BE-ing Rooted: a Practice in Essential Living

Updated, reformated PLANT LIST FOR MuRefuge 2012

2012-02-01T10:06:00.000-08:00

California native unless marked * for nonnative aka alien
the name for the plant is below the picture

GRASSES, SEDGES and other Monocots

an ideal source Wild Lilies, Irises, and Grasses: Gardening with California Monocots

Nora Harlow and Kristin Jakob, editors

Blue eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium bellum)

Blue Wildrye Grass (Elymus glaucus)

California Black Flowering Sedge (Carex nudata)

California Brome (Bromus carinatus)

California Fescue (Festuca californica) in estivation with blooming California Fuschia

California Field Sedge (Carex praegracilis)

California Meadow Sedge (Carex pansa)

California Oatgrass (Danthonia californica)

Deergrass (Muhlenbergia rigens)

Dense Sedge (Carex densa)

Douglas Iris (Iris douglasiana) both native and hybrids

as well as Oregon Iris (Iris tenax)

and "Bridgeport Iris" (Iris ?)

Idaho Fescue or Blue (Festuca idahoensis)

June Grass (Koeleria cristata)

Red Fescue (Festuca rubra), newly planted and with Tidy Tips blooming

Native Rush (Juncas patens)

Nodding Needlegrass (Nassella cernua)

Purple Needlegrass (Nassella pulchra)

Slender or Bearded Wheatgrass (Elymus trachycaulis)

Yellow eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium californicum)

Let me know, in "Comments" what you think or if you like this formate; of course while you

In the Dead of Winter

2012-01-12T10:54:00.000-08:00

Well, here in West Sonoma County it is not as cold as some other places I have lived but the mornings are frosty. This morning when I went to let the ducks out, the thermometer by their gate said 29 degrees. Frost everywhere the sun has not reached. These cold nights and warm days have me in a quandary, "What to do in the garden?" The warm sunshine midday is very inviting to plant. The lack of rain is a concern carrying out any planting or transplanting in the ground.

I am slowly revising MuRefuge's Plant List for posting. Seeds for the vegetable garden have been ordered. This year I avoided being seduced by various catalogue descriptions of hybrid seeds. I only order open pollinated seeds.

Thank you Cathie. Your book list sent me on an enjoyable, extended web-journey this morning!

Yes, the Mono Lake DVD is Wonderful!!!

Your interesting, informative tours would be a great offering. As for time preferences, oh goodness, maybe the plants will need to tell you.

Maybe you shared in a previous blog, but I'm wondering what are a couple/few of your latest/favorite native plant and vegetable catalogues?

Yum, now I can make the celeriac salad!

With appreciation and best wishes, -Ann

In response to Ann's request, here are my favorite sources for veggie seeds, both of which provide hardcopy catalogs too:

http://www.bountifulgardens.org/

http://www.turtletreeseed.org/

For the first time this year I ordered online from Heirloom Seeds since they do not offer hardcopy catalogs:

http://www.heirloomseeds.com/

I have tried numerous places for native seeds. I always come back to

http://www.larnerseeds.com/

Judith Larner Lowry also has a blog which does not have any recent posts but is very informative, as is her seed link above.

http://judithlarnerlowry.blogspot.com/

Last Fall I cleaned out all the big clay pots sitting on the patio. Low and behold when the rains occurred in October seeds that I had scattered in the Spring germinated. Now we have lovely and cheery annual natives blooming.

Bird's Eye Gilia (Gilia Tricolor)

Close up of Bird's Eye Gilia

Five Spot (Nemophila maculata)

Close up of Five Spot

Chinese Houses (Collinsia heterophylla) with Five Spot

Feel free to share your Winter activities in the comment section below while you

Books and Boxes

2012-01-06T19:30:00.000-08:00

Flicker Box

You should have seen Dwight and I putting this flicker box up in the oak tree! This box is big and heavy since it is full of wood chips which Flickers like to remove before building their nests inside. A year ago we installed this box on the Southeast corner of our house. We took it down this Summer when all the work was done on the outside of our house. When Dwight opened the box to clean it out, he found the beginnings of a Flicker nest, then obviously Starlings chased the pair away and built their own nest, hatching two broods. Starlings are not my favorite birds. Hopefully this mating season a pair of Flickers will choose this box as their nesting sight AND Starlings will not move in!

Recipe box

Leeks and celeriac root growing synergistically -
more about this in an upcoming post

The essential ingredient for Celeriac Salad Remouldade
Recipe follows:

One large organic celery root (celeriac root), about 1 1/4 #

Washed unpeeled celeriac root

Peeled celeriac root

6 T. organic kefir milk
6 T. homemade, organic mayonnaise (recipe below)
3 T. organic Dijon mustard
4 T. chopped fresh, organic parsley (we like Italian leaf)
4 T. finely chopped fresh, organic chives
3. T.finely chopped fresh, organic onion

Mix the last 6 ingredients in a large bowl. Grate the celeriac root in a food processor, then add it to the large bowl, mixing well. Allowing the salad to sit at room temperature for about an hour melds the flavors together for a more flavorful addition to any Winter meal.

Homemade mayonnaise

Into the glass container of an electric blender, drop 1 egg (of course, we use duck) and whirl for 30 seconds. Add 1 tsp. organic ground mustard and 1/2 tsp. sea salt, whirl. While the blender is whirling slowly, very slowly ! drizzle organic virgin olive oil. After all of the oil has been added then add the juice of 1 organic Meyers lemon quickly. This will make about 1 1/2 C. mayo which will last if refrigerated for about a month.

A smattering of the BOOKS I read during 2011 on

Awakening:

An Extraordinary Year of Ordinary Days by Susan Wittig Albert

A wonderful book of days which I read on the matching dates in 2011. I was fascinated to read and watch Susan’s awakening to the blight of the Mother Earth caused by none other than we humans. A voracious reader, as well as an author, she shares the many books she read during 2008, the “extraordinary” year of possibly a woman or black as our next president. For an ongoing update from Susan you can access her blog http://susanalbert.typepad.com/lifescapes/

Baseball:

Flip Flop Fly Ball: an Infograhic Baseball Adventure by Craig Robinson was loaned to me by Rose’s Auntie T, aka Tanis, “baseball buddy” and extraordinarily good friend. Tanis likes to support independent book stores so while frequenting one in Sonoma, this book “fell off the shelf into her hands” and she brought it home. I knew nada about infographics. This book was a wonderfully informative baseball book as well as richly illustrating the new to me word, infographic.

It Takes More than Balls: the Savvy Girls’ Guide to Understanding and Enjoying Baseball by Deidre Silva and Jackie Koney both from Seattle and Mariners’ fans. This book is wonderfully funny, irreverent as well as informative.

Food:

Placer County Real Food from Farmers Markets: Recipes and Menus for Every Week of the Year by Joanne Neft with Laura Kenny. This book which “fell off the shelf into my hands” is full of simple, wonderfully flavorful recipes made with fresh, in season, local produce from Placer County, California, Farmers Markets. A book to treasure for anyone who raises their own food OR buys locally from their Farmer Markets.

Fun and Laughter:

Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven by Fanny Flagg

A Redbird Christmas also by Fanny Flagg In fact most any book this author writes is funny, bringing forth much mirth. This very sweet Christmas story I read this past Christmas Day as Dwight and Rose were napping.

Mother Earth:

The Land of Painted Caves by Jean M. Auel

I have read all of her books in the Earth Children Series, enthralled by each one as though sitting on my Gramp’s lap as he told me similar stories in my early childhood.

30,000 Years of Art: The story of human creativity across time and space The first few pictures in this tome are of the painted caves Jean M. Auel presents as the backdrop for her latest and last in her Earth’s Children Series.

The Butterfly’s Daughter, a novel by Mary Alice Monroe in which she uses the Monarch’s cycle as a metaphor in human’s lives.

Please share you favorite books read this past year in "Post a Comment" while you

Autopilot or Awake

2011-12-16T16:40:00.000-08:00

Early last week Dwight attended the Occupy Sebastopol Town Hall Meeting. As we talked about both The Occupy Movement and his experience with the meeting, I moved to the computer and Dwight in English Prof. mode edited. The below "commentary" will appear in the next issue of The Sonoma West Times and News, without the pictures of course. Your comments, thoughts, feelings are welcome!

And we are reminded of our global connection with Time magazine announcing their chosen Person of the Year: the Protestors from Arab Spring to Athens, from Occupy Wall Street to Moscow. The articles are attribute to awakening. Heartful, certainly, for all of us.

Blooming Christmas cactus

Each of us has been afforded an opportunity by The Occupy Movement to awaken. There are 9 billion of us on Mother Earth. This is too many with each of us participating in too much consumption/entitlement.

In a recent issue of Sonoma West Times and News Marty Gerber provided an 11 point ‘occupy’ plan, “goals that need to be achieved in order to salvage our nation”.

We live in a country that is chaotic at best, destructive at its worst. We are a very young nation with behaviors often seen in the rebellious teenager. We cannot focus on fixing or salvaging what is irredeemably broken. Like the phoenix arising out of the ashes, awakening and turning our attention to the consequences of our own individual choices fueled by our own attitudes, values and behaviors is essential to finding a way for all living creatures, including humans, to cohabit our planet. Waking up to our every day choices and their consequences will affect the people around us as well as the 1% that now brain wash us to do their bidding.

Rather than remaining on autopilot we can choose to practice “essential living by BEing rooted,” aka awake, and create a conscious connection to where we live, like noticing which native plants grow here providing the basis for a whole healthy, evolving ecology. When we are rooted in our spot on the planet, we become awake to our learned habits, attitudes and behaviors.

Most importantly, BEing rooted/awake allows us to embrace the whole and release our tightly held viewpoints. The Occupy Movement is showing us that we are all in this together. If we choose to face the chaos humans have created on Mother Earth, we can heal ourselves and the planet. Choice opens BEing with the whole rather than accepting the either/or thinking our culture supports. Peace/war, male/female, physical/spiritual, birth/death, health/disease, awake/autopilot are part of the whole. The key to BEing awake is awareness of choice and ensuing consequences. Remember the 1% want us to be asleep victims so their bottom line is unaffected.

