I feel a bit like these pears today, floating serenely in their honeyed bath. I am basking in the afterglow of sweet times with dear friends. Perhaps I’m a sap, but these next several weeks are my favorite time of the year, even more so as we sink our roots down deeper into southern VT soil. This sense of Belonging is such a gift and it keeps giving, giving. I am thankful.
We are home.
…from the Holiday weekend, but not for the usual reasons.
I didn’t gain 10% of my body weight from over-indulgence, but rather lost 10% of it from a raging flu that had me lost in the fog of a high fever for several days and nights.
It began Thanksgiving day, as we headed down on the Greyhound bus…The Boy had a fever. It made for excellent traveling…he slept almost the entire way, snuggled up against me under a blanket. I almost read an entire book while doing my best to ignore the standard-model Belligerent Drunk who made our trip quite memorable. So glad he was passed out for most of her disgusting antics which included feeling herself up while asking the driver to search her (for cigarettes…she smoked in the bathroom) and give her a “thrill.” Yuck.
ANYWAY, we made it home for the holiday and after the first night, it was five days before I was up and moving again. Our intention was to borrow the truck and make it back up to the farm within a couple of days. Illness held us all back (C got the Plague, too, but managed to clear up a day or two before I did) a few days longer than intended, which was just long enough for our friend to decide that he’d rather not have any help at all on the farm anymore. I’m sorry…WHAT? It wasn’t exactly personal, but there was a goodly amount of hurt feelings and confusion over the whole matter. I’m not inclined to get into details, but the main thing is that we had to get up there as soon as we felt we could physically manage, get a moving truck AGAIN and haul our life back down to the Bay Area. Which we manged to do in a three-day period.
Oh, how I am ever-so-glad we hadn’t been able to afford our dome right away. How I am glad we hadn’t wasted a great deal of effort and time in building a platform and plumbing, etc. to set up our life there, only to be subject to the changing whims of someone else and have to tear it all down. Yes, we are back at Square One, but it could have been a lot worse had the Epiphany resulting in the desire to scale down the farm operations occurred a few months down the line instead of now, when we had only moving expenses invested. Although, it would have been nice if the Epiphany had occurred before we had incurred any moving expenses at all.
But, we are here. With family. The Boy has decorated the holiday tree and lit candles. We have packed and unpacked twice this month and are breathing a sigh of relief at the thought of a few weeks of downtime before we discover the next step. I have some ideas, but more on that later.
Here is a last glimpse at the farm:
He busied himself while I packed up our room…
We miss the goats and the ducks, but hopefully we will not be without goats and ducks in our life for too long.
Until then, I am spinning and felting and filling the Shop for the Holidays in between periods of re-organizing and divesting ourselves of things we’ve been able to live without. There will definitely be some giveaways on this here blog. Crafty supplies and what-not. Stay tuned.
Clicky above to go to the Shop.
So, it’s supposed to rain tomorrow, but I am contemplating once again trying a Park Day meet-up that we went to earlier in the summer. The reason I didn’t get into it the first time around was that there just weren’t any kids in the same age group…my sweet Boy misses his friends in Vermont, and since we’ve been back in California, he hasn’t had much opportunity for socializing with peers. Last time we tried the Park Day we were told that attendance picks up quite a bit when the school-year starts. I think it’s time to give it another go.
Hope you all had a Healthy Holiday!
…and into the woods…
…to find forgotten things melting back into the earth…
…and the river…
…and some quiet, while the Boy raked and weeded, helping to prepare a bed for planting garlic.
…and found carrots, which might have gone the way of the abandoned truck (although, a wee more nourishing for the soil), but now we have a sweet bushel and a half.
I have more photos than words these days…in a new place, I find my eyes are searching and feasting, I have dirt under my nails and sore arms from my obsessive wood-chopping (I can’t believe I had to come back to California to learn this skill…you’d think I would have picked it up after four Vermont winters!)…I am full of sensory experiences that don’t translate well to the written word…it will come in time, but all is freshness, touch, smell, the sound of goats, ducks and frogs.
And somewhere in there, I am bothering to list things:
Earth and Sky Fiber Set with wool nubbins, icicle and tussah silk, 1/2 oz.
I am also somehow managing to get in many an evening of spinning, and there are oodles of felt scarves to photograph over the holiday weekend. Look for those and new Mitt Kits in the shop over the weekend and into next week.
Tomorrow, we get on the Greyhound for a looooooooong ride down to my Mom’s house. Wish us luck keeping the Boy entertained for 8 hours on a bus (and myself, for that matter)! Whooooooo!
At least we shall have warm hugs and a feast to celebrate the journey’s end. Hope you all have a wonderful Holiday!
Thespunmonkey's Blog 