Celebrities with Heart

This is such a weird thing for me to post...I haven't been interested in celebrities since, well, middle school. But I had to share because I have come across several awesome celeb charitable campaigns lately, and I LOVE when people use their fame for good (my Grandma always uses this argument for why her grandchildren should strive be famous, and I guess in a way she convinced me...other than the trying to become famous thing...)

Here's an awesome ad with one of my favorite up-and-coming actors, Ryan Gosling (not sure where the add came from, sorry!) and his beloved (and adopted) dog:

He's also involved in a PETA campaign that is working to end a horrible method of killing chickens and turkeys that are not suitable for consumption, and is working to get Kentucky Fried Chicken to only purchase chicken from farms with humane practices. He fights for poultry rights. He must have a pretty big heart.

And a great actress (and apparently great person, too), Scarlett Johansson has been an Oxfam Ambassador since 2007 (one of my favorite international non-profits). Check out the work she's been doing. And while you're at it, give a meaningful gift through Oxfam this Christmas.

Jack Johnson is one of my favorite famous activists because he is tireless and outspoken about environmental and social causes--he and his management crew created the "All At Once Campaign," which is a social action network focused on environmental and local and world sustainability causes. He also has a charity that matches whatever amount people donate to featured organizations at booths at his concerts (the Johnson Ohana Charitable Foundation), he and his wife set up the "Kokua Hawaii Foundation" which supports environmental education in Hawaiian classrooms, and he is involved with or supports literally hundreds of other organizations. He donates amazing amounts of money (in 2008 and 2010 he donated ALL of his profits from his tour to environmental, art, and music education). He's just plain awesome.

The point of this post is not to commend our culture's obsession with fame...in fact, I think it's important to not give more credit to "conscious" celebrities than to average American activists. I have been involved in activism since high school, and I have come across some of the most devoted, hard working, strong, and compassionate people over the years. Often as a result of their complete devotion to their causes, many of the activists I've known are also poor, which most good-hearted celebs don't have to contend with while they travel the world for good causes. But I have to say, I appreciate this wave of young celebrities who care. And since America is so heavily influenced by celebrities, hopefully the wave of compassion will be carried over into the non-famous population of young Americans. 

Long Legs

Lost, hungry, and lonely animals must have some kind of communication system through which they tell each other "Go to the Leach house at the end of the neighborhood!" Because somehow, they just keep coming. To my mom, every animal is too precious to turn away...which is why I love my mom so much (if only we could all have such big hearts)! I have been waiting for an opportunity to post photos of my mom's photogenic newest addition to the Leach household, Long Legs, and finally decided, why not just do a quick blog about him? He makes me happy, and I'm pretty sure these pictures will make you happy, too. 

Long Legs is a very special, and definitely different sort of cat...he moves slowly, intentionally...he resembles a bobcat more than a house cat...but unlike a bobcat he is a complete baby about the cold...he runs, absolutely terrified, from cats half his size...instead of jumping he reaches his ridiculously long legs to his desired location and pulls himself up...and I've never known a cat who appreciates a rub on his belly more (which he gladly will present to you within seconds of meeting him). And of course, we made a different-sort-of-cat even more different by naming him "Long Legs"--but his legs are so long! The name just stuck. Really, maybe an unconventional, alliterated, and flowing name such as Long Legs is actually quite fitting for this lovely, and may I add lucky, feline.

The photos are all from the summer, as you can see, when Long Legs lived outside. Since winter came along he's been bouncing between outside (or should I say curled in a ball on the railing by the door?), my mom's office, and my old room. The other cats have become aware of his sensitive nature and love the thrill of seeing what they are sure is a bobcat run from them, so unfortunately he is limited to bedrooms. But Long Legs doesn't seem to mind the isolation one bit--I think he's just grateful for the visitors and the warmth of a home. In all of my experience with rescued animals, I am convinced that they feel gratitude, or something very close to what we know as gratitude. Long Legs embodies this. But enough blabbing already--enjoy the photos!

