NEW YEAR'S ISSUE OF GUINEA PIG MAGAZINE

You still don't know what his surprise is! No hint o'it here that's for sure...
He ain't gonna be famous, either, uh-uh!
Just good old Taj, Pirate, Brotherly food-snatcher,
Runabout escape artist...and, and...oh, we can't tell you.

Just forget you even saw this. It's better that way.
(giggling...)

Happy New Year from all of us to all of you, around the world and here at home.

Welcome New Friends!

Dear New Friends from India, England, and Around the World,

Namaste and Welcome to the Little Buddhas' very own Blog written by the Little Buddhas themselves. And, while they are indeed Buddhas in the highest Spiritual sense, they are also naughty, mischievous, fun-loving little Pirates who play tricks stealing each others' food, playing chase, and flirting with CoconutPie here,
the only girl. She is the Secret Ringleader of them all, although she can really assume an expression of innocence, don't you think? Just look at her!
(Do NOT Be Fooled, she is only looking that way to fool you!)

We are a fun-loving herd full of laughter, adventure, and even a few tears now
and then. 

Welcome new friends visiting for the first time...Just Remember THIS:
Please enjoy the photographs because very little you read will make sense.
(And that's the best part!)

With Deepest Respect, Gratitude and Pranaams,

Chana and the Little Buddhas

GOT OWLS?

Christmas has come early in the Little Town of Bellingham as snowy owl sitings continue to increase! This rare arctic owl is being sited as far south as Seattle and numbers reported to the Audubon Society suggest we may, indeed, have these stunning owls migrating south in even larger numbers come January due to a bumper crop of lemmings in the Arctic! Gonna get us one, mum finally gonna get one for her "life list" and we gonna love our owl! What a MERRY Christmas Present.

Wishing you OWL A VERY, MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

{Photo by Andy Bronson, Bellingham Herald}

"A Place in the Choir" - YouTube

"A Place in the Choir" - YouTube

^^^^^(EASY ON THE EYES, TOO!)

MANY GRACIOUS THANKS TO MARIFAN

FOR HER MUSICAL ACCOMPANIMENT

TO OUR "ST. FRANCIS" POST NEXT!

PLEASE LISTEN TO THIS AND ENJOY

ALL GOD'S CREATURES,

"ALL GOD'S CREATURES GOT A PLACE

IN THE CHOIR...SOME JUST CLAP THEIR

HANDS, OR PAWS...OR ANYTHING THEY

GOT, NOW!"

SO SING ALONG:

ALL GOD'S CREATURES GOT A PLACE IN THE CHOIR!

Celebrate With Love For All Creatures

"My sister birds, you owe much to God, and you must always and in every place give praise to him;
For he has given you freedom to wing through the sky and he has clothed you...

You neither sow nor reap and God feeds you and gives you rivers and mountains for your thirst,
and mountains and valleys for shelter,
and tall trees for your nests.

And although you neither know how to spin or weave, God dresses you and your children,
for the Creator loves you greatly and he dresses you abundantly.

Therefore...always seek to praise God."

From "The Little Flowers of St. Francis"
~ St. Francis of Assisi

{Edited by Mirabai Starr}

As we end one year and enter the next, to whatever spiritual tradition we belong, if any, let us give thanks for what we, too, have received both from God and from one another, and continue into 2012, with Compassion and Empathy in our Hearts for all creatures, great and small.

Love,
Your Forever Friends here at
Panda's Peace Sanctuary for Guinea Pigs
December 2011

Waiting For Santa To Bring Fairy...

Raj waits patiently beginning tonight because he doesn't understand the time difference between England and the Pacific Northwest and wants to make sure he doesn't miss Santa when he arrives with Fairy wrapped up all ready for Christmas with him...the rest of the herd (after much eye-rolling and making "cuckoo!" gestures) agreed to bring him food and treats for his vigil. Mum gonna pet him and keep him company cuz she knows how he feels.

Not really.

But she would wait like that for a guinea pig!

Borneo's Jingle Bell - YouTube

Borneo's Jingle Bell - YouTube

Kind of a tear-jerker but we want to remember

Borneo, who passed away only days after this

video was made of him playing with his favorite

Jingle-Bell toy...kind of like we have our mini-bale

hay-tossing contests...Borneo, we miss you...

