nakedjen

London Just Beats My Heart

So here I am.  London.  Pinch me.  Or actually, don't.  Because if I'm dreaming, I'd like to just keep on dreaming.  It's lovely.

I was wandering around Notting Hill yesterday with Nina, my roommate from college who I wanted to absolutely KISS ALL OVER when she said, quite frankly, "God, Jen, you look absolutely fabulous.  You're one of the lucky ones who looks better now than she did twenty years ago!"  Now, people, doesn't that deserve kisses all over?  It does.  And trust me, Nina doesn't give compliments just to give compliments.  She meant it.  So it felt so good!   

Anyway, we were wandering around Notting Hill together and I just gushed,"God it feels so good to be home!"  And, truthfully, it did.  London really does feel like home for me.  I can't explain it.  But there's a comfort.  A buzz.  A spring that comes back to my walk.  I absolutely ADORE Santa Cruz.  I can't imagine my life without Santa Cruz.  Truly, I can't.  But London.  Ah London.  London just beats my heart. 

Whilst walking from the tube to Nina's new house (and goodness what a house she has, it's truly AMAZING), I happened upon a man from Canada who asked me how to get to Paddington Station.  I gave him directions and then he asked me where I was from because clearly, with my American accent, I was not a local.  I laughed and said, "Oh, Santa Cruz, California!  But I lived here for quite a while..."  and then he asked about whether I could recommend an emergency clinic for his friend who had a terrible sore throat and was worried it might be strep.  I told him I was actually a naturopath and sent him off to Boots with a list of herbal remedies and things to request from the chemist.  He was so grateful.  How cool was that? 

So Nina has had a baby!  Which was really quite a shock to learn as, well, I just never expected Nina to have a baby.  And I met Sasha yesterday and my god is that child ADORABLE.  She's just so charming and sweet and full of personality.  And very much like her mother.  I had so much fun playing with her.  I told Nina when she has the NEXT one (and she might!!) to please fly me over to be the doula (and she will!).  Poor Nina had no idea I was a doula (how did she not know??, bad nakedjen for not telling her) and she hired her own maternity nurse here in London who turned out to be a complete disaster.  All's very well now, but I felt my own sense of guilt that she went through all of that and I wasn't there to help.  People, we've been friends since we were freshmen in college.  I should have been there to help!  I will be there to help next time.

After I left Nina, I stopped by Fresh and Wild, which is Whole Foods here in London.  And guess what I purchased?  Cherries from California.  Now, I will not go into a huge rant about just how very WRONG I think it was that I was able to a) purchase cherries from California in London, and b) that they were CHEAPER here than they are at home, but honestly, there's something just not quite right about our global economy when they are selling organic cherries from California here in London for a price that is CHEAPER than they are at my own health food store that is actually IN California.  Something is not right at all.  And yet, yes, I contributed to the madness by purchasing the cherries because I was so happy to SEE THEM and I wanted them and they were FRESH and edible and well, that's that, isn't it?

I came back to Michael and Mikaela's flat and we went around to Clapham Green where none other than Ben and Jerry were having a festival.  It was sold out, but I convinced M&M that I could get us in by telling the folks that we were on the guest list.  Which is exactly what I did.  We not only got in, we got backstage passes!  How cool are we?  Of course, I'm sure that my American accent certainly helped in this situation, but I just walked up to the window, told them I was with Ben and Jerry's from America and that I was on the guest list.  And then they asked how many were we?  Three!  And off we went.  It was almost TOO easy.

Of course we all, me included who is not eating dairy or sugar, gorged ourselves on all the free ice cream.  There was WAY TOO MUCH free ice cream.  Eight different kinds.  All being dished out for absolute free.  And there were all kinds of environmental folks there, so I made sure to go around and chat with all of them and that was actually very interesting for me even when I was absolutely FLYING like I had taken seven lines of cocaine up my nose from all the sugar in the ice cream. 

We also did take advantage of our backstage passes and hung out in the backstage area quite a bit as there were lounge chairs, a bar and private toilets back there.  Nice.  Mikaela was excited because Jose Gonzalez from Sweden was the final act of the day on the festival stage, so we also got to see his concert.  Honestly, it all just turned out so well and was a great way to spend a Sundae afternoon.

