beaulac ferris

…this whole 25 things thing, seems to be a thing to keep unproductive people like me doing things. which is why i was surprised that both qualified condition and laaaaaazlo took part in it. I rarely blog anymore, this is in part because I have been “really busy” (who cares isn’t everyone) and partially cause recently i have been second guessing everything i do to the umteenth degree. That unfortunately includes writing about the life xie and I have been sharing.

So 25 things sounds good.

1. When i was in elementary school i took horse riding classes for a whole year with ambitions of learning to barrel race and take part in rodeos. i really loved horses (and still do) and i think cleaning the horse and taking care of them was my favorite part. Also my horse trainer was black and i remember thinking that was significant at the time. Horses are magical.

2.

The wildfires in Australia are absolutely tragic… the amount of devastation to people, animals and land is incredible.  I just wanted to post this story of a koala that was rescued.  Her paws were burned and she was walking with a great deal of difficulty.  David Tree, a firefighter, pulled over and approached the koala with a bottle of water- she drank a total of 3 bottles of water and reached out and held the hand of Mr. Tree.  She’s now being rehabilitated along with some 30+ other animals.  Anyway, it made me a little choked up- mostly about the fact that the koala grabbed his hand...  I realize that the human tragedy here is much more serious and appalling, but I really love reading stories like this, where people go the extra mile to help another person or sometimes even a struggling animal.  Maybe it’s the part of me that grew up perusing the Reader’s Digest subscription my mom left in the bathroom.  Here’s the original story with more photos.

How could you not pull over for her?

I thought I would post a link here to my little music/art blog on tumblr. I just posted my favorite music from 2008 there and I though some of you might wanna see it.

periphery… seth’s music/art blog

So here’s a list of my best epicurean discoveries of 2008 (booze included)- mostly stuff that’s bad for you:

-Truffle Grilled Cheese sandwich- it’s the best grilled cheese i’ve ever had in my life.  White cheddar in between 2 fluffy pieces of homemade bread with truffle oil on them.  Side salad included.  I was reluctant to embrace the York after knowing it as 2 different bars beforehand, but now I like it well enough.  Especially after this badical grilled cheese.
*Price: $8  Where to find: The York Location: Highland Park, CA

-Whiskey Ginger with homemade ginger beer- this was the best drink I’ve ever had.  It had the lovely aftertaste of ginger and allspice.  If you are ever in Portland you have to go to Clyde & Common.  Amazing food and drink.
*Where to find: Clyde & Common Location: Portland, OR

-Pimm’s Cups- introduced to me at the beautiful Rupe/Conk wedding, I think it’s one of my fave new/old drinks of last year.

Questionnaire:
completed by XIE

1. Character in a Wess Anderson film that you most relate to (if any): a tossup between Margot Tennenbaum and Peter Whitman

2. What is/are your favourite plant(s)? i love echeverias and euphorbias (very large families of succulents)

3. What fills you with dread? I fear oddly-timed phonecalls.  It seems like our lives revolve around a series of important and oddly-timed phone calls: someone has fallen ill; someone is dead; someone has done a terrible thing; someone is born; etc.  I am filled with anxiety if my mom or brothers call me at a strange hour.

4. Most influential creative person in your life? My dad.  I’m not sure why but when he died somehow it inspired me to start drawing more on my own and later pursue a creative field.  He was pretty good at drawing but decided to fix airplanes instead because that was his primary passion.  He taught me to draw, and even let me use those “How to draw 50 ___” books, which are terrible when I think about them now.

Today was my last final, and Seth and I are leaving for Colorado on Thursday. Still have a little sewing to do to finish presents, but aside from that, we are so ready for Colorado!  I have my reading all ready to go: “When you are Engulfed in Flames” by David Sedaris (I was in a queue for over 3 months to receive this); and “O Pioneers!” by Willa Cather.  I recently read “My Antonia” by Cather and liked it so I thought I’d give O Pioneers a try.  Boli thinks I’m sexist in my reading, but the reverse seems to be true also, as his books are mainly written by male authors.  I do mainly read literature written by female authors… or gay men (Sedaris, Wilde).  Why?  I have no idea, except that I apparently find it more agreeable.  Even Fitzgerald who seems like he sort of wrote for women was not especially to my liking…I tried twice!  Next I think I will try Joyce.  I think the last books I read by a male author and liked were the “Ender’s Game” series by Orson Scott Card– not really literature.

So yesterday we hosted Thanksgiving at our house for the first time.  I had decided not to venture to San Jose this holiday season, to save on stress (awkward political convos. with the step-father, the long drive, etc).  We were originally going to have a quiet holiday with Wess and Emily at their place, then discovered that a bunch of friends were going to be in town after all for the holidays, including parents-of-friends, and a friend-of-a-friend.  So we ended up having 12 adults, a 3-year old, and 3 babies over to our place for the event since we have the most space.

It was really nice, and we made a veggie potpie, roasted garlic rosemary mashed potatoes, and cornmeal crunch.  There were 2 turkeys (one made by Wess, and one made by Jen and Jeremy’s friend Alex); Audrey’s mom made a pumpkin dump-cake; Allen made a fruit crisp; Audrey made a mushroom ravioli and butternut squash salad; Emily made a wilted green and beet salad; and Jen brought some nice cheese and some wine.  It was delicious.  We left out some traditional classics like the infamous green-bean cassarole, cranberry sauce, and hot rolls, and were all the better for it.

If you were raised by Fundamentalist/Evangelical [read: Fundagelical] Christian parents or have hyper-Fundagelical Christian grandparents, you’ll appreciate this devotional cover that my brother found- and if not, you’ll appreciate it anyway (and maybe commiserate with me?):

My parents and grandparents were always trying to force me to read things like this.
(Also note: “Author of IF GOD LOVES ME, WHY CANT I GET MY LOCKER OPEN?“)

Things have just been generally weird this season.  There was the good outcome of the election (minus the bad news that Prop 8 passed), and then that was about it…

-We were needlessly hopeful and excited and stressed about Portland, after N**e basically guaranteed Seth a job, then come to find out that they actually can’t even hire anyone because of their company-wide hiring freeze.  They had basically asked us to make the stressful decision to move up there within a month, only to find out that it was all for naught.

-I had to make a tough decision not to go home for Thanksgiving…  a really stressful decision that I hope will have been for the best.  Though now we’re hosting it at our house with friends, which sounds a little stressful, but I think will somehow be more fun and less of a pain than San Jose.

So my last post I quickly mentioned my celebration of Barack Obama’s election to the presidency. I truly am happy about it, and while I won’t repeat my comments just a few lines below, I was surprised that so many folks clearly were unaware that I don’t vote. It wasn’t a fact I have tried to hide, nor would I skirt the truth of it. However, I understand how if you didn’t know that I don’t vote as a matter of faith you could misunderstand why I feel that this is a form of pacifism for me, and indeed a great number of folks in the Anabaptist community. I won’t be defining Anabaptism, that is a topic better left for theologians (like wess who votes by the way!) nor will I necessarily write a laundry list of peace actions I’m currently engaged in. I will however try to explain how I came to my current position on voting and the government.