Wednesday Wonders

Senbazuru

heidi08 Festival, Friends of Martinez Beavers August 5, 2010

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{column2}The ancient Japanese legend says that any patient soul who folds a thousand cranes will be visited by a magical crane and granted a wish. The crane is revered in Japan, and is said to live for 1000 years. Traditionally 40 cranes strung on 25 strings mark either the enormous labor for a wish that is deeply needed, (like a cure for illness), or is the gift to a wedding couple as a show of love and support. Sedako Sesaki was just 2 years old at the bombing of Hiroshima. At 11 she was diagnosed with Leukemia and struggled to achieve senbazuru before she died. She finished just 644, and children still send the missing birds to her grave site. Just in case you’ve never made even one here’s a handy guide for your inspiration.{/column2}

I offer this tale, of course, because today is the THOUSANDTH POST on this website, certainly a labor of love which began in the pursuit of a wish. We got our wish. As we stand two days away from the third beaver festival I am reminded that we have reshaped our wish to include beavers in Fresno, Newberg OR, Sammamish WA, Tulsa OK, Bemidji MN, Chicago IL, Berriens GA, Nolton NJ, Thetfort VT, Medford MA, Oshawa Ontario, PEI, Scotland and Riga, Lithuania (To name a few). That’s a pretty big wish. Might need two magic cranes. Hmm…better keep folding.

Thanks everyone for your help and inspiration. In honor of the momentous occasion I am opening the comments on this post in case you have something to add. (Click at the bottom where it says ‘comments’ for a dialogue box). (Let the beaver wars, sexual puns and viagra prescriptions begin!) Writing daily on this process has been a surprisingly powerful way for me to keep track of all the new twists and turns and manage my own emotional response to what has been an enriching, frustrating, rewarding, challenging and life-changing journey. Thanks for coming along with me.

Beaver Mural

heidi08 Festival August 1, 2010

This two-piece diptych mural of Alhambra Creek by Frogard Butler, based on the map design by Libby Corliss, will be the background for hundreds of children’s artwork. Can’t you just imagine it filled with beavers, birds and butterflies? I told Fro that its beauty needed only one more thing to start everything off: Mom beaver who was of course the beginning of everything. Paint, brushes, smocks and guidance provided. This will be a fantastic project that continues all day. Save a little energy for you and your child’s creation.

The counter on this blog post tells me that this is the 996th post written on this home page, meaning that this thursday will likely be the 1000th column written. That’s a lot of posts about beavers. The first 25 or so were written by Bruce the original designer of the sight. Another 25 were written by others. And the remaining 950 have been the work of yours truly, a fairly weird but still prodigious accomplishment. 1 a morning 365 days a year for three years. Its something to think about.

Has this been the most beaver articles ever written on the web? I think so! There certainly isn’t a facet of beavers or beaver lore that you can look up without finding www.martinezbeavers.org/wordpress on at least the third google page. Ditto for photos. It is strange how the numbers worked out so closely timed to the festival. Divine beaver providence I guess.

And on the day after the festival they rested…

heidi08 Festival August 3, 2009

Worth a Dam-mers worked hard on saturday to pull the festival together. Setting up, taking down, carrying heavy things, tying down lighter things, it was three full time jobs falling hard upon the heels of months of planning. Time and effort well spent, and we were rewarded with new energy and enthusiasm from our many visitors. On Sunday we scrambled to take back the awnings, upload the photos and count the earnings, and noticed how much slower our brains were working from all the effort. I was delighted to get GTK’s videos saturday night, but when I stared at them sunday morning I couldn’t remember how to extract audio or make a clip. Our mighty treasurer Jon counted and recounted the earnings 17 times and got a diferent number every time. I heard similar complaints from Lory, Linda(s) and Cheryl. We were all a little dazed and confused yesterday. We knew we had done something very, very good, but we just couldn’t remember what to do next!

Which is unfortunate because we’re still baking tiles at my house and I am presenting for the John Muir Mountain Day Camp on wednesday. Here’s hoping there is a little cerebral recovery between now and then. How long does it take for the grass to spring back up after deer were laying on it? You know you can see the depression they made for 6 hours after, maybe 12. Then the grass bounces back to its standing height and there’s no record at all of the lovely organic pressure that once weighed there. I need that to happen to my gyri and sulci.