Virgin Islands update #1

I've arrived!
St. John Island is beautiful and Maho Bay Camps are great. It's all a little different than I was imagining, but that's life...
The condensed version:

I have a "tent" to my self

up on the hill

with a yellow light so it won't attract bugs, a fan, an outlet to charge my phone, camera, and computer, access to communal bathrooms with cold showers and flushing toilets,

lizards, gecko-types, anoles, etc. to eat the bugs, (and iguanas!)

boardwalks and stairs to get myself everywhere,

music from birds, frogs, and crickets,

breakfast and dinner at the restaurant,

snorkeling in beautiful coral ecosystems, abundant sea life to identify,

a textiles studio tent


with unlimited fabric

to batik and sew,

tropical plants to find and learn,

jasmine to perfume the hot air,

turquoise waters, frequent rain showers, and sun!

I also have lots of time with my good friend Annalisa - an excellent artist in EVERY medium.

You may remember her from our recycled clothing competition in Feb 2008.

She is a brave snorkeler, so I stick very close to her in the water!

Joy is a high school intern in our textiles studio:

And Deborah (somehow I don't have a picture yet) is a seamstress here for the month.

That's it :)

I intended to post a photo from each day using my borrowed mini-computer, but internet reception is spotty/non-existent. Now that I'm settled and have a daily system, I'm going to dedicate more effort to posting photos.

Thinking of you all, it would be fun to have more family and friends here to explore with!

first anniversary!

It was our first wedding anniversary this weekend!
May 8th.....

We went to Portland to celebrate.
But it was THE MOST BEAUTIFUL DAY in Seattle since March

...So we stopped to get a hotdog on our way out of town :)

We stayed in downtown Portland at The Governor hotel. It was very nice, and we loved it.
Here is the view from our room

We worked out a deal to get breakfast from the restaurant on the main floor of the hotel, Jake's Grill, included. It looked something like this:

Luckily, Portland was having the same gorgeous weather:

We walked to the Saturday Market, which was very fun

Then we got ready to leave for a session at the Portland Temple to commemorate our marriage last year

and stopped on the way at Blue Moon photography store in the St. Johns neighborhood.

It's a famous non-digital photo store and we met Zeb Andrews, a photographer Adam adores.
Here is us on the St. Johns bridge

Here is me doin' a jig on the St. Johns bridge

and here is us at the Portland Temple

On our last day, we walked around taking photos with Adam's vintage Seagull camera from China

of things like this

Happy Anniversary!

this day last year....

Lately, I've been saying to myself, "This time last year..."
It's been fun to think of all the crazy things we were doing last year to get ready for our marriage and our new life together.
For example:
Last Saturday (one year ago) I woke up early to buy cheese (Morbier and goat brie, the stinkiest things you can think of flying with in an airplane) at the University Farmer's Market to bring to California for our wedding; we packed our bags and realized Adam's wedding suit didn't fit him anymore; frantically ran errands; bought 5 different neckties so we could look at them on the plane; and ended by partying for our last time as single kids with THE FAINT. hahahaha, what a funny day!

But, today, May 5th is even better.
On this day last year...we were in California getting ready for our wedding, and I went to the temple for the first time.
It's been fun and rewarding to think back on that day and all the preparation, thought, searching, and help from others that went into my decision.
Thanks for the support, everyone :)

webs/networks

On Friday, Adam and I rode our bikes in the downtown Seattle Critical Mass bike ride. It was fun; we haven't gone in a long time - since last summer, I think.
Even though it was raining, I wanted to go to see if the person who had stolen my bike might be brazen enough to ride it at critical mass. I didn't see it :(
But we had a great time and even made two new friends!

At the end of the ride, Adam and I went to the IMAX at the Seattle Center to see the 3D Hubble documentary.
It was awesome!

We totally recommend it.
There were amazing images of star nurseries and nebula, and colorful gasses spewn across the universe by solar wind. So interesting.
At the very end of the film (only 40 min. long). there was an image of the universe and all the galaxies/stars/lightsources were arranged in a way that resembled a web or a network. They were not randomly or evenly strewn around, but arranged and grouped. There were empty spaces and and hot spots.
It immediately made me think of several things: first, of fungi and the subterranean network of nutrients and information in mycelia; second, or the internet; and third, of families or human communities.
We had a profound moment considering how networks might be the way of the universe, manifest in small scale, large scale, living and nonliving systems.
Families and communities provide the simplest way to ensure optimal care of individuals. Networking in a way where each person is responsible for a number of others as well as being the responsibility of a number of others is infinitely more effective than a top down or hierarchical approach to care.
It's simply beautiful and I love thinking about it.
But more than thinking about it, I love participating in the networks of life :)

bathing suit

I don't really want to put a picture up of me in it, but...
I made a bathing suit!

