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Amey Mathews (she/her)

@ameyfm

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Artist. Vegan food. Animal lover. 2 rescue pups + 1 rescue cat. Santa Cruz, CA Yoga teacher & eternal student: @yoga.with.amey
Art: @amey.mathews

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One year of Ben!!!

Woohoo!! We love our friend Ben so much. He’s easy going, very cuddly - but not needy. He can be a bit independent, and even sometimes a little withdrawn… but he’s learning gradually that we are okay and he’s learning to check in with us more often.

He’s SO good with Cosmo and Footie. He cuddles with them and seeks out their companionship - and he’s a great play mate for Cosmo. Recently they have co-discovered howling when the fire trucks go by and it’s quite a ruckus. Ben has an intense side that we don’t see as much. I think he wishes we had a big dog who loved to wrestle (this is not Cosmo! 🤣). But he’s extremely athletic, LOVES to run amok on hikes, loves dog agility, loves chasing squirrels out of our back yard… One of his new summer time passions is the outdoor dog bed - day or night he loves to lounge in his outside bed and take in the sights and smells with a combination of vigilance and summertime chill.

We’re so grateful to @hitchcockroadanimals for this gem of a doggie - and so glad to my friend Monica who gave me lots of tips and support when we first got him.

Today Cozzie and Ben got some pup cups to celebrate! 🎉 by @ameyfm

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2 months ago

While I was in Yosemite, I also spent time completing my Resistance Rangers Junior Ranger booklet! I will hold my Resistance Ranger badge with great pride! ♥️💪🏻

You may recall that I LOVE the National Parks Junior Ranger program… it’s designed for kids of all ages to learn about the parks and monuments. Unfortunately these days our national parks and monuments are under attack from the trump administration — our open spaces are being closed off and rescinded from the public , rangers are being fired and restricted, interpretative signs are being removed to suit a white nationalist agenda … it’s time to speak out!!

In addition to @resistancerangers , I also follow @beersandbeans for information about what to be aware of, letters to write, who to call. Let’s save our National Parks and Monuments!!

#JRResistanceRangers #America433 by @ameyfm

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2 months ago

Ahhhhhh … the sacred lands of Tuolumne Meadows. Last week I got to tag along with some friends for some time in Yosemite. I’ve been coming here for over 40 years with my family… since I was a lil pre-teen. Every turn in the trail, every swimming hole, every change in the weather brings back memories of being there with my grandparents and my mom and her side of the family. And the years when my brother came along, or the year (only one I think?) when my dad came too. Anyway, this year was different, but no less magical. With my pals I went on familiar hikes and also went to familiar places on unfamiliar routes, saw some lovely wildlife (a giant osprey TWICE! - an up close marmot- a Western Tanager- and more!). What a special place. I’m grateful for this time. #tuolumne #yosemite by @ameyfm

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2 months ago

I know it’s not “a word” but cmon!!!! by @ameyfm

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4 months ago

This is a Ben Appreciation Post

It’s almost 10 months now that we’ve had Benny… He’s proven to be a slow reveal. He came into our home as a weird combination of boisterous and stand-off ish… much more interested in the other pets than in humans.

All of a sudden, in a last month or so, another layer of Benny has been revealed to us. And it’s so nice.

Sweet. Calm. Soft. Playful but gentle. Trusting. Now we are allowed to kiss his sweet face. If you need a place to rest your head, Ben is happy to be your pillow. If you need something soothing and super soft to pet, his thin mini ears are ready and waiting.

All of sudden he loves us a bit more and we love him more and more every day. He’s such a good boy.

#garbanzoben by @ameyfm

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4 months ago

Soothing content for the collective nervous system ♥️ by @ameyfm

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6 months ago

A small show in Chicago!

This show represents drawings made from weekly drawing exercises done together as a group over the course of many months — using the book Ways of Drawing by the @royaldrawingschool as a foundation. Together we made drawings that were fresh and awkward and new and exciting. An extremely fruitful conversation together. ♥️🙏🏻

@tlh.gill.studio @bridgetrountree @sarahmcdowellstudio by @ameyfm

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6 months ago

Norooz 2026 🌷
Last night I held our annual Norooz party / feast / observation. What a special time. I love the beauty and symbolism of this holiday. It’s my biggest culinary effort of the year: I cook and clean for several days in advance.

Every year I make the usually classics (veganized of course!):
A cheese and herb platter (used @kitehillfoods almond ricotta
Bread (this year I made homemade nan-e barbari)
Ash-e Reshteh - obligatory and delicious Norooz soup with onion-mint-turmeric garnish
Kuku Sabzi “omelets” - veganized and always one of my very favorites
Ghormeh Sabzi - I have a delicious vegan recipe I found online years ago, using portobello and kidney beans
Sabzi Polow - rice with plentiful herbs … I got a good tahdig this year!
Shirazi Salad - I always make a MOUNTAIN of this, because fresh, delicious salad goes a long way on holidays
-plus!-
This year I made a new-to-me dish to go with the bread and crackers: Zeytoon Parvardeh (look up the recipe on Food Network) — green olives, fresh mint, walnuts, pomegranate paste and more. Totally delicious

♥️
For drinks I made a light punch with fizzy water, pomegranate juice, lime juice, fresh mint; and a bit of date syrup.

♥️
For sweeties I made:
Tut (rose water marzipans - half with coconut sugar and half with refined sugar)
Sohan As-Ali - almond brittle with saffron, rose water, and pistachios
Stuffed Dates
Kolompeh - beautiful pressed cookies with a spiced date and walnut filling

♥️
Every year we also have an organized moment where we look at the Haft Sin table together and go through each item, its name in Farsi, an what it symbolizes for the year ahead. For the last few years, @saffron.rr has been doing this with me and it’s so special to do it together.

