having Orien, her dad, Michael and I together is enough and warmly satisfying. Our big extended Riparia land gathering will be Saturday and that's when the dead turkey will probably turn up on some platter. Thank goodness that is not our lot tonight.

Despite any differences we may have about food or politics or how to live life I wish you Health and Well Being. Wherever you are, whatever you believe I honor our connection and your efforts to live the best life you can. To our dear planet I recommit my life in gratitude and service. Peace to all and may you have enough of whatever you need on this day and every day.

Book Loop

2010-11-16T22:13:00.000-08:00

We enthusiastically thought that Northern California Independent Bookstores would wildly welcome our book on veggie voyaging but now that idealistic notion is tempered by an acute awareness that one doesn't need to smoke crack to be delusional. We sold 6 books and consigned 23 in our 10 city loop of many of America's "grooviest" towns.
All wasn't bad at all though since a reality check is just that... reality. We got to see friends and camp on the Eel River and enjoy four wonderful days veggie voyaging.

There was some gorgeous fall color in the grape vines and golden trees among the great redwoods of the north country. This photo was from Real Goods in Hopland where we had a warm reception for which I was very grateful.

This shot down to the coast captures fronds of the ever spreading silvery pampus grass invaision against the brilliant reflection of the sea below. We spent last night in Ft. Bragg in public parking when the alternator went out and noted that this plant is really taking over the coast in that region. It was fun getting to know the town better though and luckily, as usual, Michael could trouble shoot and fix what was wrong but it did include a new alternator.

We also spent time in Richardson Grove checking on the great redwood trees that line the two-lane Hwy 101 and also down here at the Eel, visiting the ducks sprung contrasty and bright in their mystery poses just a hundred feet or so down from the forest. The issue of the trees is an important one. 80 trees are proposed to be cut so oversized trucks can more safely speed through this curvy section of highway. (Doesn't stop the logging trucks, that's for sure.) This is a beautiful and ancient grove of elder and ancient redwoods and there is a lawsuit to stop Cal Trans. Anything you can do??? I don't know but you/we can be ready to raise a ruckus and can check out the Center for Biological Diversity and the Environmental Protection Information Center (which I will do once I get caught up... we just got home, tired.)

Sustainability

2010-11-08T18:59:00.000-08:00

We participated in the Sustainability Conference and then came home to see what was left to do on the Riparia work day... finding out that a huge long petroleum based swath of shadeclothe is being used to keep down weeds in the new hedgerow. I was discouraged but realize how insidious our dependence is on drip tubing, PVC water pipes, plastic buckets, plastic planting containers, plastic twist ties... On the front end it all seems fine but on the back end I wonder what will become of it and us.

We went over for a potluck with the GRUB collective and were treated to a wonderful sunset with the light streaming horizontally under gray skies creating a lovely delighted Francine and Orrin looking out over their land.

They keep sheep to chew down weeds and this gal reminded me of how the chickens used to sit on my goats once upon a time when I kept goats and chickens. Sweet!

Our next door neighbor Hjalmar arrived bearing a delicious and decadent Swedish cake striding across the muddy fields with ease. So good to see a human walking through fields on a dynamic day. So much of our lives-- all of us, are spent on pavement.

The GRUB folks built a Cobb oven and decorated it finely. We didn't want to uncover it (from its, dare I say, plastic tarp?) because of the rain that kept squeezing out drops on us. We had a wonderful meal with our neighbors and admire their hard work, creativity and energy very much. It will be people like them who provide the groundwork for a sustainable civilization if there will be one and I am filled with hope.

Veggie Voyagers Book!

2010-11-03T22:28:00.001-07:00

So we have laid to rest the elections. In California our most important post, that of the governor, was won and we can go forward with our clean energy goals. Our state must lead the gridlocked nation and that is the source of my slim hope. Within 12 hours of the close of the polls our book arrived from the printer's. I am grateful to have it done.
It is written on recycled paper with vegetable based inks and will now put us into a new cycle of trying to sell books, that or insulate the house with them.
We present at the CSUC Sustainability Conference at 11am this Saturday in BMU 303. Mathilde Rand's DVD of Michael explaining veggie processing will be shown and I'll show my photo thing with commentary on garbage and the topics you expect from me. (The sky is falling, etc.)
I'm so relieved and so tired... Did I ever say Yeah Giants or Happy Halloween? I took the time to carve zucchini for the night on which the veil between worlds is so thin and our dear former people were near, by legend or truth.. the flames danced in the darkness and it was as it should be for that short respite in the craziness.

Season of the Vote

2010-10-31T17:45:00.001-07:00

This has been an exceptionally political couple of days as you can see.... I so very much want to ask you to vote for this very bright and kind man, Jim Reed, attorney, from Fall River Mills. He is running against endlessly incumbent (House of Representatives non representing) Wally Herger who I don't want to say anything cruel about.... but wouldn't it be great to dump him into his own private life again????

We had a great upswelling of Democratic fervor today for Jerry Brown and it was a great experience to feel that upswelling of hope again. I really liked what Jerry said about how he will bring environmental jobs to California.

Yesterday a handful of us picketed events of Carly Fiornina and Abel Maldonado. Didn't hurt anyone and had fun doing it. I can't say that I didn't argue a tad with folks I disagree with but no hurtful words... I just don't understand how they can totally deny global warming and the need to move forward in changing all that is damaging our air, water, soil in our pesticide and oil based economy. The needs are so pressing and obvious it is just confounding to speak with the republican faithful.

Please vote NO on 23 and consider just postponing your Peace and Freedom and Green dreams in honor of immediacy and need. Vote Democrat! Let's get the Democrats to listen to us and not rely on them to know or be true to what we want. Let's hire them and then give them the direction they need to do right. Go Jerry!