Thanksgiving

Our first year hosting Thanksgiving was a great success. Warm house, fun family, & a wonderful meal. So much to be thankful for.

Preparing...










Table...













Calvin waiting for his turkey...













Elyse & her boyfriend JP...













Our late evening visitors...

Happy Turkey Day

The family is all here. Mom, Dad, Elyse, and JP has joined us as well. Liza has the turkey in a paper bag in the oven. Best yet JP brought down a Grawler of Boundry Bay Scotch.

Most of the group is heading down to the slough right now. Hope everyones Turkey day is going well.

A Festival of Hope

Another successful year at the Festival of Hope. This is the 27th festival, in which all the proceeds are given to hunger & poverty relief & self-help projects, both local & in developing countries. Although I don't have the final numbers, it looks like right around $8,000 was raised! My introduction to Heifer came through this festival, as I have participated in it for as long as I can remember. I had a record year for Heifer, raising over $1,400!
I love the atmosphere created by the festival & the people involved in it. It's an atmosphere of hope & of communities all over the world & right here at home striving towards peace & social justice.
Just during this weekend I had discussions about the unfairness of seed patents, of the evils of Wal-Mart & the larger picture, & the struggles of peasants in Costa Rica against the United Fruit Company, of the concerns of a customer about the factory conditions in which Heifer's t-shirts are made, & of the continued removal of people from the source & production of the food they eat. These are just some of the people, the ideas, & the concerns that are going to change the world. These fairs exemplify an alternative economy of fairness & sharing, & the participants are actively rejecting the dominating consumerism that has corrupted & stricken so much of the world. These communities & activities are hope: not only to those living in injustice, poverty & hunger, but to all who seek a just & peaceful world.

Mom & her booth at the festival.










My Heifer booth.










You must be the change you want to see in the world. -Mahatma Gandhi

Home from Festival

A long & rewarding weekend spent at the Festival of Hope--the alternative holiday gift fair at the church I grew up at. It was a wonderful success & as always, very fun. I always look forward to all the family & friends that come by & the same people who come to donate at my Heifer table year after year. It was such a treat to have my good friend Jess stop by with both her little boys. And this year the whole Hearn family came by to eat some lunch & celebrate my Poppa Don's birthday together.
The kitties look how I felt after coming home Sunday evening. :)



More about the festival soon...

Flamenco!

Saturday evening we went to an incredible Flamenco dance recital at the Ethnic Arts Theater. My Aunt Sharon was performing & many of us went--my uncle, Boo & Bet, & G-maw & G-paw. The show went for two hours & it all was amazing & very entertaining. It was very interesting to watch & listen to the rhythms, which were produced by tapping feet, clapping, the hand-clickers (I don't remember what they are called!), and even knocking, stomping & slapping knees. And the costumes were so fun & colorful. The use of fans & fringed shawls was so beautiful. Unfortunately, we did not take our camera, but I pulled a photo off the instructor's website.

Incredible if true

It defies Quantum Physics, but if it is true the future of energy took a giant step forward.

More engergy news revolves around Solar projects in the California Desert.

A Festival of Hope

For anyone who lives nearby & is looking for something to do this weekend, come on by the 27th annual Festival of Hope--a Christmas Fair. Browse & Christmas shop, have a tasty lunch & enjoy a mingling of cultures. This is a non-profit event--the money you spend goes to support hunger relief & self-help projects, both locally & in developing countries.
I'll be at my Heifer International booth, so stop in & say hello.
We also have the best pumpkin pie! :)

Saturday, November 19th, 10am-4pm
Sunday, November 20th, 12-3pm
Keystone Congregational United Church of Christ
5019 Keystone Place North

Text me a story

Check out this story up on Yahoo.

It is like cliff notes but shorter and barely readable.

What is under the snow?

My earlier post about the giant creature under the snow did infact turn out to be a fake. It was a staged event for a Video game shoot.

Read more here.

The 22nd annual Cystic Fibrosis Gala

We were auction runners again for the 4-1/2 hour live auction in the main ballroom of the Sheridan Hotel. It was an incredible, if also tiring night. During the Bid for a Cure section of the auction, we always have an anonymous match who will double every dollar up to a million dollars. Last night, for the first time ever, we had another anonymous match, meaning that every dollar raised during the Bid for the Cure would be tripled. I became involved with the CF Foundation through my good friend Jennifer, whose brother & five cousins have CF. Her father was the one who got the second match & the announcement was made during thunderous applause. During the Bid for a Cure, in which every dollar goes directly towards finding a cure for CF, the ballroom raised $1,018,000--so with both matches we raised $3,018,000 in less than an hour!

By the end of the night, complete with all the auction proceeds, the total raised was $3,600,000! It's amazing to think that much can be raised in one night, at just one fundraiser in Seattle.

Here's us in our duds.

Mountain Film Showing

Eliza and I went to a film festival last night. It was rather interesting. There were several short films on a variety of subjects. The feature was about a guy who hang glided over Mt. Everest. In conjuction with the hang gliding he was also trying to bring a pair of eagles back to the region. It was a well done film, however they spent too much time trying to build suspense.

This is the web site if you are interested.

CF

Well tonight is the CF Benifit. Eliza has volunteered at this event for years. This will be my 4th time I think. Maybe more not sure. Good times are had. Today should be interesting though. Liza is at SPU till 3pm for a heifer event and we need to be downtown by 5pm to sign in at the event. We will see how well it works out.