Came home and had a light dinner and then spent the evening sprawled about the living room chatting away about the forthcoming nuptials.  Saturday!!  It's all getting so close.  And the Bride and Groom are getting more and more excited.  I still have five more days to do loads of exciting things in London and must go cram in as much as I can even though I'll be back loads more before I actually fly home.

But as I say, this city beats my heart.  And if it is to continue beating, I need to make sure I put it on major life support.

Strip Search

Do you think I'll get strip searched at Heathrow if my suitcase contains just the following items?

Glitter
Vitamins
Underwear
Tranquilitea Tincture

Because at this point in time, I'm beginning to think that's about all I'm going to have time to pack.  It's getting down to the wire, folks and quite frankly the care and feeding of Buddha and Stella are a much bigger priority to me than the care and feeding of Nakedjen.  And we all know that if there's one thing about me, it's that I'm resourceful.  So if I show up in London with just a bag full of vitamins and glitter, a quick trip to Camden Market would probably be all a girl like me would need to find plenty to wear during her jaunt around Europe. 

One small kink in that plan, though.

We're kinda broke.  Which doesn't bode well when you're off on the grand European adventure, now, does it?  DearSweetDave has been working his fingers to the bone, but his invoices just haven't been paid in a timely manner so our savings have been depleted (the puppies must be fed and so must we!), and while I know it seems rather FRIVILOUS AND IRRESPONSIBLE to go off to Europe on holiday when things look so grim, it's exactly the kind of thing folks like us do, now, isn't it?  Have you learned nothing whilst reading pages and pages of Nakedjen's blog?

When faced with the most dire of circumstances what does she do? 

She tosses on glitter, she asks the universe for exactly what she wants and she marches forward into the great adventure spread before her. 

So that's what I'm doing.  I'm marching forward.  Going on this adventure.  Glitter and underwear and vitamins, in tow.  Michael and Mikaela are getting married.  I will be there as a witness.  There's no turning back.  For them or for us. 

I'll be back at the end of August.  But I'm taking my laptop with me.  So you'll be hearing tales from me long before then.  Promise.

It Just Isn't A Real Mexican Fiesta

If someone doesn't get naked...
My most sincere thanks to Grace for hosting such a wonderful pre Blogher event.  I must miss Blogher again this year because I'm flying off for a wedding.  I missed it last year for a wedding, too.  Obviously my friends do not bother to consult MY SOCIAL CALENDAR before planning their own nuptials.  You'd think they would be far more considerate.

Ahem.

Of course huge props also go out to Badger who is my soulmate and comrade in all things naked.  You just have to give her the nod and she's racing you to see who can actually be naked first! 

She's the very best.  We should go on tour.  NakedGrrlsRiot  or something like that.  Pushing people's boundaries and spreading the word on body acceptance from coast to coast.  Or even better, around the WORLD.   NakedGrrls spreading world peace!  Now that's a movement I can get behind.  And I've certainly got the behind to get behind that movement.

My best to all those attending Blogher this year.  I expect at least one naked group photo.  Come on, girls.  You know you want to. 

Fairly Well Remembered Moments

i give up.  i have every intention of writing all about the fair.  all the glorious details.  but life, every day life, is getting in the way.  very much in the way.  i've got all these fabulous tales swirling about in my head, things i feel i really want to write the right way, to share with you, to make sure you truly understand how very special the fair was this year, how it is special every year, how it renewed me, recharged me, how it made me a better me.  and maybe somehow i can do that at some point.  but for now, i will just have to share some very important highlights:

** saturday i was standing near the juggling tent and this guy walks up to me. he's pushing a baby in a stroller. he says, "hey, are you nakedjen?" i smile and say, "yes, i am." he says, "thank you so much for your pictures and your words about the fair. i am here because of you." and i said, "really?" and he said, "yes, really. i read your blog. and i flew my whole family here from atlanta just for this fair because of you." i asked him his name, he said it was josh, i sprinkled him with some glitter and gave him a proper nakedjen fair welcome and told him he had given me a wonderful fair blessing. it really was a wonderful moment.

** hiding from the sweep at john's. and then hooking up with viriam and zoey and a VERY DRUNK rob who was wearing christian dior couture (with boning in the dress no less) to snuggle in the corner and chatchatchat. and having my husband declare that he was sad he wasn't gay because he really did LOVE rob.

