awesome.

ummm . . . this is amazing. i hope and pray that some evening a lost hunter finds his way to the lodge and i rescue him, we fall in love, we get married, and this is our cake. a girl can dream, right? thanks h for turning me on to these. to see more go here.

my mom rocks

read here an interview from a magazine that just featured my mom's work.

God bless America

winter tales

here are some pics of recent events. lovely courtney visited from nyc. snow. snowshoeing. icicles. cougar prints! birds. dear deer. moon. christmas. rosehips. funny. love. xoxo

go cougs!

i am not a sports fan. but i love nature. on the first morning of this new year, i looked off my deck and saw some VERY large prints in the snow and thought 'who had the big dog here last night?' on further investigation we determined they might be cougar tracks, but the doubters in the group shot that idea down. the following evening i had my dad drop me off a the top of canal canyon and i walked across the base of the mountains and down to the ranch, about an hour total. while walking i thought, what if those were cougar tracks. what if he's tracking me? what would i do? as soon as i stepped in the door safe and sound my mom called asking if i was ok and telling me someone had found a freshly killed deer with its hind quarters and entrails eaten on the very land i had just walked across. obviously the work of a cougar. i told her about the prints and determined the large kitty had been sniffing round my door. today my friend visiting from new york and i skied up to the mouth of bill allred canyon, and there found FRESH cougar tracks coming down from the canyon. we're talking maybe an hour old . . . not crusty at all, still warm almost. fortunately i had come prepared with some bottle rockets to scare it off with if we met up with it . . . (pathetic i know, but i don't have a gun!). we didn't see it or more tracks, but its amazing/scary to know he is living so close. i hope i get to see him this winter!

merriest of christmases to you

hi friends.
sorry i'm such a slacker poster. but i thought i'd send a little holiday greeting and my love to whomever looks (especially you ashmae for looking so often). i'm in new york for christmas with my sisters. its always a little surreal to be here because its so familiar that i never seem to notice an adjustment. even coming from my silent snowy solitude at the ranch. strange to watch so many people rushing about shopping on christmas eve, i wonder what deer have been in my yard today, and what the cats have been doing. its lovely to be with my sisters and friends though. i hope you all have a cozy, loving holiday. i love christmas for the sheer fact that it is a time to contemplate the miraculous birth of that miraculous babe, born in a manger who lived, died, and rose again perfectly for me and for you. i love him. and i love you all. xoxo. merry christmas.

melegrano

the other day pomegranates were on sale for .99 cents at terrels. i love pomegranates. they are the most beautiful of all fruits. they are like a next of glorious gems hidden under that gorgeous red skin. i love the way they taste and feel in your mouth. i love to just look at them for hours. in italy i became obsessed with them and would buy them at the market each day to draw in class. i did lots of drawings, and then an extensive etching of them. i miss making drawings. i am going to start doing that. and painting. its been too long. sigh.

thanks to be given

1. beautiful view of a beautiful valley with beautiful clean air to breath and a beautiful canyon to hike in.
2. mom and dad so close and sisters far away.
3. savior's love
4. thesis DONE!!!
5. dear friends
6. dear deer
7. soon snow
8. knitting/woodstove
9. health
10. three warm kitties.
xoxo happy thanksgiving.

foccacia mia

so the night before my defense i spent several hours in the kitchen relieving stress by making foccacia that i hoped would be good enough to distract people from my presentation the next day (its tradition in our department that you bring food for people who come to your defense). you'd think making something for the first time wouldn't be the smartest idea for such an important event, but that's never stopped me before. i used the recipe from the cook's illustrated baking book, mixed with some elements from jamie oliver (naked chef). i made a rosemary and olive oil one, a caramelized onion one, and tried to recreate the green olive foccacia i would buy each week at a little foccocceria down the street from my school when i lived in florence. they turned out pretty good and i'm excited to experience with some new flavors.

in case you were wondering . . .

this is where i live.

jack of all trades, master of . . .

ONE!!!
thanks to all your prayers and support . . . i passed! it went well, and despite me being really nervous, i got a lot of great feedback and people loved it. most especially my committee loved it. i have to do some revisions, but i will still graduate in december. whew. i am so so happy. thanks again for all your love and support!

please please please

tomorrow at 11 am is my defense (yipes!) i'm excited and nervous. i have my powerpoint ready and my clothes laid out. so if it isn't too much trouble, if you wouldn't mind saying a little tinsy prayer for me i would greatly appreciate it. love you all. xoxo

tales of hans the brave, etc.

so yesterday inga and i were looking out the window at two deer, a mama and a baby (if you haven't noticed, there are a LOT of deer around my place these days). The mama was looking very worriedly under inga's truck, her ears kept flicking, and her nose was twitching. we were just as bewildered trying to figure out what she was looking at, when none but mr. hans stepped coyly out from under the truck. he gave sort of half a glance at the deer, turned and sauntered off. earlier that day i'd hear a bunch of deer stampeding and i'm almost certain hans was chasing them.

then today annalisa and i decided to take a little hike up bill allred canyon to my favorite spot. now hans makes the walk out to the pigs with me every morning and evening, and spends prodigious amounts of time outside, so i thought i'd invite him on our hike. mind you this is probably a three mile hike or so, not so long, but very long for a cat. he trotted along quite well, but after a while got tired and proceeded to meow and meow in his full husky voice. what ensued was a combination of me carrying him, him being upset by that, me deciding maybe this time he'd follow, but he'd just go sit under a tree and yowl. so i carried him. once up in the canyon he was happy as a clam exploring and being his jungle cat self (it was such a pretty day up there!)
.
but then when it was time to turn around and head home, he once again yowled and hid under trees. so i carried him again and invented this most useful cat snuggly. all in all it was a grand adventure for mr. hans, and he has been asleep by the first ever since we got home. poor tuckered whiney baby.
in other news . . . analisa and some kids from aspiro helped me load manure and leaves for two days and put the garden to be for the winter! we used the sheet mulching technique were you make a lasagna of cardboard, manure and leaves over your garden. this will decompose under the snow and give you rich, weed resistant soil in the spring. yeah!

