My Blog

fire and the furys

alix — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:48:44 GMT

Fire is burning, is it natural, is this mother nature's truth and way of cleansing the forest, fire is normally a natural life cycle of the planet and part of the cycle within wild lands. With huge mega fires burning all over California, this question once again comes to mind. I'm hoping Big Sur doesnt completely burn down, all the little places such as the River Inn, Nepenthe, Deejuns, just to name a few. The cliffs are eternal, the ocean waves crashing are eternal, but the trees. The trees may need to regrow, and isn't that what trees do? Is the lifecycle of the forest, a natural part of it, the fire? The smoke floated yesterday over the horizon at Rio del Mar beach. The hundreds of tourists on the beach seemed oblivious to the clouds which had tinted the ocean a strange shade of green. The signs were posted up and down the beach, do not swim, ocean water may be contaminated.. People didn't see the signs and instead, frolicked in the water. I saw several families laughing merrily as they showered next to the sand. The air is breathable, right now in Aptos, though I've been hearing the air quality is really bad in other parts of the state, to the point people feel the need to get gas masks, and that little particles can get in your lungs. I've been trying to breath through my nose. The sunset will be an apocalyptic shade of red, because of the smoke. The fourth of July may be a quiet night, with a rumored $1000 fine per sparkler. The fire toys will be staying wrapped up in their bags, for the pleasure and playfulness of fire, not as a witness to the destruction of fire. This is one of those times again, where I contemplate playing with fire, versus taking a real step and joining the fire crews to help, though I can't lift 100 pounds, and don't know how serious I could think about being a firewoman, the thought strikes me anyways, as I watch the firefighters on TV..

the seacave

alix — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 20:53:41 GMT

floated into a seacave to get out of the rain by the northern sea cliffs

the halawa valley

alix — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 07:19:26 GMT

is one of those places.. driving on a one lane highway overlooking 500 foot ocean cliffs with no guardrails and blind turns around every mountain size boulder, .. there are wild tropical plants taking over the burnt out structure of what was once a church.. , every other plant had some luscious fruit growing upon it; we went on some tour up to this waterfall called moa'ula and an older hawaiian lady was our tour guide. She took us through this winding path, first to a tree filled with tantalizing plum mangoes hanging all over the tree.. exotic creations, so ate some violet mango plums... Somehow we ended up on a small path which was filled with bananas, papayas and little hawaiian cherries, and several other types of fruit I have never heard of. In the background are these gigantic lush green mountains, (probably because of the torrential tropical downpour which occurs every morning) - through a long tunnel of over hung woven growing thick branches which seemed to go on forever. The halawa rainforest floor is lined with so many fallen mangoes that the smell of the squished mangos becomes an ultra sweet perfume filling the air, which is already sticky and thick with flowers of every shape and color. The lady did not have a phone, so she met us because every morning she walks out of her front yard to see who has arrived for a tour. She has lived there, part of 5 generations of the original hawaiians in the halawa valley, she took us through all sorts of random farms on this bespeckled trail to the waterfall. so after eating an assortment of wild growing fruits and having already stuffed the packs filled with trail mix, because oh maybe in california you have to stuff your pack with things to eat, never did it occur to me, that there would be piles of fruits waiting swinging on the trees, begging to be eaten so that it should not over ripen and fall to the ground in a pile of mush, so, with pockets bulging, a gigantic avacado, twice the size of what I have ever seen for sale in california, and monster size papayas. Palm trees growing under a canopy of rainforest tree covers and red birds flying through the air all added together to create a dizzy frutopia of which I have never experienced hiking in northern california. The trail was somewhat muddy and mushy (from all the squished mango) i hiked barefoot until accidently a tree branch fell on my head. for a while I was seeing stars and soon every falling mango and coconut had me a tad jumpy after the branch, but eventually by head stopped hurting and I could only see my feet creeping and tiptoing along a path of muddied rocks, once the mangoes stopped, the trail became part of the river rocks and hopping from rock to rock until finally somehow the sounds of a flying helicopter form maui taking people the easy way to the waterfall broke the spell. Then, beckoning before me 200 feet of pounding white water crashing into an azure blue pool, with freezing cold mist floating in a cloud to take over the papaya scent. Took a bunch of photos from the rocks, didnt go in after all. unusual the guide made all sorts of fruit and leaf offering bundles along the entire trail because we passed through several ancient burial grounds and also a gigantic stone circle that the sacred kahunas priests sat at during full moon rituals of some sort. my brain absorbed by all the endless stories being filled into my mind, yet still dizzy from the falling branch bump on my head. somehow we left the waterfall to end up in a papaya plantation of the largest luscious papayas ever to be eaten. so now with belly bulging with fruits of all kinds and names, somehow many squished mangoes later we ended up walking barefoot in a river next to a beach with crashing blue waves. off in the distance between two huge swollen green lush mountains is the waterfall beckoning from a distance from the beach...

