HAPPY HALLOWINK!!

Steviequake

AN earthwquakejust happened here. It was a 5.6 that actually shook its roots over in San Jose, about 25 minutes ago.. and whoowee doo! it scared the willies from me. See, I live in a little building immediately by the beach, so an earthquake near water kind of scared me. I got up and shtood in the doorway too, for the seconds that it lasted.
Apparently it happened in the valley just over the hill in San Jose. I'm not sure if 5.6 is anything to write home about (nyek nyek nyek) but I just wanted to be the first to publicly declare it's happenance! Bam! Gotcha! Just like when mom goes, "Hey, I loved Charlotte Church way before anyone else!" So in this case, I lay claim to the earth's major movement this evening. In fact, I think it should be officially deemed Earthquake Steviebeatty, 2007. Yup.
Anyways, that is all. Night y'folks.
*mikie

My little family here in this gold town

Hi everycutie! It's Adie. Here are some photos of my new life with kitties. Grabby and Owley. Their official names are Black Sabbath Ebenezer Vladimir Wolfgang Grabbytail Echternacht (the black one) and Lula Millie Carolina (Owley the other one).
The names Owley Girl and Grabby have just stuck. They are both perfect names, because turns out not only does Grabby have a tail you want to grab, but he is about as grabby a person as anyone could be, for attention, for food, for you, he is in your face trying to get it. Owley Girly just looks like an owl very much so.
There they are!

Grabby's tail isn't always this crazy looking! But it has a kink at the end of it!

They love skerking by those porcelain dolls, so now their little bed consists of the two dolls on either side, and their bed in the middle.
Mom at North Bloomfield.

Me and Mom at the cabin we all stayed at for my Wedding party!

Mom and Jar!


Dad and Oey.
Halloween is still to come!

Fallwheelin

I am never tired of driving. Never. In the nine years now since I have been given the holy treasure of the Open Road every second is non-stop, thrilling, courageous, exhiliration, lightning, bewonderment, amazed, incredulous ferocity; freedom. The purest most exhilirating form of freedom. Every moment i live rides on the notion that soon enough I will get to feel the winds in my soul and the blow of our rageous world's truth.
In Zelda you're given an item, which usually opens up new passageways, sometimes new dimensions you'd never expect, abilities you could never have otherwise realized. My license, then? B8889594. What a majestic Tool, useful demonic Master Key. Click on my goregous beast, ignite the engine, fill the cylinders, turn the wheel, any direction, I wish to fly and freedom again at last!
Music glowing through the skies, full moon shining, cold wind biting, screaming night is my closest friend, heavy setting sun is my warmest love. I love every open road insatiably. my secretest most passionate love, sorry ladies.

KIDS!

how much fun is humanly possible!??

here are some of our antics:

first we went to del taco. mikie helped jarom spend his quarter on a bag of popcorn.

goofing off with mikie. lately with jarom and bella it is "mikie" this and "mikie" that...

even oey had fun!

then we went home and got cozy and addie and artie came over and addie gave bella a pretty purple streak in her hair.

then the kids spent the night and we had a lovely morning together. orion is such a good eater!

i took them to the dollar store to get a cheap loaf of bread for the ducks at lumsden pond. here they are posing in halloween accessories.

once we got to the pond, the geese were a little scary. there was this one tan colored duck with a big tuft of fuzzball stuff on top of her head and jarom said she was a grandma duck.

me and oey weren't scared.

but jarom and bella sure were!

so we headed for the playground.

then we went to lyons park for lots of swinging!
what wondrous children these are. matt and amy happy birthday to you both and thank you eternally for blessing the world with such joy and bliss.