Encore Presentation of Our Names

HAPPY, JOLLY HO-HO-HO!
Mum, take it away (no! no! no!)
We ARE (from top left across...)
MacNutPie, Calvin the small,
mum holding YumYum, TAJ MAHAL, CoconutPie,
YumYum, and, Fairy's favorite: RAJ MAHAL!
(o.k. Marifan, do we win now?!)
WE LOVE ALL OF YOU!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

 

The "Little Buddhas" of Panda's Peace Sanctuary wish each and every one of you a Wonderful Holiday Season of Peace and New Year filled with Magic, Love, Peace, Joy, and - of course - Lots of GUINEA PIGS to teach us the Gift of True Giving.

Love,
Little Buddhas: (from top left - Raj Mahal, MacNutPie, YumYum as a wee lad, Cavy-Slave mum,
Raj Mahal asleep in new CuddleTunnel, CocoNutPie learning to Trust, and, of course, Calvin the small

FAIRY TEACHES THE REAL HOLIDAY SPIRIT!

Today Fairy sent me this photograph of her...and even knowing how tidy and neat she is, she still loves me when the coronet on top of my head is so mussed up!

Since mum has now taken up ALL THE MEMORY on our laptop with photographs and can no longer download pics we have taken for Fairy (until more memory miraculously appears in the mail or outer space) I had no other choice than to snitch Fairy's photograph - adding upon it my own feelings for her...
hoping she knows (OH! We know she does!) that having her in our lives has brought every single one of us ~~MagicUnimaginable~~~Hope Eternal~~~~~~
& HappyDancingPopcorningSingingWheekingJOY!
(even mum, who used the magic shovel you lovingly sent to consume a very vegan pumpkin pie in less than two days...but you didn't see that here...)

Although it's unlikely we'll get more memory for our "Magic FairyBox Photoshoot" super-soon (although you never know) we hope you envision my shameless snitchery as part and parcel of a love poem travelling visually through Cyberspace beneath the Almost-Winter-Solstice moon
where two hearts meet as ONE! (Squeeee!)
We have sooooo many MAGICS to share with all of you from Boxes Fairy has sent us...
In time, in time...

(P.S. Fairy, you know by now our mum's not so bright, and your blog posts of late have got her writing comments like the madwoman she truly is...unfortunately, since you are on the more sophisticated Bloggy-Thingy, she writes my heart out only to go"...Uh...Durrrrr....Mmmmmm.....Hmmmmm...
Sorry Raj, can't figure out how to actually post it!")
Once WE figure it out, you SHALL see our comments and swoon: please alert your mousies to catch you then...the mousies we love and adore!

GUINEA PIG CRASHES THE SUPER BOWL

Doritos® Presents: CRASH THE SUPER BOWL
While different from our beloved Geico
"row" commercial, please watch until the
Very-Very end to decide for yourself whether
or not this little piggie reveals the orange 
snout of a GUILTY-PIG in this hilarious
SUPER BOWL COMMERCIAL 
COMPETITION!

DEAR FAIRY...

Raj is too embarrassed to openly say this is now his favorite season - not because of the holidays - but because he's in love! Me being the most naive,  smallest, and most eager to please, I have agreed to this photo-shoot as his MerryEveryThingFairy Holiday Card! Hopes ya likes it! We sparkle!
Mum's best friend works in Seattle public schools in one of the most dangerous,
at-risk neighborhoods in the whole City (and this is just a Middle School) but when she wears her Menorah Hat all lit up atop her red hair and radiant smile, all the kids high-five her and think she's too cool! (Which is our opinion, too!)
So, although mum won't be lighting candles on OUR menorah (she promised her friends and the maintenance team...no matches...after they politely expressed "concerned TERROR!") but we will be spinning, snatching, and chewing up our wooden dreidels faster than you can say "aleph." Oooh, we can hardly wait!

Hey, guess what? It finally raining for the first time this month, breaking all weather records for driest December! As we approach the Winter Solstice, it would be misleading to even say we have "days"...What we have now are a few hours near noon, maybe two, that are Less Dark than the Deep Night! Soon, we will be down to only minutes which, though not technically "daytime" will qualify as "not exactly Night-time." So, we need our Holiday lights, Christmas decorations, Chanukkah menorah, and every bright, sparkly thing we can get our paws on...For this reason, Raj & me made this special for you Fairy, because this is about as bright as it gets up here in the deep, haunting, grey Heart of a Great Pacific Northwest winter!

May we join you for tea some time? Tonight we may try to squeeze into Mouse's
Matchbox because it's cold and we have our cuddle cups but where is Fairy?

Love,
Calvin the small

Holiday Greetings to All and to All a Good Night!

love,
Calvin, the small menorah-wearing Rain-Oh!Dear

Soul of an Orca

    ORIGINAL DRAWING MADE IN SEATTLE

FIRST PAINTING CREATED FROM PRINT OF ORIGINAL DRAWING
MADE IN SEATTLE...THIS ONE IS
FOR SALE. NOT THE ORIGINAL.
THIS IS OUR STORY.