** the yard dog road show. fanfuckingtastic. go see them if they come to a city near you. one of the BEST ACTS i saw at the fair this year. i absolutely loved them. they were everything an act at the fair should be and more. really and truly.

** meeting nadine on SUNDAY. wow. now that was so just, wow. back in the dark ages of last century when i was planning my wedding, before there was OUH or even UW, there was e-groups. remember that? and i joined an e-group for june2000 brides. i'm still a part of that group. we still email and share our lives. and on sunday, i met nadine, who is a member of that group in real life. and it was just wow. so cool to meet what felt like my SISTER after all these years. she was everything i wanted her to be and more.  absolutely.  everything!  what's even better?  ellie and ron were there, too.  with baby max. and ellie and nadine are friends.  because they're both in portland.  so it was a grand love fest for all of us.  and i was tempted to move to portland.  instant FRIENDS!  it was just so much love and goodness in one place i felt like i would explode!

*** the dragonflies resting on our fingers. it was such a blessing. you put your finger in the air and the dragonflies would just come and rest and hang out there. nothing on your finger. you just stuck it in the air and then, magically, there was a dragonfly. it was the coolest thing. and it was the tail end of the fair. and just such a wonderful moment. blessing from mother nature.  just for being you. 

*** dinner at the tofu palace on sunday night. we ate dinner at the tofu palace on sunday night and all got rather goofy. i was melancholy because the fair was "over" for yet another year, and yet i was also just filled up to overflowing with love and goodness and happiness and hope. i can't explain, really, what the fair does for me each year. it's just such a renewal. a spin of positivity. a reconfirmation for me that i'm doing all the right things and headed in the right direction. and piled there in the corner listening to our santa cruz friends sing their jah love songs it just all was so good. and so right. and i never ever ever wanted it to end.

Permagrins Restored. Friday at the OCF.

so let's hop in my ever trusty time machine and return to friday, 7 july, where we'll fine me standing outside the fair entrance surrounded by those lovely pink flamingos. thank god for the pink flamingos. they wiped away my tears and returned my permagrin to its proper place.

it was now, finally, time to actually go inside. we had three day passes which meant we were in possession of the special three day golden bracelets that meant we no longer needed to even present a ticket or get stamped by the lovely people in the ticket booths. on the one hand, this is kind of cool. on the other, it makes me kind of sad. i like getting stamped if for no other reason than that dearsweetdave and i have TATTOOS in the stamping place on our forearms and they're OCF logo tattoos, at that. because we are, quite frankly, insane. and so absolutely gah gah over the whole fair that we've permanently marked ourselves as such. with permanent stamps!

but not needing to wait in the long ticket lines has its advantages. we were able to skirt around them and go right on in. and just as we entered, more tears from me. of course. because now i was inside, not outside, and again completely overwhelmed that i was HOME. with my fairy people. all smiling and sparkling all around.

the very first person we saw was the peace guy. he's made hundreds of thousands of pieces of clay that say peace in hundreds of languages and gives them all away for free. i have one from every year he's been at the fair. so this year i got one that was written in hindi. it's beautiful and now hangs from the rearview mirror of wanda the honda.

from the peace guy, we found our way to the w.c. fields stage to check out nanda. they're a troupe of stunt guys who do a combination of martial arts and juggling. and they're quite funny. and talented. last year they had the best "song" of the fair. they sang this ditty about "too many hippies in the neighborhood" that dearsweetdave and i continued singing all year long. only we adapted it and sang about the puppies!

we checked them out and then also checked out this band just past jill's crossing. 

that little boy was about 3 years old and was quite determined to play his violin on every song. we ran into jay dravitch, who was working at the white bird chicken booth right at the entrance to w.c. fields and he had no clue who i was. which was kind of funny considering he and i worked together for many years at goodwill and have both been coming to the fair for YEARS. he's also good friends with dearsweetdave's dad. and had lunch with him last week. and then says to me, "oh that's right. you married into the sals family!" and i nearly choked and said, "you mean dearsweetdave married into the NEAL family!"

