Zombies!!!

I was dead once, and it got caught on film.
 


Nice work Robert Anderson and a million thanks to Chris Ferris for his dedication to live zombie art. Its the most fun thing to do, I mean it. Please come out and support it next Halloween in Thomas, WV at the Purple Fiddle.

World + Music

Afropop Worldwide.

Holy Cow.

Thanks Beanie Mon.

Resistance

Complaining about anything holds you in the place of refusing to receive the things you've been asking for. Justifying about anything holds you in the place of refusing to let in the very things that you've been asking for. Blaming someone holds you in the place of refusing to let in the things that you've been asking for. Feeling guilty, feeling angry, it doesn't matter what you call it; it is a refusal, not a conscious one. You're asking; you can't help but ask. The Universe is yielding; it must yield. It's a big question, folks: why aren't you letting it in?

---Abraham

Excerpted from the workshop in Los Angeles, CA on March 10, 2001

That's a good question...is it because we are crazy? Unworthy feeling? Just plain silly? You tell me.

Teary eyed gem-in-i

One of my horoscopes was as follows:  

Gemini: All that sugar will finally kill you this week when it falls from the top shelf and cracks the back of your head straight open.  -- The Onion

I had kind of assumed the sugar would do me in by rotting the teeth out of my skull; a much slower, peaceful (and enjoyed) passing. Or, perhaps, making me so wound up that my head simply spins off.  So, I've decided to keep my head UP so that perhaps my spine can absorb most of the hit so that I will only get a mild or major concussion, not the end. A messy end, to boot.

Another horoscope read as follows:

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Is there a message you've wanted to deliver for
a long time but haven't been able to? Are you bursting with thoughts or
feelings that you've been longing to express but can't find the right way
to do so? Have you spent months carrying around a poignant truth that
you have felt wasn't ripe enough to be revealed? If your answer to any of
those questions is yes, I believe the time will soon be at hand to make a
move. But it's important that you're not impulsive or melodramatic as you
initiate your breakthrough communications. For best results, be full of
grace and balance.  -- Free Will(y) Astrology

That's a lot of pressure, so I've decided that the time is not right now, although it may just be soon. Ya see, I am impulsive and melodramatic. So I'll wait until those tendencies are not the deciders..."soon" could be a year from now. Who knows...until then, please go fly a kite.

Its In Our Hands, It Always Was

A new arrival said apologetically to Chao-chu: "I have come here empty-handed."

     Chao-chu said: "Lay it down, then!"

     "Since I have brought nothing with me, what can I lay down?" asked the visitor.

     "Then go on carrying it!" said the Master.

Earthway

 Esty Mae helped her pops shell some Maine Yellow Eye beans. She got the hang of it after a few tries and stayed focused for over a half hour. That's pretty good for a two year old. A title for this picture could be "Beanie Baby."

 We hatched some praying mantises inside so we could see them better, and then we placed them and their oothecas, which literally means egg cover/container, in the various gardens. With a good eye (or a click to embiggen) you can see plenty of the little insects that M.C. Escher used in one of my favorites of his work: Dream (Mantis Religiosa) 1935.

Thanks to Georgetown University for this one, which is where the engraving resides. In fact, it was the first print that Escher sold in the United States.

 The Wolpertinger garlic is doin' dandy. I've tried to keep up with the weeds but the darn plants just keep on growing. No spray, no way. A little recap on my trials with row spacing and garlic: all of the garlic in double rows with about 9 inches between each clove and about 12 inches between rows grew bigger and faster than the triple rows of the same spacing. Go figure. Some of the pros I've seen grow this ancient crop (we are talkin' many many thousands of years) in single rows! One day, when I get my own land, one row will be the way to g(r)o(w)!

 Summertime makes me want to chop it all off and compost the nitrogen-rich mop-head.

Suenos dulces.

More than one way

Useful information for some: I recently got a new cellular phone and wondered if I could transfer my contacts in any way. The lady I talked to (in India?) said "Oh yes, there is. You can manually transfer each contact, one by one." That answer had been my solution in the past, but I didn't enjoy it...so, a few searches on the webernet and I found the ticket: using Bluetooth, something that I had never used up until now....this worked for an LG phone. It took a little over one minute to complete the information transfer. Sweet.

Idle-a-while

That's me with my real girlfriend (her name is Anastasia Latisha Spiritwind) at Idlewild "Gut Rumble" Park. Since I had already puked up my lunch I was all smiles for this shot. The G forces are so strong that it made my forehead bigger and my hair more normal. Amazing. Estoria and Avah aren't in this picture because they where, again, at the historic landmark Carousel. 