LESS is better than more, for us individually and collectively. Choosing less is simple, not easy. Our young dog Rose was diagnosed with a malignant tumor in her left hind knee. In obvious pain with limited mobility she participated in an amputation. Six months later Rose with 3 legs does everything she did with 4.

Rose running along the gravel road from Test Station Road to Lee Vining Creek

Mother Earth has not the resources to allow each of us to continually shop to fuel the economy. So we might, for example:

1. share jobs that are available

2. stop driving everywhere with only one person per vehicle

3. grow some of our own food using GMO free, open pollinated seeds or at the very least buy locally grown organic produce at our nearest Farmers Market

4. stop spraying Roundup and other toxins in our yards and roadsides

5. use less water by taking out our lawns and replanting with drought tolerant natives, installing low flush toilets and eliminating swimming pools

6. buy organic clothes, household goods and cleaning products

8. feed all our children, of course organic food

9. embrace death rather than seeing death as a disease that can be defeated for megabucks

10. take responsibility for our own health instead of waiting until you are sick then seeking quick fixes of the symptoms

11. seek out health promoting practitioners instead of disease care ones

12. choose financial institutions that welcome our money and redeploy it locally instead of diverting it to its top executives

13. support education that prepares our youngsters for everyday life

BEing rooted/awake has an enormous ripple effect. We are filled with gratitude that there are individuals, i.e. The Occupy Movement, who are choosing awake rather than autopilot, benefiting each and every one of us. May more of us make this choice so that being awake predominates in our country.

Welcome Opportunity Plus Great News

2011-12-05T15:47:00.000-08:00

Walker River running East of the Walker River Lodge

We have returned from our annual Thanksgiving/Anniversary celebration in the Eastern Sierras. After 20+ years of this tradition we have decided, finding the Walker River Lodge no longer a hospitable place to stay, this year will be the last. This decision opens another doorway through which to travel. Shifting from our usual mode of business to a state of BE-ing and enjoyment right here at MuRefuge seems to be a welcome opportunity. As we began our road trip Rose looked at me in her quizzical way, clearly asking "Why do we have to get in the car to go someplace to relax?"

In the Eastern Sierras the weather was glorious . . . cold at night of course but warm and sunny during the daytime. Rose did NOT like the car ride to and from. However, she reveled in returning to all of the good smelling hiking places, running with abandonment,

tuckered out each evening!

Unlike last year when snow was in abundance, we saw only skiffs of it while we were crossing the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The aspen trees as well as all the other deciduous bushes and trees were without their leaves.

The colors in the Winter sunshine low to the horizon were nothing short of awesome, causing our souls to celebrate in the great fortune of BE-ing present in such beauty.

The Matterhorn from Doc 'n Al's

Robinson Creek near Doc 'n Al's

Mono Lake's Tufas viewed from the West side

Rose and Cathie looking East towards Mono Lake with Lundy Canyon in the background

Spectacular Lundy Canyon rocks

Dwight with Rose and more spectacular Lundy Canyon rocks

Mono Lake in the background
Rose, Cathie and Dwight in the foreground
from the Visitor's Center

Even though we returned almost a week early, we enjoyed our traditional pinyon pine tree cutting on our way back to MuRefuge through Nevada on Highways 182/338/208, connecting with Highway 395. This drive affords barren beauty which both Dwight and I find spectacular. The National Forest Service charges a whopping $5 to cut a tree on their land AND, in many areas where we have cut our trees, the NFS is felling pinyon pine trees to provide more habitat for the sage grouse. We love bringing home a pinyon pine tree to decorate for our Christmas tree which fills the house with that wonderful pinyon pine fragrance.

Tufas in and out of the water
Mono Lake

And upon return we received the news below from the Mono Lake Committee.

Dear Dwight and Cathie,

We did it!

Congratulations! After a six-month grassroots public effort, the Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve has been officially removed from California’s 70-park closure list.

For Mono Lake friends and supporters this is certainly a moment to be thankful for, and cause for celebration.

Upon hearing the news yesterday our Board of Directors Chair, Sally Gaines, said, “This is the best Christmas present we could ever wish for.” I couldn’t agree more!

Thank you Mono Lake Committee members and Mono Lake fans near and far for writing letters all summer, opposing closure and offering possible solutions. Over 4,000 letters and petition signatures were hand-delivered by the Committee to decision makers in Sacramento. This huge show of public support, combined with dedicated work from our Committee team, lead directly to this success.

You can check out their web site for additional information about Mono Lake and the Mono Lake Committee's mission at http://www.monolake.org/. This is great news for all of us who so love the small part of the Planet that offers so much to all her inhabitants.

We finished decorating our tree for the holidays just in time for Rose's Auntie T's visit.

Please share your own "welcome opportunity" below in "post a comment".

Monarchs and Murder

2011-11-18T09:04:00.000-08:00

Another level of BEing ROOTED has been the discovery we live in an area of Sonoma County with the most termites. I understand they ride the wind currents from Hawaii and probably points West. Since we live on the North edge of the Wind Gap, they arrived to inhabit MuRufuge’s house. BEing in physical form as a termite is difficult at best! Humans want to get rid of them and with the imbalance on the planet, their natural predators that keep them in check are not in great numbers.

The humans here at MuRefuge put into motion murder of these BEings since the wood of the house was riddled with them. Since we had to vacate our house to allow this process, Carmel for a few days seemed like a good getting away destination.

When we arrived at the lovely dog friendly Carmel Beach for some ocean experience, Rose was “beside herself”. We thought is was the noise of the surf and her inability with three legs to negotiate the soft sand. Later, in an email from Sandy, we realized she was distraught about the murder of all the BEings trapped inside of the tent over our house for fumigation.

The highlight of our four days down South was a lengthy morning visit with the hibernating Monarchs.

Upon our return, walking into our house, I felt the emptiness. Our house no longer was inhabited by spiders, ants, termites nor any other living BEing. The murder we set in motion, decimated the whole ecology similarly to the process of humans ingesting antibiotics. The following day I smudged the house inside and out with White Sage grown here at MuRefuge. Each room got a couple of spitzes of Rescue Remedy then several bunches of locally grown roses were divided into vases set in each room. The healing and restoration of the ecology has been set in motion . . .

May each of your Thanksgiving holiday be filled with health, love and much gratitude.

And feel free to

while you leave a comment below.

A-1 Builders

2011-10-31T16:22:00.000-07:00

Both of us here at MuRefuge are retired now and aging, so we often hire others to assist or preform tasks for necessary maintenance. Historically we have been extremely fortunate to have workers who are respectful, careful, hard working with integrity focusing on the entire process of whatever the project. That history came to an screeching halt recently, providing us with an ugly glimpse of the reality of our unhealthy culture.

Here at MuRefuge the project from hell has finally been completed. The failed siding on our home needed replacing and we went with A-1 Builders, owner Craig Mason. This contractor has chosen men to wok for him who are slobs . . . dropping cigarette butts about and smoking so the second hand smoke drifted into our living space, playing loud music on portable boom boxes that followed them around the house, leaving nails in the driveway, throwing lumber from their scaffolding onto the nearby native Manzanita bushes and any other vegetation growing within twenty+ feet of the house, no tarp was used on our driveway so all the spray painting and oil leaking vehicles have left the asphalt marked, paint splatters on the entryway slate, cracked slate from thoughtlessly dropped equipment.

We live in rural residential Sebastopol . . . in the country with many wild creatures (this is after all a Backyard Wildlife Habitat!) so we put in a request, after the first day when the screens covering the vents to beneath the house were left laying on the ground, that they be tacked up each night so skunks, etc. wouldn’t move into our crawl space. Follow through . . . nada! Gates left open upon their departure . . . we have a dog.

Talking with our neighbors, we live on a dead end road with nine dwellings scattered along the gravel road, one man while outside playing with his twin toddlers commented, " I could hear the "f" word about every other word. The sounds really carry here." And of course, several neighbors gave their negative thoughts on the boom boxes as well as the erratic parking along the one lane gravel road, which I had advised against the very first day the workers arrived.

I pruned back to the ground in most cases all the natives I had planted, which were flourishing, around the perimeter of the house. I requested the workers step lightly. Alas, all the vegetation was trampled, even a work station was set up on top of the native iris and alumroot in the front of the house not far from the driveway where I had asked they set up for the work to be done on the front of the house.

One morning while I was rescuing a pruned back but trampled clematis, Craig had the audacity to tell me to get out of his way so he could carry Hardy Plank to the work station located on top of mulched natives. I lost it! His only remark was, “we are focused on getting the siding up.” True, AND honoring the almost 20 years of creating MuRefuge would have been appreciated. His work is valuable and mine is not?

All the items removed from the outside of the house like hose racks, cloths line, hummingbird feeders, doorbell, etc. were just dropped into the dormant flower beds or onto the slate or just where ever. When it came to reassembling all these, of course, screws, bolts, etc. were missing or rusted since we had several rain storms during this almost month long project and some screws were dropped into cavities that filled with rain.

The last day these workers were here Dwight just wanted them out of here, so he took on replacing all of the screws and such to reassemble the outside of the house. The final touches Craig had agreed to take care of, like securing the door he put in, were not done. Dwight said, “Okay, I’ll take care of it, just to have their toxic energy leave MuRefuge.”

This very difficult process has illustrated clearly the difference between goal oriented vs. process oriented perspectives. And put in our faces the existing prevalent “rape and pillage” mentality of the dark side of patriarchy in our culture.

One person I shared my tale of whoa with remarked, “They seem to have an expression of evil glee while actively destroying plants.” Another, “plants just aren’t in their perspective.” Obviously others have had similar experiences to ours here at MuRefuge with A-1 Builders, owner Craig Mason. Would we use A-! Builders in the future? NO! AND we have shared this difficult month with the individual who recommended this contractor to us. He has removed this contractor from his referral list.

