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40 acres and a llama - LiveJournal.com
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belated travel post
I last posted a month ago before my great journey through Missouri and Arkansas. I've been back for almost two weeks. As usual after an exciting venture, I've had lots to share and not much desire to actually write it all out. I won't try to capture it all, but share a few highlights.
My trip started with an evening in St Louis with some Feri brethren-and-sistren, and The Missouri River (Mssr Higginbotham). We had a delightful evening out. I love that so many people I know have connections to each other independent of the contexts in which I know them, and I was glad to spend some time with this mixed lot of people.
After a night at ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) jtigermoon's Home for Wayward Feris, I headed out to help keep Diana's Grove running during WitchCamp, which was an incredibly rewarding experience. While I wasn't attending WitchCamp, I did get to participate in some parts of the event, and got to spend a good bit of time with the folks who were attending camp. It was also a great opportunity to spend some time with some of the Grove staff and residents, as well as a few other wonderful folks who were helping out there for the week. Some of the highlights of that week included:
* a whole passel of new friends and old friends
* learning a few of the mysteries of what goes on behind the scenes during an event at the Grove
* sharing morning sitting practice with several of my fellow Grove Feris, as well as several Feri students from other training groups. (The Wisconsin Feri were particularly delightful!)
* some truly transformative late-night shared hot-tub magic and healing work
* a terrific dance experience with the Wisconsin Feris, and some delightful push-hands and contact-improv with plantyhamchuk
* getting to sleep for a few nights in the tree-house cabin I helped build a few years ago.
After Camp, I went home with starrthinks & J to stay with their family for a few days. I met their brilliant, serious, playful, imaginative daughter, L. Starr took me to her UU church, and out cajun-dancing and let me pretend to be the boy. J taught me to climb power poles, which is a little spooky (even with thousands of volts zizzing above you. We wandered around, cooked a bit, and ate good food. And then headed out again up to Kansas City. Starr and L took me to KC, where we caught up with kittenpants at s00j's house concert. We had a splendid evening, and I danced with an alligator.
I spent several days in KC with kittenpants. We painted with Starr and L; hung out and KURS'd with s00j and omnisti; we cooked up a delicious storm (zesty bison-burgers, tongue-numbing parkora, and a pot of Gaselli Surprise come to mind; I forget what else...). We got our peacocks on and went out dancing (that really deserves its own entry.) We warmed Carey's new house with another bunch of wonderful people, including a few St. Louis Feris who took me home with them, and delivered me unto the Greyhound station in the morning.
Two and a half weeks on the road, a whole mess of friends new and old, several fabulous dancing occasions, great piles of excellent food, some hard work and serious Work, and my beloved branchandroot waiting for me at the so-called Greyhound station when I got home. A most excellent trip, and I'm ever so glad I went.
Rejoice!
flooding -- checkin?
Hey all -- A bunch of you, especially the Feri peeps, are near the Mississippi, which has decided that now is the time to get uppity. Everybody okay?
I am safe and dry in Kansas City with starrthinks, kittenpants, and others. I hope all is well.
great itineration - central states edition
It's packing time at the llama-stead tonight. I'm about to leave on an exciting adventure to Missouri and Arkansas for the next 2+ weeks. I'm a bit sad to be missing PSG this year, and I'll be thinking of the many of you who will be there - many joys to you all!
I was pretty excited about the pathwork at this upcoming Midwest Witchcamp at Diana's Grove, but decided that it's not where I wanted to put my available-and-carefully-managed financial resources this year. So instead, I'll be volunteering down at the Grove during Witchcamp -- cooking, gardening, playing with dogs, cleaning up after dogs, and whatever else they may need. I'll get to spend a fabulous, hard-working vacation in a gorgeous, undoubtedly-roasting corner of the foothills of the Ozarks. I'll get to spend some time with people I love, and surely meet a few more along the way.