achey brakey smile

good morning everybody. I just wanted to say that it is a pretty morning, pine trees and pears trees and apple hill and needles and quiet, and all. Yesterday was Sunday, and lots of time went to seeing the magnificent duo - Jarra and Bellom. Plenty of DTS-ing, swingsetting, monster chasing, pie eating, grass racing, Del Tacoing, and even bathtiming. It was such a sweet day. I won't say there weren't tensions abounding at some points due to an over-amount of concern exuded by the Beatty ladies, but after all the day was wonderful. Being in Placerville was worth it, and desirable regardless! I mean, look at this beautiful inward hilly city! It's magical and gorgeous, and quiet but busy here. I love the smells, the tourists even. i even bought some local groceries downtown yesterday because I was so happy about Placerville (then went to apple hill and ganked some less-than-satisfactory apples lying around). It's a place to recenter what's been tossed off-balance. So here I am, and smiling tiredly. Happy late October everybody

sky blue sky

Hi everyone.
I miss you all terribly. Just kidding. I hate you all.
Just kidding.
It looks as tho we are all in very different places, doing different things but still keeping closely connected via that undescribably vibrating electricity within the holy bones of our souls, it keeps us as one. Which, I beleive, is the perfect reason why we must fully put Heather's ideas into real life. Not that we are not all, in our own isolated ways, already doing everything Beattily possible to reach whatever goal it is that lies misty and glowing in our shared horizon. But together! Heather speaks the truth, the crimson blushing truth! On the banks of quiet rivers we must lie, all of us, breathing the proper mountain air we all know and love so well. Anyways.
Things are okay for me down here in extravagant Santa Cruz, where the homeless act unabatedly homeless (as well as the non-homeless), the sticky smell of marijuana vapor hangs heavy in the streets, and the college students bask in their eternal flaunted cool. I have my complaints, but I love it here. Stan and I are pretty much married. Its a little ridiculous, but I love the fool. He's influenced me to learn to cook, which we do, and do often, and do well. And always at the same time. Our shared romantic meals, moonlit. Also we are creating and writing and musicalizing constantly, always squeezing the perpetually wet braing-rags we hold so dear within our cranium capsules, all day and nite, never searching for ladies or cheap thrills, and i love it. There is nothing like constantly using all you have to create and think and see and become from all you see and do! Even with my dull and redundant job looming in my daily future, I still love and live the life I wish to be living. Which is always satisfying, keeps you stable and sane. WHich I'm doing more thoroughly lately than I ever have I think.
But mostly I miss the road. I miss Minnesota's pink sun and green grassy carpets. I miss Memphis gunpoint. I miss New Orleans and it's salty humidity, it's brown Mississippi river waves and banks, it's spicy food smells floating thru the streets like elegant boats thru VEnice. I miss St. Louis and clean streets and hazy horizons from 600 some-odd feet up. I miss the rich suburbs of CHicago, even, Evanston on the banks of Lake Michigan, lying the white sand kicking feet around. I miss MOntana most, of course, it's bleak mining towns and mystical mist lumping like traffic on the lush green hills, the wet black dirt and the slippery treetrunks, you all have no idea the beauty which Montana holds sacredly spinning within the palm of it's heart. There really is something ethereal about it, something shiny and dull all at once. Beautiful, gloomy, creepy and overwhelming, steals the air from your lungs and puts it back sparkling so quick you never knew it was gone. Forever changed I am.
Ya'll have no idea how much I love life on the road. I could do it forever. I could never stop. I just might need some of you with me.
Well, I'm'a gonna type some typage or draw some pictoralage or somethin before I go to work later at 6. Hope I can see everyone soon. I know I will.
Mikie, Matt, let's plan a snowboarding trip the day or the next day after Christmas. Anyone else can come too, and buy 8 dollar garlic fries and bread bowls at the legendary Kirkwood lodge where the putrid athlete sweat is almost pleasant.
love joey.

Matt is 28

Wow. I couldn't believe it.... and had to make sure. But it's true. I am now the elderly childless age of 32, and Matt is 28. Long live the kids from the 70's! We have the best memories of brown and orange coloured kitchens and shag carpet!

