the view from the ice at westchester lagoon
the view out our west window, over turnagain arm
not-so-scary 'monsters' in the sunday stories class at the museum :o)

in thanks for...

* indian food night tomorrow at anne and merry's
* the soft consistencies
* music night
* the library
* my sisters
* an embarrassing wealth of musical instruments in my home
* the way the sun barrels over the water and through our west window at sunset
* the obamas' new white house veggie garden and playground

a few more snapshots of the alaska home team
(click to enlarge, and see better quality):

last night,
gabi and i went to out north
to see lunafest, a film festival of 10 short films
"by, for, about women."
(our friend amanda coordinated the festival for anchorage,
and did a great job!)
it was eye-opening, a little bit heart-breaking, inspiring;
i do recommend going if you have the chance.
there's one more showing at out north, tonight,
and there are festival sites all over the u.s.
(just check the website to find one near you.)

in thanks for...

* blueberries
* amanda, cash and james
* time to write music, still
* friends' upcoming visits to anchorage!
* my new keyboard, up and running
* magical encounters with eccentric people
* singing harmonies
* my sisters
* girl scout cookies
* the people on the ky home front

here are more photos from the
adventures of camperoo and amy, including
our green st. patty's day feast, some dish washing,
painting the clay stars we made for a mobile,
and a little kitchen dancing (which involves much spinning
to the song New Soul by Yael Naim).

Have you heard of www.ted.com? It is SO cool. "TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader." My favorite part of their stuff is the great collection of video lectures you can watch online. I've only watched two, including THIS one (pic below) about creative genius, by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of the amazing book Eat, Pray, Love. She's super-dynamic, and interesting. And I'm super excited about online resources like this, that educate and inspire. Woo-hoo!

I'm back. It was a truly gorgeous, soul-mending and peace-filled 5 days. I wrote (songs and letters), sang, ate, hiked, read, sawed away at the fiddle (keeps the bears away!), completed the major and cathartic task of going through piles and piles of scraps of song-beginnings. Here are some photos, and if you visit my myspace, you can hear one of the new songs. I wrote (and recorded, except for the harmonies) the whole thing in the first hours I was there, in some fit of creative flow that I wish had stayed around longer! It's called Sing the Moon Down, and if you listen, you can hear the fire crackling in the background.

Am off to Kenai Lake until Friday, to have a little songwriting retreat. Will try to take some pictures to post when I'm back, and maybe some new recordings, too! Send all extra creativity vibes my way... :o)

in thanks of...

* tomorrow night's bioneers house concert
* a new hat from amanda
* snow, still
* 6+ more minutes of sunlight every day
* a new student
* time to write music
* running, again
* the leftovers in our fridge from saturday's soiree
* sweet days with camperoo