Creative Path Studio: Trish Roque’s blog, studio, and musings on living a purpose-filled life.

Although I could argue that the best gift is really a BMW F650 GS (for me), the video I saw today convinced me otherwise. All kidding aside, this video put life into much needed perspective - including how indulgent and luxurious a BMW F650 GS really is.

Robert Thompson, the man who created the short film, is a violinist living in China with his wife. He apparently grew up in the awesome Maxwell Park neighborhood of Oakland, where Jon and I bought our house a couple of years ago. Actually, a neighbor from the Maxwell Park listserve gets the credit for posting the link. In the midst of the negative news that often floods our listserve, she wanted to share a positive, uplifting story.

Be prepared to cry:

4 Generations Video

My apprenticeship began this week, and although I will not be working with the elephants, as I originally hoped, I am not disappointed.

I’ve been assigned to String 7, where I work with goats, sheep, pigs, rabbits, tropical birds, and lemurs. I spent my first weekend familiarizing myself with the daily chores of the zookeeper: preparing diets (i.e. chopping veggies & fruit), cleaning enclosures, observing the animals for general health, and getting a glimpse of the individual personalities of these critters.

For instance, I’ve learned first hand that Felix the goat does not particularly care for women. He let me know by head-butting me the first day. So now, I don’t turn my back on him. Then there’s Joanna and her buddy, Polly, the Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs. They are both old, grumpy ladies, and they are nice to you if you have a bowl of food in your hands. Otherwise, well… suffice to say you better have a bowl in your hand.

Then, there are the sweet, adorable lemurs. I’m slowly learning to differentiate among the lemurs, but Chester is one I can’t miss. He’s hormonally challenged and has a pair of man-boobs. He’s a favorite among the zookeepers because he’s a sweetheart - and, well, he’s kind of amusing to watch.

He sits there, usually on his haunches, comfortably resting his arms on his “arm holders”.The photo on the right is not the best because I did not want to get too close to him and startle him. I’m in their space and I need to respect that.

But this is what I love most about these lemurs: they are sun-worshippers, just like me. Look at them:

They apparently follow the path of the sun along the ledge, and sit worshipping all day long.

It’s been an interesting start so far. Once I get the routine down, I’ll have more time to focus on the required project. It will probably include some kind of enrichment for the lemurs, since I am finding myself drawn to them.

Stay tuned for more…

Jon and I spent the week between Christmas and New Year’s visiting with friends in one of my most favorite places in the world: New Mexico.

Our trip served multiple purposes. We wanted to remind ourselves what the piece of property we bought looked like, considering it had been over a year since we last saw the land.

We were pleasantly surprised to realize that it was more beautiful than we remember. We even love the arroyo that goes through the property. Jeff would say to Jon as we walked through the arroyo: “Think trials course!” Big grins all around!

Secondly, since we stayed with Star and Jeff, it made sense to get some web work done. I worked quite a bit, ok a lot, with Jeff tweaking his website.

Jeff is launching a marketing campaign to promote his new pieces of beautiful necklaces. We wanted to be sure the site showcased this new work. I think we succeeded, though the site is still lacking photos of the other pieces he created for the series. (*Cough cough* Jeff, get to it!)

Additionally, there was networking (of the human kind) to be done. I’m hopeful I’ve picked up one or two more clients during my visit to Santa Fe.

I also wanted to catch up with friends, one of whom I had not seen since leaving Santa Fe in 2000. Of course, he’s also an artist and is now creating quite a bit of sculpture. Gotta give James Marshall a little plug here: visit his site when you get a chance and view some of his ceramic pieces.

I managed to see Norma and Robert, and Julie, who was my first contact in Oakland. Julie was vacationing in Santa Fe and staying with Norma and Robert. I had not seen Julie in about a year — I had to go to Santa Fe to see my Oakland neighbor!

Lastly but certainly not least, was the FUN to be had in all this, especially with the snowstorm that blew in the days near the end of our trip. The dogs, especially Siwa, were in heaven. Not only was Siwa on a horse ranch with fresh poop to roll in on a daily basis, BUT, she hit a double wammy when the snowstorm fell all around her.

Snow is truly Siwa’s favorite, even better than horse poop. We’re grateful the storm hit at the end of the trip, giving Siwa time to soak in the snow and soak out the horse poop before being confined in a car with us for 18 hours.

More photos from our trip can be found here.

A third and fourth earthquake followed the ones I wrote previously about.

The third occurred the Saturday before Jon and I left for New Mexico. We were in bed when we felt the 3.5 quake hit in the morning. The epicenter was in Berkeley, like the previous ones. The fourth quake occurred when we were in New Mexico — Jenny informed us that a 2.8 hit in Piedmont while we were away.

I really don’t know what any of this means - probably nothing. It is however a reminder that we are living in an incredibly tectonically active area.