And as long as I'm going to Missouri, I might as well visit a bunch of folks along the way, right? So I'm arriving in St. Louis tomorrow evening, courtesy of Greyhound, to meet up with [ Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<lj-user="jtigermoon">') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.] It's packing time at the llama-stead tonight. I'm about to leave on an exciting adventure to Missouri and Arkansas for the next 2+ weeks. I'm a bit sad to be missing PSG this year, and I'll be thinking of the many of you who will be there - many joys to you all! <lj-cut text="Where I'll be going: Feri-visiting and Witchcamp-helping">I was pretty excited about the pathwork at this upcoming <a href="http://www.dreamweaving.org">Midwest Witchcamp</a> at Diana's Grove, but decided that it's not where I wanted to put my available-and-carefully-managed financial resources this year. So instead, I'll be volunteering down at the Grove during Witchcamp -- cooking, gardening, playing with dogs, cleaning up after dogs, and whatever else they may need. I'll get to spend a fabulous, hard-working vacation in a gorgeous, undoubtedly-roasting corner of the foothills of the Ozarks. I'll get to spend some time with people I love, and surely meet a few more along the way. And as long as I'm going to Missouri, I might as well visit a bunch of folks along the way, right? So I'm arriving in St. Louis tomorrow evening, courtesy of Greyhound, to meet up with <lj-user="jtigermoon">, <lj-user="inanna710">, <lj-user="auraseer">, and <lj-user="sagamockingbird">, then riding down to the Grove with Saga. Witchcamping it for a week, where we'll meet up with <lj-user="starrthinks">, Mr Starrthinks, and <lj user="ashlupa">; then down to Fayetteville with the Starrthinkses to visit, dance, garden, cook, and whatever else for a few days. Up to KC to see <lj-user="kittenpants"> for a few days, with a well-timed dose of <lj-user="s00j"> and <lj-user="omnisti">, back to St. Louis, and Greyhound, which brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and environs.</lj-cut> I am excited to be off on this grand tour, and I hope that I'll see some of the as-yet-unmentioned-among-you along the way. I am also excited and grateful for the accidents of fate, the well-laid plans, and the abundance of friends that will make this a trip that doesn't involve me bringing a car along! For the record: I will have sporadic access to both email and my 21st-century-llamaphone along the way, but I will not be consistently reachable until I return on the evening of Monday, June 23. Happy solstice, happy PSG, happy everything to you all.
Midwest Dance Camp: Sept 11-14 at Diana's Grove
It's never too soon to start thinking about DanceCamp...
For the last two years, Diana's Grove in Missouri has hosted a fantastic dance camp. celtic_elk and I have gone both years, and have been joined by a few of you there one or both times. Each year so far has been very different, and each has been wonderfully rewarding.
The early-early registration deadline for this year is coming right up, so now's a good time to start planning. I hope that many of you will join us in this fabulous pursuit. Yes, sahirazedare, I'm looking at you... and a whole mess of the rest of you too.
Like the first dance camp (and unlike the second) this year's camp will include instruction from folks brought in and hired for that purpose. (Last year's camp was all participant led, and thus cheaper. Both models have advantages -- it's possible that we'll alternate between them.)
Diana's Grove hosts Midwest Dance Collective Camp
September 11-14, 2008
Join us for the most spectacular Dance Camp yet, with the support of Diana's Grove and very talented dance and movement teachers! If you have attended before, expect even more. If you have not, please check out the webpage for details. Webpage includes pictures of the space and past camps, instructions, directions, registration forms and information for interested teachers.
We are planning classes in African Dance and Drumming, Belly Dance, Trance Dance, Soul Motion, Contact Improvisation, Poi and Yoga.
In addition to a full class schedule there will be a Dance Party or Drum circle every night!
Register early because class and cabin spaces are limited!
Early registration discounts:
Registration postmarked by June 15: $225 Thursday-Sunday, $175 Friday-Sunday
Registration by postmarked by July 15: $245 Thursday-Sunday, $195 Friday-Sunday
OR later...
Registration Fee: Thursday-Sunday $265 OR Friday-Sunday $215 (postmarked after July 15).
For more information check out: http://www.midwestdancecamp.com or contact JennTara at jenntara@yahoo.com or 314-497-8452
off to the wilds
I'm off to the wilds of Kentucky with otterkin and Mary Katie. Have a fun weekend =)
good news for today
Good news from our university administration:
"The board approved the addition of same-sex domestic partner benefits... Benefits include, but are not limited to the following: health and dental Insurance, continuation coverage, Tuition Waiver/Scholarship, and leave benefits. Domestic partners and children of domestic partners are included in the university’s definition of family for purposes of other policies that apply to families."
