brrr....

Winter is here! Just got back from a short run in 16 degree weather... I can see why Ohio's state bird is the cardinal. When the sky and snow are both grey with chill the bright red is a welcome life sign... Not many folks were out today (wonder why?), just me, the cardinals, and a few fellas fishing (through a hole in the ice of course). Also saw about 7 deer run across the street just outside of town (white tails of course). It's quite an Ohio-tastic sort of day :) Oh yeah, I made it home... forgot to mention it. When thinkin' about why folks should visit seein' my baby Ava and grams with her little pink lipstick and black permed hairstyle are at the top of the list. I'm excited I get to see Missy soon as well. I hung out with my little quakers today, Marie Cotton is adorable! The discussion after the meeting was about the differences between spirituality and religion. I would love to hear comments on the subject from any of y'all. Will be workin' on my Lutheran Volunteer Corps application today, wish me luck. Gotta go shower Dawny Z and Mr. T are coming over in a bit, hooray for that as well. I guess Ohio's not all bad after all.
Love!
megzilla

thankful list:
-layers of clothes for winter running
-new shoes
-telling your mom "yo mama" jokes... mom says "you type fast", I say "your mom types fast" and she replies "Really? I thought grams hated her computer."
-my mom telling me "your mama jokes"... she said "I tried to put on your running shoes by accident, if you don't want your old ones throw them away" and then I said "your mom throws shoes away" then she said "your mom wears army boots" (which is apparently some joke from her time...)
-mama says I should appreciate winter so I can really look forward to spring... I'm working on that.
-clean laundry
-water
-food
-grams' candy dish already stocked with valentine's candy
-the mama honing device (my cell phone)
-my favorite tree in the whole world (my sugar maple which I call Salmanca)
-Rosie and Noelley
-Middy
-Pegasus
-Ava waking me up this morning... when it feels like 6 am, there's nothing like the cutest two year old on earth jumping on you (it was gggggreat!)
-Lucias' christmas "turd" pinecone hangin' from mama's rearview mirror
-laughter

On my way....

The sun came out today... hooray. Arcata, Arcata, Arcata... how wonderful this place is for me :) This trip has been so appreciated and needed. Only one more semester at Berea, which will no doubt be filled with lots of growth and catchin' up with my crazy travelin' friends. Bubbles of uncontrollable joy have certainly been surfacing lately... am excited about the plans for a new tatt (a little solstice sun on my foot). Am excited to get to see my little Ava again.... but most of all am feeling grateful for the amazing friends I have out here on this west coast of wonder. Sigh. perhaps I'll collect stories in the airports, we shall see. not much to say, just overwhelmed with appreciation for this trip.

thankful list:
-sunshine
-redwoods
-collecting hugs
-banjos
-string quartet music
-carebear blankets
-water
-Noelle's idea for me to come visit
-getting to catch up with glen and kreeestal
-eye contact
-chocolate cupcakes
-yo mama jokes
-smiles
-mama honing devices (aka-cell phones)
-the movie pleasantville and the optomistic look it gives me about uncertainties/adventures

Hello again folks,
Am listening to June Carter Cash " west to kaintuck" .... :) Today was nice and lazy. I said farewell to little Lauren after a nice brekky at Golden Harvest, have made progress on the "guest vest", and worked on Krystal's signs. This weekend was most rad-tastic... some of the photos should tell you that much. On Friday night I went to the CCAT potluck which was super.... then Jasper invited Lauren and I to redwood natioanal park for the weekend. He was working on a project with save the redwoods ( or something like that) and we went adventuring during the day while he and the other house folks worked. It was really stunning up there! We stayed in housing that park volunteers live in which was right near the coast, not even a 5 minute walk. We took Lauren to see the big trees, played on a merry-go-round, and adventured in old closed buildings with shag carpet and random warning labels. Heaps of fun was had by all. I also stuck my foot in my mouth at a potluck and was like "oh, you're the guy they call juniper berry" and he said, "no, no one calls me that... are people calling me that? I mean I like juniper berries, but no one calls me that. Is Jesse calling me that?" woops... Last night I went on a great night hike and with much luck saw a giant shooting star, a glow worm, and a deer. :) Now Rosie- O is tellin' me it's about time to go to Cafe Mokka's hot tubs... so I will catch up later tators...

thankful list:
-clean water to drink
-my term bill being cheaper than I would have guessed
-the song "what do you hear in these sounds?"
-mason jars of tea
-rosemary and lavendar to run your gloves through so they smell lovely
-laughter
-reflection
-butterflies
-deciding with each moment to choose love
-getting to create yourself as you want (rather than the elusive "finding yourself" idea)
-hot tubs!!!!!!
-To be in Arcata
-cheesy music
-pictures
-journals
-corn chips
-vegemite
-tatts
-slow walks
-only having one semester left of school
-farting (if you didn't your head would explode!)