at that point, we all split up and dearsweetdave and i went about wandering the paths and max went to check out dis moi at shady grove. dis moi are from santa cruz, so he wanted to see them.


eventually we hooked back up with max and he and dearsweetdave decided that they wanted to spend some time juggling. so i went off in search of my first tofu tia of the fair. the tofu palace folks had decided that this year they would also offer something called a tofu boat. which actually worked out better for me. it was basically a tofu tia, without the whole wheat burrito wrapper. it was so good. and filling. and just yum. i was so happy. i took my boat and wandered over to the front porch and listened to this guy talk about living on just sun and liquids. no joke. he was a guru from india and all he lives on is sunshine and tea.  and there i was stuffing my face with the tofu boat.  oh well.

when i was finished listening to him, i walked over to the  main stage and plopped down to hear rob brezny of free will astrology. he always makes me laugh and THINK! even if he does seem half-baked a lot of the time. but one thing he said really stuck with me. he was doing his version of the "i have a dream" speech and the first thing he said was (and i'm paraphrasing), "i have a dream that the wage that you're paid is based upon the beauty and love that you spread to others in a given day". a lot of what he said really made sense to me. then again, i'm one of those new age sensitive hippy girls.

dearsweetdave showed up in the middle of rob's show. 

and we stayed there, together, for the next act which was three guitarists from california. honestly, i think that really was what they were called. they were REALLY good.

when they were done, we all found our way to the ritz. ahh, the ritz. i do believe that the ritz is one of my most favorite parts of the fair. every year. and i never have any pictures because, well, it isn't allowed. the ritz is full of lovely communal saunas and showers and a fire pit. and you can just imagine that it is nakedjen paradise. hanging out naked with all my friends and getting all that fair dust and grime off of me.

it was at the ritz this year that i met someone named viriam. or very yummy, as he referred to himself. oh what a treasure he was! and i can't believe i don't have a single picture of him. not a one. but he was a lovely yoga instructor who had just moved to the states from london, but was originally from new zealand and actually now lives in ashland. got that? and he had a thing for my wings and my fairy skirt and for my husband. in that order. but he was positively adorable and i was so happy to have met him and spent hours chatting with him around the fire pit at the ritz all three days. it turned out that he was actually camping in the campsite directly opposite ours. how coincidental?

i also met, on that friday, at the ritz, this lovely woman named emily.

she recognized me as a real fairy right away even when i was naked. and we chatted about all sorts of things. it turned out that she was a recovering mormon. and the whole naked experience at the ritz was pushing her boundaries BIG TIME. it was the first time in her life, ever, that she had been naked in a public place. so go emily! she rocked it. by the end of the weekend she was waltzing around the ritz like she owned the place. i was so proud of her! big strides in body acceptance.

once we were all clean and happy and relaxed beyond relaxed, we left the ritz and headed to rising moon. rising moon has been another fair tradition since, well, since i don't know when. and there was rob!

we met rob the first year i took dearsweetdave to the fair. which means 8 years ago at this point. we've been fairfriends ever since. and look forward to seeing one another every year. it's the only time we see each other, but we spend the weekend catching up. good times.

so there was rob. kisses all around. we ordered raviolis (vegan!) and grabbed a table in the corner. enjoyed a leisurely meal and waited for the sweep to come and tell us it was time to go home.

it had been a lovely first day.  and outside was more fun! 


drum circles and dancing and later that night a fire dancing show. but we actually skipped the fire dancing and ended up playing hearts in the party tent at our campsite until very late. and i won. which is always a very good thing, now isn't it? well, i think it is.

so that was friday. and saturday would dawn way too quickly. and we'd get to go do it all over again! but i'll have to wait and tell you about that later, but i promise it won't be much later. i'll be back soon.