sunset

alix — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 06:14:42 GMT

sunset was pretty, spent the day mostly lounging on a cove next to the pacific ocean and floating around in a sea of warm blue bubbles with an occasional rainbow colored fish swimming by. ventured into the town where we arranged to go on some sort of tour tomorrow to a 200+ foot waterfall somewhere in the jungle on the east of Molokai, apparently we need to go with a guide, and apparently there is a myth of a gigantic lizard who lives in the pool beneath the waterfall, and you have to ask permission by throwing a tao leaf into the water and if it floats you have permission to swim and if it sinks, you best not go into the waterfall's pool .. hmm. well, I will see if the lizard lets me swim tomorrow; everyone on this island goes to sleep as soon as the sun goes down. It is very very very very quiet on this island, even in the sunlight. though I can here the sound of rustling trees, even the birds it seem go to sleep early here.

watch out for drunk hawaiians

alix — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:29:53 GMT

seriously! after flying all the way to oahu, than going on a very noisy small plane to molokai, and then getting our car, we are driving to our place where we're staying and a crazy car is swerving all over the highway on molokai, Bill moves the car off to the shoulder of the road, and then sees her in the rearview mirror slam her car into the side of a mountain, we turn around to make sure she's alive, and the lady staggers out of her car, with blood on her face, mumbling, dont call 911 dont call 911, than the big hawaiians guys who also pulled over see the collection of broken beer bottles in her front seat. i guess the locals on the island know her, and tell us she's a drunk girl - supposedly we are supposed to wait to talk to emergency as we are the witnesses, but the big hawaiian guy who somehow knows the drunk stumbling girl who nearly crashed into our car.... , tells us we shouldn't bother to wait, she's a drunk . meanwhile , so we get back in our car and find the place, ke nani kai, where we are staying for our honeymoon. .. hmmmmmmmm

so the wheel has turned

alix — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 23:04:41 GMT

leaving for the island of Molokai on Saturday... .. .. hooray!

nothing like a state of emergency

alix — Fri, 23 May 2008 13:50:57 GMT

As the state of emergency got declared this morning in Santa Cruz county and I woke up to the smell of smoke, I couldnt help but be struck by this photograph of a couple in china, on their wedding day, right after the earthquake knocked down the building behind them! 3 days. hopefully the fire will be in control by Sunday. (!) and hopefully the band wont be evacuated (!) and hopefully (!)

sometimes I think that everyone might be blissfully unaware

alix — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 03:30:38 GMT

of all the things in the world that need action and that the nations corporate controlled media are aiding the existence of a droned out mentality when even I shut the tv off because I cant deal with one more story about Iraq or the formula written news . all the critical thinking and analysis of an investigative journalist is not present - the news today is like this blaring formula of stale rehearsed lines that hold no soul and no call to action . bland and dull it speaks to shut off our minds and cause a disinterest in the global and local events - making news based around a police scanner and the daily happenings of the scanner are not particularly engaging and while the media has this great power to spread information it has become a numb, dull and useless tool in the hands of droned out corporate culture where the action and meaning behind the messages, the special links to what causes events to create other events and the ability to draw connections between these occurrences is completely absence from the local news. I am beside myself that the news station should cover a story about UFOs on so-called credible media but leave out -- oh its just that all the news of the world is so CANNEd its processed, the news has turned into processed food for the mind and the real substance, the raw nutrition to feed your brain is hidden away, in single pages of cyberspace where there is an awareness and consciousness of events and causalities. in the meantime - I think that I cant deal any more with the brain numbing news, and I find myself mindlessly reading the same articles over and over from cnn, to yahoo to associated press and than I pick up a printed newspaper and its the same garbage. where are the speakers and writers of the generations?

