After two years in Massachusetts I finally feel like we are really settled in and live here. We are still in an apartment in Dudley which is very convenient to Zarah’s high school and is quite affordable for the space we have. We are looking at moving a little closer to Boston and to a place where we can have the alpacas with us once Zarah graduates in 2013. Until then I have the equivalent of a half time job commuting to work in the city, mostly on the commuter rail; two and a half hours each way. I drive one day a week which can be shorter time wise, only an hour and a half if things go well, but risks running into bad traffic. I read, nap, work and talk to friends on the train. Eventually moving closer will make it easier on both Zarah and me as she is likely to be attending school in Boston.

Until then the alpacas are housed on some nice grassy space in Uxbridge with a lovely caretaker. They are too far away for us to see them as often as we would like to. The alpacas are a whole story of their own and I wrote a lot about them during 2011. There were a variety of health problems in the herd that we struggled with both time and money wise this year. I have spent time figuring out how to get the fiber we have in storage processed and turned into product we can sell, that effort is still ongoing. For more fun stuff about the alpacas, check out my posts on www.alpacasofavalon.com to read about how baby Irene arrived in a hurricane and to see videos we made about fiber and sorting. We are starting to have a little bit of product on hand and I’ll get it posted for sale sometime.

We almost bought a house back in the spring, but the deal fell through because they just could not figure out who really owned the seller’s mortgage. They kept delaying the deal and coming back for more and more money. We backed out and decided to stay put for now.

I am very grateful to have been employed steadily for the last 18 months. From October 2010 to November 2011 I worked at the State of Massachusetts Division of Professional Licensure on a contract as a Sr. Business Analyst. It was a good gig, but then in November the phone call came with the offer I just couldn’t refuse. When you work contract in Information Technology, there is a stream of incoming phone calls and emails offering other contract work. I have a routine polite brush off for those offers when I am already on a contract, but this phone call was different. They were recruiting for a full time job, at Boston University, for an OnBase developer. The first two elements would have been enough to peak my interest, but getting a job working with OnBase is a dream come true for me.

I learned OnBase and became a certified system administrator on it back in Arizona when I was working at the Superior Court and I absolutely love the software. It is a very sophisticated electronic document management system which also incorporates workflow capability and it is highly configurable. The vendor company Hyland is a great place to work and they offer a fantastic level of support and training. When we moved east in 2010 my original plan was to shop my resume around to OnBase resellers and places that were using OnBase to get a job working with the software. Stuff happened and I didn’t follow through with my plan. I did other work, mostly analysis. So to get a cold phone call to do OnBase workflow development as a full time job was a totally awesome opportunity. I am so thrilled to have my hands back in some development work as well as doing the discovery, analysis and documentation.

I started at Boston University on December first and so far I absolutely love it. The culture is eclectic and emphasizes ongoing learning, training, work life balance, and working in teams. My management team is fantastic and I am really excited to be there. There are some pretty amazing benefits too, particularly college tuition available for both myself and Zarah. I’m thinking about pursuing a graduate degree or maybe just taking some classes for fun. If Zarah decides she wants a full university education, Boston U is a great school with lots of program options and we only have to come up with 10% of the tuition for her to go. I wish my base salary was higher, but the economy is tough. Every employer is asking employees to do more work for less money. Higher Ed has never been a sector that offers high salaries. At least I really love what I am doing and the pace is manageable.

I couldn’t do this commute and work schedule without Jonathan. He makes sure I get up in the morning, drives me back and forth to the train, and lets me collapse when I get home on weekday evenings and then feeds me good home cooked meals. It is really ‘our’ job that I go to and I am so grateful for his logistical and spiritual support. He also facilitates the girls getting where they need to and keeps the household running smoothly. I’m amazed at how much videotaping and editing work he has been able to do with his remaining time.
Having the girls at home is wonderful. We four live together very comfortably. Zarah is my Daughter and Selena is my Other Daughter. They contribute to the household chores, pursue their interests, see their friends and are just generally delightful to live with. Hearing Selena’s stories about the animals at the EcoTarium is a weekly treat. Watching Zarah’s steadily developing skills at art and sewing is inspirational. I am very proud of both of them.

Having good health insurance coverage for the last year and also access to a wide variety of medical professionals, I’ve spent some time and energy over the last year working on some long standing health issues that I have had. Just before Thanksgiving I got some definitive news from a rheumatologist. He said I have the most classic case of fibromyalgia that he has ever run across. For many years I’ve thought I had arthritis, but I don’t. The Fibro syndrome actually pulls a lot of disparate symptoms and issues together and explains them as really being one thing. I am kind of relieved to know what it is, to have a label. It has given me something to work on to feel better and knowledge about what my reasonable limitations really are.