Nobel Prize Interruption

so i have every intention of continuing my fair recap. i really and truly do. perhaps i'll work more on it tonight. i really thought i would get it all done this weekend, but this weekend was spent figuring out our trip to scandinavia and thank god we did. good grief. it took us both four hours of nobel prize worthy negotiations on saturday to come up with a two-week itinerary that was satisfactory for both of us. i do believe that when we land in stockholm the nobel folks will be waiting for us at the airport to bestow a prize for maintaining marital peace while in heated vacation negotiations. or they should be.

i have then spent the remaining hours trying to find us sleeping accommodations. which is proving to be nobel prize worthy, as well. good god. did all of europe decide that the first two weeks of august were a GRAND TIME to visit scandinavia. please explain to me why i am having such a difficult time finding available rooms in places like copenhagen and oslo. we're trying to stay in this tiny town called bergen one night and it's proving nearly impossible. we do have a lovely ferry booked from copenhagen to oslo which includes a room with a view! har. we decided we would be civilized and actually sleep above water. double har. there is a sauna aboard that boat. i must now figure out how to book it so dave and i can sweat our way to norway.

we also decided that we're going to go to finland and estonia. why not add two more additional countries to our passports, right? but this means fighting all those europeans for those scarce remaining accommodations. very soon i will be playing the travel agent trump card, i'm sure. but i'm holding out and hoping things will just fall into place.

i will say that the folks who work at rail europe (and they're located in chicago...who knew?) are fantastic. they know their stuff. i called them up to figure out our scanrail passes and not only was able to do that but was also able to book all our train reservations for our entire trip including a deluxe sleeper car for a stint from bergen back to stockholm via oslo. lovely! and the way we booked it means we're only using one day on our rail pass instead of two. again, lovely.

meanwhile, i've also got the migraine from hell. it could be from all these nobel prize worthy vacation negotiations, or it could be from my period or it could be from too much sun. or perhaps a combination of all three. not sure, but it has me wanting to remove my own head with a hatchet. it's really bad. so bad that i made an appointment with my own neurologist for tomorrow morning (and am thankful, at this point, for NEW neurologist as he can actually see me tomorrow morning and old neurologist would not have had an opening until next year!) to ask for some drugs. which we all know he won't have. well, sure, he'll have plenty of drugs. but none that i can actually take. so why i'm going is actually a bit of a mystery. except that my head hurts that much. and i want to find something that WILL work to take with me in my bag of tricks to europe just in case. the worst thing would be to find myself wanting to remove my own head with a hatchet while bopping around on a boat in the fjords and poor dave is holding my head so i can throw up and we're both wondering why we spent all that money to go to scandinavia so we could be miserable. a magic pill might help us avoid that scenario.

i also managed to find lodging in edinburgh. so i'm going to the festival. and i'm VERY JAZZED about that. particularly because last friday i was standing on the beach here in santa cruz tossing the ball for the dogs and chatting with a woman who asked me about the oregon country fair. as i was describing it she asked, "have you been to the edinburgh festival?" and i squealed and told her i was going! and she said, if you like the ocf, you're going to LOVE the edinburgh festival. it's most definitely your kind of place.

can't wait. terribly excited about it. feel so very lucky that i really and truly get to go. oh shit. need to book my plane ticket to edinburgh. like right this minute. i haven't done that yet because i had so much trouble finding a place to actually stay.

so yeah. it's all about travel all the time at chez naked. but it's all good. and if i can get my head to cooperate, it would be even better. i was supposed to go out with dave and a bunch of his friends for a performance last night, but i had to beg off. my head was hurting so much my teeth were throbbing. and instead i came home and went to bed. at 8:30. the dogs thought i was insane.

i really am looking forward to this trip, though. i just can't believe how soon i'm leaving. i have so much to get done before i vamoose. so if i'm a bit scattered around here, that's why. i'm just trying to keep my head on my shoulders and make sure that nothing comes crashing down around us.

oh...and of course mercury is in retrograde. like we all need that right now. in celebration, our plumbing and our oven/stove broke. so i had handydudes in my house all morning fixing things. which they did and i'm quite grateful. it sucks when you can't cook or wash the dishes.