A little duck I saw on a morning walk at the marsh a few days ago.

Here it is, the beloved skunk cabbage! This plant smells like skunks, but it also makes it's own heat... when it blooms it can melt snow! I was really excited to see it after reading about it in Ecology :) In fact, I saw on the map that it said "skunk cabbage creek" and I said it was a must! The mouth of the Klamath river. So beautiful!
I found this swirly piece of driftwood on the "hidden beach" ... it was too big for my lucky pocket, so I just took a picture.
Are those bigfoot prints? No, they are megzilla tracks... and that megzilla is an odd creature who insists on doing cartwheels everytime she arrives at a beach. No really, if I could do one thing every day for the rest of my life, I might choose cartwheels on a beach. You've just got to stay joyful.

A shout out to everyone not content to be ordinary.... this house solutes you!


This is Lauren and me in front of some gum trees in Arcata. We'll be sending it to our Oz friends to confuse the heck out of them :)

Check out the amusing placement of this power tower... right in the wetlands. Perhaps it could be the picture of green energy (if the electricity flowing were renewable)...

The long time Meg-blog kids might recognize this tree from my first CCAT blog... It is the most lovely walnut I've ever seen.
It was sunny at the marsh today. For folks who don't know this marsh is like a giant living machine that treats the town's sewage. The tide was out so there were lots of these little pathways showing.

Alas, I made it to the infamous Buckhouse where CCAT began years and years ago... It is obviously not open for business just yet... but I was psyched to spend time in this place that started such an amazing thing. Oh yeah, and for the Berea folks, I guess I have gotten a hair cut since I last saw y'all.

Here are some of the mountains I flew over on the way to San Fran, posted as I promised in an earlier blog.

Here is the roof of the yurt. Crazy Peter made the sun design at the top, it is most lovely. When I saw this yurt last there was no roof (other than a tarp), no bench inside, and certainly nothing like a sun at the top. It was a nice surprise.

Rosie-O in front of one of the many wall paintings at the Buckhouse.

Hey folks...
Blogger has been a bit dodgey these days, sorry I didn't notice posts weren't actually coming up there for a bit.... So an update on my heart:

Today was glorious! Sunny from dawn til dusk... and full of walking. My friend Lauren and I walked for 4 hours then Rosie and I an hour and a half, and I've got a walk home to Noelle's ahead of me... hoorah :) Today was also warm. We had our lunch in the sun.

Hmm... what has happened since my last update?.... let me think... Well my friend Lauren from Australia is visiting. It's very amusing as a guest to have a guest... it cracks me up! Luckily, my lovely friends are letting us both crash out on their living room floor (instead of making us sleep on the street, camp in the chilly rainy woods every night, or sleep in the CCAT yurt). I think it they also let us stay because we cooked a rad Oz-tastic meal: vegemite toast to get started, followed by salad sandwiches, and the mail course of a yummy pumpkin soup, and a fruit salad... It's really been great to catch up with Lauren... We met on the outback trip...revisiting those memories has been fun too. Chattin' with her on the last leg of her 'round the world ramblin' trip that she has been on for the past month has helped me reflect on my recent travels. Also, it's been great fun to show someone else around Arcata. Lauren is so excited to look at these northern hemisphere stars, like I was with the southern hemisphere sky... that kind of curiosity and urgency to appreciate nature has been refreshing to be around.

I might be in love. I have found a pair of cowgirl boots at a thrift shop that go on sale for $7.50 Friday. If they are still there, I just might purchase them. Just in case they are snatched up by some sucker willing to pay $15 (which is half off, Friday they will be 75% off) and I don't get to hang out with them for the long term, I'll tell you about them... They are blue-ish grey and pointy... I guess that's all there is to say... oh yeah, and they fit me. :)

Oh... and another thing... I'm feeling happy and spunky and like my west-coast self again. Hoorah! I am most appreciative to be here. Sigh of relief...ahhh. I also have an itchin' for a new tattoo, something representing solstice... because this past solstice was most wonderful for a gal who had just been through 3 consecutive autumns...

I saw the movie "Big Fish" and was reminded of my deep appreciation for stories. I was reminded that I need not get bogged down in little details or twists during this crazy amazing life business... but rather appreciate the story I am writing with my days, and acknowledge my roles as both author and reader....