Happy Birthday yesterday Mathuzula. Love you alot you perfect golden child. And conversationalist. And peacemaker. And good father. And music collector. And music maker. And traveler. And student. And hard hard worker. And computer genius (in the ranks of our fam) and non-sleeper good driver, and creative daytripper, and poet and story writer, and optimist. And organizer. And nicey.

Adie

The high lights of the high life

So we've done a lot lately, and instead of making a bunch of posts about each little thing, I'll just show a bit about each one.

In September we visited the Bingham Canyon copper mine. It was grandiose, spectacular, and sad in some ways. It's easy to hate the destruction of a mountain like this, this enormous hole and the waste and trimmings and pollution that are part of it. But as I type on a computer that relies on copper conductors and is connected through copper wiring, and I think about copper plumbing for my underappreciated clean water supply, and the fact that I have used microwaves and have watched TV, and then there are pennies and the statue of liberty and percussive instruments--well, there's not much I can say. We're all copper users. So there's both awe and fascination and respect along with a little surprise, contempt and disgust. Such is the human race. There's much I could say about this, but let's let the few pictures do the talking.

We also visited the Utah State Fair. A few pics (we didn't take that many) are here.

So there was this music/art festival in Provo on the 21st and 22nd of September, called Sego. It had 40 bands, 30 artists, 20 filmmakers, that sort of thing. We kept telling the kids that we were going to a festival, not realizing that it wasn't really that kid-friendly. Anyway, Friday night there were bands playing in the street, and the kids and I picked Amy up from work and walked down there to listen to a band called Mathematics Et Cetera. The kids did some paint machine and created masterpieces. The next day, Saturday, was misty and raining and Amy had to work. I kept telling the kids we'd go, and then finally around nine we went past Seven Peaks to the old State Hospital to where the bands were playing. Jarom and I each had umbrellas, I with Oey strapped to my chest. Bella frolicked in the rain. Jarom wore his rainboots. We hiked up a driveway, then across some gravel, then up stairs, then a muddy slope, forever walking to the elusive festival. Once there, many people stared, but most enjoyed the amazing dance moves and jumps performed by Bella. We only stayed for about twenty to thirty minutes, but on the way back down we got to watch some fireworks in the clearing skies above the stadium.


Friday night in the streets--100 North

The paint machine

Bella doing her amazing jumpdancing

Me and Oey, sheltered from the rain in the tent

And they're wet and adorable

That same week we did a full moon lift ride up at Sundance. There were at least a thousand people there, mostly couples, coming and going, and only a few groups with kids. Obviously we were one. It was a beautiful harvest moon, a little bit cold but the green hills and the mountain beside us were amazing. Amy prepared hot cocoa before we left, and we had little bottles and a thermos full of it to warm us on the lift (though I spilled some all over me).


Us (most of us)

Me and Jarom

Look at this harvest moon (it's impossible to capture what we saw) [low light setting]

It's really fun to bring the kids with us on little adventures like these, where kids and family units wouldn't normally be found.

Then we had our famous crash-landing in California trip. The second Amy heard that Dolly was in the hospital, and that labor was taking its sweet time, we knew we'd make a quick trip there to survey the scene and lay our hands on a new baby. We had just got our new car a couple days prior, so we didn't know what to expect. Then from Wells to about Battle Mountain we drove through snow--and I get paranoid driving in snow--so that added some fun to our trip. Coming into Nevada the skies were clean and clear and blue, and our allnighter drive came to an end. We spent some good time with Dolly and Teddy, Mom and Heather and Adie and Dad. We got to go to Nevada City to see the wonderful show Adrienne and Art put on in a tiny basement somewhere where kids *were* welcome. Even though it was late, and we were super tired (Amy got pulled over for swerving), we loved every second of it and made it home to Mom's house to get some much-needed rest. The next morning we packed up, met Dad at Mel's, then made a sad, fast goodbye after Mom loaded us up with Halloween treats and snacks and cute orange seasonal outfits for every kid. Adie came and met us for a good old Sunday afternoon stop at the outrageously busy High Hill Ranch, and then we went home--another allnighter for me (but that's where part of the fun is).


