What is an unbirthday?  An unbirthday is an event that can be celebrated on any day that is not the person’s birthday.   It was coined by Lewis Carroll in his Through the Looking-Glass,^[1][2] giving rise to “The Unbirthday Song” in the 1951 Disney animated feature film Alice in Wonderland.^[3]

Sing-a-long and then learn all the ways you can get your UnBirthday gift!
 

There are lots of ways to attend our UnBirthday party and maybe, just maybe, you’ll get an UnBirthday gift:

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Now blow the candle out my dear
And make your wish come true ~ A merry merry unbirthday to you!

This year let’s work to support local artists, community projects and banks.  Donate to the cause, move your money to small banks or credit unions, drive or walk thru your local community and support them with your purchases.

There are so many ways to support wildlife!  Visit or become a member of Wildlife Images or your local wildlife rehabilitation center, adopt wildlife (ok you don’t really get to keep the wildlife, you just get to support them with you adoption $$), support your state and national parks, purchase gifts through World Wildlife Fund, Defenders of Wildlife, Nature Conservancy, National Geographic, and many others.  Here’s a list of the top 10 conservations organizations to get you going. 

If you don’t have a favorite, might I suggest adopting my personal spirit totem, the polar bear ~

How can you resist such a cutie?

And remember to show off your wild side with our Joey pouches from Kenya!  Our Shanzu purses benefit 17 year old girls taken off the street, housed for 2 years while learning business skills before graduating with established contracts, a sewing machine and everything they need to become successful business women.

I was going to post video on all the beautiful vineyards here in our own Applegate Valley but figure why re-invent the wheel when we have the Applegate Wine Trail!  I will tease you with some photos though ~ Valley View, Bridgeview and Troon Vineyards are all within 5 miles of my house . . . lucky, lucky me!!  Of course, I’ve visited all and each has its own flair . . . kind of like our Joeys!

Send us your local favorite!  And make sure you take a Joey with you.  While Joey can’t be a designed driver, it will let you be handsfree to truly enjoy the fantastic food and wine offered by the wineries.  Wine and handsfree fun are the perfect holiday combination.  Please be responsible ~ don’t drink and drive.  Hiring a cab to take you home also supports local businesses.

Although I am of gypsy blood, these elders have taught me that it is not your color that determines whether you are of The People, but what is in your heart.  Like many, I am concerned about what we are doing to Mother Earth and through their books and DVD’s we spread the message and become the voice for the voiceless.  You too can support the message with your purchase either through the links or better yet check with your local bookstore to further support Small Business Saturday.

Books:  Grandmothers Council the World!  Featuring my own Grandmother Agnes Baker Pilgrim. 

Willie Whitefeather’s Outdoor Survival Handbook for Kids

Videos:  For the Next 7 Generations

Help support and spread the word of the Grandmothers’ Council, please visit                      Center for Sacred Studies

And when you’re dancing and singing your praises to the Great Spirit, we have beautiful handwoven Joeys to carry your totems, sage or any other small item that holds special meaning to you.

With Small Business Saturday coming up on Nov. 26 and the holidays fast approaching, I thought I would start a 12 day blog to give you ideas on how you can make the holidays shine by supporting local businesses and protecting the environment. 

Do your friends and fam really need another Wal-Mart or Target gift certificate?  Do you want to look like everyone else by shopping at big box stores and malls?  Of course not!!  You and everyone you know want to show off their magnetic personality!

When it comes to music, these guys are truly my favorite local talent!  I first met Alcyon at the Arkayik Revival spreading the message of Grandmother Agnes Baker Pilgrim and the Int’l Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers.  We’ll be talking more about them on Day 2. 

Anyway, I was impressed by the number of kids surrounding Alcyon and when I asked the mom of one 11-year-old boy what attracted him, she said “I asked him that too.  He said he liked him because he doesn’t sing about girls and sex, but about Spirit and Mother Earth”.  See?  Even an 11-year-old gets it!  Alcyon’s CD Dreaming the World Awake will make a great stocking stuffer.  New CD coming out in December and lots of local shows are scheduled!

