the departure

happened.
friday craig and i retreated to the far cabin with a fire. it was like a vacation from the vacation. we woke to snow.
snow again on sunday. which fucked with our driving plans.
so we took the coast down...we meandered. it was a good time, despite the weather and the length of time it took.
highlights; walking(?) on the beach and eating at Happy Clams in Brookings.
got in to sf around midnight.
since then been adjusting to the time change, unpacking and sorting out the logistics of my current life.
good to be back. it is all happening now. it always has been.
drinking a mild oolong with the window open and my shoes off in my studio listen to bunny wailer sing about the "black heart man". jah!!!!!!!!!!

on the lightning path

2 days in a row.
those are the last two that just happened.
gardening and wrapping up of projects here.
wild cats, these days, are back to say good by to me.
hmmmmmmm. tarot cards? did three readings since wed.
and one to me...david just gave me one this afternoon.
let's see...looking for balance, temperance, learn how to hold back...not dish it all out to everyone everytime...cause that may not be what they want or need....or
even more revolutionary it may not be what I want or need...instead a waste a drain.
just because you know the answer doesn't mean you have to give it.
just because you don't doesn't mean you have to expose it.
hold back, recognize and use the neccesary amount of force and strength where needed. no more.
observe and nuture people and enjoy it.
so hmmmm, i leave on sunday. we eat dinner with ben and meagan tonight, then pick up craig at the airport for a day here tomorrow and then a drive down together.
rain predicted.

early bird gets the...

coconut almond granola with steamed milk.

woke up at 4 am. did an hour or so of reading(d.adams, thgttg) before i realized i was really going strong, tried to calm my mind but too many thoughts of the future were blazing away...birds chirping, sun started to come up. what's the use?
so came in to the house, spent some time staring into the fire. then worked on the illustrations for our duck book. (which is how i spent yesterday as well). our duck book is cool. david and i mildly celebrated how cool it is and our general coolness last night with tequila in front of the fire. we also worked in a little dissing of our k-12 school experiences.

spring must have came and went cause it was cold and rainy yesterday with hail. which worked out since i was in drawing by the fire most of the day. today i have seen no rain just trees.
trees, trees, trees...i would like to trade an 'r' and an 'e' for an 'a', is that possible? why yes colleen it is, you ask for so little these days it is my pleasure to make you happy***...teas. teas. teas.
great i am gonna go make some tea.
today more work on the book, trying to wrap the projects up.
***note italic text means the voice of god

spring is finally here and

my days are numbered.
let's see since i last wrote...did some running and working out of my muscles.
not too much meditating unless you call drinking pabst in the sun
while watching ultimate frisbee meditating...which is not far from the truth
among certain subcultures.

tulips are out and loving it and i took some pictures of them yesterday.
david and i had a meeting of what we need to get done before i leave (i.e.in the next week)
and it made me feel claustrophibic...check that...the idea of it made me feel claustrophobic but the meeting made me feel better about the situation...or anyway
never underestimate the power of quantization.
we completed our storyboard for our next book after the meeting. it was very productive. but as i stated then(during our work) and will again..."we totally get the shit done when we are ready to get the shit done"...that is a paraphase but who really cares...in other words i don't care. such petty things as words and their correct use, order, placement and enunciation. when has it ever made a difference?
communication, smmmooonunication.
i ate a quesadilla for lunch then painted and ran.
so, while i am still feeling anxious about wrapping things up or anyway leaving this world that is my paradise, well while that...i guess i understand that time is moving and so many times perceptions are just that only perceptions.
it has happened before, it will happen again and wherever i go there will always be tea.
tea and me.

gardening

we spent the first part of the day gardening.
i planted beets by seeds.
onions by baby onion starters.
baby kale by seeds
and then david and i worked on the potatos.

it is a beautiful day. it was good to get outside and get dirty.

had a nice lunch and tea and next i will read and take a short nap.
i am doing a track workout with ida and co. at 5:30 on campus. then supposedly getting a beer with the physicists. then back here.
i like being here more than there sometimes. now is one of those times.

