Love is Love....

And, it doesn't matter what shape size or form it comes in. love is eternal. and when love dies, grieving is painful. DASH DOPEY PRIEST. you may have had four legs and fur. you may have been far far away. but you were loved and you will always be missed. good-bye big boy....

Year of the Dragon 2012

In Chinese astrology the dragon is the only animal of the Chinese zodiac year that is not real....



"Occupying the 5th position in the Chinese Zodiac, the Dragon is the mightiest of the signs. Dragons symbolize such character traits as dominance and ambition. Dragons prefer to live by their own rules and if left on their own, are usually successful. They’re driven, unafraid of challenges, and willing to take risks. They’re passionate in all they do and they do things in grand fashion. Unfortunately, this passion and enthusiasm can leave Dragons feeling exhausted and interestingly, unfulfilled.

While Dragons frequently help others, rarely will they ask for help. Others are attracted to Dragons, especially their colorful personalities, but deep down, Dragons prefer to be alone. Perhaps that is because they’re most successful when working alone. Their preference to be alone can come across as arrogance or conceitedness, but these qualities aren’t applicable."

The year of the Water Dragon will bring balance to the Fire Dragon.

Feliz Navidad

christmas eve


visions of sugar plums....


and then everyone went crazy...


j's new toy


from little c (that's me and j surrounded by love)


from little a (she made a mistletoe "for kissing")

Refusing to Hate

Martin Luther King Jr said, "Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to hit a person, but you refuse to hate them."
I refuse to hate. I will only love. I send out my love to you. I wish you happiness and peace. I wish you love in your heart and love in your life.
namaste

only 2 hours away...

so yesterday j-baby, boo baby and me all drove out to the "john day fossil beds national monument: painted hills unit". oddly enough this place is only 2 hours away but almost no-one knows about it. it is far better than the one in arizona (the one in arizona is still awesome and worth seeing though) and sunday was cold and crisp with a great big blue sky, awesome sun, and a great view of the moon in the middle of the day. every day with j baby is an awesome adventure....

the difference between actually very serious and actually very funny is actually very thin

so i was reminded of this stupid little thing that happened to me when i was 15...

it was around 8ish on a december night and i was leaving a store with my boyfriend mat, he was 16. we noticed these 5 guys (they were bigger dudes, 6 foot at least, and probably all around 18) they were just standing by the side of the building chatting. anyway we got in our car and as we drove by one of them threw a snowball at the side of the car. it hit with a loud banging sound. well mat, being mat, stopped the car... shut it off... and jumped out before i even knew what happened (he actually had to tell me afterwards that the sound i had heard was a snowball hitting the car). anyway he jumped out so i jumped out. i looked over the top of the car to see that the 5 guys had kind of formed a half circle around mat and they were exchanging "greetings". i started to walk around the back of the car so i could hear what was going on and then the guy in the middle of the circle reeled back full force and clocked mat in the jaw. mat went half-way to the ground but spun back up just as i reached the guy that had hit him and i put him in a "full nelson" (yes, i just used a cheesy wrestling reference lol) i swung that big fu*@er around and threw him to the ground. i headed for him, but he jumped up and ran. as i turned back around 2 of the other guys grabbed me. one held my arms while the other one punched me in the gut and in the ribs. they did this for what seemed like an eternity but i'm sure it was only a minute... anyway, while i was kicking and struggling and moaning from the blows (these guys hit hard, not like girls lol)... i looked over and saw mat had his shirt yanked over his head by one dude while another was punching him in a similar way to how i was being hit. well, i finally got my balance and my head together enough to lean back into the one dude and kick the guy that was punching me. i almost knocked the one down that was holding me but he picked me up over his head and body slammed me onto the asphalt (yes, another cheesy wrestling term). well on the extremely long fall from above his head to the ground i let out this screaming growling sound that sounded like.... well, it sounded like nothing i had ever heard before, it was "primal". then the guy that had picked me up took off running (i think the sound i made freaked him out or something). but as fast as i could get my footing i jumped up and clocked the other guy that had been punching me. then i saw him see his other buddy that had been punching mat take off and he followed him. so now that my guys were gone i turned to run to the one that was still going blow for blow with mat (mat is one tough bastard :) mat saw me coming and smiled... dude saw mat smile and turned to look at me... then dude ran off after his friends. we actually started to run after him (adrenaline i guess) but we stopped and he turned back and yelled "pussies" we laughed so hard at that. we actually just stopped right there in that parking lot, all bloody, and laughed! FIVE dudes just got bitched slapped by ONE dude and his 100 pound girlfriend. and they yelled "pussies" as they ran away. IRONY. we never did find out who they were or why they jumped us. we were both bruised up pretty bad the next day... but still laughing.