*rejoicing* This has been a long time coming, and is most welcome.
snippets for today
I passed a movie marquis today which read:
IRON MAN
PROM NIGHT
*that* sounds like an awful lot of fun, in some twisted sort of way...
In totally other news: I had a lovely, impromptu dinner out with branchandroot, which we've not done in a really long time. We went to Barley's in Columbus and had a glorious pile of pierogies, kielbasa, wild boar, and sauerkraut balls. Yum =)
Rabble-rousing: Gas taxes and other government interventions
We've been hearing a lot about gas prices lately, including John McCain and Hilary Clinton's advocacy of a temporary repeal of the gas tax. I want to propose an alternative to that measure, and I'm not sure how to inject the idea into the broader public discourse. (I did just write to my Rep and Senators, as well as Obama, McCain, and Clinton, but I doubt that'll get there attention...)
How about we actually do something to encourage energy conservation? In 2006 and 2007, the federal government offered energy tax credits to folks who made their homes more energy efficient with the purchase of insulation, better windows, and energy efficient appliances. Those credits don't apply to any improvements made in 2008, because the tax credits were for those previous years only. My family saved nearly $200 off our tax bill in 2007 as a reward/incentive for installing some much more energy-efficient windows. That sure beats the $30 or so I might save buying untaxed gas this summer, and will mean much more in long-term savings.
With the "Economic Stimulus" checks on the way, many people will have a little be more cash on hand this summer, and I would love to see many of us use that relief to invest in long-term savings of money and energy.
Eliminating the gas tax would save us each a little bit of money individually, and would cost us lots of money collectively. (Are we just going to stop fixing roads with less gas-tax revenue? How many folks in the road-repair business are going to suffer economically because the federal funds aren't there?) I suspect that artificially lowering gas prices will just create a bit more demand for something that we want to decrease demand for. (I am not an economist, but sahirazedare is. She has a econo-pro explanation of the gas prices on her other blog.)
What do you think of this plan? Could it work? Can we bring come national attention to this possibility? (From a playing-politics perspective, I suspect my idea is a little susceptible -- tax credits for capital improvements probably aren't much of a help for those who are struggling to make ends meet. This really is a bit of a middle-class proposal.)
Any ideas? If you like the idea, please consider writing to our representatives to suggest it again!
ETA: Turns out that Thomas Friedman wrote about much this same issue in a NYT column a few days ago. Difference: he's talking about tax credits for the renewable-energy industry rather than individual consumers.
Amy Steinberg in Columbus -- this Sunday!
Following up on my previous post:
Hey all you Ohioans! The fabulous, effervescent, hot piano mama Amy Steinberg will be in Columbus this Sunday evening!
Sunday, May 4, 2008 -- 8-10pm
Victorian's Midnight Cafe
251 West 5th Avenue (at Neil Ave)
Columbus, OH 43201
(614) 299-2295
Please come join us! Amy is delightful and amazing, hip, funky, quirky, playful, and fun.
If you're in the Springfield/Dayton area and don't want to drive, please let me know and we can arrange transportation. I'm hoping for a sizeable posse from this side of the state. malanai: I do especially think you'd enjoy her!
great music coming you way
Hey all you folks in: Columbus, Cleveland, Dayton, Ann Arbor, Chicago, St. Louis, Denver, and the Pacific NW
There's all kinds of great music heading your way. I'm particularly thinking of Amy Steinberg, Rachael Sage, and S. J. Tucker. I highly recommend all of these stunning musicians. (And I especially recommend all of them to malanai.)
Ohio:
Amy Steinberg Sun, May 4 8pm Columbus Victorian's Midnight Cafe
S. J. Tucker Wed, May 7 7pm Dayton Co House (comment for more info)
Amy Steinberg Thu, May 8 9pm Cleveland The Nickel
Rachael Sage Sun, June 8 TBA Columbus East Village (630 N. High St)
Rachael Sage Sat, June 21 TBA Cleveland Cleveland Pride, Voinovich Park
Ann Arbor:
Rachael Sage Mon, June 9 8pm The Ark
Chicago:
Amy Steinberg May 9 2008 8pm Heartland Cafe
S. J. Tucker Fri, Jun 13 8pm House Concert (RSVP George: tadghlughan-at-gmail
St. Louis:
Amy Steinberg Sat, May 10 8pm Mokabe's
S. J. Tucker Sun, Jun 15 TBA House Concert, details TBA
Denver:
Amy Steinberg May 16 2008 9pm There Coffee Bar & Lounge
Pacific NW:
Amy Steinberg Sat, May 21 7pm Mr. Spots Chai House Seattle
Amy Steinberg Sat, May 21 9pm Seattle Poetry SLAM! Seattle
Amy Steinberg Sun, May 22 9pm Mississippi Pizza Pub Portland, Oregon
random poll: british names
What is the most quintessentially British name you can think of?