r.i.p. mama africa

one of my musical heroes died doing what she loved yesterday, singing on stage in southern italy. miriam makeba, or 'mama africa' was a huge voice of south african music and also spoke out openly (and appeared before the UN) against apartheid. because of this she was exiled to the u.s. for awhile. i first heard her from my dad, and then learned more of her when she was featured in 'amandla: a revolution in four part harmony' (if you haven't seen it DO IT). her music is so gorgeous, she is so gorgeous, and she sings from a real and beautiful place.

title track

this morning i was sitting in one of my four window seats enjoying the sun and watching a deer nibble on grass outside, sifting through the still fresh snow. i thought of a line from 'poisenwood bible' (barbara kingslover, if you've not read it, DO IT) "i trust in creation that is made fresh each day". and as i sat i thought about this idea, of the miracle, majesty and mystery of nature/creation. i spend so much time just looking at the sunset, or the snow fall, or the deer munching in my yard . . . and i feel inspired, and connected to all of it. i am amazed that nature goes on doing it beautiful amazing thing all the time, regardless and totally indifferent to whether i am watching. i hope i can be like this. create, and be beautiful and inspiring with no audience. to do it all for love of being what i am and in love of the creator of all. i know these are not new or profound thoughts, but they slide around in my mind, and become more real the more time i spend watching, listening and feeling. this song by beth gibbons (of portishead) sums up a lot of what i feel, the opening line "god knows how i adore life" sums it all up. if i had to pick a title track for my life, this would be it. plus, this video? so gorgeous.

do your duty with a heart full of song

i'm pretty excited about this family moving into the white house. what a great day for america! however, president obama will need help in bringing about change. america as we know it is largly controlled by big business corporations and getting the voice of the people heard will be no small feat. that is why we need to respond to obama's plea that we serve more and sacrifice more. here is one way i believe we can make a difference. lets not let our momentum for change fade, lets not leave the fate of our nation and our lives in the hands of one man (no matter how good and competent he may be). lets let our voices be heard. please sign up for the nov. 5 movement. xoxo
http://november5.org/

today is a beautiful day . . .

because
1. i voted (hope you did too!)
2. it's SNOWING outside and i have a new wood stove at the lodge
3. i handed in a 99 page document yesterday which means a least for a little while i have a free ticket to read in bed, watch movies, start knitting my sweater, clean the lodge, visit with inga the awesome girl from iceland who is staying with me, or just curl up with some pero and watch the snow come down. i deserve it. after all i herded one of the blankety blank pigs for 45 minutes this morning.

i thought i was done

but she told me to rewrite one section by monday . . . and then turn it in. so my plans for blissful vegging and hiking all weekend were shot and i'm back to my beloved laptop . . . speaking of beloved inanimate objects . . . it could've been worse, i could have been married to the berlin wall like this lady. so so weird. at least i'm only on my way to being a crazy cat lady, not a crazy 'i'm married to the berlin wall' lady.

you know you're procrastinating when . . .

actually i'm not. i'm DONE!!! but i'm waiting to hear from my thesis chair whether she thinks its good enough to defend. waiting on pins and needles. so thanks laura for giving me internet quizzes to distract me.

Your dating personality profile: Religious - Faith matters to you. It is the foundation that you build your life upon. You trust that God has a plan for you. Big-Hearted - You are a kind and caring person. Your warmth is inviting, and your heart is a wellspring of love. Liberal - Politics matters to you, and you aren't afraid to share your left-leaning views. You would never be caught voting for a conservative candidate.

Your Top Ten Traits 1. Religious 2. Big-Hearted 3. Liberal 4. Intellectual 5. Romantic 6. Adventurous 7. Practical 8. Athletic 9. Traditional 10. Wealthy/Ambitious

Your date match profile: Religious - You seek someone who is grounded in faith and who possesses religious values. You believe that a religious person can enhance your life. Practical - You are drawn to people who are sensible and smart. Flashy, materialistic people turn you off. You appreciate the simpler side of living. Big-Hearted - You want someone compassionate, someone gentle and kind. A loving, nurturing person will fill that hole in your life.

Your Top Ten Match Traits 1. Religious 2. Practical 3. Big-Hearted 4. Shy 5. Traditional 6. Romantic 7. Intellectual 8. Adventurous 9. Athletic 10. Conservative

Take the Dating Profile Quiz at Would I Date You

could have been

yesterday in a fit of procrastination, i went digging around in some old papers i collected my senior year of college for a project i did getting to know my great-grandmother through other people's memories. zina lenore cannon wood is my namesake, and was a lovely woman from what i've gathered. she was well-educated, loved shakespeare, hard working, service minded (she was a social worker in berkley for a long time), and loved by all who knew her.
and she was loved by this man
wallace bennett (who went on to become a repulican senator from utah, as did his son who still is). apparently they were sweethearts for quite sometime, and yesterday while reading some documents i found he even gave her a diamond . . . which she kept for some time, but finally gave back. i wonder why? not that i mind. i'm not sure how i'd feel about being bob bennett's grand-daughter instead of owen and lenore's granddaughter. still funny to think how s many lives may have been changed. funny to think how our decisions affect people we never meet years later. i've always taken comfort that she wasn't married till 28 or was it 29? there's still hope for me . . .