A Few Words About Ariana...

She loves music, has a fine ear for melody, and an extensive repertoire of English pub songs. From an early age she has shown an ability to recognize patterns in the world around her - in the clouds outside and on her bedroom wall, in Half Dome ("a smiling dolphin"), in a brief phrase embedded in the song "Red River Valley", reminding her of the same phrase within another beloved song, "Bellman" (not coincidentally, a song about a dog).

Ariana is articulate and playful with language, has an extensive vocabulary, and an interest in regional dialect. During a trip to England last year, she took great pleasure in mimicking the distinctive pronunciation of the various areas she visited. She enjoys dictating stories that she has created, and dessert recipes she's invented (many containing apples or applesauce).

She likes to sew, and to make "found art". Her end of the kitchen table is an ever-changing (and growing!) installation of diverse objects, which she's acquired and appropriated to her own use. On walks, she's on the lookout for "useful" items, and can frequently be heard to say, "I wonder what sort of creature we could make from this?"

Ariana enjoys puppetry and theater. Last fall, she memorized the entire first act of Christmas Revels, including a song in Irish and another in Welsh, while watching and listening to her father rehearse. Each year she participates in the Buddha's Birthday Pageant at Green Gulch Zen Center, as one of the "Ducks of Deepest Desire."

And, always, held close in heart and mind, there is Harry Potter...

Ariana is open, loving and confident with people she knows and likes. When she becomes your friend, she is constant and loyal, and loves to share her interests and enthusiasms. She can play cooperatively for hours, has a developed sense of fair play, and often chooses to look for outcomes that allow everyone to win. She has an eclectic sense of humor, enjoys wordplay and improbable scenarios that she invents ("what if...?"), and is an adept joke- and storyteller.

Ariana is concerned about the well being of others, and sensitive to their suffering, be they animal or human, in stories or real life. She is reflective, and capable of seeing the effect her actions have on others. She has given up eating chicken since becoming an owner, and was quite distressed when a raccoon took one of her birds recently, even though, she had to admit, it was the meanest one in the whole flock.