__________________

Still.

can it really have been a whole week since i left for the fair?  how is that possible?  where has the time gone?  i feel like i most definitely slipped through some invisible veil from one dimension to another and then quietly (or maybe not so quietly as it is me we are talking about after all) slipped back again.  i'm still wearing my fair three day pass bracelet.  i refuse to take it off.  if i'm wearing it, then it is still a fair day, right?  i may have to wear it all year.

life has been a literal blur since we returned from my magical fairy land.  but i shall try to return to last thursday and tell you all about the journey that was this year's fair.

we stayed up way too late the night before finishing up our packing.  and it all felt rather haphazard this year.  i think because i had lavonne here taking care of the dogs.  and because of that, i had to create additional contingency plans for the dogs in case lavonne was unable to truly care for them.  i wanted to believe that she would be able to take care of them without any trouble what so ever, but let’s face it.  it was her first trip far from home.  and my puppies, as loving and well-behaved as they are, can really be the terrible twosome.  i truly felt, though, that it was also really necessary as part of lavonne’s healing process.  and well, i'm not going to get in the way of a person's healing process.  ever. 

dave didn't get home until after 10:00 on wednesday night so that is when we really started packing the car.  and we take so much stuff with us to the fair each year it's almost comical.  or would be if all that stuff were not truly necessary.  but it is!  we need each and every thing.  or at least i will continue to live in my belief that we do.  so we crammed and stuffed and i marveled that for the past two years we've driven to the fair in dave's honda and this year it seemed that even with wanda we didn't have enough room for all our fairphenalia.  goodness.

we crashed into bed well after 1:00 a.m. knowing we had to get up at 6:00 a.m. in order to pick up max by 6:30 a.m. and be on the road by 7:00 a.m.  the alarm rang just as soon as i closed my eyes.  i swear i had just fallen asleep.  and boing, out of bed.  i took both dogs for a quick walk so they could pee and then jumped in the shower and then lavonne had actually woken up so i left her with the dogs and we were off.  picked up max.  realized he had nearly as much stuff as we had (and he's JUST ONE PERSON) and so it was all tied to the roof.  then we continued on our way.

we made pretty good time to ashland, where we stopped for our annual lunch at geppettos.  lunch at geppettos is as much a ritual as the fair, itself.  we eat there every single year on our way to the fair.  only, this year it was a CHALLENGE.  because i'm on the yvonne challenge, as you know.  and, well, geppettos is not about non-dairy, non-fried foods.  but i made it work!  tempeh reubens.  yum.yum.yum. 

lunch in our bellies, we zipped up to eugene and hit the sunshine co-op.  again, this is another annual stop.  usually i buy pounds and pounds of cherries.  but this year, the cherries were crap.  so no cherries.  but the organic santa cruz lemonade was only 99 cents a bottle and i was tempted to purchase cases to take home.  only where would we put them??  no clue.  we did all purchase dinner and then made our way to the campsite to set up our home for the next three days.

max had decided to come with us at the last minute (and i was really glad he did as i LOVE max and he was a perfect fair addition) and so he was going to have to get his tickets at will call.  but tickets west did something REALLY smart this year.  they actually put each individual's will call tickets at their individual camp site.  how cool was that?  so max arrived at our camp site, stood in line and then got his camping pass and tickets right there.  that was SO EASY.  it used to be you had to go find the will call office in some random location in downtown eugene near the bus depot.  LAME.  this was so much nicer.  i'm actually going to write tickets west and tell them how brilliant i thought this was and how much i appreciated their efforts.  because i know it was a HUGE effort, but it really made life so much easier for us.

we reserve our favorite camp sites at the campground every year a year in advance, which is also a really good thing.  this way we are always in the same spot and we know that we'll all fit!

we've got so many folks coming with us next year that i went ahead and reserved 4 sites.  how fun will that be??

we got everything set up, obviously, ate our dinners, chatted until way too late and then we all crashed.  the next day was a FAIR day.  finally.

so friday bloomed with clear skies and sunshine and just perfect weather.  i contemplated what kind of fairy i was going to be that day and we all sat in the party tent and ate breakfast together and looked through the fair schedule and tried to plan our day.

you know, this was one of the first fairs that i can remember where my days just really were not too planned.  and part of that was i just wanted to "experience" it and not be on a schedule.  so i had a vague idea of who was performing or playing where and when, but i wanted more just to skip the paths and see where i ended up.  especially on friday when the fair is the least crowded.

eventually i got dressed.  big ass fairy skirt, purple and gold beaded indian top and i sprouted my glorious pink wings.  and glitter.  lots and lots and lots of glitter.  we wandered over and as soon as i emerged from the path that takes us from our campsite through the woods and lands us on the actual fair property i burst into tears.

