k.d. lang sings "Hallelujah" LIVE at the Winter Olympics 2010

Edwin heard this LIVE at the Closing Ceremonies to the 2010

Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B. C. It's the most moving,

heartbreaking, breathtaking version we have ever heard.
Mom loves listening to it while cleaning our cages. She says it
makes the experience Holy and cries, her hands full of our
pee and poo, singing "Hallelujah!" simply because we are all alive.

PARADISE LOST...

This was the view from our window when we lived on the Wildlife Refuge.
Our city view does not resemble this. But we are creating our own Refuge
because we guinea pigs are rescuing mom, and IT IS GOOD.   

HOMESICK

Yum Yum here. Confession: it is fall and we are not "home" on our wildlife refuge waking to migrating geese and birds we are accustomed to hearing prepare themselves for their long journey south, as we eagerly await mystery visitors from the arctic who will make our little corner of the world their very own this winter...
long-necked swans; the rare totem snowy owl...snow geese and whomever else Mighty North Winds unexpectedly blow our way! Serious windstorms begin in November and marching out with binoculars to survey our ever-changing landscape is like Christmas morning every morning! And the swans...O!
those talking swans who conversate in nuanced tones amongst one another at dawn and dusk. Sigh.

We endured our first summer in the city with as few complaints as possible. We hardly remember a moment of it, thanks to Molly's Owl Box and our many new MOD friends and visits from our precious Seattle friends who even took mom up to Mt. Baker one day where she hiked snowfields in her walker. We are considering  rigging it up with skis this winter...! OOH-La-La! We can only survive if we get a shot of altitude and 5,000 feet (our tummies filled with Uber-Lattes and snacks) always does the trick!

Fall in the city: a new Challenge completely: how to compensate with gratitude our memories of...walking trails strewn with fallen leaves of gold, red, and purple, discovering wasps nests which, by winter, should be vacant enough to pull off some of their delicate grey paper for use in art work, smiling as beavers leave long, graceful wakes upon Scudder Pond's surface as they buttress their lodges at dusk, bald eagles soaring by our windows, long branches in their sharp talons as they winterize their nest up high in the cottonwood tree, for endure November's gales blow a Fierce wind! And, of course the sight of first snow atop low-lying foothills...and alpenglow twilights with only a sliver of new moon. The crunch of newly fallen leaves beneath our feet...And thus, a new spiritual challenge: Live in gratitude for our new city home, knowing that we are exactly where we belong, finding the precious secrets amongst our street people and ramshackle alleyways.
Perhaps the camera will help?

Are we homesick? Like crazy we are! We can no longer smell imminent storms: It can drive one mad for the tell-tale fragrance when North Wind plays hide-and-seek, ceases to fill one's senses with the Promise of Drama: whistling, raw fierceness roaring across fall's browning open marsh, flattening cattails; the coziness of power outages luminated by candlelight while kitties and guinea pigs all snuggle beneath quilted blankets to keep one another cozy as one Arctic blast after another blusters it's way down from Alaska through the Fraser River Valley, oblivious to international borders... We are dying here, senses deadening to protect us from an urban environment in which we find so little poetry,  our longing for home intensifying: learning spiritually to surrender to "what is" an intensifying exercise in humility, endurance, and faith...my art friend and former neighbor's blog reminding us of Paradise Lost as she keeps her awareness open to the entrance of beauty in all forms of natural expression. Thank you, Amanda. We sooo miss you and Oboe!

Are we homesick? Who knew it would hurt this much in fall...perhaps if it snows in the lowlands, shuts down the city, and we can cross-country ski to Cafe Adagio for mocha lattes it would take away some of the sting? But not for long, never for long. Our hearts are in the high country, alongside John Muir, our birthday keepsake, and Stickeen, his faithful companion.

SIGH...WAITING FOR FRIDAY MOLLY MOVIE NIGHT, SEEMS SUCH A LONG TIME OFF...

sure hope mom remembers the popcorn...
and the answers to all the trivia questions so we get fun prizes like - oh, i dunno - maybe a first edition of "Stickeen"
because it's my favorite book and i think mom would like reading it to me...so here I wait, on the glass ice cube of
Waiting Patiently, which is not so easy when you are still a baby and Molly Friday Movie Night is a whole day away!
hope mom let's us help her with the answers since we've read "Molly the Owl" ten times already and have only
eaten - NO! Admired her Molly the Owl bookmarks for their edibl- -- uh, no, admired their "aesthetic loveliness" (chomp, chomp) yeah, their beautitude!

NOTE TO SELF: substitude "aesthetic loveliness" for "wow, that tasted good, mom! got any more Molly the Owl bookmarks left?" yeah, that's good, yeah, gonna use that! Know she has more, just where? where?

SHARING BREAKFAST!