I highly recommend a trip to the Greatest Kids Park in the World (the forest aside). It'll change your life.

David Byrne

David Byrne is radical. 

You must go out and get his music. 

Uh-Oh (1992!) is a pretty good start.

Tree Crickets

Quite interesting this once-every-17-years life cycle of the cicadas.This trailer for a documentary is great. I really like the part when they break out of their shells. Take the hint. These are the genus Magicicada, and magic seems to be at play with their long wait, short life, and rerunning the cycle in a scant six weeks. Enjoy.

Memorial

Memorial Day is fast approaching, and so are my contradictory thoughts about said day. Its that balance between realizing who has fought and sacrificed and died so that I/we can live in a place that is, relatively, more "free" than most other places. And on the other side of the scale is the utter abhorrence of war in general, especially with my countries preemptive hall pass/rationale. Either way, what I realize more and more is that I do not understand. A lot. And knowing that, perhaps I should let go of old ideas and make a clearing for new ones. Pull out the dusty mindhedge trimmers and get to work. I prefer to do it by hand but electric or gas (or hydrogen or solar or ???)  may be necessary for some. Whatever metaphorical method one may choose, it may help to think on this while doing such work:

"a little unlearning goes a long way." - Richard Kehl

But hey, the sun is in Gemini and the time is ripe to wrassle with the myriad contradictions that stir us up so much. In mine ears it has been thoughts like "pieces of one" and "constant impermanence" (Go Mountain Sangha!). Despite the maddening flip-flop hypocrisy of it all....it is somehow....true? To quote Blaise Pascal: 

"Contradiction is not a sign of falsity, nor the lack of contradiction a sign of truth."

Slip Time

As the much needed rain ruins most outside work, another little project has jumped into view. I am going to try to make sweet potato slips, which means that I am going to take a sweet potato and grow little vines from it. Those slips will be planted in the ground...and if the deer don't get to them, they will create one of the sweetest things you can dig out of the ground. Yum yum yum! I found a nice clear video here for those interested in starting there own slips. But the video below is like THE Sweet Potato biography or something. Go Louisiana!

 My operation is so miniscule that no spraying, no chain diggers (wow!) and no fork lifts are needed. I am in awe of how productive and mechanical the entire process is on a large scale.

The soundtrack on this informative video from LSU is sick.*



*Sarcasm alert. 2009 wasn't long ago, but the music seems a bit 20th century. This doesn't mean I don't love it in that snarky sort of way that is so (too?) common.

Next up: the bees are coming to their new hivey homey homes!

Hang Handpan

Nice...

Energize Your Whole Life

Hahaha. It's funny in that ironic sorta way. Change is gonna come.



"When there is a huge solar spill we just call it a nice day."

Time to wake up and smell the crude, baby. The crude way that our leaders don't listen, our people don't speak, and our collective dissonance reigns supreme.

Here is how you can speak up. Whether I think it will change anything or not is still to be determined...but it beats sitting on our asses.

"This whole damn place seems to have lost control, so I raise my voice before I lose my soul!" - Michael Franti

Here is a great link to some comics about the Keystone XL Pipeline.

Cultura Vieja

Well, my time is about up in Mexico. Back to the cold (um, that depends on what day) spring of West Virginia. I can't wait! While I have totally enjoyed my time here, I am anxious and ready to return to mi casa.

Hace mucho calor en Jualcomulco. That means that is is freakin' hotter than hell here. More cold coconuts, more trips to the river, and plenty of water (or jugo y caguamas for Adam...haha).

We bought a bunch of coffee in Coatepec, which is kin of coffee around here, and I hope that they will let me bring it back. This coffee is some of the best I have had in a long time...I still rank the Hypno Mexican Chiapas as my favorite...that's just me.

Pico de gallita Morgan.

El Rio Pescados, a great place to swim, to cover yourself in clay, and to fish for camarones del rio, or shrimp. The supermercado has got NOTHING on these local shrimp. Some of them are the size of small lobsters. Yum yum, for sure!

El vecino de Robbie, the neighbor, Morgan and his son, putting it in four wheel drive.

¡Pinche hippie guero!
Mogley has been practicing his free-spirited music every day. Tour dates have no been announced, but you can keep track of him here.

Yo fui al museo de antropologia en Xalapa en Sabado. ¡Super chingon!
I went to the Anthropology Museum in Xalapa on Saturday. Super awesome!