Hot and Sweaty

2011-10-24T10:49:00.000-07:00

Day of the Dead Marigolds (companion planted with tomatoes, asparagus, parsley)
Buckeye Butterfly and Morman Metalmark Butterfly nectaring

With global climate change deeply embedded on our planet, our “normal” hot, dry September and October only occasionally visits, however here in late October it is in full force. Delightful! I just love working outside getting all hot and sweaty with the full sun embracing my body as I work. During those wonderfully hot, sunny days when all the native plants are resting (dormant, in estivation), I tackled nonnative removal. First the Hot Poker, aka Kniphofia uvaria, native to South Africa and extremely drought tolerant, which I originally moved to MuRefuge from our place on Cunningham Road where we had Baltimore Orioles who loved the nectar the bright yellow and orange flowers provided. Alas, rare to none of these gorgeous birds come here to MuRefuge. Those few transplants over the eighteen years here at MuRefuge grew to a sizeable number. As I was pulling, chopping, covering with our no longer wearable natural fiber clothes, cardboard and newspaper then arbor mulch from Grab n’ Grow, I was struck by the lack of any creepy crawly life . . . no lizards, no snakes, no insects of any kind did I observe.

Native Goldenrod will fill in area
where the Hot Poker plants were removed

A few days later on another sunny day, I moved across the driveway to remove the substantial bed of just beginning to bloom Naked Lady, aka Amaryllis belladonna, also a native to South Africa that thrives in most any kind of soil without any watering. A well meaning friend gave me a few bulbs when we moved to MuRefuge and had essentially a barren garden. I cut all the just beginning to bloom stocks, brought them into the house and stuck them into a huge vase. The arrangement was not attractive since the stems drooped from the weight of the buds. I left them and returned to the task at hand of digging up all of the bulbs. Oh my gosh, I did not have any idea how many there were! I filled up some dozen cardboard boxes and a huge black plastic bag I had brought home from Harmony Farm Supply last Winter with a bare root apple tree. The first 6 boxes I set near the mailboxes, the second six I dropped off at various nearby intersections, and the large black plastic bag I just left at the end of the driveway. “In a hot New York minute”, as my friend Lynette would say, all the bulbs disappeared. Again, being observant to life other than human I noticed none among the bulbs. On a joyful note we did enjoy the fragrance of the Naked Lady flowers for well past a week.

Native aster sprawling in the front providing late Fall nectar
and Common Checkered Skipper

Lustrous Copper nectaring on native aster flowers

Whew! I am so happy to have these nonnatives out of MuRefuge as well as the ornamental pomegranate bush, aka Punica granatum ‘Nana’, and Apple Blossom camellia, aka Camellia sasanqua. Clearing plants, just like clearing ones living quarters of clutter, provides space for native ones.

Then in preparation for the massive project of replacing all of the failed siding on our house, I pruned back all the natives around the perimeter of the house. In doing so I was absolutely astounded by the number of native insects, frogs, caterpillars I saw in the process. Last Winter I read Douglas W. Tallamy’s book Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants where he writes that native oaks support some 500+ species of insects while non-native ones less than a dozen. While I was impressed with his entomology statistics, I was astounded seeing it with my own eyes in my own habitat, MuRefuge.

West Coast Lady nectaring on Day of the Dead marigold

Please feel free to share below your personal experiences with native plants and their benefits. And

Just Awesome

2011-08-26T15:33:00.000-07:00

A few months hiatus from gardening and writing a post. Monday while Vickie pulled errant bindweed and I pruned back going to seed annuals, we were rewarded with the most spectacular viewing: Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillars,

a pupating Pipevine Swallowtail

and a tree frog all nestled among the tangles of Pipevine.

A month or so ago on a warm, sunny day I saw a Pipevine Swallowtail hovering about the native Pipevine. A few days later I searched for the black dots of recentlylaid eggs, not finding any. But she obviously did lay her mirade of eggs.
I just could not find them in the tangles of California Pipevine.

This just awesome sight of Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillars and pupae just blew us all away. It has been a few years
since we have been treated to Pipevine Swallowtail butterflies in the making.

Let me know if you all have viewed equally just awesome sights. And

Santa Barbara and Rose

2011-06-22T16:14:00.000-07:00

We recently took in a little beach time in Santa Barbara, one of my favorite

spots on Mother Earth, staying at the Flagship Motel 6 just a block from

East Beach. Global climate change has altered the weather there, just

like here in Sonoma County and, well, every where on the planet. Last

June and July Santa Barbara recorded temperatures the coolest ever

at that time of the year. This year the rain fall there is 10” above the

average. During our nine day stay we had sunshine, wind, clouds, fog

and pouring rain during which we took in Woody Allen’s latest movie

Midnight in Paris which we enjoyed.

And Rose has been gimpy, favoring her left rear hind leg. She negotiated

the stairs up and down to get to our room. However mostly she enjoyed

viewing the beach from our bed. As you can see from this picture the

view is spectacular. She could see the pod of dolphins, hear the barking

seals, watch the sea gulls and skimmers flirt across the sand. At first

the train whose tracks run quite close to the area of Santa Barbara and

whose noise was disturbing to her, but once she saw the train you

could see her filing the picture with the sound into her memory.

The Saturday Farm Market in Santa Barbara is a treat. Many, many,

many local, small farmers bring their produce. The younger generation

(can I really believe I am writing this? no matter how true it is!)

of farmers are focusing on caring for the soil in the least toxic manner,

presenting absolutely gorgeous Italian heirloom artichokes, potatoes,

carrots and much, much more.

Tuesday evenings in Old Town, aka State Street, the event is repeated.

As we walked along looking and tasting, we were amazed at the

numbers of persons buying, eating and chatting. The contrast to

the local farm markets in Sonoma County that we frequent is huge:

no what I call “doodad,” aka handmade goods, booths, no prepared

food booths with the exception of fresh baked breads and jams, just

a vast array of farm produce.

Breakfast on East Beach at the Carrillo Beach House is just a lovely way to experience

beach life. Rose was fascinated with the coming and goings of people, birds and other

creatures of the water.

A walk along the bike path to the Bird Refuge was enjoyable. Across the street is an unusual and fascinating sculpture made partly from pottery shards.

On the other end of the expanse of sand from East Beach is Ledbetter Beach with fabulously beautiful sandstone creations.

Tropical vegetation abounds everywhere amidst the Mediterranean architecture.

Flowering trees with and without leaves, bushes, vines present color and lightness,

all translating into feel good relaxation drawing visitors from across the globe.

Even exotic birds live on the beaches of Santa Barbara. Here’s a couple of pictures Dwight took of these Skimmers, unfortunately on a foggy morning, on East Beach.

Upon returning to MuRefuge we were greeted by these sunny faced, flowering Tidy Tips which are native to Sonoma County vernal pools.

A few days after our return, Rose’s gimpyness became more pronounced

and she became unwilling? unable? to put that left back paw onto the ground

nor to bear weight on that left rear leg. A visit to Rose’s doctor revealed, much to

the surprise and upset of her unsuspecting vet, a tumor on the head of her tibia,

the biggest bone from the hip to knee aka stifle. A second opinion from a trusted

radiologist confirm Rose’s doctor’s diagnosis of osteosarcoma.

The good news: no visible metastasis seen on further x-rays and completely

normal results on a vast array of blood studies.

Rose’s doctor recommended amputation and chemotherapy. For those of you who

know me, the latter’s not an option for me nor my animals. I have had previous

and positive experience, however, with treating cancer with herbs. This past

Saturday Rose started her herbs and by Wednesday she showed signs of

liver detoxification which is crucial for keeping cancer cells in check.

Rose is scheduled to have her "gimpy" leg removed tomorrow morning, June 23.

She is ready turn the page and move on in her life as a three-legged dog. Recovery

from this operation takes only 1-2 weeks for dogs. As we have discovered, there are

many dogs out there who have had a similar malady living lives with only three legs.

So all of us here at MuRefuge have been preparing (using the web for researching

and obtaining more information, consulting with Sandy, the interspecies communicator,

numerous conversations and discussions with herbalists for organic herbs to keep in

check the malignant cells in Rose’s body, cooking more easily digested food for Rose,

identifying and instituting specific Flower Essences for Rose) for the loss of Rose’s

limb. Rose’s Auntie T made a special trip from Point Reyes Station to BE with Rose,

adding her lightness and positive outlook for a speedy recovery from the removal of

her “cumbersome appendage”. Her Auntie Vickie and Uncle Jason brought her a rose

quartz heart to accompany her to the Animal Hospital as well as their comfort and love.

Rose's Auntie Fang and Auntie Petra are both sending loving and healing. And Sandy

holds a place for Rose as she goes through the surgery and returns to her "amazing

life journey this time around."

Dwight, Rose and I thank all of you for your incredibly loving support during this life

lesson.

Rose’s doctor has been most supportive, loving and informative. Rose just loves

Nicole and all her employees at the Animal Hospital. We are trusting of optimal care

for her so that one day soon she able to once again run at top speed on Dillon Beach.

Please

with us

Doorway to Haynes Roots

2011-05-31T14:59:00.000-07:00

"We write to expose the unexposed.

If there is one door in the castle

you have been told not to go through,

you must. Otherwise,

you'll just be rearranging furniture

in rooms you've already been in.

Most human beings are dedicated to

keeping that one door shut.

But the writer's job is to see

what's behind it, to see the bleak

unspeakable stuff, and

to turn the unspeakable into words."

Anne Lamott

Shelley and me

Dwight and I opened MuRefuge to share my whole ecology garden with his many sculptures through the Second Annual Sebastopol Center for the Arts' Gardens with Sculptures. So many visited. And what a surprise when I looked up to see Shelley standing nearby.

When we hugged, my reality tilted (have any of you had a similar experience?). Grandma Haynes and I were hugging. And then I returned to MuRefuge talking to Shelley.

I was so happy to have family right here at MuRefuge since remaining family is scattered all over the United States. My sister and I are estranged, my oldest brother is no longer in his familiar physical form, and my youngest brother living in a Kansas City suburb is very private.