here's what I think

alix — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 01:46:35 GMT

George Bush, our president by announcing he will VETO the plan to barr water-boarding is basically admitting to the entire world that he condones, allows torture including simulated drowning, sensory deprivation and other heinous things, of which our country should feel completely embarrassed about in the global arena. In case you didnt notice, I am of the anybody but george bush in the white house please camp. .. This guy has ruined our county in so many ways - this is yet another hidden dark mark which clouds the gleaming hope of what America was "supposed" to be as designated by our forefathers. The right to habeus corpus (which is the right to a fair trial) suddenly is GONE - hello - that is what American law is FOUNDED on... Bush is eroding the entire system of justice and freedom for all.... Yes - I hate bombing gun toting terrorists, but the fact that the average tree hugging environmentalist can now be held WITHOUT a TRIAL at all, and tortured, yes tortured by waterboarding, sensory deprivation or more is serious cause for alarm.... wake up wake up wake up...... another day and I wonder, what can we do to change any of this? anything? e ------------------- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WASHINGTON - The White House says President Bush will veto legislation on Saturday that would have barred the CIA from using waterboarding — a technique that simulates drowning — and other harsh interrogation methods on terror suspects. ADVERTISEMENT Bush has said the bill would harm the government's ability to prevent future attacks. Supporters of the legislation argue that it preserves the United States' right to collect critical intelligence while boosting the country's moral standing abroad. "The bill would take away one of the most valuable tools on the war on terror, the CIA program to detain and question key terrorist leaders and operatives," deputy White House press secretary Tony Fratto said Friday. The bill would restrict the CIA to using only the 19 interrogation techniques listed in the Army field manual. The legislation would bar the CIA from using waterboarding, sensory deprivation or other coercive methods to break a prisoner who refuses to answer questions. Those practices were banned by the military in 2006, but the president wants the harsh interrogation methods to be a part of the CIA's toolbox. Backers of the legislation, which cleared the House in December and won Senate approval last month, say the interrogation methods used by the military are sufficient. "President Bush's veto will be one of the most shameful acts of his presidency," Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said in a statement Friday. "Unless Congress overrides the veto, it will go down in history as a flagrant insult to the rule of law and a serious stain on the good name of America in the eyes of the world." He noted that the Army field manual contends that harsh interrogation is a "poor technique that yields unreliable results, may damage subsequent collection efforts, and can induce the source to say what he thinks the (interrogator) wants to hear."

GET OUT AND VOTE !!!

alix — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 06:21:48 GMT

stop reading the computer and perusing tribe... there is now a real moment in time to effect change in the future of this land we all live in and country . Most of the year we can complain and whine about how mbad we dont like our government (at least in my case, the current adminstration) - take your pick of the next candidates, but just be active and cast your vote for SOMETHING ! ! ! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! anyone is better than the current president ! but than again, maybe one is better than the other? I'm still not even sure who I am voting for,,, except its definitely not party of the current administration. YEs I know its just a primary - but this is the candiate who is finally going to topple the bush regime from its terrible grip on the depths of our country ... so take a moment and pick the person most likely to make it ALL THE WAY to the white house.

thank goodness for judges who care about

alix — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 05:18:44 GMT

whales, because George W. Bush thinks that the NAVY should be exempt from the EPA (environmental protection Agency) ' s ban on sonar, naval testing... I wonder why these bans are in place, ... maybe to protect our whales and dolphins who become breached, ill and die whenever the NAVY tests sonar, so George w. Bush, once again thinks that the rules dont ACTUALLY APPLY to anything he wants to do, and so he signed an EXEMPTION, making it perfectly ok for the NAvy to ignore the rules about sonar.. never-mind they were put in place, BECAUSE of the navy... --- so, a judge actually has stepped in and determined, GEORGE BUSH CANT DO THIS !!! hooray for our politicians to have spine and actually stopped this SONAR testing from occurring... where does George W get off thinking he can just do WHATEVER the h** he wants, all of the time? Drilling for oil in an environmental refuge and making it totally ok to IGNORE the EPA, .. I will be SO SO SO SO SO glad when this guy is gone from office. and what about the TRILLION dollar BUDGET deficit this guy has put our country in? I mean, we were billions of dollars in the positive zone, our country was doing so well financially and its like he has ruined our country in every possible way....... .. .... .... he is a complete idiot. But this rant, its about the whales and how despite george bush's complete and utter disregard for their health and safety and continued well-being... a judge, has heroically stepped in and stopped him...... ok, well its really just a complete anti-george bush rant on the eve of elections.