I have actually had fibro for a long time, it just got worse recently as often happens for women my age. It isn’t life threatening, and most of all, I’m not crazy or a hypochondriac. Rest really is the answer to feeling better a lot of the time. I’m currently working on improving my sleep quality and also started making some recommended adjustments to my nutrition. There is more to learn and try, more Docs to talk to. Meantime I’ve cut back on my optional commitments, focus on getting to work, and getting to bed on time. Jonathan and the girls have been very understanding and forgiving about my energy and pain levels. I’ve actually been living with this for a long time without knowing what it was. Having something clear to work on is a good thing.

2012 will be about settling in at Boston University, stabilizing our financial outlook, and continuing to enjoy the company of friends and family. Now that I have some paid vacation time again, we may even get to do some travelling out to visit folks west of here that we miss very much. Best wishes to you for a prosperous and happy New Year!

Check out Boston University’s extensive web presence.

Jonathan Avalon

2011 came and went at a mind-boggling speed and left behind in its wake a clarity of mind for me and my life here in New England. I absolutely LOVE living here. It is so beautiful. The experience of life here is fueled by this tenacity and never-ending will of the people who live here. And at a most magickal and tolerable speed. It excites the senses. Makes me just wanna’ jump right on in.

As we look back and head forward I want to say that at this moment, right here / right now, That I am the happiest I have ever been in my entire life. I love living with Lillith and her spectacular ability to manifest wondrous life experiences for us all. Zarah has just become a beautiful young lady, right before our very eyes, and continues to do so in every moment. Having Selena in our house has expanded our wealth beyond measure. For me, this past year has afforded the opportunity to experience a clarity about myself, my passions and my desires.

One of our hopes for relocation was that I will be able to contribute to the financial well-being of our household. But we really didn’t know what that would look like although I thought I had a few ideas. Well, like they say, along the way of my plans life happened and re-awakened in me an old dream in a whole new way. “Create and promote what you love to behold.” the Universe said to me. As most of you know, I’m very stubborn and will not do anything I don’t want to do. So simply put, it is only through this creation and promotion of what I love to behold that I will be able to properly align with the reality of being a financial contributor. And now I know what that is.

Years ago, before Lillith and the massage therapist me, there was a photographer me. The photographer me was not very successful in being a financial contributor to his own life, so to fill that void he traded in the photographer self for the massage therapist self. End of dream. I had not truly realized until this past year how much I loved that photographer me. But I really don’t want to be a photographer again as I no longer find still imagery satisfying. It had to be motion and I am finding digital video to be a formidable choice of media.

So, as we head into 2012 I have set aside all other ventures and focused my deliberate attention on creating and promoting what I love to behold, videos of Brett Brumby. My God! How could you not love to behold Brett Brumby when he sings and plays that guitar? Okay, not just Brett but it was very much Brett and Lisa that help remind me of what it was I love to behold. Humans, Animated Humans to be specific, blissfully expressing themselves through the unavoidable creation of their art.

That’s it in a nutshell. With the single pointed focus of a hunter I head forth into 2012 knowing that I will be producing videos of really cool Animated Humans and sharing them on my new web tv site: www.AHWebTv.animatedhuman.com

How will all of this coagulate into contributing to the financial success of our household, I have no idea. But I do trust and expect that will be exposed and revealed to me this year as I continue to participate in the creation and promotion of what it is I love to behold.

May we all share in a joyous 2012.

Check out Jonathan’s Animated Human Video services site.

Zarah and Max Fall 2011

Spring 2011 at the end of my sophomore year I took the classroom part of driver’s ed. Driving practice was during the summer. One of the days that we were sitting in the hot summer heat, we got a strange thunderstorm. Tornado warnings were everywhere, and the sky turned sort of green. I had never seen a tornado before and was very excited to see what the storm would look like. That evening we dyed my girlfriend’s hair and enjoyed the thunderstorms. The tornado never showed up in Dudley, but it caused some disaster nearby. It was a fairly exciting new experience from Massachusetts. The summer was hot and rainy, but I finished all my driving hours before school started in the fall. I’m still driving on my learner’s permit now and practicing to take the test for my license.

Selena moved in with us at the beginning of summer after her graduation. I quit color guard at the end of my sophomore year, deciding I would rather spend my time at home with my girlfriend, focusing on art and sewing, and to give myself more time for school work during my Junior year. Over the summer I went to a volunteer job at the Community Cat Connection in Webster taking care of homeless kitties. I thought about getting a job, even applied at a dog day care, but nothing worked out, so I stayed home and enjoyed my summer time, going to sewing classes every so often.