Our Haynes’ aunts have all departed their bodies, except Marty. A husband of one aunt, mother to Sue and Shelly, and wife of another sibling, father to Jim and Ann, are all of that older generation. As sad and grieving as we have been of this generation’s passing, I for one am releasing the multigenerational dysfunction that has been passed to each of us through the spirit rebirth (genes is another way of saying this) over many, many, many, many years.

When I got a divorce, I decided to legally change my name because I did not want my father’s name since I experienced verbal and physical abuse when he lived with us before my mother obtained a divorced.

The Universe, aka Divine, played a joke on me! Or perhaps it was my personality’s habit that did. . .

As I was advancing through nursing school, when one weekend I was back on the farm with Mom, Steve and my siblings, we got a call that P.C. had shot himself, aka committed suicide. As I talked on the phone to Nell, I heard a very

quiet, gentle voice inside me say, “I will eventually discover the ‘why’ of his actions.” After getting my nursing diploma I moved to El Paso.

As I write this ever so difficult blog entry, I am aware of how cold I feel; fearful I am sharing my story with you. tee hee, ha ha . . . laughter releases emotions . . . tee hee, ha ha

After many relocations and BEing stuck, I found my way to Northern California, knowing it was only a matter of time before I would no longer work as a registered nurse. My focus shifted from workaholism to working on finding myself. Grandma Haynes visited me often, sharing “Do your Work now so you don’t have to do it on your deathbed.”

One morning I got what I call “the cosmic kick in the butt” to leave nursing when I could not make myself get out of bed to go to work. Then the deeper Work began and culminated when I went to a laughter workshop with Annette Goodheart http://www.laughtercoach.com/home.html in Santa Barbara.

During that week what had been locked in my unconscious became available to me, providing me with “the missing piece of the puzzle” for my healing work.

When I was four, Grandpa Haynes tried to molest me. I ran away, for which my mother admonished me for “not loving my grandfather.” Annette pointed out to me that a four year old who had not been sexually abused earlier could not have reacted as I did. As she worked with me body memories from age three to six months came forward. My uncle P.C., who was living with my mom and me at the time, orally sexually abused me repeatedly.

After many months of Work with Annette and many years on my own, which included confronting my mother, I am healing. Part of my healing has included understanding P.C.’s despair around his father’s oral sexual abuse of him and his repeating of this on another generation. Please remember when you read this that in the 1960’s the psychological life of individuals and of our nation was so very different than it is in present day .

In Victorian times reportably there was an epidemic of oral gonorrhea among infants wide spread over much of the European continent. At that time, there was not the knowledge of how gonorrhea was transmitted; now we know it is transmitted through a penis infected with Neisseria gonorrhoeae. This secret, hidden practice arrived along with the European settlers to this country.

My mother did not deny that this abuse had happened to me. And, although she exhibited many symptoms of the same abuse, she could not admit to what had been done to her. I did not need or want to traumatize her any further. I

was driven to recognize, admit, bring out of hiding the family secret, and heal myself.

This healing journey has essentially been done outside the confines of my family. Perhaps in my very early adulthood I KNEW I must distance myself from my family in order to heal. This healing of my life altering auto immune disease (auto immune disease comes from the self not being able to differential hers or his own cells from those of invasive organisms) could not have gone forward had I not met and connected deeply with Dwight, now my husband after 23 previous years of a monogamous, committed relationship.

Shelley, me and Dwight

My last name remains Haynes. Haynes reminds me of all I have experienced: the early oral sexual abuse AND the deep healing which has freed me of the debilitating body flashbacks. These flashbacks began when I was in elementary school after we moved to Shenandoah, Iowa and continued throughout my life until just fairly recently.

I offer the story of discovery and healing to you . . .
the doorway I took to Haynes roots

In the very first BE-ing Rooted: a Practice in Essential Living http://beingrooted.blogspot.com/2010/07/story-of-murefuge.html post I equated healing the raped landscape of MuRefuge to healing myself. This initial post was a less explicit version of my healing and the first public, written acknowledgement of my early trauma. Now some ten months later, as the hands Dwight sculpted for our artisan well offer water to the water sprite living below the surface, I am offering this entry to you all, spurred by my recent physical connection with Shelley and spiritual visit from Grandma Haynes.

"about everything in your
live that isn't really funny"

The Ducklings Are Growing Up

2011-05-25T14:00:00.000-07:00

Two female Chocolate Indian Runner
born on Earth Day, arriving at
MuRefuge the following day

This past Sunday MuRefuge, Dwight with his sculpture and me with the garden, participated
in the Sebastopol Center for the Arts annual Gardens with Sculpture Tour. Oh my gosh, many
people showed up. I have been two days recovering and now am reentering participation with my garden. It is raining. YES! Raining! We have, so far, gotten about a half inch of rain.
The ducklings remain in the duck house with their light for warmth and enjoying as many
little Borage starts as I pull up for them.

Here's pictures over the last few weeks.

2 weeks old

3 weeks old

4 weeks + 1 day old

Holding the 4 weeks + 1 day old ducklings

The Ancient One

2011-05-04T17:24:00.000-07:00

Reading the two most recent posts on Sandy Lagno’s blog Animals from Their Point of View http://sandylagno.com/?p=324 and http://sandylagno.com/?p=314 has given me the nudge to get on with the telling of Star’s story. Star, whom one of our neighbors while ambling on the gravel road in front of our house dubbed “The Ancient One”, died on August 17, 2008. After her death, that pushed my spiritual envelope big time, I promised her I would share her story. Both Dwight and I have told it orally over the past two and three quarters years. Now I want to share Star's story on this

new medium to me, who is out of date according to some who are into Twitter and Facebook.

So here goes . . . Mid 1993 someone found just the right Siberian Husky puppy for me. Having had not a stellar experience with a previous Siberian Husky, Nashoba, after having two wonderful ones, Sasha and Tatiana, in my life for 15 plus years, I decided we needed another type of dog that would ground this new puppy. Off to the local shelter I went. Of course, I had in my mind an image/idea of what I would find and bring home. Alas, no such dog presented herself to me. One dog did present herself in extremely low fashion. Skinny with a poor coat of hair, having given birth to eleven puppies and raised them at the local Humane Society after being dumped over the fence at night pregnant without any identification, Star sat at the fence. She neither made eye contact nor tried to coerce me in any way to take her home with me. Still I was drawn to her. She was unfamiliar, looking not like a Siberian Husky in any way, nor like any of my childhood dogs.

Having had such a trying experience with Nashoba through which however I became connected with a wonderful puppy trainer, I had her come with me to the shelter to give me her take on this dog to whom I was so drawn. Her only hesitation was that this animal was more connected to other dogs than humans. All of this I shared with Dwight who was still working in the San Francisco Financial District. He was willing to go along with whatever I decided. He did however remind me that we had a full Summer planned with trips here and there. Plus we were expecting to bring our Siberian Husky puppy home in late August after all of our various trips.

On August 7, 1993, off to the Santa Rosa Humane Society we both went to adopt this dog. We completed all of the paper work and collected her from her kennel. It was a gloriously sunny day so we decided since she had been all cooped up for so many months that we would reward her with a walk. Well, her muscles were so atrophied from not being used much that she did not last long on the Joe Rodota although she clearly wanted to walk farther than her body was willing to carry her. Home we drove, not to MuRefuge of which at this time we had not an inkling.

Since this dog, who we were told was a Doberman mix and three or four years old, did not seem very healthy to me, a visit to the vet came next. We had a crate for her which she initially willingly used. Our next outing was to Salmon Creek Beach which at the time allowed dogs.

Star and I after our first walk together on Salmon Creek Beach

Before we knew what was happening it was time to visit the soon to be our puppy in Reno, Nevada. And Star was spayed and I unthinkingly had promised her “no more puppies” when I meant she would not have her own puppies. In retrospect, “WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?” when all along we were planning on bringing a puppy into our household.

And then several weeks before the originally appointed time, we picked up our puppy in Napa where a woman had brought with her three of the puppies from the Reno kennel.

Dwight holding Star's leash.
Sun on Star's far right
with Sun's brother Abu between.

Both the adopted dog and the puppy we gave names from Flower Essences. The former was called Star from the Flower Essence Star of Bethlehem and the latter Sun from the Flower Essence Sunflower. For those of you so inclined you can read about these essences. In retrospect, Star loved her name, Sun was none too fond of hers.

Needless to say, Star got right into BEing with Sun allowing her to BE a puppy. Star was an Alpha dog in the truest sense AND was never aggressive, but was very protective not in only protecting Sun but in preventing any dogs from bullying other dogs. Point in fact, while visiting a friend who had a female West Highland Terrier and whose sister’s Spitz mix breed keep picking on the Westie, Star grabbed the latter by the scuff while standing over the top of her. Amazingly, this dog did not repeat this behavior which the owner said was a frequent one with other dogs.

Star and Sun were a pair to watch: this very petite, beautiful black and white Siberian Husky and our much larger Black and Tan Hound mix who was identified on a beach in Santa Barbara by a man who had raised Black and Tan Hounds for coon hunting. Sun mimicked some of Star’s behaviors. One that was very striking was lifting a front paw and pointing as hunting dogs, especially hounds, do, though other Huskies never do.

Camping at McCloud.
Dwight, Sun and Star watching a squirrel in a tree.

The first Spring and Summer we lived at MuRefuge, Star and Sun formed a team to trap gophers in their tunnels. One dog on each end and the gopher trapped in the middle. They managed to catch well over 50 gophers with this ingenious method. Star was not interested in the gopher after the chase. Sun however thought gophers were a delicious addition to her diet.

Sun was a stay at home dog. Star on the other hand was “Go for a truck ride”! We had a 4Runner at the time.

Life settled into a routine for all of us here at MuRefuge with our ups and downs. Then in the Fall of 2004 Sun developed what I now know was a malignancy in her right sinus. How tenaciously she held on to BEing in her body! And how I reverted to “a critical care nurse,” taking care of her body, cherishing each and every minute.

Last picture we have of Star and Sun together.