dont panic but a 20,000 lb spy satellite is about to fall on the earth in a few days

alix — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 01:48:55 GMT

and - I am a little concerned about this. it was just a blip on the news tonight.. a spy satellite of the US government which was launched in 2006, doesnt work, and is spiralling towards earth. It contains a ton of hydrazine — which is rocket fuel and the US military wont really release alot of details. Except to send out on the news wire that they are making contingency plans in the event that it hits North America, and doesnt land in the ocean.... This is the basic equivalent of a bomb, or missile hitting our country if it lands in North America, and it could actually cause alot of damage, to buildings, people and lives, with contamination. They are thinking that it will burn up in the upper stratosphere, but are concerned. General (i forget his name) made some short speech for CBS news regarding it. I'm not sure if they were more worried about "enemy" countries getting the technology for our US spy satellite or how they planned to stop it from landing on some random city in the midwest.. But, so calm, so calmly delivered this 3 minute news blip, but really, could this actually happen? Than the story proceeded to say, that they hadnt shot it down yet, because they didnt want to scatter all the pieces of the satellite. hmmmmmmmmm . hmmmmm. hmmm .hmm .hmm . http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/30/heads-up-satellite-crashing-but-experts-not-panicking/?hp http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2008/jan/27/old_spy_satellite_falling_toward_earth/ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7213147.stm

why

alix — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 01:18:16 GMT

what could it be?

spirals

alix — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 06:07:27 GMT

and who doesnt think that they should visit

alix — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 05:09:18 GMT

a magical forest with talking trees, purple skies, red and yellow colored mushroom and sparklings swirling all about in the air that could land on you? so on the rainy day of the storm i am wishing to go hide away in the sparkling magic forest, while i ponder why all the things have suddenly appeared in my life at once- when it rains it poors and when its a drought, its dry - but - sometimes the forest needs the rain in order to grow, so i guess all the intense chaos, the car repairs, the speeding tickets, the overflowing schedule, teaching 2 classes at a college, trying to create art, and also make graphics in time for en election and the nightly news, would cause one to feel slightly overloaded - but than again - i am trying to drink traditional medecine detox tea to bring some harmony and balance to reduce all the stress toxins which flow around the chaos which is filtering through the astral plane of the cosmos - the eclipses upcoming...

who would have guessed

alix — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 23:19:54 GMT

that if you were so stupid to carry slingshots into a Zoo, than, drink an entire bottle of vodka with your friends, than proceed to shoot at a 350 pound tigress with your pathetic slingshot and with sling-shot pine cones, a 9 inch rock and than proceed to throw a tree-branch at A captive Tigress, who would guess that she would get pissed off and chase after your lame drunken disrespectful ass, and kill your friend! and dont mess with a tiger, because she obviously got her vengeance to chase down the 2 other punks running 2 football fields away. I really truly wish that these 2 guys would be held responsible for their lame, incredibly disrespectful screwed up behavior, and no , I dont have an ounce of sympathy for them, because I know that tiger would have NEVER jumped out if it werent fir their fu*cked up immature, disgusting horrendous behavior. I hope they get in massive trouble and completely fail in their lawsuit against the zoo. what kind of a**holes drive 50 miles on christmas to visit a zoo, and brings a slingshot with them ? !!! only 3 complete As*holes with malicious intentions, that;s who. and for the family of the guy who's now deceased to advise all his friends and family, NOT to talk to the media, certainly means they know that he was up to no good. obviously hiding things. punks of the world who maliciously attack animals who are, in fact, not neccesary helpless, but certainly, not free to run away. I'm terribly sad over the tiger's death. But, at least she taught those sh*theads a lesson before she went down in a hail of bullets.

The Tiger who is the love of my life is now in a tragedy no longer alive

alix — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 22:53:24 GMT

It is with great sadness that I heard this news of the Tigress Titiana at the San Francisco Zoo, that yesterday on Christmas Day, that somehow she escaped from her enclosure, leaped out of her area, and attacked a young, man, killing him! Than she proceeded to maul two other young man who were at the zoo. This tiger is extremely special to me. This tiger is that tiger, pictured in the left, in my kissing tiger's artist picture. This tiger Tatiana, and her lover Tony, the Siberian Tiger are THE TIGERS I photograph for my artwork, they are my special special special tigers, who I visit several times a year, who I draw as my deepest inspirations for my entire wild kitties artist series. I cant count how many photographs I have taken of these Siberian Tigers at the San FRancisco Zoo. When Tony the Siberian Tiger, firs tlost his other tigress, whop passed away at the San Francisco Zoo, Tony, roared and growled and cried for months and months, and I sat outside of his enclosure at the zoo listening to his anguished roars. On February 12, of 2006, I visited the tigers again, and Tony had a new friend, Tatiana, The tigers in love, I photographed all day, creating the image posted to this blog, about the kissing tigers. I have created so many images of these two tigers in love. to know, that this sacred tiger, somehow yesterday, was shot and killed by police, in order to halt her from mauling and murdering anybody else.. Welll, I already went for a walk on the beach and cried for an hour. I dont know what else to do. Now, at work, for the News, I have to post pictures of my sacred tiger on television as the evil tiger who attacked someone. .. This sucks./

Happy Winter Solstice!

alix — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 01:24:41 GMT

'The shortest day of the year!