My sewing project for the summer was a long jacket for our family friend, Jason, which I finished a week or two before Halloween. My next project for sewing was a corset for Selena which I am still working on. It is coming out so well! Many of my friends are asking me to make them clothes too, so I have my work cut out for me in 2012. I got another push toward my fashion designing future in the shape of a 1965 Singer sewing machine that sews like butter… it was a birthday present from my uncle Kevin, and I couldn’t be more happy with it. It seems my future is very bright.

We were looking at schools I might want to go to for my Fashion Designer education, and for the moment my favorites are School for Fashion Design in Boston. Boston University where my mom’s new job is has also opened up as an option for me. We have yet to go visit the schools yet. However we did go to a Portfolio viewing and showed off my art portfolio to several schools. I got a lot of good feedback.

Over the summer we also went to a two tribe events. First we went to Spiritfire and I introduced Selena to our tribe family! She fit it quite well. We also went to Wildfire in September which is an event full of workshops on hooping and fire spinning. Wildfire was all I hoped for and more. I got another beautiful collapsible hula hoop to help me learn isolations. We are hoping to go to another wildfire this year, the sense of excitement and fun was so good. I hula-hooped in fire twice! First time, in the bitter cold night, it was so exhilarating.

Junior year is going alright, my grades are A’s and B’s. I have new friends who I adore, but I haven’t found as much time to hang out with them as I’d like to except when I was on the stage crew for the school play of Macbeth. The play went well, I’m thinking about doing the musical in the Spring as well. I am a little frustrated still being in school when I want to get a move on with my future, but I am pleased to be an upperclassman now, although I would prefer to be a Senior.

The end of the calendar year has been pretty good too. We got a new kitten, Zinc, and I love him, even though he is a trouble maker. My birthday was wonderful, with my friends who came to a birthday party and some wonderful birthday presents from my family, like good quality art supplies. I have decided I really like oil pastels, and I love using markers. The most amazing present of all was from Selena though. She found a way to let me pet a fox for the first time! He was wonderful and sweet, and so soft. He especially liked his chin being scratched. I really want to have a pet fox. My Christmas was pretty pleasant too, although we were on a money budget. I made sculpy jewelry with gear imprint in them for my friends, and I got some fun things from them too. All in all 2011 was a good year, and I am looking forward to 2012.

I take sewing lessons from Eddi at The Fabric Stash. He is a graduate of The School for Fashion Design where I am thinking of going.

Malachi Avalon-Caughey June 2011

High school was fun. I had lots of friends, and over all, easy school work. Life was very easy, verging on boring. High school homework couldn’t keep me interested, but that left time I spent job-hunting. Unfortunately job hunting did not result in job finding. I had a near miss with a cupcake shop job that I really wanted because I love to bake. So that left me time to hang out with folks that I was going to leave behind here in Cypress when I headed for college at the University of North Texas. I graduated cum laude and participated in the whole cap and gown ceremony. My Mom came down from Massachusetts and my Uncle Kevin came from Arizona to attend.

I spent as much summer time as I could with my family, my friends, and especially my girlfriend of almost a year and half, Kristin. Summer was slow at parts, though there were a couple of fun adventures like my canoe trip down the Trinity River. I went with my dad, his girlfriend, her daughter and daughter’s friend, and of course, Kristin. The trip was my first time to canoe, and it took quite a bit of time to get used to paddling in tandem with Kristin, who also had no experience. I smile when I think about how we were struggling at first, then by the end of it we were zooming ahead of the rest of the group. Less enjoyable was the night spent sleeping on round rocks. Being my first time canoeing, my arms were noodles at the end of the journey. It was a painful experience, but well worth it in the end.

Summer ended with my move to Denton. The transition from high school to college had me very nervous. Feeling nervous led to some troublesome instances, including locking my keys in my truck for the first time and parking in an illegal spot which got my truck towed. That was a costly mistake, but at least it was recoverable. The move was successful, and found that I had brought even more than I really needed to. Dorm life in general is much to my liking. I’ve always enjoyed being within walking distance of my friends, and this is beyond close, living under the same roof as nearly 60 other people my age. Being able to always find someone with a common interest is one of the best parts of living in a dorm.

I play Dungeons and Dragons every week, Magic the Gathering card games every other day, and now and then everyone gets tired of eating at the cafeterias, so we pitch in to buy groceries for a home cooked meal downstairs, to be shared with anyone who happens to be around. UNT is a great school, the academic programs are good, most of the teachers are very likeable and do a good job interacting with the students. Just 10 minutes’ drive away is the town square of Denton, a little square of shops and restaurants that contain anything an individual could need or want, for a very reasonable price, even on a college student’s budget. Job-hunting is still unsuccessful, but with all the opportunities around, I’m sure I will find something sooner than later.

