My Current Focus

Two posts in as many days! :)

Below is the exhibit for arts & social justice at St. Mark's Cathedral that I have been working on.
The artist, Betty LaDuke, is highly acclaimed, & has visited many Heifer projects in multiple countries, returning home to express their hope & interconnectedness in vivid colors.
I finished hanging the exhibit on Monday & it is up until December 16th, with tours every Wednesday at 1pm (or by appointment).
You are all invited to the big reception on Sunday, November 18th at 4pm. The artist will be giving a tour of her work & there will be local sheep's cheese (delicious!), breads, cider & wine.

It truly is a unique venue for an art exhibit & it fits perfectly in the space.

I adore Betty's work; the colors, the holistic intertwined images, the hope & dignity portrayed on the faces of the people Heifer has partnered with to make a better life.
The two below are my favorite:

Ecuador: Spinning Dreams

Peru: Tree of Life
I am hoping to get a large print of this one.
Both have ignited a strong desire to visit llama/alpaca projects in South America.
Hopefully, this will be in my travel plans for next year.

The past couple weeks...

You know when you've been neglecting your blog when a post starts with that title. Life has been busy, or more accurately, work has been busy. It's the busy season in the philanthropic world, but I love it. I am adjusting to the new schedule of making my own schedule, very different after working 8-5 for five years. This time of year, it seems to equate to over 10 hour days, but fortunately some of that can be done from home. Tomorrow, I'll hopefully be able to give you a glimpse of the big project I've been working on lately. Tonight, here's some (a lot) photos from the last couple weeks:

Jen & me at the Halloween party.

The best costume there (no, he's not short).

Hike in B'ham.

Cool mushroom!

My girls.

More cool fungus.

Last weekend I finally got to visit the Heifer Ranch, 400 acres of working, sustainable farm & education center in the Arkansas countryside. I attended a Heifer University 201, topic: Health & Healing (mind, body, spirit, as well as our communities, environment & world). It was a great weekend, meet some incredible people. Spending time with "Heifer folks" never fails to deepen my passion for this work.

Meet Raja, the resident male camel.

Meredith--a young woman on our trip who really inspired me. She has spent the last two years working with refugees & internally displaced persons at a health clinic on the Burma/Thailand border. She educated us all about the conflict within Burma (Myanmar).

Can you find the sheepdog among the sheep?

The sun & warmth on our second day brought out the butterflies.

One of the brothers, Briggs & Stratton.

The "Thailand Housing" in the Global Village.

Sunset on the pond.

Our wonderful Heifer 201 group.

Sunday morning on the alter (is it irreverent to sit on alters?)

As you leave the Ranch...

I should definitely post more often, so I don't overload you with photos. :)

In other recent news, two friends in the "blogging girls group" have welcomed brand new babies.
Congratulations to Mandy & Matt on baby Leta!
Congratulations to Rebekah & Chris on baby Levi (we love his name)!

Halloween

Liza and I are falling behind on our blogging. Liza's new job is dominating her life right now, but it is festival season so that is expected.

We were able to break away on Friday and go to a Halloween party.



As you can clearly see she was a pirate.

My costume on the other hand caused some confusion at the party. If you follow cycling you will understand. If you don't I was any one of the following: Blood Doper, Micheal Rasmussen, King of the Mountains.

Fall Finds

Emerald Life has been neglected lately. Levi has been busy rebuilding the stream behind our place, so that it does not overflow its banks this winter. And I have been very involved with my new job, specifically with the press & planning for a big social art exhibit we are co-hosting at St. Mark's Cathedral. More to come on that.
For now, I give you glimpses of my fall weekend finds.

Enchanting, colorful mushrooms hiding in my folks' garden.

A lovely wool skirt from the Goodwill.

And a cute little old crock, also from Goodwill.

Happy Fall, Friends!

Weekend Events

The weekend's big events were my grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary party & Levi's first participation in a biking race.

We had fun with my family (especially Tillie)...

And Levi rode a leg of a cyclecross relay race, in costume...

Congratulations to Poppa Don & Grandma Linda for 60 happy years & for a great party.
And thanks to Dad & Carolyn for treating us all to dinner afterwards.

And a huge congratulations to Kristen & Kyle for the amazing event of the weekend--the birth of their first, beautiful baby!

P.S. My boss is in town this week & we are shopping & setting up for my new office. We did IKEA today & Office Depot is tomorrow. It's so exciting to be getting fully equipped to do this awesome job!

Birthday Momma

Simple, wise, kind, strong
She is a blessing to us
We celebrate her

Birthday Dinner

It has become a tradition for my mother's birthday to be our segue into fall. As the daylight fades, we gather together with candlelight and fall foods. Tonight we celebrated at my grandparents' house with apple sausage pasta, I Dream of Carrot soup, & for dessert, pear crisp.

Happy Birthday, sweet Momma!!

Summer is officially over

Early Saturday morning we drove up to Bellingham to meet Elyse & JP for a hike. The four of us headed out to the Baker National Forest for a hike along Ptarmigan Ridge, where it basically hasn't dropped below 45 degrees all summer. We caught the season change! See for yourselves!

We even saw two ptarmigans!

Frolicking in a snowfield.

When we headed back the clouds parted enough for a little view.

Alpine blueberries--yum!

A new space

Today was the first day in my new Keystone Heifer office.
I spent the morning setting up my new computer (rather proud that I did it all by myself) & then Alan & I went & got hamburgers at Kidd Valley & ate them down by lower Woodland. I spend the afternoon answering & organizing emails at my new desk. It was such a gorgeous afternoon, with all the leaves beginning to change color--I am so happy to have a window! I didn't really realize how much I have missed natural light all these years at Nordy until I finally have it! It's also wonderful to be in the city. I just love the older houses, the gardens & parks, little shops & restaurants--it feels more like a community & walking is so much more enjoyable. There's still much to be done, but I wanted to give you a glimpse of my new space. :)