Isn't he handsome?

Just chillin...

Contemplating the famous Long Legs "pull up"

Slowly but surely...

Almost there...

Success!

Making his way to the purpose of his ascent--a hand he knows will pet him:)

The Adventure of Two Minis and a Goat

One of my dreams is to write children's books that encourage children to love and appreciate nature and animals. In an attempt to get started on that, I'll share with you a really rough draft of my first idea. I feel like I need an audience, so please feel free to comment if you have any feedback...and let's hope no one steals this idea now that it's on the web (are there any laws to protect personal blogs as property?!). It's missing some pictures that I still need to take, but this will do for now. This is almost all a true story, and is a sweet way for you all to get to know our cute little barn inhabitants better. Enjoy!

Hope was lonely.

And bored.

She spent all her time waiting for the friends that fed her to come outside, and then followed them everywhere they went once they did.

One day, the people who take care of Hope decided that it was time for her to have a friend that would live outside with her all the time (and that was a little closer to her size!). So they brought home another miniature horse named Ali.

Ali and Hope are very different. Ali is a young, spirited, outspoken, and loving little horse, and Hope is a motherly, sweet, nervous and beautiful little horse. Despite their differences, as soon as they met it was like they had known each other their whole lives. They started scratching each others backs the way horses who love each other always do.

Pretty soon, Ali and Hope's human friends found out about a goat who didn't have anyone to take care of her anymore. So they brought her to their home, too. Binky has one leg that doesn't work, so she has to kneel to eat. But she has no trouble walking on three legs!

Hope and Ali didn't blink an eye when Binky entered the equation. They let her follow them around like a shadow. Now Hope had not one, but two new friends, and she wasn't lonely or bored at all!

Time passed and the threesome grew closer every day.

One day, the people who take care of Hope, Ali, and Binky accidentally left the gate unlocked when they were feeding them one evening. Well, horses never ignore an open door, so they walked right out of that gate and headed down the trail to the river.

Binky wasn't too sure about this idea. She had heard from the ducks and geese that the river is really strong and fast. They even told her that sometimes there were people at the river who don't like animals very much. But she decided to follow them anyway because Binky doesn't like to be alone.

When they got to the river they saw that it is very beautiful, but that it is strong and fast. They saw some people, too...and they weren't like the people that take care of Hope, Ali, and Binky. They didn't pet them or feed them. They just looked at them funny and pointed and laughed. Hope, Ali, and Binky didn't know what the people thought was so funny about two miniature horses and a goat walking by a river! So they just kept walking.

As the sun began to lower behind the mountains and the air began to get chilly, Hope, Ali, and Binky were starting to become scared. The path was narrow and the big strong river rushed below them. The people who were laughing were gone now. They were all alone.

As they hurried down the path, they realized that they weren't so sure of how to get back to their house. Now they were really wishing they hadn't come to the river alone. So they did what horses usually do when they're spooked--they ran!

Just then, they heard the familiar voice of the woman who takes care of them calling, "Hope! Ali! Binky! Where are you!?" They stopped right in their tracks and Ali let out a loud and high pitched "neigh!"

The very nice woman who takes care of them came running around the corner with two little halters and two leads in her hands. Hope, Ali, and Binky all nodded their heads up and down in delight. She gave each one of them a big hug and put the halters on Hope and Ali. Binky didn't need a halter because she follows her friends everywhere.

They walked back happily with the woman who takes care of them. When they got back to the barn, there was a fresh flake of hay and grain waiting for them. They had never been so happy to see their cozy barn before.

After their adventure, Hope, Ali, and Binky snuggled up next to each other in the safety of their warm barn. They closed their eyes and dreamed sweet dreams of hay and barns, and even walking by the beautiful river--but this time with the people who love them!

Blessing

Deep peace of the running wave to you,

of water flowing, rising and falling,

sometimes advancing, sometimes receding...

May the stream of your life flow unimpeded!

Deep peace of the running wave to you!