After a month of sleep deprivation since most nights I sat holding Sun so she could breathe, our vet came and euthanized her on April 6, 2005. To make a very long story short, Sun’s spirit remained with us. She DID NOT want to leave. During this time is when I tapped into Sandy Lagno’s incredible gift. She communicated with Sun as well as Star.

Star was almost catatonic. She was listless and went through each day without really BEing present. This first time Sandy tried to communicate with Star much time passed before she could form a connection with her. During this initial communication Star was very clear she did not want to be euthanized. Star gave Sandy a very clear picture of how she was going to leave her body: she would be running, her physical form would drop and her spirit would soar. At the time I thought what a lovely image.

Star really enjoyed BEing the only dog in our family
once she grieved the loss of her sister, Sun.

Star standing in Lee Vining Creek
after a hot walk.

After Sun was no longer with us, Star did not have the stamina to walk 5 miles as she had previously. In the Fall, 2007, Star was 16 and slowing down. We took shorter walks and the pace became slower but she was adamant that she walk every morning as we had always done. We added afternoon slow walks as well limiting both morning and afternoon walks to a mile or so.

One Sunday afternoon we noticed Star outside in the back yard running at full speed, jumping over obstacles like buckets and patio chairs. Could this be our 16 year old, OLD dog? This running continued for the afternoon and Star showed no sign of tiring. By early evening I became concerned and my nursing self kicked in. I called Sandy who did not answer her phone. It was Sunday after all and she takes time off, too. We loaded up Star, which was no easy task, to take her to the 24 hour emergency hospital. I had to hold on to her to keep her in one place in the car. Boy, was she strong!

We had to wait for the vet to see us. It was beginning to be dusk and we have ducks to put in so we called a neighbor who agreed to put them in for us. More waiting for the vet with a very agitated Star who was not happy to be confined or in this strange place. A vet tech came and took Star away. More waiting. Finally a vet appeared who recommended sedation and tests. At this point I left Dwight with Star and the vet for these procedures, saying I would return soon. Home I sped. Luckily the ducks were safe in their house (boy! all this sure did kick in my Self preservation issues! for those of you reading this who are familiar with the Enneagram and the Basic Instincts) AND Sandy had left me a message, “Star showed me a blood vessel in her brain burst.”

Immediate calm returned to me and what would happen next seemed to me to be the only choice. Back to the Emergency Hospital to pick up Star and bring her home. She was sedated. I told the vet my wish was to bring her home. No tests because I knew what had happened. The IV was removed and a bandage applied. Dwight and I picked Star up and carried her to our car.

When we got home we settled her on her bed by my side of our bed. She barely stirred during all of this. In the early morning she woke up from the sedation surprised she was still in her body but resettled for a more natural sleep until morning light.

I called Sandy again. We both wondered what would have happened if we had just let her run?

And she would have missed saying good bye to her favorite place, Mono Lake.

Star had more difficulty getting up and down. A few months later she had another stroke while laying in the grass one morning. She could not get up. I sat with her all day thinking her spirit would be departing her physical form, but by nightfall she willed herself up and into the garage; we lifted her up the step and into the house she came.

Her slow ambles became even slower, sometimes taking an hour to go just a block or two. She developed pressure sores on her hind legs.

Sometimes she was incontinent, which I know she did not like since she had always made a point to urinate outside even when she was many hours in the kennel at the Humane Society. So I would bathe her and dry her and reapply the bandages to her pressure sores.

Peaceful Star

She was restless at night so we moved our Subaru Outback out of the garage so she could move about as she wanted.

Of course, I had Sandy check in with her. Star assured me that how it looked was NOT how it was for her. She seemed serene, at peace with her “dying rhythm movement”. Then on a Friday morning in midAugust, 2008, when I went into the garage Star was attempting to get up from the garage cement floor. She could not make her body get up. She kept trying and frustration was evident on her face. She made sounds of frustration while continuing to try to get her body off the floor. She would rest a bit then try again. This she repeated and repeated. But she clearly refused any help. By late afternoon she discovered that while she could not get up off the floor, she could move all of her legs in a running movement. With this discovery her whole demeanor shifted. Her sounds were no longer of frustration, rather more of pleasure. We went to bed on that Friday night with Star still resting then running. By Saturday afternoon after cleaning her up several times, laying about medicinal herbs to support her process, she began to howl, reminiscent of wolves calling their pack.

A wolf picture that reminds me of Star howling
on our garage floor.

And I imagine this is to whom Star is calling.

Through Sunday this continued. When asked how I could stand this, my response is “I am allowing Star her process.”

Early Monday morning, Dwight woke me up to tell me Star had died. Sandy says that Star’s spirit came and awakened him. He also said she looked like a wolf. “Right!” I thought. Out to the garage I went to see our old and decrepit Star. NOT what I saw. Rather laying in the middle of the garage floor was a very large wolf looking very peacefully asleep, ears standing up straight, tail standing straight out on a very large body.

How could this be? I sat down stroking this amazing animal's body. Dwight went back to bed to get some more sleep. I was awake for the day.

Later I called Sandy to share Star’s process. Sandy said, “That body contained a 100 plus pound alpha male wolf”. Allowing Star her process gave rise to merging with her past lives? Star certainly was a STAR!

Animals seem to come into our lives to teach us what we are open to learning. This physical transformation of Star’s body has opened me to another realm of physicality, of spirit, of the organization and alteration of cells/mass and alteration.

As we buried Star in Sun’s Spot, her spirit had already entered the spiritual realm. Sun watched Star’s process and made a decision to return to do her work. AND now we have Rose whose focus seems to be on coming to grips with the wild and the domesticated sides of her nature. Perhaps a story for
another time.

Remember to

while sharing your favorite animal stories in the comment section below.

Babies and Transplants

2011-04-25T13:56:00.000-07:00

Been ages since I have written a new blog post! The past month or so has

been all about readying for the Spring burst which has clearly arrived at

MuRefuge.

Completing the dispersing of 8 cubic yards of wood chips which came from

a Winter storm toppling our 16 year old curly willow to various path renewals

and remulching some areas.

Before

After

Transplanting from “flats” what I thought would be a few tomato starts and

resulted in 95, yes 95, soon to be productive tomato plants. Here I must add

that all those tomato plants will not be planted here but given to some dear

friends and family, and sold for $4 per 4 inch pot at the SCA’s Gardens with

Sculpture Tour happening on May 22 from 10 A.M. to 5 P.M.

Setting out Todd planters in the garden to acclimate to the out of doors with

planting into our fabulously reconstructed vegetable beds.

Planting native annuals mostly but a few perennials too out into different

spots at MuRefuge thus emptying Todd planters for veggie starts awaiting

in flats.

Transplanting vegetable, herbs and flower starts to Todd planters.

Veggie, herb and flower starts in the greenhouse

Pimento Peppers

Basil starts in foreground

Weeding, lots of weeds to fill up our spiffy, thanx to Dwight, compost bins.

Vickie, weeder extraordinaire, spends a lot of time on her knees pulling all

those errant weeds, many of which are invasive European grasses found

choking out even the invasive Feverfew which I have become to enjoy as

mowed ground cover.

Our duck flock seems fluid right now. The 3 oldest Fawn and White Indian Runner females have

been reduced to only 1. She is well over 7 years old and has had no easy time adjusting to the loss

of her sisters. With the support of a Grief flower essence preparation she now seems content to

hang out with the 4 who are past their 4th birthday and no longer each laying an egg each day.

So on Earth Day our latest 2 ducks were born, arriving at MuRefuge this past Friday. For a few

weeks they will reside in a big cardboard box with wood shavings covering the bottom and a hanging

heat bulb for warmth. Since we have some difficulty distinguishing older and not as old ducks from

one another, our newest addition are Chocolate Indian Runners, females of course, from Metzer

Farms in the California Central Valley. Check their informative web site metzerfarms.com.

Welcome to MuRefuge

Organic food top left, water on the left with a
brick to keep them from swimming in the
water and getting cold, red on left is
the heat bulb

Babies in grass

Three days old

Both the native coastal iris and their hybrids are in full bloom as well as the Eastern Sierra native iris. How spectacular!!

Happy Spring! and remember to

Comments are welcome!

Celebration

2011-03-19T11:43:00.000-07:00

In the wake of the recent disaster in Japan and in an effort to quiet my self preservation instinct I am focusing on celebration. This week the first of the migratory hummingbirds showed up at our feeders. Allen's hummingbirds are just so gorgeous! A pair chase each other about our Roger Red grape vines, sitting for Dwight and I to have a close look at them.

The recent issue of Fremontia: Journal of the California Native Plant Society was filled with celebratory articles. The most astounding related a discovery amidst the revamping of Highway 101 near the Presidio of San Francisco. The presumably last wild, previously thought extinct, Franciscan manzanita (Arctostaphuylos franciscana) was found and moved through unparalleled conservation efforts. Human BE-ings from various, and often cantankerous, organizations were able to pool their resouces to successfully relocate the "ten ton plant and soil monolith". Clearly a cause for celebration!

The many varieties of California Wild Lilacs (Ceanothus) are blooming.

Celebration continuing . . .

And there are the flowering currants and gooseberry bushes, too.

More celebration . . .

Before these last series of rain storms, Dwight was able to almost complete the rebuilding of the compost bins so Vickie and I can fill the bins with weeds.

Celebration of Dwight's nature!

As Dewitt Jones' encourages in his CELEBRATE WHAT'S RIGHT WITH THE WORLD! http://blog.celebratewhatsright.com/ may we each in our own way
give celebration.

This Sharp-shinned Hawk gives celebration for the many birds who visit our shelled sunflower bird feeder that might provide breakfast?

Celebration of the natural cycle.

As you each

please consider sharing in the comment section below your own celebration.

Spring's Happening

2011-03-05T16:26:00.000-08:00

Rain and pleasant weather is the pattern, hopefully those freezing nights have passed but that is not likely just yet. The stone fruit trees are in bloom unfortunately there is not a pollinator to be seen, although Saturday I saw a Mourning Cloak butterfly on our walk along Willowside Creek.

