Yummy Wakame

I just went on an amazing solitary hike around Terlingua, over a hill, past Clyde’s house that burnt down and back into the Ghost Town where I currently live at Sinta’s. The wind had whipped up my dry seriously unwashed hair into a vision I can only describe as a bunch of desert twigs scrunched with hairbands covered in old nests and leaves. I love how in Terlingua that passes for “looking pretty good”. I felt pretty good too. more…

Oh Frank, how do I love thee? How do I begin to count the ways!!! more…

A spontaneous jam session happens around the firepit for hours outside the Starlight Theater, Terlingua TX in the middle of the night. Jim Keaveny (guitar and harmonica), his girlfriend Anna on the fiddle, my friend Frank (Cuatro), Shand Walton (guitar), my travel buddy Brett squeezed in between and the rest of the locals around. I’ll never forget this night.

Watch it on Vimeo.

I left for this adventure with a wide open heart, somehow instinctively knowing I would never forget it, for everything I would learn. Weeks before the trip I felt the rumble of thunder in the ache of my bones, knowing the experience would widen and shape me like a young canyon hit by a flash flood, stuck debris rocked from the foundations, ground into fine sand in moments that polished my edges and deepened new gorges before being carried away.

I was lucky in the first place to get to go on a journey like this, at this exact point in my life, with Brett. more…

Meet Brett – who could best be described as my ’super psyched’ companion for the week or so long Texas adventure I mentioned a while back. As you can see he’s a mechanical midwife of sorts, an engine gigolo, which has come in very handy with the guaranteed, yet somehow ‘completely unexpected’ mechanical failures on extended roadtrips. Women expect them. Men don’t. At least at first. That’s all I’m saying. So here he is during the birthing process.

Our original plan of leaving on a dirtbike hiking/camping trip around the deserts of Texas had to be modified, because his bike broke down shortly after his own roadtrip began. more…

Yeowww!!!! *dance* *dance* *dance*

YouTube

So I usually don’t do the whole insurance thing, I don’t have any for myself, not even health insurance until its more affordable, but for some reason its different with my kitty Frolina. I realised that she likes to jump up into warm car engines, run all around town in a 3 mile radius, run up trees into stalking cats, wrestle with dogs, lie like a black shadow in dark places I tend to step. She is very high risk. Her enjoyment in life is all about risk. And with my travelling lifestyle on a shoestring I’d never have a spare few grand to cover major surgery that always tends to happen at the worst possible time. So I’ve been looking around for a month for the best most inclusive Pet Insurance, at a very affordable price, with a very low deductible – $100.

I found Pets Best, and got her insured with more coverage and cheaper than I found elsewhere on the most basic plan. Just around $12 a month. In case anyone is interested.

I am currently reading The Road Less Travelled, slowly, a segment at a time, because there is so much to digest and reflect on. Its been a few weeks and I’m only on page 43. As part of my reading today I came across this passage, which is a lesson I learned about a month ago, which I was unable to express through my own writing, but it is so perfectly captured here. I really have a sense I am meant to post this today for some reason, and these days I always trust my gut instinct.

“…basically all patients come to psychiatrists with one common problem: the sense of helplessness, the fear and inner conviction of being unable to ‘cope’ and to change things. One of the roots of this ’sense of impotence’ in the majority of patients is some desire to partially or totally escape the pain of freedom, and, therefore, some failure, partial or total, to accept responsibility for their problems and their lives. They feel impotent because they have, in fact, given their power away. Sooner or later, if they are to be healed, they must learn that the entirety of one’s adult life is a series of personal choices, decisions. If they can accept this totally, then they become free people. To the extent that they do not accept this they will forever feel themselves victims.“

Embracing this truth really hurt, realising I was suddenly living in the middle of the remotest desert on my own and completely responsible for my own survival scared the wits out of me. But the freedom I now feel after accepting it is immense. By giving into this truth I also had to let go of everything I had invested in that didn’t pan out, to acknowledge I made poor choices and that I had given my power away, over and over again in my life, in an attempt to escape being completely responsible for myself. I think this is something we all do to some extent – every time we leave a decision up to someone else, whether it be a partner, a boss, a guru, a parent, to escape ever being responsible for our destiny. And this is just one way. There are so many ways we give up our personal power without realising the huge cost.

I will never hand over my personal power again. I will never allow my fate to be in the hands of another. I have honestly never felt more powerful or more empowered in my life and I can truly say, I have never been happier.

At the center of my being I have the answer. I know who I am, and I know what I want.

more…

From the wonderful BBC documentary, A Boy Among Polar Bears, this video clip shows the young Inuit building his first igloo.

Watch it on YouTube.

I think I may have enjoyed this part even more:
Following his father’s footsteps – A Boy Among Polar Bears

“The hunters must journey far out over the frozen sea, leave the modern world behind, travel back in time, to experience the world of the ancestors. This is when our traditions come alive.

Inuit children learn by watching and helping their parents, not by being told what to do. That’s the Inuit way.”

More clips from A Boy Among Polar Bears.

Thanks Beverley!

jeffbridges.com
He astounds me.

So tonight I had drinks at the Gage Bar with the head of a certain pivotal division of NASA who I think it would be stupid to name for security reasons. We had conversations about all sorts of silly things like the the moon possibly being hollow, the crazy fish tongue eating parasite, hopi candles and other things he didn’t quite believe in. He told me stories about a South African relative of his who rode her bicycle through India, South East Asia, South West China and Tibet, then wrote a book about it. Good times!

