I know I don't post here a whole lot anymore, but I had a great weekend at National Park Lodges last weekend in honor of my birthday, and I wanted to share.

We drove out to Kalaloch Lodge on the coast on Thursday, the holiday. Friday was sunny, and we had a great time poking around Kalaloch and Ruby Beaches for a while. Then we drove southeast for  two days at Lake Quinault Lodge. Saturday and Sunday were cloudy/rainy/misty, but great for hiking and pictures of water and trees. We took a four-mile loop trail around the lodge on Saturday and a two-mile hike to little Irely Lake on Sunday. Both trails were surrounded by old trees full of moss and logs full of mushrooms and criss-crossed with streams and waterfalls. We saw little frogs, squirrels, chipmunks, sadly only one slug, a herd of elk, and a black bear cub - the latter two while we were in the car.

We'd never really explored the Lake Quinault area and expect to be back soon!

6. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
Would you believe I've never read this before? Especially considering I'm such a big fan of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I tried to read the book as a youth, and could never get into it. I finally read the trilogy once the movies were underway and loved them. So finally, it was The Hobbit's turn. Sadly, I don't have much to say about it. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't the trilogy. I am looking forward to the movies though.

7. Sword of Avalon by Diana L. Paxson
After reading Ravens of Avalon a few weeks ago, I learned there had been another one in the series published. I do enjoy visiting the world of the Avalon novels, but Mists is still far and away my favorite. I was intrigued by the Bronze Age tribal cultures and way of life described, and enjoyed the descriptions of Avalonian magic and visits from the gods. I found this book engaging, and stayed up late one night compelled to finish it. On the other hand, I wasn't in love with any of the characters and found the plot a little too predictable. Parts of it read like not much more than a romance novel. Although you have to admit the line, "she welcomed him to her fire" is a good euphemism.

For several years on LJ, I have kept a list of the books I read, with reviews as time has allowed. Since I started grad school, it has been hard to keep up with the reviews. But, here in the middle of spring break, I can post about the 5 books I've read so far this year:

For School:
1. The Worldly Philosophers: The Lives, Times And Ideas Of The Great Economic Thinkers, 7th ed by Robert Heilbroner
2. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell
3. The Decline of Capitalism: Can the Self-Regulated Profits System Survive? by Harry Shutt

For pleasure:

4. Ash by Malinda Lo
I really liked Ash. It's a retelling of the Cinderella tale, and I'm a big fan of novelizations of fairy tales, especially ones that bring in something unexpected, and have compelling female characters. This version has Faery - the kind that live in the hollow hills, the kind that steal you away if you eat their food, not the kind of the Victorian era or Disney - and women who love women instead of pine for a prince. Good stuff.

5. Ravens of Avalon by Diana L. Paxson
Mists of Avalon is one of my favorite books. I read it first in junior high school, and it was part of the formation of my spirituality. I don't think any of the prequels that have come out since Mists are as good, but I read them all just the same, to be able to visit that sacred isle. (I still long to read a book about pre-Christian or pre-Roman British Isles that is not about conquest by an outside force, but that is not this book.) Ravens is about Boudica (and we all know how that ends) and a priestess, Lhiannon. I loved the stories of priestess training, the liturgy and ritual scattered throughout the books, and the gods that are present in the tale. Reading this reminded me how much my concept of what it means to be a priestess comes from these books, and why in my mind, a priestess should always wear blue. A good way to spend a few of my recent sick days.

I enjoyed it, but not enough to keep the book in my library (which I try to keep small-sh) - Seattleites, let me know if you'd like my copy.

Our sweet, beautiful, and much beloved cat Piglet has been having a tough time recently. We had a vet visit today - exactly four weeks since his last visit - and he has lost 6 ounces. Six ounces. For a formerly 10 to 12 pound cat (he's now less than 10), that's a lot.



Originally, it looked like a dental issue, and he had two teeth removed and all of them cleaned. Then it looked like thyroid, so we've been giving him medicine twice daily for a few months. Now, the two likely candidates for diagnosis are inflammatory bowel disease or (gulp) intestinal lymphoma.

Please think good, healthy thoughts for my kitty.

When CK and I bought our house five and a half years ago, we made the decision not to get cable (this was after seven years of free cable in our apartment). It was an adjustment, but we had rabbit ears that allowed us to see something broadcast on most channels if we really wanted to, and we switched into mostly using our tv to watch DVDs.

Because we had a perfectly serviceable television and rarely watched anything broadcast, when the stations switched to transmitting in only digital, we never bothered upgrading. The Winter Olympics are the first time I have truly regretted this. I am missing everything. I tried to watch the opening ceremonies online streaming, but was unsuccessful at finding a link that actually worked after 40 frustrating minutes of searching. I made up my mind that we will upgrade in time for the Summer Olympics in 2012.

And then, at lunch today, the restaurant had MSNBC silently playing in the background. They were running a show on "Angry in America," complete with images of people carrying signs of Obama with a skull overlayed on his head, town halls with people yelling at their representatives, graphs of unemployment rates, and people working in cubes yelling at someone or something. And I remembered why I don't watch television.

I think it is important to be aware of what is going on in the world, and to contribute to making it a better place. I am currently taking an economics class which is helping me see how capitalism works and what a very precarious place our economic system has brought us to. (I recommend Thought Control in Economics for more info on this). And the deep divide in our country which is dragging the work of our government to a standstill is deeply, deeply troubling to me.

But filling my life with that kind of negativity is no way to live and be healthy.

In honor of the 5th annual Cyberspace Poetry Slam for Brigid, I offer this poem / meal blessing I wrote last weekend:

Gratitude to those who prepared our meal.
Gratitude to the plants and animals that made our meal.
Gratitude to the hands that brought us this food.
Gratitude to the people who grew and raised our food.
Gratitude to the soil and water and sun.
Gratitude to the fields and forests.
Gratitude to the earth and sky.
Gratitude to the night full of stars and the gravitational pull of planets and the ever-expanding universe.
Gratitude to be born of stardust.
Gratitude to be here, about to sit down and eat, with each of you.
Gratitude.

Happy Imbolc to all.

Is anyone planning on or interested in attending the Environmental Lobby Day in Olympia on Tuesday, January 26th?

I'm hoping to go and would love company!

Apologies for being so absent over the last several months. This last quarter was the most difficult one I've had yet. It may be because I'm in the second year of the program, it may be because of work stresses, it may be because CK injured her knee three months ago and had surgery two months ago and so I was needed to help out around the house a lot more.

But the quarter is done now and I couldn't be more grateful for a break. There is lots to do, including a book to read for class (aargh!) and some planning for my thesis. But I will start with a massage and then decorating the tree tomorrow, and churning through the holiday knitting as best I can over the next few days.

And yes, it is 5:00 am.  But I've turned in my last paper and still have most of Sunday to start my vacation off!

A new post on my Env & Spirit blog about a book I read.  A really cool book about connection to nature and the environmental movement, and how they are intertwined.