Dwight has been cleaning out and refurbishing old nesting boxes as well as building new ones from recycled lumber. We are hopeful that birds will move in and successfully raise their young.

Chickadee Nesting Box

Western Bluebird Nesting Box

Northern Flicker Nesting Box

Nuthatch Nesting Box

In the open field to our South not long ago I noticed Turkey Vultures circling and landing. My curiosity had me climbing over the fence and walking up to see what lay on the ground . . . a dead doe. And not far away a pair of grey foxes were playing. It has taken the dozen or so Turkey Vultures about two weeks to clean the carcass.

And a few afternoons ago I saw in the same field, what I thought at first was a fox but then a tail with circular strips shot up in the air. With my binoculars I could see the pointed ears of a bobcat which lounged about in the grass for some while.

We often take Rose to Shollenberg Park along the Petaluma River for walks. A few mornings ago we were fortunate to see a River Otter swimming and diving in the river. We are pretty sure it was a male since he was so large that at first we thought it was a seal. “How cool is this?” we asked each other.

With all the rain the soil along the South perimeter of our property is saturated hence we have a running creek. Rose loves to play in it. While she is having her afternoon nap, the ducks enjoy foraging along the narrow waterway and into the grass, under the bushes. With all the food they forage they barely eat any organic laying pellets. And we have been gathering an egg each morning now for a few weeks.

Many early blooming natives are in flower here at MuRefuge. Here's photographs of just a few.

Aristolochia californica (California Pipevine)

Carex nudata (California Black Flowering Sedge)

Arabis blepharophylla (Coast Rockcress)

Ribes speciosum (Fushsia flowering Gooseberry)

Arctostaphylos densiflora ‘Sentinel’

Garrya elliptica male variety ‘James Roof’ (Coast Silktassel)

I would love to hear what is happening at your place. Comments are appreciated while you

This n' That

2011-01-22T14:09:00.000-08:00

Early in January we completed our vegetable bed make over

using basalt blocks purchased at and delivered by Friedman’s.

The older beds with old growth redwood were replaced and

three additional beds were built from scratch for artichokes,

and for tomatoes and asparagus which are great companion

plantings.

The seeds I ordered have arrived. FYI I ordered from the below

companies

http://www.bountifulgardens.org/

http://humeseeds.com/

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/

http://www.territorialseed.com/

The fallen curly willow received attention with the smaller branches

and twigs chipped separately and carried away. These parts of the

tree would have easily sprouted to give us gazillions of curly willows.

We have a luscious pile of chips awaiting application to the land.

The root will be chipped and the fence rebuilt once the area dries out.

2011 talk/tours at MuRefuge:

Sunday, April 10

Sunday, June 12

Sunday August 14

Each one will be from 1:00 pm to 3:30 pm, a change from last year

when the mornings were so over casted and chilly for our time together.

Hopefully this new time will be amenable for those of you wishing to

attend.

The focus, of course, will be on California natives. You can check out the

updated plant list which appears in the previous blog post. If you would

like to have a plant list during the talk/tours please download the plant

list from this blog.

As in 2010 space is limited for each talk/tour so please register

by emailing me at afsp@sonic.net

Directions will follow for those unfamiliar with MuRefuge’s location.

As last year the “fee” for attending is one bag of Organic Fox Farm

Potting Soil.

In addition to the above dates, you may visit MuRefuge on May 22 by

purchasing a ticket for the Gardens with Sculpture Tour which is a

fundraiser for the Sebastopol Center for the Arts. As the title of the

tour suggests, sculpture will be for viewing and purchase. Also, 4” pots

of California natives and edibles will be available for purchase, also.

40% of the proceeds will benefit the Sebastopol Center for the Arts.

AND, at 11 am I will talk about Backyard Wildlife Habitat through the

National Wildlife Federation and at 2 pm about the North America

Butterfly Association’s Butterfly Garden and Habitat Program.

As, the date for this event nears more information will be forthcoming.

Even tho’ we are having warm sunny weather, it is still Winter napping is good and

comments are appreciated.

KEEP LAUGHING

Precious Water

2011-01-15T16:24:00.000-08:00

MuRefuge’s landscape has been recently altered first by moving manzanita to the West of the “Give Peace a Hand” sculpture, second by cutting down three Douglas Fir trees for Christmas, and third by the uprooting by a huge windstorm of the curly willow on the Southwest corner of our property near the artisan well.

And my internal landscape over the 2011 transition was purged when I contacted the flu.Thus an opportunity has been presented to allow different choices for both in choosing MuRefuge’s plantings and fuel for my human form.

While considering choices, I recall Chief Seattle’s quote

Humankind has not woven the web of life.

We are but one thread within it.

Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.

All things are bound together.

All things connect.

and I feel compelled to make choices that will support a healthy, healing

web of life not only for the humans inhabiting MuRefuge but for all the other creatures who call this place home too.

With all the rainfall we have experienced thus far this rainy season the artisan well is running constantly. Observing this artisan well brings to the fore how precious water is and how diminished our water table is. When we first moved here California was amidst a drought and there was no evidence of an artisan well. Then more abundant rains occurred and water was running up into the electrical system of our well’s pump. Rerouting the water flow seemed prudent.

Dwight created a lovely set of cupped hands to catch the artisan well water before it flows into a very small pond.

This small pond remained until about three years ago when the artisan well stopped flowing in late Spring, not reoccurring until the rain resumed. The curly willow lost all of its leaves as did all of the native moist loving plants nearby. This stopping and resuming has brought my attention to all of the individuals’ wells in the area. Some of these wells are watering vineyards recently planted and washing fire trucks, others are keeping lawns green during the Summer, while a few of us are focusing on water conservation in a mirad of ways.

How long will our water table support us? And might we learn from the story unfolding in the Eastern Sierras?

MONO LAKE

In the early 70’s, I was living in Sacramento with my Lakota (well 50% Lakota and 50% Canadian fir trapper really) former husband who was beginning to question the “white” upbringing his parents had chosen for him after leaving the Rosebud Indian Reservation. We became involved in establishing Indian Studies at Sacramento State University. I took one of the early classes on the history of water in California where I learned of thirsty Los Angeles, their quest to quench that thirst, and the arid destruction left in the wake.

It was in this class that I first heard about Mono Lake. In Ted Konigsmark’s Geological Trips: Sierra Nevada on page 124 there is a black and white photograph from the Mono Basin Visitor’s Center showing the horizontal lines along the lower part of the the Sierras that define the old shoreline of Pleistocene Lake Russell some 600 feet deeper than the present Mono Lake.

Not until the late 80’s, driving East on Tioga Pass Road, did I actually see Mono Lake. Upon my first glimpse I must say I had one of those “Aha“ moments resonating through each cell of my body. All that ancient energy being held in the basin seemed to flow into my BE-ing.

I have had many such experiences since my first viewing of Mono Lake after BE-ing at MuRefuge. Now this first view “Aha” usually happens driving over Conway Summit and stopping at the pull out for viewing Mono Lake.

In 1941, the tributaries of Mono Lake began being tapped by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which had already sucked dry Owens Lake. By 1982 Mono Lake had dropped 45 vertical feet losing half of its volume with a doubling of the salinity. Since the lake is on a major flyway for millions of migratory birds, as well as the major nesting sight for the California Gull, the health of the lake and its inhabitants of brine shrimp and shoreline alkali flies are crucial food sources.

The birds and animals, trees

and grasses, rocks,

water and wind are our allies.

They waken our senses,

rouse our passions,

renew our spirits and

fill us with vision, courage, and joy.

David Gaines

Mono Lake Committee Founder

The Mono Lake Committee founders conducted the first ecological study of Mono Lake in 1976 and two years later this nonprofit citizens’ group was founded. This grassroots organization is “dedicated to protecting and restoring the Mono Basin ecosystem, educating the public about Mono Lake and the impacts on the environment of excessive water use, and promoting cooperative solutions that protect Mono Lake and meet real water needs without transferring environmental problems to other areas.”

The Committee has worked with focused intent to protect Mono Lake from excessive water diversions to Los Angeles. Their efforts of litigation, legislation, cooperation, education and most importantly, public support have been successful thus far.

These next three photographs are of posters in the bathroom at the Mono Lake Committee Store in Lee Vining educating all who use the facilities . . . examples of "education":

I am humbled to be a tiny part of this ever vigilant group of dedicated BE-ings. Their efforts to reeducate the inhabitants of the Los Angeles Basin has been nothing short of miraculous! The city of Los Angeles has gone from one of the most water guzzling cities of the United States to one of the most conservation minded.

Southern California children come North each Summer to experience the wonders of the Mono Lake Basin and often to work on the many restoration projects. These efforts are evident on the Lee Vining Creek walk from the South side of Lee Vining to the Mono Basin Visitor’s Center. Hiking along this trail now it is hard to imagine that a few years ago hundreds of discarded tires littered the creek bed.

MONO LAKE COUNTY PARK

A must see is Mono Lake from the Boardwalk at the Mono County Park, land leased from the Los Angeles Water Board where you see signs saying so. We have spent many enjoyable afternoons in the park basking in sun after a picnic. It was one of Star’s very favorite places! And at all times of the year we have met visitors from Germany, Japan, France enjoying their picnics, too.

Just before Leigh and Steven were forced to depart early from our marriage celebration because of a predicted snow storm the following day, we all piled into automobiles with our jackets, hats, scarves, mittens/gloves, boots. After a hike along the West side of Mono Lake and on our way back to Bridgeport, we stopped. Here are some pictures:

MONO LAKE from Test Station Road

One of our favorite hikes is along the West side of Mono Lake accessed by turning left off Highway 395 at the Test Station Road turnoff, just past the Lee Vining Airport. (Yes! Lee Vining has an airport as does Bridgeport!) As the road goes downhill a Y occurs. Turn left and very soon you will be on a gravel road. From the Y it is about 2.5 miles to the road’s end at Lee Vining Creek. Walking along this deserted road any time of the year offers spectacular views in all directions. We’ve seen the full moon rise, awesome light shows (similar to the aurora borealis further North), lenticular clouds forming before our very eyes, glassy water to white caps on Mono Lake, and sky blue to mossy green color diversity.