Hi, it's me, Mac Nut, and this is one way we start our day: If not on mom's lap, we's running around, eating together on the floor. At least me and Raj. He's the only one who lets me chase him without trying to bite me, so he's my only RunAbout friend.
But we's pretty happy, him and me, especially when mom is playing the "Here's fresh lettuce game!" Wheek!

So, GOOD MORNING!

From Mac Nut and the Herd. (Yum Yum slept in all cozy in his sleeping bag since we went from the summer we didn't have
past the fall we didn't have straight into winter and there's already snow in the mountains: WheeeeK!)

GONNA EAT MOM'S STUPID NOTE!

RAJ, DON'T EVEN THINK OF SNITCHING!

Hmmm....do think mom is getting suspicious, that was a close call, better hide the evidence and make sure Raj doesn't
snitch on me!

YUM-YUM, DID YOU TRY TO EAT MY REMINDER?

No, nada, absolutely I would NEVAH! BUT, OH! The owlets have flown away so now you are going to pay more attention to us?
Hmmm...no, those are not chew-marks and I don't know how you found this in my mouth, but why are you taking it away when it tasted so good?

MAC NUT PIE IN THOUGHTFUL REPOSE

Raj and Taj Snuggle While Mac Nut Looks On With Longing

Looks like time for Raj and Taj to get a bigger "cuddle cup" now that they are full grown...but little Mac Nut looks from behind the bars of his cage, longing to snuggle with them. And, yes, that is Taj looking back at him with that "Nevah gonna happen, Raj is MINE!" look, so little MacNut Pie will have to find contentment sleeping in his food dish for now!

I LOVE TO LOUNGE IN MY FOOD BOWL

"Mac Nut, honey, you not laying down in your food bowl again are you? Don't wanna get it dirty, O.K. sweetheart?"

"No, Mom, I would never do a thing like that, you must be thinking of YumYum...I am in my little Wooden House!"
"O.K. Honey, just checking."
"Love you, Mom."
"Love you, too."

COME PLAY WITH ME! I'S JUST A BABY!

I IS JUST A LITTLE BABY GUINEA PIG. YOU KNOW, MAC NUT PIE PIGGY...Will you come out and play with me, Raj?

FINE! RAJ can just give me "the eye" like I doesn't care! "YO! YumYum, will you come out and play wid me? YumYum?"

WHAT? HOW DIS HAPPEN?! Now I's in my cage and Taj is out. HMMMmmmm...gotta think, gotta think in my food bowl.

MOM! HAVE YOU SEEN MY SITAR?

HI, IT'S MAC-NUT-PIE-PIGGIE here because YumYum is taking a nap so I'm slipping in a post!
What's new with me, you ask? Well, I'll tell you! Mom felt that with all my "baby pig" energy I needed
a new hobby and I am a real spiritual dude, see, so I took up playing Sitar and am learning from Ravi
Shankar and George Harrison.

Right, right! That's not possible because George is...

See, here in guinea pig Spiritual Realms EVERYTHING is possible,
it's just that you can't see me in the video because I am so little and Ravi narrated to delete my squeaking because he said I was two octaves higher than the sitar even though they don't exactly have octaves in Classical Indian music, I says to him, to which he replied: "Da, da-da, DA!" George then petted me.

Well, see for yourself, below!

George says: Peace & Love from Heaven and he let me sit on his lap and now I miss him. So, we are all listening to "All Things Must Pass," wishing that George wasn't One of those things...

love,
Baby Mac-Nut-Pie Piggie
(i haven't learned how to line up my sentences so they are not fractured in post appearances, but -
make no mistake - i intend NEVAH to learn, so expect no improvement, EVAH!  DA-da-DAda-DA!)

Ravi Shankar, George, and MacNutPie Play Sitar!

MAC-NUT-PIE'S FIRST PORTRAITS!

This is my "shy" face.

This is my "Check out all the crazy-long Whiskers!" face.

This is my "Check out how crazy-long I can stretch out if I want to look all grown up!" pose.

I am baby MacNutPie! This Message Has Been Paid for and Endorsed by "Mom loves Baby MacNutPie"
My platform is: soft, cuddly blankets, lots of guinea pig friends to play with, plenty of fresh, organic yummies for all, and
I will become the alpha-male Chieftain of "The Herd That Hears" I just KNOWS I will! Sniff, sniff, is that popcorn?

MEET THE NEWEST MEMBER OF "THE HERD THAT HEARS"

You doesn't want me sniffing Raj Mahal's butt anymore? But I like to...oh, o.k. fine!

Hello, my name is Mac-Nut Pie and even though I am little I want to be the alpha pig of the Herd That Hears so I am hard at work endearing myself to YumYum (so he tried to eat me, we supposed to be herbivores, nobody told him or what?) and Raj Mahal loves me chasing him and sniffing his butt, but when Taj Mahal catches me doing that...well, I've a ways to grow...still, ain't I a cutie pie? And I am sooo soft and growing whiskers out of my eyelids and places all over my face - mom hasn't ever seen the likes of that before; she keeps wondering why I got those funny whiskers in strange places on only one side of my face: because I am special.