sobsobsob.  i turned to dearsweetdave and told him this had been a REALLY HARD YEAR.  and that there were times this year when i wasn't sure that i was actually going to make it to the fair with him by my side.  and that i didn't realize until that very moment how monumental that would have been.  and how even more monumental it was that he was, in fact, there with me.  still.  our 8th fair together.  that i will always be at the fair.  every single year.  no matter what, i will be there.  but i can't imagine ever coming to the fair without him as a part of my experience.  i thanked him for loving me enough throughout this whole year to continue to work on our relationship, our WHOLE relationship, all the parts, so that we could walk through that dragon entrance together.  still.

still.

it was a word that stuck with me a lot through out the weekend.  i realized on friday that the fair would always be there.  and that i do live my years, my months, my weeks, my days, my hours, even, in anticipation of the next one.  if i can just make it to the fair, everything will be all right.  and that was more true this year than it has ever been before.

so there i was.  a blubbering mess.  spilling out my heart.  tears flowing down my cheeks.  thanking my husband for basically being my husband.  and being so damn thankful and happy that i was in my fairy skirt and wings in a tiny little hamlet somewhere in the woods in oregon.   that I was able to renew my vow to be me.  a fairy.  a naked jen fairy.  that i was able to commune with my people, to practice my religion.

and then i saw the flamingos.  and my tears vanished and my permagrin returned.

who can possibly cry when you're enveloped in pink and feathers?  who??

p.s.  there's loads more to come.  stay tuned!  i haven't even walked into the fair yet!

Clap Clap Clap...The Fair! The Fair! The Fair!

Wings - Check.
Fairy Skirt - Check.
Glitter - Check.

Whatever else I've forgotten, well, I'll just punt.  Or just go naked.  They don't call me NakedJen for nothing, you know.

If you haven't guessed, it's time for the fair.  Or as I say around here, "Clap,clap,clap,clap...The Fair! The Fair! The Fair!"  This is said in the most non-Ann Taylor* high-pitched squeeky little girl voice you can possibly imagine.  Actually imagine that voice and then imagine it as a 36RPM record played at 78RPM's instead.  Now you're getting close to the voice.

LaVonne who was Born Famous is here to take care of Buddha and Stella, lest you believe that I would just leave them here with a big pile of food and bowl of water and tell them to fend for themselves.  As if.  I'd take them to the fair, but dogs are not allowed.  And with good reason.  They'll have a much better time here with LaVonne, anyway.  Beach trips filled with rainbow balls flying through the air.  I think they're the ones who will be tripping.

Meanwhile, their dogmama will be drivedrivedriving for ten hours to her favorite cozy little magical wonderful place in Oregon.  It's her religion.  And no one, not even Mormon Sister NeverNakedBeth, will ever convince her that there's a better religion worth having.

Permagrin's in place.  Glitter spread all around.  It's fair time.  And I've sprouted my wings.

*There are many blog readers who upon meeting me in real life insist that I don't sound like they expected and instead I sound like a woman who works at Ann Taylor.  Can you imagine that?

It is Important to Rescue the Frog

So you know that DearSweetDave is a web designer, right?  Or maybe you didn't know that, exactly, but I suppose you do now because I just told you.  He designs web sites.  He is responsible for my Dreamsweet website.  I'm so thankful that I'm actually married to that man because, well, if I wasn't I don't want to think what pain and suffering and agony I would have gone through to get my website created.  And when I want changes made to my website?  I just have to say, "DearSweetDave, I need to make changes to my website!"  And then he says to write what I want to have done in an email and shoot it off to him and he'll do it.

The rest of the world should work this way.  We should just say, "World, I need you to do the laundry!"  and then send an email and it is done.  Or "World, I need you to recycle more and drive very fuel efficient automobiles!" and shoot an email to some big email server in the sky (or perhaps at HP or Sun Microsystems or whomever handles email reallyreallyreally well) and then voila, it's just done. 

Simple. 

Of course I'm sure there would be all kinds of conflicting emails.  Some people would be writing to reduce greenhouse gases while others would be writing to put more Hummers on the road and others would be writing to build bigger bombs and others would be writing to get rid of guns and bombs all together.  The email server might get very confused and just implode from all the conflicting requests.  Or it could be set, like my email server, to just ignore some requests.  Ah...but which requests to ignore?  Because, honestly, aren't all of our requests valid? 