There is a buyer who wants to buy the orca painting, shown above in black. This is one version of many I will complete based on the Original (on top.) The title of the original is: "Oh, Killer Whale, please teach me to breathe underwater!" and it
was drawn at a cafe across the street from the hospital in Seattle where Edwin had his cancer surgery, which included some pretty close calls, post-op...I was helpless to do anything other than ask the orca to teach me how to continue functioning in the midst of what felt like the impossible...the drawing was a plea...I sat and drew and drew while Edwin slept or had whatever they needed to do done. The Cancer Center there had an Art Therapist, can you believe that? We discovered that drawing and making birds' nests was the way my aching soul chose to express its pain. So, I rode the orca, like the girl in the movie "Whale Rider" when it took her beneath the sea...she did not drown. Nor did I. And Edwin lived.

Here's the catch. The buyer does not want the "finished" painting, she wants to also see the original...as disorganized as I admittedly am, I can usually ferret out what I need...given time. And functional neural synapses!

The truth is, I don't want to sell it. The original would sell for a LOT more money and I currently have one dollar and one cent in my checking account. I checked today. But more coming in from art sales last month will get us through the rest of the month...the point being that - financial need aside - this is "my totem whale" and it cared for me...and does not want to be "captured or sold" as if it lived in a zoo or Sea World! It wants to swim quietly in my soul, and has therefore dived to the depths of the sea where I cannot retrieve it...for now.

Whether the buyer will want the "finished" repainted version I cannot know.

But this has been the most extraordinary spiritual experience I have ever had with a piece of art...the second most extraordinary experience also was about orca whales, baby orca whales. So, apparently, the Orcas have chosen me.
We have three non-migratory pods who live right here in the San Juan Islands.
I have never seen one, refusing to take an "orca boat tour" as I believe these boats disrupt their normal behavior, placing them at risk. That is not respectful.
So I have only seen Orcas within.

That is all I have to share.  I don't know how the buyer will respond to this,
but I am truthful about this experience and we do live amongst some pretty darn Sacred Native American land, sea, mountains, and sky: All deserve the utmost Respect. They humble me.

Love,
Chana

A Day In The Life

             This photograph was as blurry as I am before the coffee kicks in.

Once highly caffeinated, I am ready to become "calm." Sounds counter-intuitive, doesn't it? Indeed!

Nobody said I was organized: Just "kinda."
(On a good day.)
Rare indeed are they!

Guess What?

"Hey, Mac, just got my nails trimmed and now headed for the Snowflake Hut where I'll look so miserable after my nail trim that mom will feel bad and give me lots of scritchy-scratches!"

"Hey, YumYum, I just had MY nails trimmed too! Just for that I AM GOING THERE, TOO!"

"Hrumph! Then I'll race ya, but since I'm already on Runabout, Ha-Ha-Ha-on YOU! Cuz I gonna win!"

"WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! Mom, it's me, your loving Mac, Free Me! Free Me!"

"Hey, you two, calm down there...nice nails, by the way...hey, YumYum, you were so good during the Trim of the Season, how about a little sumpin'-sumpin' as a reward for (unusually) Good Piggery?"

"TO THE SNOWFLAKE HUT, MOM, TO THE SNOWFLAKE HUT THIS INSTANT!"

(oh, MacNutPie: "mu-ah-ha-ha, Mu-AH- Ha -HAAAAAAAAAAAAH!")

Scritchy-Scratches in Our New SNOWFLAKE Hut!

"OOOOOHhhhhh.....AaaaaaaHhhhhhhh, mom, you sure know my FAVE-O-FAVE scritchy-scratchy spots!"

(Way above is YumYum in our new extra-large Snowflake Hut, compliments of our anonyMouse benefactor and Jen of Jen's Custom Crafts!) 
"Mom, I know in my youth I was a swashbuckling Pirate, but now that I am

becoming a wise sagely Pig, the MedicinePig of the Herd, scritchy-scratches have become more meaningful than Adventurous Pillaging and Food Snachery...mom, have I mellowed out?"

MacNutPie has his say:

"HEY, ME TOO, ME TOO, OR I'LL PRESS MY NOSE INTO YOUR CAMERA! C'MOM, SAVE SOME FOR 'THE MAC' CUZ, AFTER ALL, I'M GETTING
FA-MOUSE NOW HERE and ABROAD!"

"MacNutPie, once YumYum is settled, tucked in, and ready for his nap in the Snowflake Hut, you will have me all to yourself, precious dear."