Thankful list:
-peaches (ha ha ha)
-starry reflections at dusk on the Arcata Marsh ponds
-walks
-baby steps
-accepting less than perfection
-hugs!
-vests... it's an Arcata thing, really...
-David Wilcox music
-sleeping bags
-food
-redwoods
-eucalyptus trees
-learning to appreciate even invasive species
-the bizarrely entertaining book Pronoia
-thank you notes

Arcata, sweet Arcata

Hello again folks,
Ahhh..... is the sound of my heart on this lovely sunny north coast morning. They tell me it's winter and people are dressed as if this is the case, but I am not convinced... the high yesterday was 60! After catching up on sleep and hugs, I am most happy to be here! Yesterday Noelle came home from South Dekota. Rosie made the most amazing vegan carrot cake with orange cream cheese icing... mmmm. We all celebrated No-ey's b-day by piling into a hot tub 'neath some little redwoods at Cafe Moca (which was cozy, there were 6 of us). Then we went back to Noelle and Taton's place for some banjo pickin', story tellin', and driftin' asleep on the couch. Before all of the birthday celebration, I got in a nice redwood run, sigh, it was so powerful to return to this forest again. Light does not flood the floor (even in the winter) like in the eastern deciduous forest.... it comes down in beams from unimaginable heights, quite majestic. Without fail I always feel so tiny under those trees. I was happy to come to my favorite hallowed out tree... I think it has been claimed by a squatter (there was a rotting sleeping bag in the bottom of it) so I didn't stay long, but it was great to be there. There's nothing more quieting to the soul than a redwood forest. Yesterday I also visited CCAT, even the old buckhouse (which I had never been allowed in before because of construction)! It was great to see some changes and I was surprised that my morning prayer was still on the wall in the bathroom and a postcard I sent on the fridge.

In short, life is good :)

Thankful list:
-Arcata hugs! (once described to me by Sean Armstrong as "just a bit longer than you're comfortable with, and somehow fuller too")
-redwood trees and forests with trials calling me to run on them
-music to jam to: June Carter Cash, India.Arie, Dar Williams, Jack Johnson
-thank you notes-how they help remind me to be grateful
-sunshine! spring! in January! How I needed this!
-goal setting in the morning
-honeybush tea
-wildberry granola
-vanilla rice milk (yum!)
-putting life on pause (the overwhelming part, that is)
-the exercise contest my family is having
-Rosie! For her hugs, welcoming ways, snuggles, cookin', singin', laughin', and understandin'
-Noelle! That she has the same haircut as Glen and me! That she's back and let us celebrate her birthday with her
-CCAT, for bringing me out here the first time and creating this little R&R place for my heart
-for stupid videos on youtube (I'll confess)... They have kept us rolling with laughter
-lists
-homemade quilts with geese
-lavendar in a bunch in Rosie's room

ps-I can't post pictures yet, the blogger website is down, but as soon as I can I will :)

Cali!

For all of my eastern folks, I have arrived safely in Petaluma for the night. I'll be stayin' tonight with the generous little Records (Rosie's family) and then finishing the journey to Arcata tomorrow. After many delays, little sleep, and too much sitting, I am a teensy bit dazed and exhausted. Not so much to not recall what it felt like to step out of the SFO airport again.... it felt very familiar. It is the marker of the start (or conclusion) of many of my adventures. It was a lovely sunset that I watched through the cables of the golden gate bridge on a shuttle that brought me to Petaluma. As dusk was setting and stars began to appear I noticed that eucalyptus trees, and what an oddly familiar feeling they brought too. I recall my first ever visit to Cali when I was surprised to find them here, and now they have many memories of travels and reflection in Oz. I was feeling and thinking a lot more today, but at this point I'm only thinkin' of sleepin'... so I will keep you posted and share pictures of the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada's that I took on the flight today.
much love,
sleepy time megan

ps-the thankful list:
-sleep awaits me, hooray!
-that I made it safely to the west coast, in spite of tornadoes in Atlanta
-having a water bottle
-the amazing views I saw today :D
-Rosie's mixed cd's
-that I get to see noelle soon!
-that my little mama and missy drug themselves up with me today to go to the airport and see me off with their love
-the sweet little Records who take in very drowsy borders

-the colorful people I met today:
-the woman on the san fran flight who gave me advice about traveling with the banjo (which arrived unharmed!), and life as she told me her story
-the woman in atlanta who invited us all over to her house when our flight got delayed again, and again, and again....
-the best airport worker ever! This woman claimed to be in control of the weather and invited our blame to her personally... she had us all rolling in laughter, for a few hours
-the boy who had a shirt that said "Your mom would like me" because his shirt made me laugh and he was one of the few folks in the airport who was looking up and making eye contact

-that my folks are understanding enough to know how I am somehow called back to this coast again and again
-holy moly... how about the fact that I'm in California :)
-that familiar sense of adventure