Perhaps not so simple.

But what is simple is that DearSweetDave does design web sites.  And he designed a quick one for a tattoo artist named Shannon Archuleta.  It's a placeholder web site, really, until we can actually meet with her and design her something very kick-ass.  But the coolest part about this particular job is that DearSweetDave is doing it in exchange for a tattoo!  For me! 

You see for a veryveryvery long while I have wanted to get a tattoo of a beet on my back.  Actually,  it was going to be a fairy in a yoga pose holding a beet in her hands.  But then I thought about it more and decided that I don't want "another" fairy tattooed on me.  Not that I already have a fairy tattoo, because I certainly do not.  I mean that I am a fairy.  So why would I have another fairy tattooed on to me?  It feels odd.  So instead, I'm just getting the beet.  A big bold brash beet. 

Before you decide that I need more iron in my diet, let me ask you if you've ever read the book Jitterbug Perfume?  If you haven't, please go and read it now.  Go on.  I'll wait.  I've loads of time these days.  It is perhaps my most favorite book of all time.  I own a signed first edition.  I also have had Tom Robbins sign other books of his for me with references to beets.  Oh, but you're still reading aren't you?  It's okay.  I know if you've gotten through the first few pages you're already beginning to understand about the beets. 

Once you finish the book, you'll be wanting a beet tattoo of your own.  Call up Shannon.  She can become the beet tattoo artist of North Beach.  A new beet generation will begin.  We can all email about wanting more beets in our salad.  Or something like that.

And while we're all emailing about greenhouse gases and recycling and reducing CO2, let me also encourage every single one of you who reads this blog to go and see An Inconvenient Truth.  It is very important that you all see this film.  Especially those of you who think you've got this whole global warming issue all figured out.  If you're a scientist who is working on the problem, you might get a hall pass and get to skip the movie, but the rest of you?  Attendance is mandatory and required.  I am tempted to purchase a gazillion copies of this film and just start offering it here free for anyone who would like one.

It's that important.  Or perhaps I can just follow in the foot steps of my friend Rico and the Santa Cruz Guerilla Drive-In folks and start showing this film on the sides of buildings all over America.  Honestly, people need to see this film.  This is not propaganda.  This is just hard scientific data about our planet.

Here's just a bit of science from the movie's web site:

Carbon dioxide and other gases warm the surface of the planet naturally by trapping solar heat in the atmosphere. This is a good thing because it keeps our planet habitable. However, by burning fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil and clearing forests we have dramatically increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere and temperatures are rising.

   

The vast majority of scientists agree that global warming is real, it’s already happening and that it is the result of our activities and not a natural occurrence. The evidence is overwhelming and undeniable.

   

We’re already seeing changes. Glaciers are melting, plants and animals are being forced from their habitat, and the number of severe storms and droughts is increasing.

                                                                                                                                                                                                   

	The number of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes has almost doubled in the last 30 years.
	Malaria has spread to higher altitudes in places like the Colombian Andes, 7,000 feet above sea level.
	The flow of ice from glaciers in Greenland has more than doubled over the past decade.
	At least 279 species of plants and animals are already responding to global warming, moving closer to the poles.

       

If the warming continues, we can expect catastrophic consequences.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

	Deaths from global warming will double in just 25 years -- to 300,000 people a year.
	Global sea levels could rise by more than 20 feet with the loss of shelf ice in Greenland and Antarctica, devastating coastal areas worldwide.
	Heat waves will be more frequent and more intense.
	Droughts and wildfires will occur more often.
	The Arctic Ocean could be ice free in summer by 2050.
	More than a million species worldwide could be driven to extinction by 2050.

       

There is no doubt we can solve this problem. In fact, we have a moral obligation to do so. Small changes to your daily routine can add up to big differences in helping to stop global warming. The time to come together to solve this problem is now – TAKE ACTION

Folks we're not doing a very good job, at this moment in time, of taking care of our planet.  But we can.  And we most certainly should.  Think of your children.  And your grandchildren.  And their grandchildren.  This planet is not just ours for the taking. 

It is important to rescue the frog.  It is important to rescue ourselves.  It is far too important to ignore.