My weekend so far...

has been awesome!

It started early, as I took Friday off to hike with my good friend Liz. She's summiting Half Dome next week & wanted to get in one good hike prior to leaving, so we did the 8 miles & 3,700 foot elevation gain of Mount Si.
Looking west from the top.
And east from the top.
Lizzie
Me with Rainier visible in the background.
After we hiked back, we did more talking & laughing while enjoying the sunshine atop a picnic table. We ended the day with delicious beer & sandwiches at the Snoqualmie Brewhouse. It was great to have an entire day just me & Liz.
Today we rode a stellar 40+ route with lots of hills on Camano Island with Joy & Mike.
Joy's folks watched the kids while we rode, fed us a yummy dinner, & we enjoyed the view from their back deck!
Mike & Alina in her adorable Mexican dress from Nana & Papa.
Cameron loves Levi.
Us.
The Walkers.
And the kids sacked out on the ride home. Which is what Levi & I are going to do ourselves now!

Global Food Crisis

We've all been hearing about the global food crisis. I work in the field of hunger alleviation & never before has the need for a lasting solution to hunger & poverty been so clear or necessary. Much of what the news is calling for is immediate food aid, which is necessary to keep people alive, but it is not a permanent answer for communities devastated by rising food prices. Food aid will fluctuate (& create dependencies on foreign aid) and the rise in food prices due to high oil prices & increased demand from rapidly developing countries like China & India is only going to increase. Heifer's model of sustainable development is vital in providing a permanent, holistic solution, created & driven by the communities themselves. More here.

Auntie's Evening with Tillie

Boo & I got to babysit Tillie last night while Ems & Anthony had a night out.
It was great fun. We went to the fruit market, played with the kitties, then headed out to feed the ducks & walk the nature reserve behind our house. Tillie loved all the birds & was fascinated by their sounds & flying. Also, you get a glimpse of the next phase of my bird design--Tillie is modeling a Lili Concepts sweatshirt. This & more will hopefully be up on a new Etsy shop soon!
Here she is on the move!

As promised...

A full 9 days after Levi's crash, the bruises are showing up in force. His left side & leg are peppered with colorful marks, the one below being the most impressive.

And his chest skipped the blue & purple stage & went straight to green & yellow.
Ignore the white scar--he did that long ago when he pulled on a tablecloth & brought down a pot of hot coffee on himself, resulting in a skin graft (he was not quite two years old).

And now we're off for a road ride! :)

Four Years Today!!

(from our honeymoon)

Fun in the Heat

I have been loving the sun & heat of the past couple days. I was out of town during May's 10 on 10 photo challenge & completely forgot about it (though I enjoyed seeing everyone else's), so here is a glimpse from our recent days:

• Levi & our friend Chris have gotten back into their baseball cards, sorting & trading & buying new packs. (notice Calvin in the background keeping cool on the hearth stones)

• While buying new baseball cards, Chris introduced me to Pirate trading cards, from which you punch out pieces & build ships--I have been having way too much fun with them! They look especially nice as props in the board game Settlers of Catan that we stayed up last night until 1am playing with Chris & Boo & Bet.

• It was lovely this evening to relax on the back deck with a margarita & a magazine (I had a nice cooling bike ride to the store to get the tequila & mix). Notice the bare pots in front of me? They have the beginning sprouts of the freeschia & renunculous I planted!

And the local pair of Mallords visiting our yard.

I hope everyone is enjoying this gorgeous weather!

Mountain Biking Mishap

Since Levi blogged about my mountain biking mishap here (including post-accident photos here), I figure three years later I get to return the favor.
Out with our friend Chris at St. Ed's tonight, not even five minutes into the ride, Levi decides he wants to hit the jump. Coming down from the jump he buried his front tire & went ass over handlebars, landing squarely on his left shoulder. I was climbing the hill & did not actually witness the crash, but heard it & the soon to follow groaning. I quickly clipped out, dumped my bike & ran down the hill, heart beating madly with visions of bones sticking out. Fortunately he was all in one piece, but hurting from shoulder to shoulder.
Some vitamin I, beer & ice later...

I'll be sure to post more photos if bruises start appearing.
Now we're even (as long as he doesn't start blogging about my road bike mishaps).

Back from NYC

Chris and I had a great time in NY! Thanks to Nicole, Clayton, and Rodrick for letting us crash.




We went to see Yankee Stadium. Thought we were lucky because Felix was on the hill. However the M's were/are really not playing well. This is us in front of the stadium that will open next year.




During the rest of our time we walked the streets and saw the various sights. Here is the New York Stock Exchange and part of Central Park. We also saw Ellis Island, Times Square, and the Statue of Liberty, however it was really hazy and didn't get any good pictures.




The toy stores of NY have many life size legos. These were some of my favorites.









In the end I am really glad I got to see and experience Yankee Stadium before they take it down.

Grandpa John

At the end of our first full day at the Heifer U program, I got word that my Grandpa John had passed away. It was difficult to be so far from my family, but everyone was comforting & embracing. Grandpa always called us "angel" & I'm so glad he got to see many of his angels before his peaceful passing--his wife, his two daughters, his granddaughter Emily & great-granddaughter Tillie (& of course Marty, his little dog). I'm looking forward to being with family on Saturday & celebrating Grandpa's life.
I love this photo of Grandpa & Grandma from our wedding.

The Best Heifer U Yet!

An amazing, emotional weekend.
Months of planning finally came to a head, as the Heifer U for NW and SW Lead Volunteers finally arrived. It went better that I could have ever expected. The people were incredible--we connected & shared, planned & laughed, danced & visualized our future in continuing this work of positive change.

Here's me with my favorite planning model.

Tracy from Phoenix & John from Orange County.

Craft Time: Visualizing our future with Heifer

Here's my collage visualizing my Heifer future
(my "cow future"? I never even think about using the word "Heifer" anymore, but in some contexts is does sound rather funny).

Great session with one of our guests, Martin Tull from the Northwest Earth Institute.

Three CRCs-Catherine from the SW, Umaru from the Mid-Atlantic, & me.

Jan, the daughter of the founder & senior adviser to Heifer.
She was an invaluable addition to our weekend.

Here's my soon-to-be co-worker, Renee. She starts in a couple weeks & then you'll have TWO CRCs for your NW region!

Catherine (from the SW) & I planned the whole weekend together, not having met until the program started. Getting to know her has been like finding a friend I didn't know I was missing.

Saturday night Jeane taught us all how to samba (or at least she tried).

Grouped around a box of tissues--a very fitting photo for our last morning together, as there was definitely some tears shed.

I like this photo, cause it shows how I felt the whole weekend: happy, but a bit blurry around the edges.
There was a lot going on in my head & heart.

Saying goodbye.

The group, from nine states.

After the program ended on Sunday, I had half a day to play before my flight. In my wonderful rented truck, I headed out to a redwoods state park. I admired the twisting bark of this tree on one stop.

It was almost painful to see all the mountain bikes on the trails & road bikes along the way & not be able to join them. So, I followed my heart & drove out to the coast.

A little friend along the trail, a North American Darkling Beetle.

And now on to the next challenge--empowering everyone from this weekend (including myself!) to ride this wave of inspiration & planning to action.
Not sure how we'll ever top this Heifer U, but we'll worry about that later.