"GOOD! Because I been shakin' my money-maker for you real hard, mom."

"Actually, Sweetheart you have been 'shakin' your money-maker' for homeless piggies in England and abroad, and the magazine that a certain so-and-so will be appearing on the cover of in the upcoming Holiday Issue which will even include an interview. We all know that giving makes us very happy because not a one among us has not been homeless or unwanted at one time or another, and we never want ANYBODY to ever feel like we did, remember?"

"Mom...you just made me cry...FatMacNutPieCry-ing..."

"I know, honey, me, too. It really feels better to give than receive...although it sure feels good to receive, because the Circle of Love must go 'round & 'round!"

sniffle. sniffle.

"row." sniffle.

sniffle. "row."

where's the tissue, please?

HAVE A VERY FAIRY CHRISTMAS!

JURY DUTY?

I DON'T HAVE JURY DUTY MOM, THINK THEY MEAN YOU!

IS FAIRY COMING TO VISIT US, MOM?

COMPASSION

Mom Broke Blogger: Now She Gonna Set Up A Store At Cafe Press?!

This just gets better and better! First mom got really sick cuz she got so happy she went overboard. Does she know better? Of Course she knows better. Then she got stuck in bed and bored, so she decided to improve and tweak a few little things and broke Blogger. Does she know better? Of course she knows better. Then a light bulb went off in her (already dimly lit) head and she decided that one of the easiest ways to earn funds for our Guinea Pig Sanctuary would be if she didn't have to do ANYTHING at all! (She real good at that one. That we all gots plenty o'confidence in!)

Since we are selling so well in England and Europe raising funds for guinea pig sanctuaries there, mom thought (and here's the good part - "Huh? Why don't I do that, too? Here? For us?")

Wow, how could she not be a rocket scientist?

So, tonight she opened up an account as a vendor of her very own site/store at Cafe Press! Yup! She did it!

She was so happy we all clapped our tails together to cheer her on!

There does come a point, however, having crossed her T's and dotted her I's that you actually have to put PRODUCTS in your
store. They asked her how that was coming along, like, let's get
this party started!

She decided that it was time to DEFRAGGLE the computer and that is exactly what she is doing now.

What we mean to tell all of our faithful readers and hangers on is
that very soon, hopefully BEFORE CHRISTMAS, she will have designed us with funny sayings and even figured out how to download us onto OUR VERY OWN GUINEA PIG SANCTUARY STORE ON CAFE PRESS!

We'll let you know how it's going...
Seriously, because we want you to spend all your money on us
like they do in England, where cavies are treasured, adored, and
considered Royal.

We'll let you know how it's going...
Right now we have to get her back to bed so she has the strength
to go to the Farm Store for our monthly "Stock Up" on what were all our favorite things until new boxes arrived from England and Jen's little cozy cavy shop in the Midwest and now we have NEW
favorite things! Meanwhile, if they can do it at Guinea Pig Magazine and the place that put Coconut in a calendar, why can't mom just do it, too?

(That was a rhetorical question. But you already knew that, didn't you?)

Will Miracles Never Cease?

And - Just In Time For The HOLIDAYS: MOM BROKE BLOGGER!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Our first holiday gift from mom (and it's not
even Chanukkah or Christmas yet! OOhhh,
this is gonna be interesting!) would have to
be her timely breakage of Blogger! She added
something to her computer so she could chat
with friends in other countries who asked if she
could chat with them since they are in other countries and so, of course, she installed what they suggested
so we could spend our Holidays Around the World
and now we can't even spend them right here on
our own BLOG!
So, for now, please see the new blog post from
GuineaPigToday posted on top of "Blogs We Follow"
to the right there (next to our SQUEEE! Fairy!) to
learn how we will be spending Chanukkah with mom
even though:
1. She never knows what day or even day of the week it is because when so much of your life is lived
in bed it stops making a whole lot of difference after awhile so if Susan doesn't leave a voicemail TELLING her...we think Susan might get mom a special watch because even a calendar mom can't understand and 3. It was deemed by mom's friends that at no time ever is she allowed to own and operate matches or candles ever, ever, ever so we will pretend to light something each night if we can figure out what December 20 means in "mom's world" and for each night receive a special cuddle and different treat.
And until we fix whatever she has done to our Blog we apologize in advance for whatever we post because look like she done broke it, YUP, DONE
BROKE IT GOOD!
love you but we can only do so much given what we have to work with and know that if you know mom you know what we mean...
love,
oy! pigs

Read More About A Very Cavy Chanukkah...

Happy Chanukkah

{Photograph from GuineaPigToday embellished by our own Chanukkah PhotoCavieShopNots}