This year we also shared a recognition of the people of Iran, who are enduring still more violence, instability, uncertainty, and suffering. May the spirit of Norooz bring new hope and peace. It’s long overdue… in Iran and around the world.

Norooz Mobarak!
♥️🌷✌️ by @ameyfm

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7 months ago

Lions and Elephants! ♥️

One morning Marc and I were out early and we hadn’t seen too many animals, and one of the rangers gave us a tip as to where they thought there had been a buffalo kill. We went off in that direction, and then lo and behold, we came across three beautiful robust male lions stuffed to the gills with their recent kill.

Their tummies were round with the fullness of their meals and they had their mouths open, panting with the discomfort of it all… maybe like how we feel after thanksgiving dinner? It was absolutely stunning. The sound of their heavy, rhythmic breathing, their heaving bodies, the scale of their muzzles and paws and jowls. The chance to be here quietly and observe them and hear them and share this moment of satiety with them was so special.

Of course we went back and got Katherine and Mirjam and returned… glad to see our majestic pals had barely moved. We must have spent well over an hour watching these beautiful beings. Even I had the chance to draw them - in real time, in real life - with just the air between us. How magical.

And the ellies 🥹 they are amazing. Huge. They have such an incredible presence — confident, quiet, steady. It’s incredible how such a huge creature can just disappear behind a bush and you wouldn’t know it’s there. For their size, they are remarkably quiet as they move through the landscape.

I loved watching their trunks - useful for smelling, for grabbing leaves and grass to munch on, for gathering up water… what a useful asset! We had a slow start with our elephant sightings but then we saw so many beauties: giant males, family groups, adolescents, moms and youngies… what a gift to see these earth-neighbors and revel in their unique majesty.

On our very last night we got to watch this lone elephant close out the day with the glory of the sunset and with a lovely, languid, pleasurable dip in the water. It was so special.
(More in the comments!) by @ameyfm

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7 months ago

The majestic Woodland Kingfisher! I love kingfishers so much. In the bush we got to see (and hear!) lots of these beautiful birds… even this one feeding her young near the office. We also got to see a very vocal giant kingfisher near the house many times - though I never got a good snap of him/her.

Psychedelic Giant Grasshoppers!!!!
Look how beautiful and wild these are. We watched many of these fellas get snapped up by the kingfishers. A hearty snack!

Wildebeest surprised me. They are so unexpected! Such unpredictable proportions! They have a confident steady energy and their black-on-grey stripes are really beautiful. They have such interesting hair- a little beard, a little Mohawk down their spine, such a top-heavy build. We saw them often - sometimes a lone male, sometimes larger groups… but this little nursing youngster was an especially sweet sighting.

Vultures!!! We got to watch (and hear! And smell!) a bunch of vultures and a hyena going to town on a freshly killed Cape Buffalo. If you zoom in you might see the distinctive horn of the buffalo. It sure makes you reflect on the value of the carrion/scavenger species and the role they play in keeping things moving along. Where would we be without decay? by @ameyfm

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7 months ago

More majesty from our time in the bush - big and small! The sheer quantity of LIFE in the bush blew me away: so many mammals - large and small, so many insects, lizards frogs and turtles, so many birds, predators and prey.

We woke up early and got out for an early ride, spent the afternoon resting, reading, eating lunch, and drawing. Then another drive in the late afternoon/sunset hour.

Your senses are so alert: watching for animals, listening to all sounds of birds and bugs and creatures walking thru the brush, smells of plants and dung and carcasses (!), the temperature of the air… so much presence.

Featured in these slides:

We watched this fully-sated hyena, who had just been feasting on a Cape buffalo carcass, take some sips and then lie down to cool their tummy

A video of hippos in the water!!! There were five of them, including a youngster. They make excellent snorting sounds!

A beautiful European Roller bird - common and always a delight

Marc and I had a very very special opportunity to watch the folks at @apnr_ground_hornbill_project monitor and measure a young Ground Hornbill — zoom in on that beautiful eye!

Art break for the afternoon!

A beautiful, large herd of Cape Buffalo, snorting and cavorting and resting and munching and making their own buffalo choices

Zebras, me in the Land Rover, and the breathtaking impalas. So may of these creatures are just shockingly beautiful- beyond what seems necessary!! Ha ha. So much glory to behold. Who thought of zebras??

Mangos and art time.

A curious and hungry hyena circumambulated the whole house. Curious about who or what might be tasty inside.

One of 4-5 beautiful Black Backed Jackals we got to see. A little fox energy; a little coyote energy, a bright perky trot, light on their feet. Beautiful and exciting to see any wild canines!! by @ameyfm

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Honestly, I am kind of flummoxed by the prospect of making posts about our week in the bush. How to capture the vast beauty, the richness of the habitat that supports such a tremendous diversity of lives and species, the unexpected joys of so many remarkable creatures?

Look a few slides in to see my face as we drove into the park from the airport… I was so moved. Here is a true fact: I’ve been home for 12 nights and I have dreamt about the bush every night since I’ve been home. The dreams aren’t what you might expect: exciting sightings of big creatures. Instead, they are just spacious dreams about the quality of listening and observing that I experienced while there.

How grateful I am to Katherine and Marc for hosting us, to Marc for being such a knowledgeable guide and being so generous with his knowledge, and to lovely Mirjam for her joyful companionship and delicious Ayurvedic food!

Beautiful creatures featured in these slides:
A restful female leopard
A stunning male kudu
One of many Yellow Billed Hornbills
A male Steenbok, a small antelope
A dung beetle, rollin’ (!!!!!!!!)
A grysbok - a small antelope who was busy with zoomies and frolicking when we spotted him

More soon!
♥️♥️♥️ by @ameyfm

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