My major now is Mechanical and Energy Engineering. My hope is to be able to get into work developing green energy-based sources, but I’m still unsure if my mind is equipped for such work. I’m sure I’ll find out before too long, as my next semester has bio-chemistry, which should tell me a lot more about how I’ll do. My mind has always been math and science based which is one of the reasons I wanted to take this major. Still I wonder sometimes since I’m good with psychology/philosophy style thinking, whether that path would be better for me. I suppose I will find out in due time. For now I am putting all my energy towards the Engineering major.

If you want to know more about my college, I am at the University of North Texas – Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering.

Selena and Bald Eagle

This past year has been full of surprises for me. 2011 was the end of my Senior year. I want to be a wildlife care taker and in order to go to that route; I needed to take advanced science and math classes. I took Advanced Placement Statistics (ended the year with 98), Advanced Calculus (ended with 95), and Advanced Biology (ended with 94). I was happy with the results. I graduated on June 5, 2011, a very proud day for myself. Finally leaving Shepherd Hill Regional HS and planning to move on to Unity College in the fall.

I was introduced to Unity College during my junior year by a brochure. It is a college all about the environment. The major I want to pursue is Captive Wildlife Care and Education. This means that I will learn how to take care of every animal you can think of, mostly focusing on mammals and reptiles. My dream is to work with big cats… especially tigers. I want to specialize in the Felidae and Canidae families. Working with big cats and wild dogs, such as wolves and foxes, is going to be my future and I am very excited!

About a week after I graduated, I moved in with the Avalon’s. Not something that I had planned, but it was for the better. Initially it was hard to adjust only because I did not have a lot of personal items with me. Other than that, I have not had any problems with moving away from home. When I miss my family, I can go home and see them, which is great. I have fun living with the Avalons and feel excited to live here for another 6 months.

At the beginning of August I got a phone call from my mom. She told me that I was not going to college because there wasn’t enough money. My parents had to do the paperwork for loans and financial aid because I did not turn 18 until September. I was upset that I could not go straight into my next educational experience. I had to delay entrance to college and wait until I was 18 to start filling out grants. Even now I am still working on it, but I am determined to go to school Fall of 2012. Wish me luck!

In June and start of August, I was volunteering with a cat shelter and a foster mom (to kittens of course). Although I had fun, I knew I could not do it for one year. No matter how bad I want a paying job or how often I apply, I am still unemployed. I wanted to do something with my life during this year off from school. I am someone who cannot sit around doing nothing for more than 3 days. So I went online and looked for places I would be okay to work at for some money. Then I looked up some old zoos I remembered going to when I was a kid. However, most are in other states, and the ones in MA are an hour away. There is one place that I remember going to as a kid that is only 20 minutes away. I looked up EcoTarium and next thing I know, I’m playing with porcupines and opossums!

I e-mailed for a naturalist program, but I was about to be 18. Jen told me to fill out a form for an actual volunteer position. Okay! In a matter of minutes I printed it out, filled it, scanned it, and sent it to the EcoTarium. A woman named Betsy M. got a hold of me. We set up a date and time. Then, Jen sent an e-mail and our date and time was confirmed. Early that August day, I got an e-mail. It was Betsy cancelling on me! But I was supposed to be with Jen, not Betsy?! What to do? Well, I told Jonathan and he said that we should go. No harm in it, if there is no interview, we would just walk around and get out of the house a bit. So we were off! I got there, told the gate I was going for an interview, told the front desk and waited. Jen was held up, but only for 5 minutes! A nice older woman came up. She introduced herself as Kathy. Okay, and Jen? I followed Kathy downstairs to the bottom floor and went behind the scenes. As soon as we sat down another woman came in and it was Jen. They talked about my application, seeing that I wanted to be a WILDLIFE vet, not just any vet. I was so nervous, I was having issues talking, repeating myself over and over, but they were excited to have me. I then, out of my mouthing everything, mentioned the Betsy e-mail. It turns out, she is the head of the EcoTarium! She saw my application and wanted to see me herself! I felt special. And away we went, showing me where I was going to be working next week.