FYI:I've been meaning to make this particular suit for about 4 years...and I've had the fabric for about 11 years!
I am a saver, what else can I say...

Virgin Islands!

Announcement!
I'm going to St. John Island of the US Virgin Islands for 3 weeks as a visiting textile artist!
Yahoo!

I will be on the north side of the island at Maho Bay cottage resort in their trash to treasures art center doing batik, sewing, dyeing, and possibly book binding!
I am very excited.

I have been gathering ideas, sketches, supplies:

and making lists and lists and lists:
I only have 1 week to get everything ready.
I checked out "The Flora of St. John" and saw that Indigofera grows as a roadside weed. I am totally going to harvest some and make indigo dye!
I can't wait to have endless craft time in a tropical location. Sun, warm water, snorkeling, coral reefs, batik, dye, tropical plants...it's too wonderful!
...AND: Adam is coming at the end for about 5 days so we can turn it into a vacation for the both of us :)
...or should I say an Anniversary Trip?!
Can you believe we have been married for nearly 1 year! Amazing.
May 8th, 2009.

Farmin'

Here is Adam with Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms.

An old friend used to say "Farmin' aint easy, farmin' aint easy."
But it can be fun!
Last week, Adam and I went to two lectures by Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms in Virginia. He is the "grass farmer" featured in The Omnivore's Dilemma.
On his family's land, he has a system of rotating chickens, pigs, and cows in succession over the field to raise both animals and healthy soil in a way that maximizes the qualities of the animal, provides a rich healthful diet, and minimizes purchased feed and fertilizers. It's simple and amazing.
Check out the Polyface site.
I think what we liked best about meeting Joel Salatin was the kinship we felt to him. He described himself as a "Christian-Libertarian-Environmentalist-Lunatic Farmer," and we can identify. He farms, goes to church, owns guns, homeschools his kids, votes for Ron Paul, and wants the government out of his personal life :)
Everything on his farm is open access and all ideas will never be patented. He's an open source guy.
He totally reminded me of Adam.
It was fun to be in a Seattle audience with people who respect him but you could tell they were a little uncomfortable/surprised he wasn't a Democrat or as "progressive" or "politically correct" in other parts of his life like they might have expected.
Yay for farmin'!

Peanut butter and venison!

We've been eating primarily peanut butter and venison over here at the homestead.
And we are not complaining one bit :)

Several weeks ago I won 3 packs of ground venison in a raffle at a gardening convention on Vashon Island. Yahooo! Free food!

We've feasted on venison pasta sauce with mushrooms and gunsmoke chili (delicious!)

Also in the kitchen:
Adam baked peanut butter cookies. He doesn't like baking and I have rarely seen him as stressed as he became...the poor man.

And last but not least:
Peanut Butter "shakes"
Mmmm, I could eat them everyday! (And I actually do)
2 doublehanded handfulls of ice (3 cups?)
1 frozen banana (soon you will keep bags of frozen bananas in your freezer like I do...)
1 cup rice milk
1/2 cup or more chunky peanut butter
1/4 cup sweetener like maple syrup, agave, brown sugar, etc
ground Chia seeds - for fiber :) (I get free samples from a vitamin shop over here)

blend it up!

Here's me eating 2 peanut butter shakes before I decided to make them myself!

The Sacrament of Birth

This just in!
My friend Analiesa, over at The Cotyledon, writes wonderful essays.
They are often on a mix of botany, birth, and Earth topics.
Her newest article, "The Sacrament of Birth" is excellent, inspiring, enlightening, and can be found at Square Two's site.
Here is the intro written by Square Two:
Third is one of the most beautiful essays we've been privileged to publish here at SquareTwo. It's by Analiesa Leonhardt, who helps us to recast the international issue of egregiously high maternal mortality rates into the spiritual issue it really is. Leonhardt does so by providing a exegesis of scripture concerning the earthly ordinance of birth. We promise that you will never think about birth the same way after reading this eloquent article."
Yay Ani!
Thanks for putting into words what women all over the world have internally understood but not verbalized. You are a talented spokeswoman :)

Dogwood

The dogwoods (various Cornus species) have been blooming lately.
I love them!

Botanical factoids:
Dogwoods have 4 large bracts - special leaves at the base of a flower or group of flowers - that happen to be brightly colored and look like petals.
At the center of the 4 bracts - where we would expect to see stamens and pistils if the bracts had been petals- is a group of small, non-showy flowers.
...pretty cool :)