First Flowers -- Primeras Flores

The first flowers of spring -- las primeras flores de la primavera -- are appearing here in Northern California. February still has a chill in the air, and the days are still exceptionally short, but the first flowers are making their brave appearance.

What is it about having a new baby girl that makes the magic of natures creation that much more impressive? Why is the amazement on her face when taking a close up look at the new flowers so inspiring to me? Thanks Kiara for all the lessons you are giving to me, and thanks to the flowers for hinting at winters passing and the accumulation of life lessons.

The lessons of life that come with a child certainly are numerous. For instance, new positions for getting rocked to sleep go right along with learning what music she likes best. Seems that Boards of Canada for all their gothic electronics and Bluetech for the deep groove are both bands that Kiara loves -- or else I just tell myself that so I can put some calming music on for myself cuando la hora de su siesta nos haya llegada.

Kiara came down with us to town on Friday and stepped in briefly (well, got carried in...) to the KMUD studio when I did my latest Febrero Hip Hopero set for Latino America Sonando. She is just four months old, and really can't make any sense out of any of it (any more than she does for the Yard Dogs Road Show though she seemed to dig it anyways). It is fun to think that our love for music and the wild edges of nature are soaking into our daughter because of the style of life we maintain. She will do what she will do that much is for sure, she will be her own person and we will just have to celebrate that, especially when she starts to let us know that our taste is old and out of date.

But first flowers are always timeless, just like the amazing expressions dancing across a babies face. We just have to enjoy every minute of them.

Wild Things

We live in a very wild place, absolutely full of wild things. No matter how hard some people might abuse the land, Northern California always has wild phenomena to keep one close to the power of the earth.

For instance, we had another earthquake on the Lost Coast today. I was the only one that noticed at first, but the way things kept shaking definitely made the deep earth vibration unmistakable. The temblor might have been subtle, but we all, however, noticed immediately the new storm of river swelling rain that is drenching our mixed forest stands. Our rainfall is just barely average this year -- yet it is still twice what we have received in the last couple of years. Life giving rain, just another one of those little miracles we learn to treasure.

As they say, nature works in mysterious ways. We love the mystery of the wild life revealing itself to us in the rapid growth of Kiara. There's bears loose in our neck of the woods!

And, speaking of the wild, as an update about Patagonia I recommend checking out the February 2010 National Geographic with the article Patagonia's Peril -- great coverage about one of the planets last wild refuges, and burning descriptions of the threats looming over the region. There is a lot happening these days in Chile, including a change in government, and we will be sure to share more news in the next months. In the meantime, enjoy this video put together by colleagues in Chile using footage from our trip to the Pascua in 2008.



And in English this time, the same video!