Sisters of Perpetual Organizing

One of Maya's birthday gifts from me (she turned 26 on December 5th) was a day trip of her choice. Only stipulation was she had to take it with me. She decided she wanted to go to the coast. We have a favorite little breakfast cafe in Newport (one hour due west) that's right across from the harbor and serves yummy fruit crepes.



Well, we took Maya's birthday trip a couple of weeks ago and, wouldn't you know it, the favorite cafe was closed. So we decided to go to Nye Beach, at the other end of Newport and the harbor, and found this cute little place named Cafe Stephanie. Since my sister Kissy's real name is Stephanie, we figured that was a sign from God and we should eat there. And lo and behold they had fruit crepes. Life is good.

We walked around Nye Beach after we ate and down to the water. We could see the Lighthouse just north of us and decided to head over there and look for shells on the beach beneath the Lighthouse. But by the time we drove there the next dose of winter rains and wind had hit and so we sat and watched the storm from the cozy comfort of Maya's Jeep.

And then drove north to Depoe Bay in search of chai. Turns out that there was no chai in Depoe Bay. Lots of places were closed because of winter storms and no business. But we found a couple of fun gifts for Maya (and one for me), headed south for Newport and a Starbucks, then home to Corvallis. A fun time was had by all. I don't think we stopped talking once all day. I'm in the process of writing stories from my life, and of course Maya's memory is better than mine, so there were lots of episodes she reminded me of ("remember my babysitter who used to wear a loin cloth? remember when I was 12 and you taught me how to drive in the campground in Wyoming?" and on and on).

That day began a busy week for us. On Thursday Courtney went to a Town Hall Meeting called by Senator Ron Wyden. And you know how handsome and photogenic he is (Courtney, not Ron), plus he was sitting on the front row, so his picture appeared the next day in the local paper, the Gazette-Times.

Then on Friday, January 11th, protests were staged all over the country (and maybe around the world) marking the anniversary of the first prisoners arriving at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. So Courtney attended the local protest which was staged at the "Quad" on campus. The sentiments of all sane people, respectful of human rights, could be summed up in the simple statement from UN Human Rights Commission: "Immediately close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and either release its inmates or bring them before an impartial tribunal."

And then on Saturday, January 12th, the small group of us (all women) who have been organizing the Second Saturday benefit concerts celebrated our one year anniversary. I named our group the Sisters of Perpetual Organizing. Hence the title of this blog entry. These are women who, if you needed something righteous done, they're the ones you'd call. I'm oh so happy to have landed in this gang.

We are a smooth running little operation, with no overhead. Laurie and Bobbi have the connections with the musicians, who donate their time. The Sunnyside Up Cafe donates the use of their great space. Troubadour Music provides the sound equipment at no charge. Leah creates the fliers and prints them off. Bobbi's husband photographs the musicians for the paper and Bobbi makes the publicity happen. Gretchen and I send out emails, post fliers and staff the table.

By the end of the night of the 12th we had raised $835 for the Oregon PeaceWorks of Salem (and their paper, the PeaceWorker, which gets distributed all over Oregon). Hooray! It's a win-win-win-win situation. We raise money for a good cause (a different one each month); we have a full house of happy people listening to great music for $5/person and supporting a good cause; the restaurant does a booming business and the musicians get publicity, adoration and new fans.



Speaking of fans, here's one of mine and I'm certainly one of his. It just gets more and more fun with this guy. Maya called me the other day when it was snowing and said that Ben was searching all over their house for something. Finally he found it--Maya's cell phone--and brought it to her and said "Mimi--no!" while pointing outside. He wanted her to call me and tell me it was snowing! He knows I love the snow. (Notice he did not want to call Courtney and talk about the snow--Courtney does not have the same enthusiasm that I do about snow.)




Speaking of Courtney, here's a photo of the last of Courtney's winter squash crop. It got us half way through January. Not bad. And they have been great tasting and very beautiful squashes. Before we know it spring will be here and we'll be starting another garden. Hard to think that's ever going to happen during these rainy/snowy/icy weeks, but.....




Here's proof that we do have some sun, even in the winter. I caught 30 minutes of Vitamin D the other day before the sun set over the hills and it felt glorious.





And here's one of Sasha kitty and her cat butler Courtney. This girl likes to go in and out the sliding glass door more times than you would believe. Courtney has to stay pretty close to home
just to let her in and out, in and out. But you see here that she lets him get some rest by the wood stove. Winter is not all bad.

One last thing, I'll give a quick book report. Just finished reading Overcoming Zionism: Creating A Single Democratic State in Israel/Palestine, by Joel Kovel. The dedication of the book is to "Rachel Corrie, may her name live in glory". Kovel is Jewish-American, was a candidate for the Green Party nominee for US President in 2000, and is currently the editor-in-chief of Capitalism Nature Socialism.

I think of all the books I've read in the past couple of years, trying to understand the Middle East conflict, this has been the most helpful so far. It's extremely fascinating on many levels, but Kovel's humor certainly adds to the readability. Some of my favorite chapter titles: The Unnatural History of a Bad Idea, Facts On the Ground: Making the Desert Desolate, and Palesreal: A Secular and Universal Democracy for Israel/Palestine. All I can say is: read it.