Deep peace of the flowing air to you,

which fans your face on a sultry day,

the air which you breathe deeply, rhythmically,

which imparts to you energy, consciousness, life.

Deep peace of the flowing air to you!

Deep peace of the quiet earth to you,

who, herself unmoving, harbors the movements

and facilitates the life of the ten thousand creatures,

while resting contented, stable, tranquil.

Deep peace of the quite earth to you!

Deep peace of the shining stars to you,

which stay invisible till darkness falls

and discloses their pure and shining presence

beaming down in compassion on our turning world.

Deep peace of the shining stars to you!

Mary Rogers, adapted from the Gaelic

Balance (or the lack thereof)

Tonight I bought a salad "kit" on my way home from work. I have actually never done this before (I am not a true food purist, but I do love my fresh salads), and think that it reflects my current state of being pretty well. I somehow have not been able to find the time to do the things that are important to me on a regular basis--like cooking healthy and tasty meals, talking to or spending time with family and friends, getting outside, being with my animals, getting some exercise, doing yoga, and being creative. It's a lot, but these important elements of my life mean so much to me that a day doesn't quite feel complete if I haven't done at least a few of them. I have not figured out how to balance my life with a 40+ hour a week job that, while I usually love it, drains me so often. My neglected-feeling dog doesn't get many hikes with the female human in his life anymore, I somehow break something every day, my clean laundry has been sitting in bins for days, I can't seem to get outside while it's still light out other than for short walks, and dinners have become a last minute ordeal. I come home from work feeling drained and irritable more often than I would like. I am literally amazed by all of the parents out there working full time and finding time for their children. Especially the ones that seem to have the balance figured out (how, I sincerely ask, do you do it!?).

On top of the lack of balance, I have been consumed by worry about my lovely little Lila...who you've seen in a couple previous posts. She's having serious kidney problems and spending a lot of time at the vet getting fluids. She's a sensitive little dog and I know this stress is extremely hard on her physically and emotionally. I am being as positive as I can, but it never gets easier to see your loved ones scared or in pain. I have been thinking of her almost constantly.

Now more than ever the rituals that feed my spirit are important to me--lately I have been reading a few chapters of my Thich Nhat Hanh books in the morning before I leave. His simply spoken wisdom always seems to resonate with what I am needing to hear at the moment. And every evening, yoga and meditation soften the edges and provide me with a much needed step back, a view of the bigger context.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't struggling. And as a result, I haven't been writing. I realized today how difficult it is for me to admit to the general public (that may be a stretch, but whoever it is that reads this blog!) that I am not glowingly happy at the moment. So here it is. My big step towards honesty.

But I will end on a positive note (because I think it's a good habit to be in). This weekend we were able to hike up Bass Creek on a strikingly beautiful day. The stream's boulders balanced snow that looked like dollops of fresh whipped cream; the sun reflected off of the sheer white mountains so that they appeared to be lit from the inside; and the shadowed path held the silhouette of black trees framed by a perfect azure sky. It revitalized my spirit and left me wanting for more.

For the Love of Teachers

Teachers come in many forms. Family members and significant others are definitely among the greatest teachers in our lives (Who hasn't learned an incredible amount about one's self, relationships, kindness, and love from their parents, siblings, or partners?). As is nature--animals, cycles, and weather, for example (Does not a great thunderstorm humble you? Or the patience of the heron, quietly waiting and watching, inspire you?). Pain, heartbreak, difficult circumstances, and loss are our teachers as well (Do you not come out of pain with some kind of greater understanding of yourself and the world?). Really, when we pay attention and are receptive, everything in our lives teaches us something. But specifically I want to focus on the importance of what I will call our "intentional teachers", the ones who we ask into our lives and pursue relationships with because of the way that they make us expand and evolve. I truly believe this is one of the great tasks we have as human beings--to have intentional teachers in our lives. Ideally, always. Who I think of when I think of my intentional teacher is my beloved, and first, yoga teacher and mentor, Karen Sprute-Francovich.