It is loaded with Olmec artifacts and history. Wow!
Este cabeza colosal esta muy grande.

This collosal head is very big.

They look bored. Probably because they've been swinging for thousands of years...

 Seems Asian, eh? Or perhaps its the alien influence? Yo no se.

 All due respect.

  The pictures don't do it justice. These heads are HUGE!

And according to the history, the stones were moved vast distances before being carved. A lot of their cultural artifacts were destroyed. ¡Que lastima!

Anybody recognize this fellow? ¡Diez puntos para ti, si tu conoces!

 They had a nice display of these stamps. The ones below are even more complex as they roll. ¡Que chido!

 Cayota, the sweetest mama dog around. I think that the dogs like Robert's cool tile floor on the often blazing hot days.

 Each day I see Roberto's garden and get psyched for digging in the dirt back at home. Except I won't be growing any pineapples...

OK lovely readers, tune in later for a grand change in scenery. Voy a regresar a Los Estados Unidos muy pronto. ¡Nos vemos!

¡Que onda!

 Estoria and I talked a lot about the mezcla of cultures that make up Easter. Pagan fertility spring time yeeha crossed with Jesucristo being raised. She had fun, to say the least.

 I left this winter wonderland, a late wonderland at that, to the sunny climes of Veracruz, Mexico.

 A view of Jualcomulco from the climbing cliffs. Tranquilo.

 The first day we set out to the state capital, Xalapa, a city of something close to 1/2 million. We met up with some friends of Robbies and went bouldering, amongst other things.

 I want one of these.

 Morgan climbing by the lake, trying to reach el restaurante con los camarones del rancho.

 The local art school was performing a play and had some interesting paintings. Eyes are big around here, lost of artists use them. It is the same around the world, no?

 Graffiti, like skateboarding, is an often misunderstood part of culture. Other times it is quite blunt.

 Carry that weight.

 I coudn't help but think of Nathan, the local silverware warper, when I saw this piece.

 We left Jualco for a super sweet spot with waterfalls bursting out of the cliffside and a nice picnic area. It was a popular oasis and we certainly enjoyed it. On the way, we passed farms that were all growing these vegetables that look like cucumbers but are prepared like tomatoes. What are they? As of this writing I cannot remember. What struck me is that all these operations use a trellised system and creates a canopy that covers hillsides. It was impressive.

 Robert letting loose.

 Adam is trying to live thrifty, so he buys in bulk!

I left for Mexico last week and the blog has been in the back of my mind. Sorry, blog, for the neglect

Life here is quite different than life in the states in the north. You must get used to a certain amount of dirt or you will go bonkers. I mean raw meat on the table, with flys, y pinche perros y gatos everywhere, and basura in all directions.¨It's Mexico, dude.¨ As in Ecuador, I still wonder if there is a way to convince the people to ¨Adopta-un-calle¨ (Adopt-a-highway for those who don´t know.) They looked at us like we were completely insane when we were picking up trash in Ecuador. Gringos, working in teams, to pick up mostly food wrappers and containers, in rural Ecuador. ¨What the hell is going on in the world today?¨ their faces seemed to say.

Fucking coca-cola is deep in the veins here, and they own just about every other drink you would buy in a store: juice, water, ¨energy¨drinks, you name it, tight grip. ¡Fanta Fanta Fanta! Somebody said Mexico is the leader in consumption and sales of that great drink. It shows. It is EVERYWHERE. Gorgeous buildings become tainted with new plastic and metal signs. Oh, well, Cory, get over it. Robert, who is hosting us, told me that they will give you a free fridge, slathered in coke signs, and paint your house if you will sell there products. Genius.
¿Donde esta el pepsi? I'll take a fresh coconut over them all, any day. Not to mention you get some carne to boot.

The amount of abundance all over Latin America (and North America, to be sure) is awe-inspiring. Mangoes, papayas, limes, tamarinds, and tons of other things that I am not even aware of. I've started to read The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan (¡Mil Garcias, Robin!), and the introduction is good enough to know it is a worthwhile read. Haven't read much these days so I hope to fly through it and get on to his other books. But the book's timing is impeccable, as is this trip. It's important for me to keep myself learning and exploring new and different ideas, with a focus on gardening/farming and spirituality.

Off to get in some cool water because, imagine that, its hotter this year in Jualco then it was last year.

Hope you look forward to traveling in your life and also remember how sweet your home may be.