Hello all!

So how about that election, huh? Where were you when it happened? How completely amazing is it that we have elected a non-white person to the White House?!? M and I had gone to a restaurant where the local Democrats were throwing an Obama party. It was really fun to be around like minded people. We ate, drank, and celebrated when the results were called in.

You know, for the most part I never really disliked McCain. I was never going to vote for him, but I respected him and liked him until he picked Sarah Palin to be his VP. I felt that this was a very sexist move, which offended me personally as a woman, and it was obvious to me that he picked her for strategic purposes, not necessarily because she would have made a good vice president. That was not a good choice at all. But when he gave his concession speech on Tuesday night, I remembered what I liked about him. He is straightforward, intelligent, and a respectable man. I hope he means it when he pledged his support to Obama and that he will be willing to work with him and Democrats to try to make America a better nation.

Things have been going slightly downhill since I last posted. Two Saturdays ago I threw out my back doing minor chores around the house. I was really bad pain, enough pain to make me immobile for two days. Since then I've been hobbling around the house and going to school when I can manage it. I have missed a lot of school; I've only been able to go to 3 days of it in the past 2 weeks. Besides my thrown out back, I also have come down with an upper respiratory infection. I have been pretty miserable for a while and I am starting to go stir crazy just sitting around in the house. I can't do anything, even if I do minor chores it makes my back ache badly. I feel worthless because M has been doing everything for me. When I was a little kid I used to like it when I got sick because then I wouldn't have to go to school and I could sit around and watch TV and sleep in, but now... ugh. I can't wait to get back to school and to be busy again.

Onto- pictures!

Here are some pictures of the ceramics studio at school. Here are some of our electric and kick wheels.


The other end of the studio.


This was all my greenware at one point. I have made much more since then. Some of these pieces made it to the kiln, and some didn't. I recycled about half of them for various different reasons.


Outside, we have two electric kilns.


Here is a close up of one of them.


We have a wood fire kiln-


A raku kiln-


And two bisque kilns.


This is our glaze room.


The College of the Redwoods Campus is really pretty to walk around. We are also the home of some of the Humboldt Botanical Gardens; here is one of their greenhouses.


You can see redwoods wherever you are when you are outside on campus. Walking in between the Arts and Math buildings, you pass by a large pond.


They have closed off the dock, but you can crawl down in the bushes and sit next to the pond. It is very calming, and provides an excellent place to get away from everything, if even for just a few moments.


This is our spider friend. He lives on our front porch and catches a lot of bugs. We caught this one for him and threw it in his web. He darted to the bug so fast we didn't even see where he came from. He bit it and paralyzed it then proceeded to wrap it up and carry it away where he could enjoy his meal.


This is my Venus Fly Trap. I have always wanted one and now I have one! I like to have things around that catch bugs.


She's about to have a yummy meal-


M was moving a woodpile and he found a family of salamanders under a log!



And the baby!!!


Here is the first round of my finished pieces. This one is my favorite-


This one I made for M. :-)


This piece was fired on the beach, in a pit fire. With a pit fire, you really can't control the coloration you will get, but one thing I did was wrap copper wire around the pot. It burned in a really interesting way where the ash was and where it wasn't-


My first mug with a handle. Not the best, but I like it.


I really like how this one turned out.

Hello once again.

It's hard to believe that half the semester has gone by. So far I am making A's in all my classes. Midterms are coming up. I have two tests next week and a paper due. Things are going okay, I've been a bit stressed lately (I need to take a break from the news! sheesh!) so I am going to start taking some hot yoga classes down the road from here. I also intend to start volunteering. I want to volunteer for a horse rescue, but visiting people at an old folks' home might be nice too. Maybe I can find time for both. My schedule could be tighter, I do enjoy being busy.

I've been reading this really interesting book lately called Daughters of the Earth: The Lives and Legends of American Indian Women. I want to share with you all an excerpt from this book; I know you fellow Blue Morpho people will enjoy it. ;-)

"The Yumas and Cahuillas, neighbors in the southwestern desert, also held annual tribal mourning gatherings. The Cahuilla invited neighbors from other villages and staged a big feast in the ceremonial house. Families of persons who had died during the previous year made images of the deceased out of cloth stuffed with grass and topped by human hair wigs. On the last day of the weeklong ceremony, female relatives of the departed brought the effifies out and led the procession. Later the effigies were burned.

The participants in these rites sometimes worked themselves into hysteria. One year, during the last night of a Tuma mourning ceremony, a woman fell down unconscious and was not revived for several hours. Afterwards, in relatingwhat had happened to her, she described a great rumbling noise as if many horses were stampeding. Then she found herself riding on a horse behind a male relative who had been dead several years. The two of them were surrounded by many other riders, all headed toward the south. Finally they came to a large village. The people there appeared to be Yumas, and the woman recognized among them many former inhabitants of her town who had been dead for many years. These people came out to meet her and were very glad that she had joined them.

Soon a great cloud of smoke appeared in the west, and everybody started running. The woman tried to run with them, but she found that she couldn't move very fast, and when she tried to get away she stumbled over a block of wood and fell down. Just then she began to regain consciousness and found a medicine man administering to her. He was smoking a pipe as part of the treatment, and later the people realized that it was the tobacco smoke that had appeared in the spirit world and brought her soul back."

There are many similarities about shamanism that are cross-cultural. Similar things were happening with medicine men in different parts of the world at the same time in cultures that had no way of communicating with each other. It really makes you think, huh? There's something to it, that's for sure...

Moving on... pictures!

