Kauai & Kalalau Valley

Check out this slideshow video of my trip to Kauai, Hawaii to visit my freind Kelly...

Feliz Navidad!

Hola from Autlan, Jalisco, Mexico!

I am traveling with Omar and his family through Mexico for two weeks this holiday season.  It has been tons of fun and truly interesting experience.  I have met about a million of his extended family members, visiting all over the big city of Autlan and small village of Lagunillas.  Everyone is very friendly and amused by my lack of language skills.  I am learning a lot of Spanish though!  I think I could easily become fluent in a few months time.

We are staying with Omar´s aunt and uncle in the childhood home of his mother.  It´s a good sized hacienda style home with a small courtyard and garden.  Part of the way they make their living is by running a small butcher shop on the weekends.  They have been very busy these past two days because of the holiday.  As I type, Miguel is back at the house slaughtering a third pig!  I´ve made sure to be far from the house during the carnage.  Despite all the porko, everyone has been very understanding about our vegetarianism.  It helps that previously, they hosted a woman from Holland who was also vegetarian.  Today, as is traditional on Christams Eve, we will be making tamales.  Everyone pitches in to help.  I get to make the spinach, cheese and mushroom tamales.  I can´t wait!

I have been taking tons of pictures and will post a bunch when I return.  We´re off now to by huaraches (sandals) for Omar and his dad.  Then we will return to the little town to begin the festivities!

Best wishes to all for a safe and happy holiday and lots of love!

Happy Birthdy Solomon!!

Today, Omar and I are going to visit our friends Seb, Kelly, Isaiah and Solomon for Solomon's first birthday.  For the last year or so, I have been working on a crocheted blanket for him.  The yarn is Lion-Brand Wool-Ease, so it's easy to care for and hopefully will survive lots of washings and other sorts of abuses.  This blanket is one of my very first crochet projects ever!   There's a lot of learning in those squares.  It's about 2/3rds finished, I think...  Hopefully, when it's done, it will be about the size for a twin bed.  It's been a super portable/easy to stop and start sort of project.  Really nice for taking to long rehearsals and boring meetings.  I haven't figured out what the best way will be to stitch it together, but I think I have some time to work that out.  Here's a photo... the green is really more Irish green then the tealish color in the photo.  The red yarn has specks of green, yellow and blue.  I'm not sure what the final patchwork configuration will be... depends on how many squares of each color I end up with.  We'll see... ;-)

Finished squares and remaining yarn for Solomon's blanket 

Sad face I have now...

I'm back from my meditation retreat and it was fabulous.  I have to say, under the circumstances, as you will read below, the timing was perfect for me and I'm so grateful for every calm, clear and equanimous moment of those 10 days. I learned so much... Everyone should do it!  Check out the http://www.dhamma.org for more info and to find a Vipassana Center near you!  I will post more on this later because I unfortunately, do have bigger news...

On Tuesday, November 14, 2006 (the day before I went on the retreat) a mortal wound was inflicted on the Henry Mancini Institute.  The Board of Directors voted to close down the organization.  You can read the press release by visiting the website or I think I might host the pdf on this blog.  This bit of PR just goes to show that fiber or a musical phrase aren't the only things that can be spun beautifully, if you know what I mean...

I could spend hours blogging about what really happened and how I feel about the history that led up to that decision and the reality of the action itself, but unfortunately I don't believe it is in anyone's best interest to do anything but move on.  The hard part is that there are a lot of people... alumni, faculty, artists, donors... who want to save the HMI.  I would like to save the HMI too, but it's so complicated.  I need to figure out what to do with all the "Save the HMI" energy that is coming at me.  I feel like if I don't do something, I will be letting down a lot of people and the amazing mission that I have lived and breathed like my life depended on it for the last six years.  But I'm exhausted... and I've personally been ready to move on for some time now (this was my first job out of grad school... I couldn't work at the HMI the rest of my life).  I was just waiting for the right moment (preparing the staff, developing a handbook, carefully executing a two year exit strategy.)  This definitely isn't how I imagined that moment of departure would be.

Anyway, really the only thing that would save the HMI now is a large sum of money and it would have to materialize fast.  I'm talking about millions, at least one or two and some kind of commitment for the future.  Any takers?

It's really sad to be losing such vital organization.  The future of music will feel its absence.  We really were on the verge of making a universal impact... becoming a household name.  We were already changing so many lives for the better...who knows what potential will go unrealized because of this.  All I can say is what a shame.

So, now, I'll state the obvious.  I'm losing my job, getting laid-off, pink-slipped, whatever you want to call it.  As far as I know, right now, my last day at work is December 22.  It's very difficult imagining myself working anywhere else. Like I said before, the mission of the HMI is so engrained in me, so bonded in my psyche, so much a part of who I am, how I have defined myself.   It will be very difficult for me to love another...

But, I know there is a bright side for me and when I'm not a little frightened, I am excited about it.  Lots of opportunity, room for new ideas, new passions, new directions.  It's a real roller coaster ride right now.  I'll try to blog again when I'm on the upside... right now I can't help but just be sad. 

Yarn for my friend AJ!

Here are the photos I promised of the finished yarn for AJ.  I'm going to email the yahoo spinning group that I subscribe to  and get some advice on finishing techniques to use, if any...  I can't wait to give it to her and see what it will become!

Up close and personal!