Hanging out at Apple Hill

This last Sunday we went to Amy's Aunt Deanna's house. She had treats for the kids and wanted to do some graduation celebrating for me. Because we didn't want to stay holed up during such nice weather (it had stormed and snowed the day before) and with such beautiful colors out, we drove the Alpine Loop up through Timpanogos. Along the way we stopped at Cascade Springs, where a natural spring bubbles up out of the rock--you have to see it to believe it. We fed bread to the brown trout. The jumped at it, fought for it; they loved it. The colors everywhere are amazing. With a little snow on the ground, and many yellow aspens, orange scrub oaks, and few red maples turning, it was without a doubt one of the most beautiful sights we've ever seen. I would drive, walk, or bike it every day if I could. We saw a hawk, a magpie nest, a deer, and a huge rafter of wild turkeys.


It was beautiful

I'll say it again

I love the depth and distance


Jarom requested this picture, Jarom-style

Helping Bella feed the fish


Feeding

Bridge photo

Wetlands


Let's finish it off with some Oey video. He made a couple little crawling steps the other day, and I tried to capture it on video. You can't really tell.

Trouble season love mish-mash

List of People I miss, in no particular order:

Justin, Jessica, Nikki, Craig, Jimmy, Sean, Heather, Addie, Matt, Amy, Jarom, Bella, Oey, Mom, Dad, Jamie, Stan, Joey, Candice, myself- Here Goes:

I woke up this morning with a strange feeling
of half-empty. and not from hunger pangs
no this was insatiable
unquenchable. indiscernable.
a rare little lacking
i've felt it before
I'd love to nail it
squeezed like a pimple
let's ooze out the middle
and kill the craving
with sweet satisfaction
here goes:

Life is suffering, the Buddhists say.
So, I'm sitting in a poop-smelling chair, at this Junior College of Strangers, feeling stranger than ever.
As Great Fall approaches, fast
what is this half-empty! Let's figure it out.
I eat well, I sleep enough.
I lie low, sound, out of trouble- wait,
could that be it, no trouble, too much so?
maybe my mind wants to grow,
to go, to sing and fling,
but is smothered by quieting
"trying too hard", I worry somewhat
am quiet. reserved. contemplative.
In shackles of sorts, the kind that invisibly
bind to the bedframe, so even a good day
of clean fun seems heavy or troublesome.
Trouble.
See lately I worry a lot
but oh-no, to be free again!
on that last day of summer I plopped all my goods
into poor Rocinante and chugged both brains back down
"to Santa Cruz we go" for another confused go
at the winter season. All I have craved
since I've landed is freedom.
wing-spanning freedom.
(I suppose that I've found some Well,
the temporary kinds;
the kinds that a traveling job can provide
both from people and food.. hints at the real stuff)
I think what it is: we need trouble again.
Worry-free, excellent Trouble to spin in
Where can I find it? How can I kill
these grumblings with some delicious Trouble!?
The better question, alluding
to my list above: Who will share it with me?
You see, it's not so bad finding Trouble alone.
For example:
Waking one morning alert with conviction,
a brand new paper paycheck takes you to the store
fighting demons in traffic you dream of the force
with a sword and your cap you throw down your wallet
declaring a purchase and Sold! now you own it
the New Zelda Game.. handed into your palm,
how it glistens thick and square, it's plastic revealing
the swirly dark colours of artwork and years,
hidden treasures inside of a land full of dungeons
and stories to travel, you sign away nothing
now holding this gem, with a huge happy grin
you wave a quick farewell to the seller
and hop out the door into sunny Good Morning
unwrapping the masterpiece between fingers
staring wide-eyed, gently pop open the case
feather through the booklet of colorful art
you can almost taste the new adventure burning
into the pages..oh the New Zelda Game.
Trouble. these are the troubles I seek.
The kinds that are timeless,
as children we crave them
like Cadbury eggs-
there's nothing so precious
the innocent pleasure
in cupping your eyes
awaiting surprise
whether 20 or 30 or 60 or 5
we love to have Trouble
fulfilling our lives.
My Trouble today: Monday 10/8/07
Laze around all morning, making breakfast, cleaning house, blaring No Use For A Name, looking at photo albums, toying with the new Zelda, on a week day! Now that's Trouble.
Too bad alone-time fun can only go on,
well, alone - and for only so long.
Then you need someone else
to share all the wonders.
That's what friends and family are for.
Yesterday's Trouble: Tuesday 10/7/07
Candice and me up to Half Moon Bay for pumpkin patches and pumpkin pie, then to San Francisco to find Joey Stan Natalia, crazy parking so that we could eat at a healthy Pluto's, then down the sunsetting ocean we drive to go spunging behind the old bathhouses, then back through the city to find Ghiradelli, having chocolate and coffee and late-night rate-gaming, then back driving home we go, full of talking and sharing stories.
at day's end with some free Beckmann's pies
of Marion, Rhubarb and Strawberry kinds.