The Fort Worth Water Gardens. I loved it there. You could walk down in the middle of this thing and be around all that rushing water.


On our way out here from Texas, we stopped in many places, the Grand Canyon one of them. This is but one canyon way far down IN the canyon.


We also stopped in Vegas. The only thing that impressed me was the food. Otherwise, I didn't enjoy it too much. I have no desire to return.


Taking care of the cats here has been a pleasure. The two cats that I have spoken of who were shy are starting to come around. The gray one not so much but the gray and beige one now lets both M and I pet her and will come and seek out attention! Here is Frances, the lovebug.



Here is my pretty herb garden!


Our front porch deck, with the redwoods in the background.


The giants in our backyard.


This is our house from afar, this picture taken from the far side of the creek.


A pretty flower I found on growing on the dunes at the Samoa beach.


And me, an ant amongst gods. (there I am, teeny tiny little me all the way at the bottom! click for a large picture!)


And last but not least, a blackberry pie that M and I made from berries growing on the property.


Oh my goodness, was it yummy! Seriously one of the best pies I have ever had.


I hope you all are doing well!

We return thanks to our mother, the earth,
which sustains us.
We return thanks to the rivers and streams,
which supply us with water.
We return thanks to all herbs,
which furnish medicines for the cure of our diseases.
We return thanks to the moon and stars,
which have given to us their light when the sun was gone.
We return thanks to the sun,
that has looked upon the earth with a beneficent eye.
Lastly, we return thanks to the Great Spirit,
in Whom is embodied all goodness,
and Who directs all things for the good of Her children.

Things I Like!

Here's something random for you today!

I really really enjoyed the following video. As an avid gamer who understands the thrill of opening a new game console and as a Lego fan, this video ended up being very emotional for me! I laughed, I cried... well, not exactly, but you get the point. It was very well made. I hope you enjoy it too.

more pictures for your viewing pleasure!

Hello again!

Things are still going well in this beautiful community I live in. M and I have made some new friends, two sets of couples and another guy, all who are really cool people. It's been fun to meet and hang out with them.

Classes are still going well, I have a math test on Monday and then a speech due on the next day, so this upcoming weekend will be spent mostly working. I'm doing my speech on Rachel Carson; if you haven't heard of her, you should check her out, she was a pretty cool woman.

I've been loving the radio up here; back in TX most of the radio stations were run by the corporate conglomerate that is ClearChannel. All of their stations suck. There's mostly independent run radio stations up here, and I love them all. KHSU is HSU's radio, they play lots of NPR, which I love! I listen to Democracy Now, PRI's The World, and Morning Edition. I do miss All Things Considered, which they played on public radio in TX, but do not broadcast here. KHSU also has a lot of really cool programs; an eastern music program, a reggae program, a couple different folk programs, and they run a 30 minute segment every day that is all about news on the North Coast. It's nice to have a diverse radio to listen to.

Ike blew through Texas, causing a lot of damage. My mom and sister evacuated to College Station, and they are back home now, though without electricity and hot water. All their animals are fine. My dad, however, stayed in his apartment complex to weather out the storm, and fared worse. He is okay, but the roof of his apartment building blew off, causing his entire apartment to flood. I don't think he had renter's insurance, but he may be able to get some funds through FEMA. He's staying with a friend right now, and they don't have electricity either. I haven't talked to him yet, but my mom has; he's been using his friends' cell phone to call her. I'm really glad that he's ok, things could have been a lot worse.

More pictures! These are from Cusco and a few more from our second trip to Blue Morpho.

This is San Blas, a view from the neighborhood our hostel was in.


About a block up from our hostel, there was this park that had a great view of the city.


This is a picture from when we went to the Temple of the Moon in Pisac.


A different view from the Temple of the Moon.


The ruins of Ollantaytambo in the town of the same name.


Some of the ingenious Incan-built irrigation system, running through the market at Ollantaytambo. This is partly what inspired me to go into hydrology.


A beautiful mountaintop in the Sacred Valley. The Incans thought that the mountains were gods.


Saqsayhuaman, an old Incan fortress.


A wonderful view of Cusco from Saqsayhuaman.


We took a 3 hour train ride to go to the town of Aguas Calientes, the town that serves Maccu Picchu.


We had front row seats for the whole ride there!


The whole way to Aguas Calientes, the train followed next to this beautiful river. I got sooo many pictures because I loved it so much.


The hot springs at Aguas Calientes. The water is filled with minerals that are good for your skin and body.


Daybreak at Maccu Picchu.


A view of Maccu Picchu later in the day, when it got a little cloudy.


We saw a herd of wandering alpacas! This baby was so cute!


Our day at Maccu Picchu was cut a little short, because it started to drizzle. This alpaca had the right idea, and got under some shelter.


We got back to San Blas, and stayed in a pretty nice hostel. This is the view from our window.


This was outside on our porch at the hostel. I love this picture.


I had to take a picture of this delivery truck. For some reason, it made me really happy. :-)


The people of Cusco were preparing for Inti Raymi, The Festival of the Sun. We were in Cusco the week before so we got to see everyone practicing, but we missed the main event. :-(


Back to my second home, the jungle! This is Pedro, the leopard at the Butterfly Farm.


Ah, Blue Morpho. I miss it there. Here are the apprentices blessing the pots.


We spent a lot of time at the lake. Mud baths for everyone!!!


Well, that's it for now. In the next post, pictures of Humboldt, our house, and my school, and of course, more about the life of me. :-)

I hope you all are having a wonderful day. Happy trails!