October 10, 2016
Farallon Technical Editor Bonnie Willis turned a lifelong hobby into a source of comfort for children with serious illnesses.

Bonnie, who has ensured the quality of Farallon’s documents for the past 10 years, has been a needleworker from childhood.  During long Midwest winters, Bonnie learned to knit and crochet, and tried her hand at needlepoint before discovering her niche in cross-stitching.  “Eventually, however,” Bonnie says, “every needleworker runs out of family, friends, and wall space for the things s/he makes, and needs to find other outlets.”  Thanks to the Internet, charity groups that welcome hand-crafted creations of volunteers are easy to find.

Bonnie currently is involved with Love Quilts USA, a group of volunteers who hand-stitch quilts for children with life-threatening and life-altering illnesses.  Stitchers from all over the world cross-stitch squares incorporating the theme chosen by the child or parent, and send the squares to a quilter for assembly and delivery to the child.  Quilt themes have included super heroes, princesses, world landmarks, sports, Disney characters, and even Pokémon.
   
As Bonnie discovered, contributing to a quilt can be an investment of emotions as well as time.  “I remember the first time a child I had stitched for passed away.  It was heart-wrenching, and I thought, what was the point of doing all this stitching if the child was going to die?  But then I learned that the Love Quilt made for this child brought great consolation to the family as a memory of the comfort it had brought to their child.  I now know I am stitching love for both the child and the family into each square.” 

Bonnie estimates she’s stitched several hundred squares for Love Quilts USA.  “I recently finished a hockey square for a sports-themed quilt.  Next I’m starting a square for a ‘Thank Heaven for Little Girls’ quilt.” 

Farallon clients benefit greatly from the command of content, structure, and grammar Bonnie applies to each document.  The Farallon family and complete strangers benefit even more from her generosity and compassion.

Love Quilts USA Facebook page

Farallon newbie Brenden Taylor brought more than his 9 years of experience in subsurface and due diligence investigations when he joined Farallon’s Irvine, California office in July.  He also brought some serious music cred.

“I’ve been involved in music since I was 5 years old,” Brenden says, “and I started playing drums at the age of 12.  I got my first paid music job in high school and I was hooked.”  One class short of a bachelor’s degree in music, Brenden reconsidered.  “The life of a musician is difficult, and there wasn’t much money in it. So, I changed majors to Geology, from rock to rocks.” 

After a few years, though, Brenden knew he needed to start playing again.  “Music was too much a part of me to let go.  I got an electric drum kit, and I practice on the patio so I can keep an eye on the kids while they play in the yard.”  Brenden is sharing his love of music with his children.  “My youngest, who is 19 months old, loves to play on my drum kit, and my other children are learning to sing and play the piano.”

Eventually, Brenden brought his wife into the family hobby.  “Since she loves country music, I started to look for a country band that needed a drummer.  That’s how I found Kenny Charles, who had already recorded several albums and needed band members for live performances.”  Brenden plays with Kenny Charles at L.A. area venues like the Gaslamp and Willie Boy’s Saloon, and DJ Brad Mercer plays their songs on KIX Hot Country Radio.  “Our song ‘Drunk Wedding Day’ hit number one for a few weeks,” Brenden says.  Most recently, they were one of 20 bands selected from several hundred to play the main stage at the 2017 National Association of Music Merchants Show at the Anaheim Convention Center.

To find out more about Brenden’s band, including upcoming performances, you can follow him on Facebook through Kenny Charles.  To learn more about his other “rock” career, keep an eye on his Farallon page.  We’re glad to have all of Brenden’s talents in the Farallon ensemble.

Farallon Staff Environmental Scientist Amber Bailey’s love of the outdoors and interest in photography prompted an after-hours pursuit that’s not just fun, it’s inspirational.

When she’s not assisting Farallon clients with stormwater compliance, Amber often is out hiking Washington backcountry with husband Andrew and their golden retriever Ozzie and 1-year-old husky Ripley.  Amber discovered that their hiking locations provided the perfect backdrop for photographs.  “Ozzie’s the one who got me into photography. I started an Instagram account for him, and as it grew, I got more and more into photography.  I eventually bought my first DSLR camera and the account took off! Our account now has 135,000 followers.”

The popularity of Amber’s animal photographs generated unexpected responses.  “Social media can be a cruel world,” she relates.  “When you’re in the public eye like my dogs’ account is, you can become a target for bullying and negativity.”  But instead of being discouraged by the acrimonious feedback, Amber channeled her photographic skills to create something positive:  the Woman Warriors project.

The project began when Amber learned about Jana, a young woman surmounting physical ordeals while awaiting a heart transplant.  Amber offered to do a portrait photography session with her.  Amber found Jana’s story so compelling she asked to post it to her website, along with a series of vibrant photographs; the messages and comments were overwhelmingly compassionate, positive, and supportive. “You can tell who the strong women are,” Amber says.  “They are the ones building one another up instead of tearing each other down.”  Following the success of her photoshoot with Jana, Amber asked her Facebook hiking group for volunteers for the Woman Warriors project.  To date, she has profiled five women from the flood of responses, with a sixth profile in progress.

Amber was interviewed about the Woman Warriors project on the Seattle King 5 morning show “New Day.”  She explained, “I want to keep sharing women’s stories through photos and social media to help lift women up rather than pull them down.”  Farallon is proud to have Amber’s creativity and compassion complementing her field skills as part of the Farallon team.

AmberMae Photography:  http://ambermaephotography.wix.com/adventure

We're having an office foodbank fundraiser, and the partners are cooking breakfast (which you can enjoy for a donation). The smell of bacon is practically corporeal. Something about the smell of bacon cooked on a griddle brings back vivid memories of my grandmother cooking for me when I was a child, what she made, how she showed us she loved us by feeding us (something I still do with my own family).

Fried chicken and yeast biscuits and green beans cooked with a little bacon grease and a little sugar until they were limp, and sliced tomatoes from the garden that never saw the inside of a refrigerator, still warm from the windowsill. Thin salty slices of country ham fried on the stove, spoon bread, homemade sweet pickles an improbable shade of vivid blue-green in a cut-glass dish. Homemade blackberry jam a little crunchy with the pips, and butter in its covered dish, so warm it was shapeless.

I miss her so much. How lucky I am, to have had so much time with her. She gave me unconditional love and a place to belong, and showed me how to have a generous heart.