I'm trouble-hungry, folks. Anyone else feel this bug licking away in our tummies? Starving my soul for some innocent Trouble. For video games, rock climbing, midnight dancing, chanting and stomping, for spinning in circles under the moonlight, or simply watching a radical movie with my loved-ones. Yup.
This is me, Mikie.
That's about it. Bye

a memorable fancy

in honor of homework-procrastination, i will write a bit.

i worked a total of 27 hours in three shifts at mel's over the weekend; everyone got sick and suddenly i was the superstar waitress and not a willing one at that. however, i still got to see my favorite kids on god's green earth: jarom, bella and orion, who were all sickly,yet needless to say, beautiful and amazing despite the fact. matt and amy -- i really hope you got home safely and i am sorry that your trip was so unbelievably rushed and that i didn't have more comfort and stability to provide you - but i love you guys and we'll see each other soon.

i am obsessed with addie's new cd. for those of you who don't know, she has a complete new album released in a nice recycled case with incredible artwork and lots of pretty tiny details, so check it out on her myspace and be enchated by her songs like i am right now!

meanwhile i am reading gothic novels, preparing for a presentation in class tomorrow, drinking copious amounts of diet coke (do i even need to say that?) and snuggling with kitties under blankets.

but the most important idea running around in my head right now is my "LITERARY MOVEMENT" thing which some or all of you know about but which we need to discuss and embark upon.

please, all of you, start creating from your heart, writings that you wish to give to the world to inspire and change and beautify and sanctify and crash into and ruinate and ruminate and remind and endear and stomp through grassy fields searching for the golden flowers and cloud keys....in other words, let's start to prepare our missives to the world in which we will:

begin to promote a new consciousness
this can be done through fiction as well as fact, prose, poetry, theater, any type of art
it doesn't need to be didactic in tone AT ALL
full of love
encouraging kindness and love and respect for the earth, each other, and all beings...
REINTRODUCE transcentalism in the emersonian ideal
love of the body and soul
harmony and connection
we don't care how cheesy it sounds...

are you getting it? at the heart of this is my assumption that we are all on the same page together in this pursuit...anything you bring up or suggest can be worked into my greater philosophical point here.

essentially i want to start a literary movement like the Romantics (early 19th century) and the Beats (mid-20th century) in a world where a new literary movement seems impossible. i believe that our enthusiasm and pure love for each other can make it happen.

we all need to spend a summer together in a big sprawling house on a river or lake (where? could be anywhere...as long as we are together) creating and playing games and feeding off each other to make great things happen. remember, mary shelley's frankenstein was written in this type of situation, a group of friends staying in a rickety old mansion in italy for a summer. and playing writing games.

i'm talking epic poetry enhanced with illustrations, lyrical songs that transcend pop culture, ramlbing novels, repeating themes, plays, drawings, screenplays, memoirs, essays...

if we have to come up with a new GENRE...that is fine with me!

any ideas?