A very merry unthanksgiving to us

In case you don't already know....
"Unthanksgiving Day, also known as The Indigenous Peoples Sunrise Ceremony, is an event held on the island of Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay, to honor the indigenous peoples of the Americas and promote their rights. It coincides with a similar protest, the National Day of Mourning, held in Massachusetts. Held annually since 1975, the event is designed to commemorate the survival of Native American peoples following the settlement of Europeans in the Western Hemisphere, which led to enormous losses among Indians from disease, warfare and social disruption. Organizers want it to serve in contrast to the traditional American Thanksgiving story in which the Pilgrims amicably shared a meal with Native Americans"

I haven't celebrated the stinking thanksgiving "holiday" in well over a decade. But, I do try to do things extra special on that day to celebrate the Un-ness of it...
we made croissants, baby red mashed potatoes, nutritional yeast gravy, corn, and had a super yummy TOFURKY (which i was told was far better than the usual dry turkey with an apple shoved up its ass lol) we cooked the TOFURKY with sweet potatoes, carrots, and red onions and it came with a great wild rice stuffing and with a little gravy on top you can't really tell it's not turkey (except that warm feeling in your heart that reminds you that no animals were tortured and killed to make your meal) we went out for dessert so we could all pick our favorites, which if I remember correctly involved a hot apple pie sundae, a chocolate sundae, a hot lava chocolate cake, and banana cream pie.... YUM

We spent most of the day climbing Smith Rock. The Misery Ridge Trail. 3.8 mile loop with a 1000 foot elevation gain. The trail gains the 1000 feet in the first 3/4 of a mile to the top then it zig zags down the back with an amazing view of monkey face. Then down to the crooked river for a gorgeous hike back around.

us


j-baby and baby boo (monkey face in background)


looking over the edge


tough and cute


the trail we hiked up


solo climber on monkey face


crooked river

da butte

so who lives with a 500 foot tall extinct volcano right smack in the middle of town... well bendites do. we are actually one of only THREE (i'm pretty sure 3) cities in the u.s. that has a volcano in the city limits... crazy talk, i know.
the nature trail up the butte is 2 miles round trip and i have been hiking it every day for awhile now... the trip up is great cardio and the trip down is great views. hiked it in the snow with the wee ones... had a snowball fight the entire way up. i think i lost lol



Sometimes Rolling Down the Butte is funner than walking...


making Trail Angels....


Sometimes you feel like a nut...


Sometimes you don't....

Start a Revolution

Louise Macabitas took this photo of Lt John Pike at the University of California Davis campus. He is just walking along.... seeming bored... macing protesters who are doing.... nothing. They are protesting. Quietly and Non-violently.
How is this happening in our country? How can we allow our police to mace kids simply because they are protesting.

I believe in quotes. And I believe that if someone else says exactly what you are thinking far better than you can say it then....

Why I Occupy by Sue Bastian in the Source Weekly

"The Occupy Movement is all about economic justice without which we will not have social justice.

We are challenging an economic system built on the greed of banksters, corporados and the wealthy ruling elites emboldened and empowered by politicians, government officials and the legal system enforced by the police state whose duty is to protect and serve the 1 percent.

We are the 99 percent committed to changing this system of injustice based on exploitation, oppression, financial devastation and environmental degradation. We are determined to Occupy our minds with truth, occupy our streets, our parks, our towns and cities, our states and our country in solidarity with the 99percent throughout the world. We engage in civil disobedience, direct action and non-violent activities as we Occupy Wall St., Occupy Main St., Occupy Everywhere to achieve economic justice.

Occupy is a movement, not just a series of one night stands. We have made a commitment of marriage to economic justice.

I spent the month of October participating in Occupy Wall St., Occupy D.C. and Occupy Portland. I met people outraged by the loss of our civil rights--particularly freedom of assembly and freedom of speech, citizens appalled by the Citizens’ United decision giving corporations unbridled power to buy elections and politicians, devastated victims of foreclosure and evictions, students unable to afford education or are saddled with horrendous education loans and everyone furious with the bailouts of the banksters and the bonuses to corporate executives. No one expressed irrational exuberance for extending tax cuts for the wealthy and for corporations. I met many homeless and poverty stricken people who see no hope for a decent life in this system, unemployed and underemployed workers with little or no hope of finding jobs, much less jobs paying a living wage. There were elderly folks worried about the loss of social security and Medicare and all of us deeply concerned about the grossly inadequate funding of education, libraries and infrastructure. Veterans, peace activists, anti-war and military families are furious about U.S. military expansion of the Empire and the phenomenal cost to people and the planet. Farmers, and all of us who treasure the Earth, are enraged about the corporate pollution of our air, water and soil, the extraction and exploitation of natural resources, the decimation of species and habitat, the use of [genetically modified organisms] GMO’s and the domination of agri-business on food and food safety.