That's it for now. More soon. Thanks for reading this and taking an interest in our lives here in Corvallis. Please write us, stay in touch, and enjoy whatever winter you are in,

Valori

Why Twinkly Lights Make Sense In Winter

I finally get it...why people around the world think up reasons to string pretty lights and give fun gifts during the darkest part of the year. It really helps. I get so so sad when I think about taking down our Christmas lights. But luckily Maya and Eder gave me a string of red chili pepper lights, so soon down come the Xmas lights and up go the chili peppers. (By soon I mean before Valentines Day.)



Below is a Christmas morning photo of my cute and goofy family, minus Courtney, who was
the photographer. Half of us were in our pj's and hadn't showered, but my mom wanted a
picture of us all together and this is the only one that happened all day.

Christmas Eve we spent at Eder's family's house. His dad is a chef, so dinner was plentiful and all very yummy. Their home is spacious and comfortable--great for alot of company plus two little guys (Eder's nephew, Jakob, who is guarded and cautious, and Ben, who is not.)
It's lots of fun to have two toddlers to entertain us.




Aaron left on Christmas afternoon with his dad, headed north to Whidbey Island to see his other grandmother and his aunt. It's about a 6 hour trip, between driving time and time on the ferry boat across Puget Sound. So he did double-duty on Christmas. (Poor guy--forced to open gifts at two locations.)

They were gone four days, and Aaron arrived back here late on the night of the 28th. The morning of the 29th he flew from Portland to San Jose and spent a week with his Monterey friends. What made that all possible was his best buddy Robert's family, who shuttled him from airport to friends' homes and back to airport, and took good care of him all along the way. Aaron has been such a sport about leaving his home and all his friends in Monterey, uprooting and starting over in Eugene. So it was a good thing for him to see his buddies and romp and play for a week....without the watchful eye of either his mom or dad.




Then the day after he got back, it snowed (a welcome home gift for him). It was the first or second time that our kitty Sasha had walked--very gingerly!--in snow.




Courtney and I let very little time lapse between us saying how grateful we are for our little wood stove (and our compact house, which warms up pretty easily and holds the heat well). I enjoy the cold and snow (of course I stay inside more and see it through the windows, Courtney is outside splitting wood and hauling it indoors), but Courtney is holding his breath until the first buds pop out and spring is on the way. He's not much of a winter-type guy and with this being the first holiday season without his dad, he is understandably feeling low at times. But he also has a basic attitude of gratefulness and appreciation, and so bounces back.





Helps to have precious family around! Like these two cuties.

While we don't see Ben on a regular basis like we used to, he comes over when Maya and Eder want to go out for the night or when their work overlaps and they need us to fill in. He's pretty darned entertaining. He's entered the stage of "What's that?" and "Why?" No, he doesn't ask those questions once in a while or one at a time, but constantly and repetitively. He's quite focused and determined, and as most toddlers, very frustrated when he can't make himself understood. Luckily he's using some of his baby sign language and other creative ways to make himself clear. Anyway, we're so lucky to be part of his growing up.

Other things that help stave off the winter-time blues: hoppin' music at the Co-op (my work) is one. During a shift last week I noticed that I was feeling especially good. Then realized it had something to do with the Troggs singing "Wild Thing, you make my heart sing, you make everything groovy." Followed by Donna Summers singing "Don't leave me this way...." and then someone singing "Bird bird bird. The bird is the word." Well, you get the idea...it was a fun day.

And if all else fails us, we have our own little remedy for bleak winter days. Courtney's computer is in our bedroom and when sitting up in bed we are facing the monitor. He has downloaded from Webshots somewhere between 100 and 150 screen savers--all parts and pieces of nature from around the world. Waterfalls in Brazil and Oregon, families of penguins and all sorts of adorable baby animals, closeups of insects on flowers, canyons, mountains reflected in lakes, sunsets and lighning storms, and lots of giant surfs and warm tropical scenes. We take a little tour of the planet first thing in the morning while I drink my green tea (trying to come to life) and Courtney eats his breakfast. Not a bad way to start the day. I recommend it.

But it all goes to hell in a handbasket when we move from our blissful tour de earth, online to the world of "news". Personally I'm feeling irritated at how the distraction of partisan politics and lousy elections pulls most everyone's attention away from the threats of war with Iran and the dire need to hold impeachment hearings (possibly the only thing that will derail the next war before it starts). I am in the process of trying to prioritize how I spend my available hours (when not working or sleeping) and adding my energy to the impeachment movement is near the top. My new hero is Representative Robert Wexler from Florida. He's using the "I" word loud and clear.

I guess one last thing I want to tell about is our friend Josh's presentation last Sunday. He's just back from working in the hills south of Hebron, in the West Bank, for three months with Christian Peacemaker Teams. The work is focused on supporting peacemakers on both sides, Israeli and Palestinian, as well as escorting Palestinian villagers--children walking past hostile settlers on their one-hour trek to school, or shepherds trying to graze their animals on land that has belonged to their families for generations but that recently arrived settlers now claim. Some very scary and dangerous work.

Josh was showing his slides and telling his stories to a room filled to capacity with people who know Josh and want to support his work. At the end of this month he will return to Damascus to continue the schooling in Arabic that he stated last spring. From there he'll return to the West Bank. At age 30 (appox.) Josh is seeing that human rights work is what he wants to do, and the struggle in Israel and Palestine for justice and peace is where he wants to put his efforts. It's not cheap to wage peace, but as Josh says, it's lots cheaper than war. We collected a healthy amount of money to help Josh along his path, and once again, I felt grateful for the support that I see this community give its activists.

That's all for now, thanks for reading this, support a local activist whenever you can, stay warm and well-fed, and enjoy the winter,

Valori