Between my sophomore and junior year in high school, I moved to Coeur d' Alene, Idaho from an active and thriving social life in Bellevue, Washington. Needless to say, it was hard. I had been a dancer since I was eight, and with very few dance options in Coeur d' Alene at the time, my mom somehow discovered Karen at Garden Street School of Anusara Yoga and got me signed up for a session with her. Fortuitously, she had just recently started up the studio after moving from Boise, Idaho. Karen, and yoga, immediately touched something deeper within me than I had known before. Looking back, I recognize that feeling as being touched by Grace. Yoga literally supported me through my last two years of high school (I could have slumped and slouched my way through two years, but instead stood tall and found a niche, albeit very different from my niche in Bellevue, that has truly paved the path of my life--in no small part due to yoga, and of course, Karen).

Then, I went away for college. After one year and a handful of emotionally very difficult circumstances, Karen called me. I'll never forget...I was on the beach in Santa Cruz with my friend Claire, talking about my future and what to do with myself. And probably boys (we did a lot of that). Then Karen called and asked me to come back to Coeur d' Alene for a year and participate in her first immersion, "Beauty School," and to start a mentorship with her. I went. Full heartedly. I won't go into the details about that year, but I will say it was far and away the most transformative year of my life. My kula, or my community of the heart, were (and still are) indescribably important to me. I became extremely attached to Karen as a mentor and as a motherly figure. She taught me a lot that I am still processing--and know I will continue to throughout my life. As she once told me, it's impossible to really understand a teaching until one has had a direct experience of that teaching, and to no surprise, that's exactly what I have found. The seeds of wisdom that she planted in my heart have steadily taken root over the years.

19-year-old me and my beloved teacher, Karen.

My lovely Kula at HeartSong in 2005.

Since then, I have lived in Costa Rica (where I stayed and worked at a beyond incredible sustainable living center and sanctuary, Rancho Mastatal), Lolo, Missoula, southeastern Utah (not really lived, but explored for two months with an amazing field-based education organization, The Wild Rockies Field Institute), East Glacier Park (where my husband is from), Coeur d' Alene again, Missoula again, East Glacier again, Missoula again, Yellowstone briefly, East Glacier again, and finally at the present, I am living happily in Lolo. I've finished an undergraduate degree and a graduate degree, gotten married (including the overwhelming consumption of falling in love and the oh-so-common loss of balance that accompanies it!), been a nanny, a produce clerk, a waitress, worked a few other odd-ends jobs, lived in a tent, lived in a camper, and am now a full-time youth worker at Hellgate High School. The only thing that has really stayed steady is my loving, supportive family. But for now, we're pretty much here. And amidst all of this moving I have taught yoga, stopped teaching, not had a local teacher, fallen out of yoga for short periods, and been somewhere kind of in between all of these things.

Through all of the changes, I have yearned for a teacher, and missed my teacher deeply. But I have not tried very hard to find a local teacher (honestly, I have resisted it). And for the most part, I didn't pursue yoga much at all for a few years. Now, however, I have shifted back--maybe it's the stability of a regular job and not moving around as much, or maybe it was just a commitment that I made to myself, but I have slowly become more immersed in my spiritual life, and yoga, again. And it's different now--I have "grown up" in a sense...and I have most definitely changed. I am in a place where I know that I need a teacher, or teachers, in my life more regularly. I have been "seeing other teachers,"mostly at workshops, and learning more than I could have imagined from them. But Karen is still my teacher, the one who I think of with deep gratitude on a daily basis. It is in my intentions to see her more often, and I will. I am eternally grateful for the amazing beauty that Karen has brought into my life, the way I have grown and continue to grow because of her loving care for me, and the way our relationship continues to evolve and change with time. I am so grateful that she came into my life when she did. And I am grateful for all of the teachers I have had and all of my teachers to come.

Me and Karen. Photo by Terri Simmons. Spring 2011.