i will leave you with a photo of the sheep i gave to david as a gift when we first met, it has changed colors a bunch but always lived out in the garden.

deer in my closet eating my shoes

dreamt there were animals in my room walking around last night, trying to sneak but i heard them...i kept my eyes closed out of laziness, i.e. if you see the problem you have to confront it, if you don't you can pretend you are imagining it and stay sleeping in your bed (this was all a dream mind you, i am an expert in these types of reality similar dreams), so they moved around and i continued to play the fool (of sorts), til i heard them step into the armoire (my closet) then they started eating my shoes, at this point i could no longer ignore the situation, my shoes are apparently where i draw the line...so i got up, reached for my headlamp and put on my boots and walked over to the closet...at which point everything went silent. i looked in things were out of focus for a bit then they became so when i woke up with my boots on and headlamp looking in my closet with no animals and my shoes all lined up chomp free. realized it was a dream that brought me there and was somewhat annoyed that i woke myself up with this little "dream adventure" and grumbled over to the doorway to drop off my boots and head back into my bed, when taking off the boots i looked out the door window and looking in at me a few feet away was a large deer, with its friends in the background...we both scared each other then stared at each other.
then i got back in bed with my book to read myself back to sleep and proceeded to hear real life what inspired the dream, the deer walking around on the other side of the wall of my cabin and then chomping on some flowers or greens.
so that was last night. eventually douglas adams lulled me to sleep.

turned on my computer and been trying to write in this blog for the last 30 minutes
but instead been bogged down by emails. ahhhhhhhh.
hmmmmmmmm. i have been struggling the past few days with anxieties
that seem to jump to the forefront
race my heart, make my face lighten and throat tighten.
whenever i think of the outside world...ie leaving here.
which comes up soon. craig flys up next friday and then we must
be back in sf via the honda by sunday night. so there it is.

yesterday david and i went to tsunami bookstore in eugene to pick up a check for the sale of our first project "custard apples". that was exciting, we crossed the street after and had espressos and bought bread for later.
then we went to the fed store to buy hay bails for
planting potatoes today in the garden.
i saw baby chicks and a large bunny there.
had a long run in the sun yesterday down fox hollow. then ry (david's eldest son) came through for the night which was excitement.

today we are planting the potatoes, david is already in the garden. i need to get out there.

soft warm loving moss sleeves

on monday i pulled a card from david's tarot deck.
5 of wind - fear
on tuesday i pulled another
death - things need to die in order to be reborn, one must confront fear as their final step
in transformation
and this morning i pulled the
3 of wind - recognition...a rebirth is occuring. i am the captain of my ship.

ohhhhhh what will i pull tomorrow?
i hope it is two tickets to paradise or a hundred bucks.
silly colleen, it will instead be another card marking the next step on the
neverending path of personal (whatever it means to be a person) development.
i guess so.

so why is oregon so wonderful?
david didn't neccesarily ask, but i answered this morning.
it is because everything is so loving here...i was looking out the bathroom window (see figure 1) and reflected that the domain
just reeks of nuturing and love, a tree's bare branches are wrapped in a nice green moss, like a little sweater...
it is not like the moss is draining the tree or trying to suffocate it, it is instead like it is trying to keep the tree warm. it is hugging the tree and loving it. that is even how it feels when you walk on the ground here, so soft from all the moisture and plant debris, so supportive on your feet and the air is easy to breath.

yesterday was productive after lunch. i bought some wood blocks to carve to make block prints a few days ago so i worked on carving them and my thumb by the fire. here are the results. it was a fun activity. it made me happy.

then i painted most of the evening/night. finished two paintings, below.


worked on a new base collage and screwed around on two canvases i keep on screwing around on.
david joined me out there for a bit with margaritas for us and he worked on framing his upcoming entry into the eugene mayor's art show. figure 5.
then we had a dinner of yams, potatoes, veggies and beets. it was delicious.
afterwhich i talked to craig on the phone about crazy white collar criminals(?). i felt tired but somehow i stayed up to watch the movie david had put in...Bobby Z (fyi part of it takes place in laguna beach by chance)...it was total crap...but in a somewhat enjoyable, days of our lives kind of way.