I am glad to have taken a chance to do something new. I love being at the EcoTarium! I work with such a fabulous crowd, both in Wildlife department and everything else. The animals I work with are so much fun! Some highlights of my work so far… I held a bald eagle in my arms and got to carry it for a long time without gloves, I play with a fox as though he is a dog, I am a personal trainer to an opossum. I am one of the very few volunteers that is given a radio and just allowed to run with taking care of the animals by myself. In December, Betsy (leader of the EcoTarium) patted me on the back and told me how impressed she was with the volunteer hours I have done. So, when I got home, I calculated my hours. Between late August and end of the year I did 445 hours! 3 days a week, each day 9 hours. Could not believe it myself! I still hope they will offer me a paid position but I love going to work with the animals even as a volunteer.

I am looking forward to 2012, doing a lot of volunteer hours with amazing people, start of my college years, and being the Avalons. I am excited for my future and looking forward to the new year!

Check out the EcoTarium!

Zarah lighting up for the first time.

Then in the evening, everybody got to light up! I think both girls were incredibly courageous and did amazing. Zarah has been hoola-hooping for several years but this is the first time live fire was involved.

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Full screen video of Zarah’s first time spinning a fire-hoop using a different player if you have issues with the embedded one above.

Selena spun flags on the color guard at high school last year (as did Zarah), but this was her first time with a staff or live-fire.

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Full screen video of Selena’s first time spinning a fire-staff using a different player if you have issues with the embedded one above.

(Selena did fire-breathing too, I think Zarah has a tiny video from her phone posted on her Facebook page if you are her friend.)

It is pretty amazing to see what our lovely young people are growing up to do with such grace and courage. I admire our girls practice, discipline and imagination very much.

So we found a used white utility van with reasonable mileage on a rebuilt engine for $2000.  It is a V8 engine and climbs hills very nicely. It has a tow hitch already installed. I wish it got better gas mileage, but we still have the gas efficient Vitara to drive for day to day errands. We really needed a vehicle of this size and power.

The girls are removing the vinyl lettering a little more each day. Jonathan has removed the racks and cleaned up the inside. He has also spent many hours chasing minor repairs like fuses, insurance, registration, license plates, and inspection.  It is almost road ready!

We’ll be driving the van up to a festival camping weekend soon and we are looking forward to returning to the comfort of van camping that we enjoyed for so many years in Jonathan’s old van.

The van also has nice security features allowing doors to be padlocked from the outside and a secure metal grill to be installed between the front cab and the back. This will allow Jonathan to use the van to haul his portable video lights and cameras around to jobs and know they will be secure.

Jonathan is quite tickled to be a van owner again. It really makes him happy. Zarah is enthusiastic about driving the new van so we will start practicing her on it soon. Overall things feel a little less precarious having two functioning vehicles… now if one needed to go into the shop, we could survive.

Malachi and his Mom

Malachi has graduated from high school cum laude (with honors) for his excellent grades. We are super proud of him. Malachi has been living with his Dad a little North of Houston, Texas and attended Cy-Fair High School. He graduated with almost 900 other students from one of the best high schools in Texas.

I had the opportunity to go and be a proud Mom and attend the graduation.

Malachi is headed to college in North Texas to study Environmental Engineering. He has also discovered that he likes to cook and may have secured a position making cup cakes as a part time job for the rest of the summer.

Malachi graduated!

Shearing in progress

Alpacas get sheared once a year.  In Arizona we sheared in April but here in Massachusetts, April was too cold and too wet, so we waited into May. The day before shearing the last weekend in May it got hot, really hot. We were setting up the shearing shade pavilion and the alpacas were hovering about waiting for us to get done so they could lie down in the shade. They were guzzling water and generally looking pretty miserable.  It is a good thing we sheared the very next day.

In Arizona shearing was a community activity where we knew the owners of a number of different alpaca ranches. We worked together over the course of several weeks to get everyone’s animals done and there were plenty of hands. This was our first time to do shearing in Massachusetts and we are super grateful for the friends who turned out to lend a hand even though they had never done this before.

This shearing day we had 11 animals to work with. Jonathan wielded shears as expertly as ever and we got them all done by 3 pm.  The alpacas clearly grew more weight of fleece in the Massachusetts winter cold and we got quite a lovely harvest.  We’ll be sorting and cleaning for quite some time to come.  Eventually there will be socks and yarn but please don’t hold your breath… we promise to announce when they are actually available.

Hannah, Ollie, and Selena

Halfway done shearing

Blanket fleece

First alpaca sheared

Zarah's Prom Dress

Our daughter Zarah was just beautiful in her dress for prom night this year. The theme was “Paris” and she fit right in. She had a very good time with her girlfriend Selena and many other friends who attended. This was Selena’s senior year so it was an especially important party.

Nothing really else to say about it. I just think she was really gorgeous and wanted to show her off.

Zarah's Prom Dress