Some of the actions I participated in reflect the diversity of people and issues involved in the Occupy movement.

We marched and rallied at Bank of America with several individuals prepared to withdraw their money. Bank of America locked its doors. We placed “foreclose BoA” signs on the doors.

We marched to the White House and raised a ruckus for job creation and demanded an end to outsourcing. We “declared war” on General Atomics for war profiteering and its participation in the highly immoral and illegal drone program.

We marched to the Supreme Court to oppose the Citizens’ United and other decisions contributing to the demise of democracy. Dr. Cornell West and 18 others were arrested for standing on the steps of the Supreme Court—Justice for all.

We rallied at the EPA against the disastrous tar sands project.

We attended a session of a court hearing on housing foreclosures and evictions. A minister admonished the court quoting from the Declaration of Human Rights that everyone is entitled to adequate housing and declared that the court should stop all evictions immediately. Speaking out in court is not allowed; he was asked to leave.

Veterans for Peace organized a march and rally at the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial to protest the illegal wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya….as well as the phony war on drugs and the ludicrous war on terror. The speaker, a black veteran, spoke passionately about resistance to perpetual wars, torture, failure to close Guantanamo and the continuation of the Military Commissions Act.

I lobbied the Oregon delegation about my concerns and invited them to join us at Freedom Plaza to Occupy DC. I expressed my appreciation to Senator Bernie Sanders, (I-VT), for his powerful and courageous filibuster in the Senate last year.

I plan to work with Occupy Bend to implement an ordinance of the City Council to protect the health, safety and welfare of Bend residents from harmful corporate actions.

Critics say the Occupy movement will not succeed because it is leaderless. Not So. We are all leaders cooperating to build a better world. In any case, it is tougher to injure, imprison or kill all of us…the 99 percent..than to take down a single leader. Critics also complain that we do not have a platform. Not So. We build a platform every day; we do not need any political party or corporate elitist dictatorship to tell us what to think and do.

We, the 99 percent, are determined to change this system of economic injustice. This is Class War and we intend to win. One more person, one more day…99 percent winners, 1 percent losers.

The issue is Economic Justice."

Can You Say MOO?

the precariously perched tree

so we went winter camping. it was cold!! obviously though... it is called WINTER camping. Anyway, we headed for the matthieu lakes loop trail but the snow and our little two wheel drive didn't like each other... so we headed back down took a turn to the right and drove as far down this little two-track that the car would go. parked it. strapped on the backpacks and started walking down the two-track which eventually ended and turned into an overgrowth of manzanitas before it changed into a forest that had fallen down. we kept heading up. found a beautifully snowy ridgeline surrounded by the dead trees. no wind. set up camp. built a raging fire and enjoyed the cold night. around 10ish the wind decided to take off.... and i mean really take off! the trees were swaying... the tent was beating us in the face.... we could hear the forest cracking all around us. but we remained in our tent. i was simply trying to get warm enough to feel my toes and cheeks... started drifting off to sleep but the fierceness of the wind kept waking me up... then CRACK AND SMASH! the ground shook. we both screamed! j jumped out of the tent and right there a few feet from my head was the precariously perched tree that had fallen across our camp fire. so we sat in the tent pondering the dangers of staying where we were (there were a-lot of trees that were still cracking and swaying) or hiking out into the snowy night and trying to find our way out in the dark (since we had not been on a trail it wasn't going to be easy) then the wind screamed, a tree creaked, the ground shuddered and we both ducked and covered (like that would have done us any good) no more words... we both just jumped up and started packing up... camp was torn down and packed up in less than 10 minutes and other than j-baby falling over a rock after chasing the tent when the wind took it (he didn't get hurt -- just laughed himself silly afterwards) it went very smoothly considering all of the ducking and covering. so... we found our tracks in the snow... followed them down over the log strewn hill (now we know why it was log strewn) and finally found the manzanita covered path. we turned off our headlamps and walked the last hour under the full moon and stars. it was beautiful. we always say how much we enjoy night hiking and it was a perfect night for it. found the car. drove home. and were safe and sound in our bed by about 3am. i think we will do it again next weekend :)

High Cascades

peak finder

mr & ms priest

dee wright observatory

north & middle sister

little belknap crater

My Butler's Butler's Butler!

Test

the wandering gypsy priests

just going through pics looking for this one pic from that one time and i opened up the wedding photo folder... can't help but love these pics.

wanna dance?

Did you know that they do horse and buggy rides in downtown Bend at night? Neither did we....


The Hunters....


And, The Hunted....


J's mountain biking experience...


My mountain biking experience...