Camping in Point Reyes

We spent last Sunday night camping at the Coast Camp in Point Reyes with our friend Meghan. It's a very easy three mile walk in and out, with at least half of the time spent along the coastal bluffs. We did our research and reserved a site that would afford wind protection and ocean views. Campsite No. 3 was perfect!

Bob brought the tiny camp stove and we had whole wheat pasta + sauce for dinner. Appetizer was a rustic baguette from Raymond's Bakery in Cazadero and goat cheese. Bob even carried a bottle of red wine to have with dinner (bonus points for him!). For breakfast  we enjoyed warm museli with dried cranberries + brown sugar. We never go hungry when we camp, that's for sure. 

Bread

"To brew beer, to make cheese to bake a loaf of bread, to braise a pork shoulder, is to be forcibly reminded that all these things are non just products, in fact are no even really 'things.' Most of what presents itself to us in the marketplace as a product is in truth a web of relationships between ourselves and all the other species on which we will depend. Eating and drinking especially implicate us in the natural world in ways that the industrial economy, with its long and illegible supply chains, would have us forget."

From Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation by Michael Pollan

Five Photos: Memorial Day Weekend

Morning coffee checking out the tide book for prime tidepooling hours.

Napping. 

Volunteering for our harbor seal docent shift at Tidepool Beach.

Getting to spend time with Bob!

Sunset at Black Point Beach with friends.

Six Months of Coffee Photos

I am about six months in to my Daily Coffee Photo project. Though I have not taken a picture EVERY day, I've been keeping up.

I have the complete set over on Flickr and upload new ones as I take them. I invite you to take a look. It's all right here at this link.

What I love most about this project is that it serves as a visual journal. Who I was with, what I ate, what my view was or what book I was reading.

I plan to keep going for a full year and then I will decide what will be next for these images. I've already printed a few with Printstagram, which has some cool ways to use Instagram images.

Do you have any ideas of what I can do with the images?

Daring Greatly

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

Theodore Roosevelt - "Citizenship in a Republic,"
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910

We Did It!

We did it! I was able to reach my Charity Water goal of providing clean water to 41 people for my 41^st birthday. Thank you to the following kind and generous people who helped make this happen.

Adriana

Annie

Anonymous

Bob

Caroline
Emily

Emma

Janessa

Jenni

Joe

Katherine

Lynn & Trudy

Mandira

Nancy

Nicci

Nick

Susan

Tristan

My sister and her family

My parents

Honestly, going into this I didn’t know if I would reach my goal of getting $820 in donations. However, someone once told me that if you don’t ask, it’s like you are getting a “no” anyway.  So, I asked. I asked on Facebook (several times) and I asked on Twitter and people donated. 

In addition to donations, people shared in the enthusiasm of the project, told their friends and served as cheerleaders, which was equally as awesome. In the end, my total was $961, more than $100 above my original goal. 

So, now it’s time to get on with being 41 years old, whatever that means. Thanks again everyone. I really appreciate it!

Water for 41 People

photo credit: Charity:Water

Last year I had a chance to hear Charity:Water’s  founder, Scott Harrison  speak. If you are not familiar with Charity:Water, they are a non-profit that brings clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. 

The particularly cool thing about their work is that 100% of the money donated goes straight to water projects. Their operating costs are underwritten by angel investors, foundations, and corporate sponsorship. Bottom line, every penny donated goes specifically to a water project, and it’s also tax deductible.

Why am I telling you this?

On February 28, I will turn 41 years old.  To celebrate, I have started my own Charity:Water Campaign called Water for 41 for my 41^st.

Will you help?

If you would normally buy me a drink or coffee, instead, I invite you to pitch in $5 or $10 to my fundraising efforts? Nothing would make me happier to be able to turn my birthday into clean water for 41 people. While costs vary per country, they can bring clean water to people at about $20 a head, so my goal is to raise $820.

Think about what clean water means for you. I know I take abundant supplies of clean water for granted. My life would be a lot different if I had to worry about getting some kind of stomach bug each time I drank the water. I appreciate that I can turn on the tap in my kitchen or bathroom and get clean water. I don’t have to walk miles or hours to go to a water source of questionable quality. Did you know that: 

• 90% of the 30,000 deaths that occur every week from unsafe water and unhygienic living conditions are children under five years old;
• In Africa alone, people spend 40 billion hours every year just walking for water. 
• Every $1 invested in improved water supply and sanitation yields an average of $4-$12 for the local economy, depending on the type of intervention.

Needless to say, clean water is important for a variety of reasons. Will you help me bring clean water to 41 people? 

I am confident that we can do this. Will you join me?

Click here to get started.