ARTist Portrait Website part II

alix — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 01:51:50 GMT

The other artist website I have, for my portrait business is now also completely revamped, just in time for the holidays.. check it out if you have a moment. http://firefaery.com

ARTIST WEBSITE

alix — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 04:06:02 GMT

I HAVE FINALLY COMPLETET MY ARTIST WEBSITE RE-DESIGN ,, ,, http://alixandramullins.com ~ lots of art - butterflies, tigers, lions, buddhas, waterfalls, dolphins & more ..

nothing like an earthquake!

alix — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 04:18:24 GMT

nothing like an earthquake to wake you right up! ~wow~ disaster preparation - oh wait.. I have nothing prepared, been putting off the canned food and extra water do to simple procrastination, and when cell hpones dont work, like mine didnt work for 1/2 an hour after this one, I realized its time to get some motorola walkie talkies to keep in the car for emergencies. 5.6 isnt that bad, but the building was shaking and everyone kind of baffled, like what do we do?? nope, forgot to huddle under a doorframe, that kind of rationale only kicks in after the fact...

fire fire fire

alix — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 05:18:03 GMT

I saw a video of the firestorm, shot by a fireman in the middle of the worst fire in southern california. symptoms of pyromania, flying sparks in 80 mile an hour winds. wow. so part of me wanted to be in the firefighter's protective gear in the firestorm. This craving I have for fire, as a fire artist is one thing, I never considered being a firewoman, (firefighter) - delirious ~ craving ~ and delight of fire~ though perhaps a fire artist is more suiting to me, I'm not sure I can carry 50 pounds, let alone 200 pounds of equipment. to play with the fire, versus fight the destructive power of the raging angry fire. sparks sucked by in miles of raging flames where humans cannot survive, but these firefighters in the video were standing in the middle of all the flying sparks and roaring flames, what an amazing and insane place to be in the center of an uncontrolled firestorm of mother nature's fury.. what is it like to be a fireman? just a glimpse from this firefighter's helmet-cam is fleeting fire inspire.. hmm

the baby horse

alix — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 05:17:44 GMT

the horse lives in a pasture until it is adopted. This horse was rescued from the auction chopping block by a non-profit called pregnantmarerescue.com , I am taking some photos of these horses in the next few months. These horses are beautiful and give me the same looks with their big brown eyes that I get from my puppy-dog.

how

alix — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 04:58:52 GMT

how do you manifest your dreams?

organic food + apple moth pheremone- does that mean its no longer organic?

alix — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 03:51:01 GMT

hmm. the state of california has decided to spray the entire county with apple moth pheremones - the active ingredients only make up like 20% of this mysterious chemical which will be sprayed in the middle of the night in early november by three airplanes. - so what exactly is in the other 80% ????????? (the company isnt saying...hmmmm!) -ok - so I am sitting making a graphic for this toxic chemical and the ACTUAL instructions for use of this poison, read: IF INHALED: MOVE PERSON TO FRESH AIR .. hello? anybody anybody - if airplanes spray the entire santa cruz county and over the ocean - uh - that IS our fresh air .. so now what do we do? all these people in monterey county are sick - OK- so where are the people of santa cruz protesting? where is the petition circulating - how does someone deal with this? - and what about all the organic farmers who 's food will ACCIDENTLY be tainted by this airplane not so secret midnight spraying ---- is their food no longer organic ??????? The Dates of the moth spraying - - November 4- 9 Salinas Prunedale, Aptos, Soquel, Capitola, Live Oak, Santa Cruz /. - October 9-12 for marina seaside del ray oaks, monterey pacific grove -- this is worrying - the state has made this decision without any concern for concerned citizens about their health! Is there no way to stop this moth spraying? This is the first time I actually want to hightail it out of town and head for the hills for a few days deep into the forest. its the air - i mean - are we all really this helpless? a government agency decides to spray our county and there's nothing we can do about it ?! are we just supposed to sit there and breath in all this toxic checmical, synthetic pheremones, there is documented evidence of premature births that number far too high to be a cooincidence. hmmm ok so the moth traps are working - YET - the "crops" are a substantial part of our "economy" - so once again - money and greed and business take precedence over health ?! - when are the public hearing dates? get to them somehow ......................!!!!!!!!!!!! -