He mentioned he’d be retiring in 2012, the same year all 3 space shuttles would be retired. So of COURSE my head started making loud computational sounds internally with the full orchestra of beeps and bops, and I naturally enquired without any hesitation as to what they were planning to do with these space shuttles after they are retired! He must have received the raw data dump via telepathy or perhaps my bulging eyeballs as he noted that there is clearly plenty of space out here in the barren desert of Marathon TX, and I pointed out that if I was lucky enough to get hold of one of the only 3 shuttles to actually LIVE IN, I’d give up my dream of a treehouse. Jeez, I’d throw in a few other dreams too. But also that if the suction toilet ever failed it might be a problem finding a space toilet mechanic, however I am happy to overlook such a minor detail to realise the dream of actually getting to live in a space shuttle.

Out here in the remote Chihuahuan Desert where there is no light pollution at all, the black night sky is treacle thick with stars and the milky way. I can imagine looking out of my portals and feeling like I am up in space, floating around somewhere out there. And without any of the risks of being penetrated by radiation from the sun, or being hit with space junk. I could rest easy at night.

Ahh… I’m going to have such great dreams tonight! Even if it doesn’t ever happen I can live my whole life knowing that this is possible. It could actually happen if nobody else wants one, right?! Just living with the possibility is more than good enough for me.

Lately I have been living off salvaged refrigerated food scraps, fresh fruit, snacks and home-made treats. My life is a lot like a nutty professors, bent on discovery with little patience for creating elaborate meals for one. This habit must and will be broken soon, and I actually created my first sit down meal in over 2 months last night, but tonight, I have lots of work to do.

My great friend Danny — who’d heard I’d got my hands on some locally squeezed, insanely creamy fresh unpasteurised non-homogenised cows milk — stopped by to deliver a little bottle of brandy, to create a special drink. So tonight for supper, I’m having left-over home-made oatmeal cookie crumbles and Brandied Hot Chocolate!

Photo courtesy new camera from Angela! (Dont worry Ang – that’s my own craptacular Photoshop effect, not the camera)

Here’s the recipe:

Mix together 2TBS raw cocoa (unsweetened), a generous dollop of honey/agave/sugar in a cup. Slowly stir in hot milk until completely delicious. Stir in a tip of vanilla essence. Stir in a big swig of brandy. Sprinkle nutmeg on top. Dip oatmeal cookies at your leisure. Work hard through the night, happily.

Wow, Portishead have just released a brand new awesome track especially for and exclusively available through Amnesty International. All earnings from sales of this single go towards Amnesty International’s incredible human rights work. 99c is all it takes to be an AWESOME human being and make your musical pods dance with glee at how great your taste is!

Watch it on Vimeo.

First aired on Zane Lowe’s BBC Radio 1 show on 9 December, the track is out just in time for International Human Rights Day, today!

Be an awesome human doing. Support! Support!

International Human Rights day marks the anniversary of the United Nation’s historic ‘Universal Declaration Of Human Rights’ on 10 December 1948. The UDHR set out for the first time in a single document the fundamental rights to which everyone, everywhere is entitled – including the right to life, liberty, security, the freedoms of opinion, association and expression, and the right not to be subjected to torture or cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment.

Thanks Quiddity!

My father-in-law Rich pointed me to this FANTASTIC word of art. He said this sort of thing always makes him think of me, and that made me really happy. Click the picture to enter this wonderful world…

For free

My friend Melissa sent this great link to me:
“theeightdayweek.com – if i was kid free, i’d do it :)”

This idea has always intrigued me! Although in the other direction – to get 25 hours out of each day and adjusting my clock to that. This idea is to live by a 21-hour clock.

I like the description:

“When you live this unusual time rhythm you perceive the world around you from another perspective. It is like being somewhere else. Strange situations, a feeling of being isolated as well as moments of tranquility are just some of the results. The perception of time and the every day life changes.”

These are all the points that I LOVE about long distance backpacking into the wilderness, so I’m going to try this out soon. Also, not to be overlooked is the added benefit of sometimes being in the same time-zones of my friends and family all over the world!

Seriously, if there had to be any more signs that the direction I am forging towards with all my strength and heart is the right one for me, and that no matter what, I will always be alright, there will always be more than enough to keep me safe to keep me happy… well a grand piano would have to drop on my head. Wait, let me rephrase that – I DO NOT want a grand piano to fall on my head, because I am starting to see, very clearly, that every single thing I want with all my heart and that I have asked for lately, ever since I started living in harmony with my inner course, I am receiving. In uncanny timing and with abundance. No pianos please!!

I probably wouldn’t have written this to get it out of my system if I could have got hold of her tonight — freaking Angela. more…

Timing is uncanny right now, and as always lately, I have the luck of amazing opportunities and encouragement arising exactly the moments it counts. There is no real void in my life, there is nothing really lacking, as with the abundance of all I am being continually blessed with through so many amazing people, how can I complain? I’ve had a very busy, happy day all day, and it’s been a cosy night with rain plinking on the RV rooftop, hot soup dinners, and home-made sticky oatmeal cookies dipped in tea after milky tea.

But its getting very late and as I start to grow tired and getting into late night cozy mode, my inner strength that I have to focus so hard on at all times, starts to wear thin, as I thought for the first time today how completely isolated and absent my ex and I are from each other. We used to do everything together, played adventurously, loved passionately and worked rarely, together almost 24 hours a day around this little RV I live in. And now, well through my own choices to recover and plenty of his own, I have absolutely no idea what’s going on in his world anymore. Often-times because of his complete and sudden absence, it feels like he died very suddenly without warning, and to add to the horror of that moment I discovered a fistful of love letters hidden in a drawer. more…