Sincerely Yours,
MacNutPiePiggie

Bellingham State of Mind: Where We Live NOW!

HOUSE LOVES MOM

Dear Naysayers whose names we won't say. Hugh Laurie is married. But he secretly loves mom and just because he is British does NOT mean he is automatically allergic to guinea pigs. He loves all three of us.

We don't expect any of our faithful readers to understand this post. But one unfaithful reader WILL.

And she know who she IS!

We are all worried about Owlet Ashley and tonight hope to see her since brilliant minds in the Owlbox suggest that she will "climb" up a tree and back into the Owlbox. OooooKaaay. Never seen a baby barn owlet climb a tree but we see lots of stuff on "HOUSE" we never expect to see, too, especially considering we don't even own a T.V.

This is not intended to be interesting.

Love,
YumYum

ASHLEY AND CARRIE'S LAST DAY TOGETHER IN THE OWL BOX

{Photo courtesy of Candles from the MOD Blog. Thanks, Candles! Who knew this would be their last portrait together?}

LAST NIGHT ASHLEY FLEW THE COOP!

Dear Readers,

You may have us back sooner than expected: Last night Ashley took off! And did not return to the owlbox, leaving Carrie alone...boy, I know that feeling...mom says nobody can be in my cage because I will bite them and attack them and chase them and -

(EDITOR: "Yum-Yum?!")

O.K. so what? It still gets lonely. At least my cage is adjacent to Raj and Taj so we can sniff noses, talk amongst ourselves, and plan guinea pig rebellions.

Last night mom did let the three of us all out together and it went quite well -at first.
I only CHASED Raj around!

Then Taj must have come over, the gloves came off, and my teeth-chattering - "ATTACK IMMINENT"
warning drew mom's attention, immediately ending our fun. (FINE! MY fun.)

Mom said I am doing better but as long as I lunge and bite, no "RunAbouts" with the Mahals.

She mean.

So now I am alone again, just like poor little Carrie, alone in her owl box without Ashley...

Well, who cares? It's Breakfast Time: WHEeeeeeeeeK! Yeah!

Who loves ya, baby?

Yum-Yum loves ya!

{Photo courtesy of Candles from MOD Blog. Thank you.}

WHERE, O WHERE, HAVE WE BEEN?

Dear Faithful Friends,

You may have noticed we have gone missing from our very own Blog, and wondered: How could YumYum do that to us,
we hang on his every word.

We apologize for neglecting you. Sincerely, we do.

For starters, mom has not been well.

And as for me, I have been enjoying my guest editorial contributions on the MOD Blog for the past few months, because on October 20, the Owl Cams will be turned off...and since moving into our urban "digs" from our beloved wildlife sanctuary on Scudder Pond, Molly's Owl Box has been our "nature fix" and we became involved in the lives of the many wonderful friends we have made there over the spring, summer, and now into fall.

It has been the "wind beneath our wings" during our transition from listening to eagles in flight, enjoying beavers at dusk, and inhaling the fragrance of storms blowing in from across the pond to: HERE!

For those who would like to see our new environment, please watch the YouTube sensation:

                                           "Bellingham State of Mind"

because we live just off Railroad Street, which is featured in this hysterical send-up of "Empire State of Mind" and you can see all the places mom frequents daily (or as much as possible) and see that we are now living quite a different lifestyle after ten years embedded within our little Nature Sanctuary.

The good news is that we have the coziest, FAB little place, a 4th floor corner unit, with EPIC South-West windows: and light, light,YES, WE HAVE LIGHT!  We've also discovered that downtown Bellingham is way sunnier than the foothills east of us...our old home, sigh...

MORE NEWS: Meteorologists now tell us we are in for the coldest, wettest, stormiest, snowiest winter
since the 1950's, meaning (God willing) that mom can just clip her boots into cross-country skies and whoosh-whoosh straight to our favorite coffee shop (Adaggio Cafe)  in the midst of every paralyzing blizzard that silences our little town beneath a blanket of snow. And more snow. And, hopefully, LOTS more snow!
We love snow. LOVES IT!

So, ya, we have been quietly adjusting...evolving, grieving yes, learning to apprecieate what we now have,
and we promise to return to you soon, better than ever!

Thank you for your patience.
(And my Pulitzer-Prize winning posts can be seen on the MOD Blog, which is linked here, above...
who knew YumYum such a brilliant writer?! We cavies never cease to amaze (ourselves!)

Horks & Hisses & Guinea Pig Kisses,
love,
YumYum

Carrie Needs Coffee