Here are some pictures taken over the course of 10 days or so on our most recent sojourn to the Eastern Sierras:

MONO LAKE from Lundy Canyon Road

Another of our favorite hikes is along the South exposure of Lundy Canyon. The road runs up the canyon with the creek flowing along the North exposure. A manmade water catchment system has been constructed along the South exposure so there is a very rudimentary road right out to the tip where there is a fabulous view of Mono Lake.

After all the family and friends departed, one afternoon Dwight, Rose and I took this walk. Here are some pictures:

I am reading An Extraordinary Year of Ordinary Days by Susan Wittig Albert. Among today’s notes appears a quote by Charles Darwin:

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives,

nor the most intelligent that survives.

It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”

Perhaps taking a few moments to reflect upon this would be instructive?

Comments are appreciated particularly in regards to the state of our precious water.

KEEP LAUGHING

Herbal Celebration aka Wedding

2011-01-11T08:50:00.000-08:00

While celebrating my birthday last year Dwight dropped a bomb, “I’ve been thinking we should get married.” Twenty two and half years ago we met at friends’ Thanksgiving dinner. We have entertained the idea, usually individually of “getting married.” Neither of us seemed to be in the same space with this ceremonial event. I took a month or more to mull over his wish. After deciding where we wanted this to take place (the Mono County Courthouse in downtown Bridgeport) ofwe sent out a “surprise” announcement in June with said building gracing the front to family and a few chosen friends.

I pulled out my herbal and wedding resoures: Betsy Williams’ Planning Your Herbal Wedding and Kathleen Gips’ Flora’s Dictionary: the Victorian’s Language of Herbs and Flowers, and to get into the spirit of “wedding” I reread, Lavender Lies, the China Bayles’ (one of my favorite protagonists right up there with Marcia Muller’s Sharon McClone) novel in which Susan Wittig Albert tells the tale of China and McQuaid’s not so smooth wedding. Then I began gathering herbs for drying to make herbal sachets to decorate the dining table and for mementos for all to take home. The glittery cards stamped with “celebration of love” on the front, inside appeared

Dwight & Cathie

November 24, 2010

Bridgeport, CA

and on the back the following information:

Bay - Unending love

Calendula - Joy

Red rose petals - I love you

Rosemary - Loyalty

Wild marjoram - Joy & happiness

Yarrow - Health

Rosemary plants were repotted for transport to the Walker River Lodge. And I tried my hand at candying flowers to decorate our celebratory cake, which was fun once I mastered the concept of painting with egg whites.

I had great fun on the phone with Renee of the Sweetwater Outpost in Bridgeport procuring fresh flowers. Renee is a sweetheart who got into our event with her whole BE-ing for which we are grateful. Anne, who I have seen fuss over her fresh flowers endlessly, helped me put all the flowers and herbs into the vases.

Two of these bouquets went to the upstairs apartment to greet Leigh and Steven, Katie and Mike, and Anne had her very own bouquet. All of these were accompanied with a lovely shimmering card with:

Welcome to Dwight & Cathie’s herbal

celebration of BE-ing together 23 years

November 24, 2010

Bridgeport, California

Flowers & meaning:

Aster - Patience

Bay - Unending love

Calendula - Joy

Elder - Compassion

Johnny Jump Up - Happy thoughts

Red rose petals - I love you

Rosemary - Loyalty

Wild marjoram - Joy & happiness

Yarrow - Health

Colors & meaning:

Blue - Pure love

Lavender - Pure love

Anne and I had a hilarious time with the concept of “ring bearer” She took it on as only she can.

And of course Renee joined in the great fun and comic relief.

On THE DAY, clear and sunny, we all enjoyed breakfast together at my very most favorite breakfast spot in the world, the Hays Street Cafe. In our apartment dinner followed, too soon for most, and enjoyed by all in their “Sunday Best”.

Dinner preparation was a community project. Leigh prepared the roasted veggies that she is dishing onto her plate below.

Katie seemed to think it great fun that we were having a progressive wedding as we moved to the Courthouse. She graciously undertook the task of putting frosting and the candied flowers on the cake.

Steven was the official photographer although in the end we have some 500+ photographs from all four cameras present. The photos included in this blog are a collection of what Dwight and I deem the best of the 500+.

For the ceremony Rose waited in the car

Over the past years when we have gone to Bridgeport for several weeks over Thanksgiving to celebrate our anniversary of meeting, the weather has varied from high 50’s during the day with abundant sunshine to overcast to blowing wind. In the past we have not experienced snow before Thanksgiving. Snow was happening before, during and after Thanksgiving this year. So instead of our ceremony taking place on the front steps of the Mono County Courthouse, it happened inside half way up the flight of stairs

in front of pictures of the courthouse before it was painted white.

The above sign was noted during the witness signing. The locals relate that "Hap's" wife is "Miz Hap".

In spite of the cold, pictures were taken outside

before we transported the celebration to the upstairs apartment for champagne

and cake

along with MIke’s violin music.

So there you have a quick rendition with pictures of Dwight and Cathie’s Herbal Celebration of BE-ing Together for 23 Years, aka Wedding.

Wedding comments and/or stories would be greatly appreciated.

KEEP LAUGHING

Herbal Celebration aka Wedding

2011-01-10T16:56:00.000-08:00

And his wife is called "Miz Hap"
so the locals told us

KEEP LAUGHING

The universe is providing me an opportunity to do just that. I added "KEEP LAUGHING" and the entire post disappeared into cyberspace, not to be found. I'll try again later.

Beauty

2010-12-31T16:06:00.000-08:00

After shopping in misty rain for organic vegetables and fruit at the Santa Rosa Farm Market the Saturday before Thanksgiving, we set off for the Eastern Sierras in our Subaru Outback equipped with four wheel drive and all weather tires. The weather pundits gave scary reports on the radio so we departed with some trepidation. The rain stopped, started, drizzled and we essentially sailed along stopping for a picnic lunch at our regular stop, the Placerville city park. Rose ran around and did her business, jumping back into the car. Thirty minutes or so outside of Placerville we noticed snow laden trees, maples and others still with their Fall leaves.

Soon the snow started to fall. Just short of the summit, Echo, on Highway 50 traffic slowed to a crawl then stop. Chain control and CHP to advise on travel. Drivers seemed either very cautious, driving at 10 mph or zooming past, veering out into the oncoming lane at well over 50 mph. Whew! were we glad to reach Highway 89 where we could leave the less than sane drivers headed for Lake Tahoe. As we neared Hope Valley the snow stopped falling, the roads were clear into Minden and Gardnerville, through the Walker River Canyon into Bridgeport.

Later we read in the Mammoth Times that the snowfall the week of Thanksgiving was the most in 25 years so everyone traveling for our Celebration aka Wedding dealt with snow and all its ramifications. And just a day or so ago I heard that Mammoth Mountain has received more snow than ever recorded. Do we really question that global climate change is here and accelerating?

Leaving Seattle was met with snow and deicing of the planes so arrival at the Reno Airport both Sunday and Monday was late.

Anne, aka Auntie Fang to Rose, who left Seattle Sunday and is an experienced snow driver BE-ing from the Midwest, was guided through the treacherous Carson Valley and windy Walker River Canyon with the Full Moon to the Walker River Lodge.

We have been staying at the pet friendly Walker River Lodge for nearly 20 years now, experiencing being well cared for to being neglected. Erinn, the daughter, has been rehabbing for the past few years, in the mode of her mom Mary. We have noticed apprecitable improvements, like this year we got a new stove during our stay.

Each year over Thanksgiving we rent the downstairs apartment. Two windows face East and two windows face the South to afford the viewing of the spectacular landscape which is depicted below. We continue to stay here not for the luxurious accommodations but rather the spectacular views and the wild creatures who show themselves to us.

I am drawn to Bridgeport for not only the beautiful nature surrounding the town of 500 or so inhabitants but for the familiar feel. My only home, other than MuRefuge, where I was rooted was in a small town, Corwith, in North/mid Iowa with about this number of inhabitants. My heart was broken leaving there, thus closing me to being rooted until my conscious decision to BE rooted here at MuRefuge.

There is also the energetic feel of the area for me. Bridgeport and the huge expanses of native grasses are surrounded by mountains. This reminds me of BE-ing cradled in hands of the Divine. I return to MuRefuge feeling cherished and rested as experienced returning from no other place.

Another draw to this small community in the Eastern Sierras is the lack of evidence of our fast paced culture with the ensuing progress. Dwight always comments upon our return to Sonoma County about the poor air quality here. Even though wood burning is prevalent in the Eastern Sierras there is little else to pollute the air. Of course, there is traffic on Highway 395 but even that is sparse compared to the traffic here in Sonoma County.

This Belted Kingfisher we saw almost everyday some place along the Walker River near us. We observed the bird catching fish from the river as well as hunkered down in the bush during the inclement weather. From this same window that we view this stunning bird fishing above the bridge, last year we observed a Bohemian Waxwing who is extremely rare according to the Birds of the Mono Basin: a listing of birds and their seasonal abundance compiled by the Mono Lake Committee and can be bought at the their store in Lee Vining for a mere $2. We felt ever so fortunate to have seen this spectacular bird. Huge flocks of Black-billed Magpies are easily sighted. These are gorgeous, gregarious birds and I love watching them.

Most winter days we can see the mink scurrying along the icy banks of the Walker River. This year was no exception. Dwight even got the above photograph after watching the mink move along the East bank of the river and meander East. Rose watched Dwight go out and take the picture, then when she went for her walk not long after, she pulled to the spot she had seen Dwight stop. You could see her thinking, "is this what he was taking a picture of?" as she sniffed the tracks.

Anne and I were finishing up breakfast one morning and she said, "I think there's a bird out there eating another bird." Sure enough! as I turned toward the South window, I could see this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk munching on a small bird. The hawk watched us through the window. I imagined the bird was mulling over whether to stay for an audience watching or leave for privacy of its meal enjoyment?

