Pride and Wedding times

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

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

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

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

...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

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.