And if you’re Strictly Medicinal, our hemp Joey from Nepal is perfect for music events . . . . .  Go handsfree so you can share the love! Do you see Karen’s Joey in the pic with Alcyon? It’s way down at the bottom right!  She was able to dance the night away without worrying about a purse! 

Now I’ve been “stalking” SYNRGY longer than Alcyon and we’ve become good friends.  For mammoth music, you definitely need to check these guys out (just looking at their Facebook profile pic proves how much fun they are!).  Go to their Facebook Page for more info on how to get their CD Live in Love and a list of their shows (rumor has it they’ll even be going to Arizona in February!)

What local bands do you like?  Share their music with us!  Buy CD’s, share with your friends and family and support their events.

Akha History and Culture 

The Akha hilltribe people have immigrated from Burma and China over the last 100 years to the country of Thailand. They also reside in Laos and some in Vietnam. They have come seeking freedom from the conditions in Burma and China. Perhaps originally from Tibet, they are a gentle people who live off the land. They have survived by hunting, gathering, and “slash and burn” agriculture. Today, an Akha traveling to Bangkok some 500 miles from Chiang Rai to work for six months is not unusual. If an Akha person can get a Thai citizenship card, it is considered to be a great achievement within the Akha village community.

Lifestyle

Growing rice on hillsides is still practiced throughout Thailand, but much has changed as the Akha have moved to a cash economy. Today the Akha make a living by growing cash crops such as cabbage, corn, rice, soybean, coffee, and tomatoes. It was about thirty years ago in Thailand that the growing of opium was a great problem, but through the efforts of many people including Thai government program officials and agricultural experts, opium has been replaced with other crops since then. Today, the Akha can make much more money by (for example) growing coffee instead of opium. However, addiction to opium and other drugs is still a problem in Thailand as these illegal substances are still coming in from Burma and Laos.

Akha hilltribe people like to live higher up on mountains sides around 3000 feet, but many Akha villages have moved to the lowlands for convenience. Today, there are about 75,000 Akha hilltribe people living in Thailand.

Clothing

There are three major styles of Akha dress. An Akha woman’s special costume consists of a headdress, a jacket, short skirt, beaded sashes, and leggings. An Akha man’s special outfit usually includes an ornate jacket and dark pants. In Thailand, there are three major styles of Akha dress — U Lo, Loi Mi, and Pa Mi. More recently, more of the Akha are adopting the global “western style” of a T-shirt and bluejeans. In most Akha villages, Akha people are dressing in this western style now except for special occasions. However, many of the older Akha women still wear their headdress daily. Akha men who don’t dress in western style wear a “longi” that’s common in Burma.

The Village Gate

Some Akha mountain villages have a special “village gate” that is thought can protect the village from bad spirits. Inside the gate is the “safe spiritual realm” of the village, where outside the gate is the realm of spirits who are thought capable of doing harm to an Akha person. It is used mainly at special times of the year such as the New Year festival. Today, most Christian Akha villages do not have a village gate.

Beliefs

The Akha religion involves nine ancestral offerings. The Akha uphold their ancestors because it is believed that they can give blessings on those still alive. Also, mixed in with the ancestral Akha ceremonies are evil-spirit beliefs. Making offerings for protection from the evil spirits is still a practice among non-Christian Akha. One belief is that divinity spirits who created this world control all sickness and bad things that may happen, so often sacrifices must be made to “keep the spirits happy”. If there’s an accident, tragedy, or death in the village, an explanation must be found by the Akha villagers. Usually, the village “shaman” (who could be the village “headman”) is consulted, and a reason is sought from the shaman as to why the bad event has happened.

Information on the Akha People was provided courtesy of our friends at Izaara Arts ~

Sony was also one of our great sponsors at the SITS Bloggy Boot Camp in Seattle, WA and that’s where I was introduced to both the Sony Bloggie Touch and Bloggie Duo.  In fact, 3 Bloggie Touch cameras were given away at the conference but Sony must have known if I got one I wouldn’t get the Duo. They’re obviously psychic at Sony ’cause they knew just what vloggers needed!

Can’t wait to take this little beauty to Kauai! I’ll be packing my Sony Bloggie Duo too! ; )))

Special thanks to our featured guests:
Sony Bloggie Duo
Sony Electronics
SITS The secret to success truly is support!

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Sony Electronics
SITS

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