Moved onto the River Farm...

My good friend Eli sent me a message last week reminding me it was time for an update on my 'travels', and you know how I like to keep my audience 'riveted'... (borrowed that line from Blazin' Saddles ;-) Well I've been very busy working at the store lately... the young people are coming off of summer excursions and now gearing up for school; and the end of our heat wave has quited the summer frenzy and so business has slowed a bit. That translated to shuffling my hours around, picking up extra shifts, etc... So needless to say I have yet to settle into any routine. Which is still confusing at the moment because as my life slows down (between the ears) I'm still questioning my next step/steps... "Am I settled? settling? or resisting settling? I have yet to embrace my new 'community' and the house I'm currently occupying is... well that relationship is a work in progress. I went from that beautiful house sitting job where everything was so 'Feng Shui' to sorta 'Feng Sh_t' but that'll be next post. Don't get me wrong... I'm very grateful for the roof over my head... it's just that fall is around the corner and winter not to far behind, and I need to make up my mind as to what my next move might be... mentally or physically, or both.

Anyway, here's one of the last shots I took from my camping days up in the mountains. This one was taken just as a summer thunder storm moved in and the weather fluctuations formulated these low level 'fog' banks that seemed to just emerge from the hillsides. It was very cool to see them crawl along the crags and ravines.

And of course 'moving day'. I borrowed the store van and got all my stuff from my first shelter. It was like a game of lego's fitting everything in... and I strongly debated leaving the 100 pound plus, gold fish behind this time. My dear cousin Barrie was going to get rid of it years ago, and after she put so much effort into painting it, I thought it shouldn't go to waste... so I took it. And so now, every time I move, it comes with... always the last, heavy, pain in the ass thing on the truck. (I love you Barrie ;-)

Here are the first few shots I have of the River Farm. It's located at the end of the road and after you cross over the bridge, this is the beginning of the 'center of town'. Actually you would enter in from that road there, coming in towards this vantage point. The small building on the left is 3x separate sleeping quarters for visitors, and 'Woofers' (people who travel around, farm to farm, working while they stay there and visit. And it is also the pump room for our water supply. Across from it on the right is the work shop/barn. More pic's on that later, but there's a large wood shop area on one side and a metal workshop on the other.

And this is the 'Commons' where everyone meets up throughout the day (all except me so far) It's the communal kitchen/meeting room/laundry/TV, game room. With my fluctuating schedule at work, I've missed most of the Saturday night 'potluck dinners', held here...

Attending my first, monthly group meeting as a resident of the farm, catching up and discussing all that needs to be discussed... someone had set these flowers on the floor in the center of our circle and I just had to take their picture... Maybe it's the clouds that acts as a filter and brings such color to life... but I find it everywhere.

More color... dried flowers that the children pick to dry and bouquet. You don't see any Barbie dolls scattered around the floor here ;-) Kind of refreshing... here kids are more apt to lay in the hammock nearby and read than be playing dolly or video games... Not that those are bad... just a different choice selection I guess.

And here's the inside of the commons... pretty laid back and second hand as you can see. Here everyone shares the communal fridge, it offers a place to cook for visitors if they need, and it's where the mail is brought in. It's just your basic central meeting place... can't wait to see that wood stove in action one day.

And while I was sitting at that monthly meeting... I was looking out the window and I thought I saw a bird just sitting on the sill outside. But he didn't move... at all. So at the conclusion of the meeting I got a closer look... and yes it's a bird... and he hasn't moved in months... just his little petrified body holding some sort a vigil there...

So while down at the commons one day, my neighbor Anita gave me one of her bottles of goats milk. Yes the farm has about 7 or so goats and they give/ and get milked, and everyone gets some for their personal... consumption. And I have to say that cold, right out of the goat... it's delicious! and I'd drink it every day if it were available that often.

Another shot of inside the Commons...

My neighbor Anita, and resident astrologer. I'm closest with her so far because we have a similar mind set, and she's an old hippie from way back... This is her wooden Yurt and in my next post I'll have pic's of the inside... the 'decor' is so totally 'cool'... and/but typical of the off beat Pacific Northwest. She's away house sitting and has granted me permission to stay over as often as I want while I feed her feral cat, 'Christmas'. I might just take her up on it here and there.

This is her front porch and where said kitty sleeps. The decor speaks wonderfully for itself :-)

In Anita's backyard... just another beautiful Sunflower, with a honey bee doing her shopping...

And here, Anita is uncovering her blue berry bush so that we can pick some..... blue berries ;-) This year or garden season has been a very 'fruitful' year. Everyone, everywhere had bumper crops of whatever they happened to grow... Jeff wrote in an article that he sent off to the local rag, that it was possibly because late last year and up until now, there were fewer sunspots... I don't off hand understand the correlation, but sounds good to me ;-?

And my blue berry bounty from Anita's garden... between our small produce section at work and Anita, I've had more blue berries this summer than in my entire life... and the life is good.

But I'm still trying to work it all out... the whole "where am I going with my life?" sort of stuff. Balancing it all out I guess... being/staying in the moment... visualizing/pre-paving where I want to be... working on the 'it's all a state of mind'. At least that's how I explain it to others now. Interestingly enough... not everyone gets the L of A, science of mind stuff... that it's all shapeless, conscience energy molding to our daily mental holdings... and that we are truly the proverbial 'beautifully perfect, Spiritual Beings having a wonderfully Human experience'. Again my naivete fools me. So for now I'm starting with the basics... and when I'm on the handball court, enjoying my new found joy with the younger fella's... I continually push to be a quicker study, and faster on my feet than they are, and using Youtube video's of NY street handball players for visualization... I don't play into the aches & pains, because I AM, like everyone else... ONE with that mysterious magic that helped make us, sustains us, guides us, channels through us, is forged by us... IS us. I AM forever... and made of the stars... So let them scratch their heads and say to themselves... "45 years old huh?!,"

As always... take very good care of you & yours... Alexis