Most late mornings we would walk out the Twin Lakes' road with Rose. Looking across the expanse of new snow covering what is lush native grasses in warmer weather, we can enjoy the above view of the Sawtooth Mountains. Certainly a cause for celebration!

On the snowy morning the day after Thanksgiving, we bundled in the car to drive further out Twin Lakes road for a hike in the snow. We turn off at Doc and Al’s and just over the bridge park along the road that goes up to Buckeye Canyon. The snow flakes are getting wetter, bigger but we all laugh thinking this is one great adventure. The snow comes up to Rose’s belly so she leaps along seemingly enjoying herself as much as we are.

In the past returning from just such an outing, we have been fortunate to see both Bald Eagle and Golden Eagle, Northern Harrier, Red-shouldered Hawk, Rough-legged Hawk and Ferruginous Hawk sitting on fence posts or skimming the expansive meadow for food. This year was no exception; we saw juvenile Bald Eagle and several Red-tailed Hawks.

When identifying the hawks and eagles, each year we refresh our identification skills. This year armed with a page torn out of our Birds World: A Guide to Hawks seen in North America - Know Your Silhouettes we had an easier time identifying these magnificent birds.

All of the above photographs were culled from the 500+ taken by four digital cameras: Anne's, Leigh and Steven's, Katie and Mike's, as well as Dwight's that I also used. More photos will follow in Precious Water and in Celebration aka Wedding.

Earlier this week with all the rain and wind
during the night this 17 year old Curly Willow
was uprooted

This picture seems to a metaphor for what is happening with this blog entry which has disappeared twice into cyberspace. Given this blog entry's history I am unwilling to dink, as my brother who is no longer in physical form would say, with it.

Comments are appreciated.

AND KEEP LAUGHING

even when life is not funny.

Happy New Year

2010-12-21T15:15:00.000-08:00

Blooming 'White Christmas' Schlumbergera
with Tanis' Winter Solstice Haiku

For some (I BE-ing one, another Sandy Lagno Rose's
interspecies communicator http://sandylagno.com
as well as Tanis my baseball buddy aka Rose's Auntie T)
the Winter Solstice is the beginning of the new year.
This shortest day and longest night was celebrated this
year by an event not happening since 1554. Did our
cloudiness allow you to see the lunar eclipse? We here
at MuRefuge were fortunate to catch periodic glimpses
all of which was absolutely awesome thus beginning our
new year with a silent celebratory bang, a bang not
jarring for our Rose who does not like fireworks or any
loud bangs whose source is not known to her.

November, 2010 Full Moon as view looking East from our Bridgeport "home"

Following in Dewitt Jones' tradition of CELEBRATE WHAT'S RIGHT
WITH THE WORLD! http://www.dewittjones.com/celebrate.htm
I'd like to celebrate some of this year's meaningful events for
me and the lovely BE-ings in my life. The most monumental event
was Dwight and my 23 year celebration BE-ing together, aka
wedding in Bridgeport this past November. The pictured above
Full Moon provided light for my girlfriend driving from the Reno
airport South on Hwy. 395 throught the treacherous Carson Valley
and windy Walker River Canyon. More about those fabulous two+
weeks in the Eastern Sierras in this blog's next post.

Just this past Friday MLB network announced their Greatness
in Baseball Yearly (GIBBY) Awards. Most Dependable? Ichiro,
of course, said co-host Harold Reynolds. Ichiro is my very
favorite baseball player ever and was the only position player
in Most Dependable Player category. Then there was the heart
tugging Dallas Braden's embrace with his grandmother on
Mother's Day after pitching a perfect game chosen as the
Moment of the Year. Josh Hamilton, the Texas Ranger's
outfielder, was chosen the Player of the Year with his shortstop
teammate, Elvis Andrus, honored as the Defensive Player of
the Year. Of course, the Giants walked away with a whopping
five GIBBYs: Lincecum - Postseason Most Valuable Player,
Wilson - Closer of the Year, Posey - Rookie of the Year,
Bochy - Manager of the Year and Sabean (the longest-tenured
general manager in the Major Leagues) - Executive of the Year.
I rooted for the Rangers during the World Series BE-ing a fan of
Ron Washington and Josh Hamilton fan, preferring American
League Baseball. All said however, I can and do appreciate
well played baseball. And I cheer when players with integrity
and BE-ing character honored . . . no matter their affiliation.

And then there's all the wondrous BE-ings who supported
my first year of talks/tours here at MuRefuge. First and
foremost is Jenny Blaker of the Cotati Creek Critters
http://www.cotaticreekcritters.info/ who is so supportive
of the process here at MuRefuge.

Then there is Vickie Rodriguez, my very own, very best
cheerleader who attended every one of the talk/tours
as well as assisted me in ready for each one with her
delightful, incredible enjoyment of weeding. Overflowing
gratitude to you Vickie!

And Rosolio Nava, who mows and weed whacks always
attentive to my choice of what is in need of trimming, is truly
a find. Thank you cannot begin to express my feelings.
He is also the muscle behind the almost completed rebuilding
all of our vegetable beds.

AND to each of you who attended the talk/tours
inspite of unseasonable weather for several I want to express my
deepest thanks! Of course, I cannot leave this arena without
expressing my heartfelt appreciation for all of Dwight's support
as well as the photos he has taken, organized and assisted my
learning of his digital camera and iPhoto. How would we BE
without each other in our lives?

My 96 year old mother departed her physical form in October.
She has been ill for some years. Her spirit has now joined
my stepfather's and my brother's. I miss them all. The gift of
their passing is remembering impermance is the cycle of
physical form.

There are friends and acquaintances who are doing "good work".
You can visit their web sites:
Harmony creates the most beautiful organic fabric and has an
equally beautiful blog. Please check out http://www.harmonyart.com/index.html

At http://www.mostlynatives.com/ you not only can access what
plants they have for sale but helpful lists for transforming one's
garden into a whole ecolgy. The energy of their place is healing,
the staff incredibly helpful in answering diverse questions about
gardening and their plants

From http://www.larnerseeds.com/ I order seeds for native plants.
The web site is filled with lovely pictures and useful information
about getting started with natives. The owner, Judith Larner Lowry,
has written several riveting books as well a blog.

And then we have a proactive development in Rohnert Park . . .
who would have thought! http://www.sonomamountainvillage.com/.
Sonoma Mountain Village (SOMO) is the first community in North
America endorsed by the prestigious international One Planet
Communities Program.

Last but not least, for those of you who are pre-, peri-, post-
menophausal a fellow RN and Certified Enneagram Teacher
has a well written, informative blog with her own absolutely
stunning photographs. I encourage you to check out
Lynette Sheppard's site http://www.menopausegoddessblog.com/2010.

For our Winter Solstice New Year celebratory lunch Dwight
and I made a tasty dessert.

Oranges with Pomegranate Seeds:

6 organic navel oranges (purchased from one of my favorite vendors Twin Peaks)
1 organic lemon (I prefer Meyer's also purchased from Twin Peaks)

1 large pomagranate (pick out the one that feels the heavest, of course, organic preferred)

3 organic peppermint tea bags

1/3 C. organic maple syrup (1/2 C. if the oranges aren't very sweet)
1 2 inch organic cinnamon stick
a dozen organic whole cloves
8 to 12 whole organic cardamon seeds

Score the whole pomagrante in quarters then tear open under water in a very large bowl filled with cold water.

Pomagranate juice STAINS! Gently tease the seeds out of the rind. Throw away the rind and the seeds will

sink to the bottom.

Place half the seeds in a serving bowl, the other half squeeze the seeds with your fist or wooden spoon you don't

mind getting stained.

Peel one of the navel oranges and a Meyer's lemon with a potato peeler. Chop, I use our handy Chinese cleaver,

into desired bits, I like mine smaller and the author of the original recipe (located in Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone) likes hers quite large. Punge for 10 seconds into boiling water then strain. Also, peel the remaining oranges then slice and quarter, adding them to the pretty serving bowl with the pomagranate seeds.

In a small saucepan add 1 C. water, maple syrup, spices and citrus peel from above then bring to a boil, remove from heat and add the tea bags, cover for 15 minutes. Pour this over the sliced oranges and pomagrante seeds in the pretty serving bowl. Add the pomagranate juice. Let set at room temperature for several hours to allow the flavors to merge.

I am looking forward to your comments of gratitude, thankfulness at this time of rejoicing in the Winter Solstice New Year.

keep laughing

even when it's not funny

Everything / Nothing

2010-10-30T19:14:00.000-07:00

The dormant season is over. The rainy season has arrived here at MuRefuge . . .
seems early to me yet I am grateful for all the moisture since planting all the
natives this Fall is now easy, almost effortless. After a visit to Mostly Natives http://www.mostlynatives.com/ in Tomales, enjoying their 30% off all plants
this month, I have many additions for MuRefuge's plant list started last Winter.

And after gathering seeds from the native bunch grasses, planting them a couple
of months ago onto in the seed planters, the expansion of the bunch grass prairies--
well, the plantings seems pretty minuscule to be called prairies-- is happening in
the moist soil. Those planted out last weekend in the rain are already putting
up new grass shoots . . . nothing short of awesome!

MU by Micah Schwaberow and Sanae Nakajima
A Christmas present for Dwight.

After moving into our house, we wanted to have a name for our place where we
decided to put down roots. Many labels were tried out. "Refuge" seemed to want
to be a part of the name. What else? Then we happened on "Mu" which is
Japanese for "everything" and "nothing," embracing the whole, demonstrating
polarity not opposites. This Japanese word Mu seemed to say it all . . .
our small plot of land with nothing, yet providing everything. Several years
later we received an invitation to attend "Asking the Way" featuring MIcah
Schwaberow and Sanae Nakajima's absolutely stunning work at the Ren Brown
Collection Gallery http://www.renbrown.com/. One piece of their collaborative
work enhances our entryway.

My brother, Tom
His daughter, Callie
Her daughter, Addie
with Mom, 96 years old this past July 4th,
who left her physical form a few weeks ago

KEEP LAUGHING

even when things aren't funny