The moral of the story (if there is one), is to be grateful for your teachers. And, to have a teacher! We all need an intentional teacher. I really believe this. It's too easy to become stagnant without one...we need an honest mirror to reflect back to us both our life-denying and life-enhancing habits...and we cannot reach our full potential through our own limited understandings alone. So if you need a teacher...put out the intention, find a path that you truly want to pursue, and (as I have been told by some teachers of my own), you and your teacher will inevitably find one another.

Giving Thanks

It's Thanksgiving. So...I've spent the day thinking about what I'm thankful for...and cooking pumpkin pie! Among a lot of things (I have a lot to be grateful for) I'll share a few.

I am so deeply thankful for my amazing, supportive family.

I am incredibly thankful for my loving husband.

I am thankful for the Earth and all of the beauty that surrounds me every day.

I am thankful for my ridiculously wonderful friends.

Photo by Rebecca Emily Drobis

I am thankful for our four legged friends and the lovely perspectives they give me.

I'm thankful for yoga, and my beloved teachers, and the new horizons my practice continuously brings into my life.

I am so grateful for the life that I have. Blessings and love to you all!

On Lolo Pass

I woke up Sunday morning feeling quite under the weather. But my dad, Ryan and I were planning on heading up to Lolo Pass for the first cross country ski of the season, and I simply couldn't resist. It was a bluebird day and it truly couldn't have been more magically beautiful. The sun was shimmering on the powdery snow in a way that has always made me imagine fairies dancing between the trees (o.k., a little dorky, but true...doesn't fresh snow make your imagination kick in?). Fresh powder, blue skies, and two of my favorite people in the world. What an amazing start to what promises to be an epic ski season!

Dad cutting his first tracks of the season.

A female pine grosbeak.

Lovin' it!

Coming on Winter

 "Hear! hear!" screamed the jay from a neighboring tree, where I had heard a tittering for some time, "winter has a concentrated and nutty kernel, if you know where to look for it."

Henry David Thoreau, 28 November 1858 journal entry

 

Since the time change, I come home every evening in the dark. I know this is not unique (poor me!), but it is new to me (my current and relatively new job is my first Monday-Friday "regular hours" job), and I'm doing my best to adjust. And while I really don't want to complain, I do have to say I spent the week feeling pretty uninspired. I've been sleeping longer than I would like, and my short stroll to the river every morning before work has surely not been fulfilling my need for time spent outside each day. This sort of winter lethargy is both a natural cycle that humans often don't realize we take part in, and also a challenge to face so as not to fall into the depths of torpor every time winter comes along. So, I am doing my best to get outside every day and notice the great beauty that surrounds me, even on a not-so-sunny day. I relish my weekends for the chance to spend more time immersing myself in nature.

The Missoula and Bitterroot Valleys got a couple of inches of snow yesterday and we experienced the first really-truly-bitingly-cold-windy-winter-day of the season. Two girls from Hellgate High School braved the cold of the Kim Williams Trail, the Hellgate winds gusting westward along the Clark Fork River, with a volunteer and myself. I run an "Outdoor Adventurers" club, and on a side note, two students is our current record for club attendance, which I believe tells you a lot about the low priority of spending time outside for teenagers of today. (I'm sure I'll touch on this subject again soon.) For now I'll just say that the girls were awesome and the day was wickedly cold, but the weather was exciting nonetheless. I really felt the childlike wonder set in and a deep appreciation for the coming of winter.

Winter came down to our home one night
Quietly pirouetting in on silvery-toed slippers of snow,
And we, we were children once again.
~Bill Morgan, Jr.

Today we awoke to a mostly sunny day, much to our delight. The river was as gorgeous as ever. I thought I'd share some pictures.

A pendulum of ice.

A winter dog at heart.

A suspended cupped nest--perhaps that of a warbling vireo.

The dipper that I mentioned in an earlier post.

Hope and Ali have their fuzzy winter coats.

Lolo Pond is totally frozen now.

Could they be more adorable?!

Eiger and Willie enjoying the warmth of the sun filtering in.

I'm looking forward to continuing to step into the rhythms of winter.