(If you'd like: one each for male and female names.)
Of such questions are Mondays made.
traveling fool
It's a traveling sort of season.
Tonight: going to a talk by activists for transgender rights/recognition
Then: meeting up with gothicsquish and celtic_elk to head out toward Diana's Grove for the next Feri weekend. I'm glad it's that time again.
I am so grateful for the return of Spring. It's beautiful out, and everyone is smiling. I planted peas on my lunch break. pumaviking: wanna come visit in June or so... ? (Pumas, if you don't know, are big fans of things that start with P, and Peas top the list.)
*love to all*
weirdest book news I've seen in a while
From todays New York Times, an article about someone who's written an algorithm to compile publicly-available information and publish them as niche-market on-demand books:
He Wrote 200,000 Books (but Computers Did Some of the Work)
I feel like I ought to be somehow appalled, but somehow I'm not. Certainly, no one is pretending he's writing the books, per se; and there is an awful lot of ingenuity that must have gone into developing the process. I wonder how coherent and/or useful the books are, and how much stronger they'd be with the application of a bit of editorial control. And how much more useful they are than a Google search.
The world is a wacky place, and getting wackier by the nanosecond.
minor observations
1. The phrase "more ways to save" (cf. email from Netflix this morning) actually means "more ways to spend".
2. Greenpeace has one of the more creative 404 Error Messages I've ever seen. (I miss some of the 404 messages that used to populate the net in its earlier days, such as the Internet Public Library's old "404 - The Reference Cat" cartoon by Jim Ottaviani and JSTOR's old "Danger Will Robinson" error that was almost certainly the work of Nigel Kerr; sadly, both of these pages seem to be now defunct. Seen any good error messages lately?)
Co work day
We had a wonderful work-day at Co yesterday, the cooperative house shared by a few of my friends. It was the second annual Jared's Birthday Work Party. Jared's favorite thing in the world is to have bunches of people having fun and being productive together, so what better thing to do for his birthday.
We put in two garden beds (one for flowers, one for veggies), finished removing a tree stump (which had mostly met its demise in the preceding days), dug a pit and filled the bottom with pea gravel (in anticipation of some concrete-pouring that'll have to wait on clearer weather), fixed a some little stuff around the house, and put up some wallboards to cover the exposed insulation upstairs. The Rev. Sgt. Aaron Taylor replaced a glass panel that had been missing from the storm-door since sometime during the first Reagan administration (no kidding!) We were fantastically productive, and it all culminated in a surfeit of tasty food for dinner, and midnight snack, and breakfast this morning.
What a lovely way to spend a day with friends, and I'm excited about the prospect of fresh vegetables growing at Co.
And to that end, oh gardeners among us: what crops would you recommend for a garden that's likely to get very erratic attention. There are lots of folks around at Co, but "routine" is not a strong facet of life in that house. What will yield well under moderately neglectful conditions?
home from san francisco
I had a fantastic trip to San Francisco. Worked for a few days, connected with both local and non-local folks and came up with some terrific ideas. In the last ten minutes of the workshop, discovered that the person I'd been sitting next to for two days was a Reclaiming witch. I knew she was my kind of people, and it was fun to make that connection, especially since it turned out that we were both headed for the East Bay after the workshop was over, so we had some time on the train together.
After the work part of the trip was finished, I had all kinds of wonderment. Dinner with yezida, staying with jgcr and eac and their absolutely adorable little one. James and I went to see New Model Army, which Eva was sadly not feeling up to. (And you who know her will know just how dreadful she must have felt for that to be true!) I enjoyed it way more than I imagined I might, and had my first moshpit experience. (For those following along at home, I have indeed managed not only to go out dancing every month so far this year, but also to make it a different kind of dance each month. We'll see how long I can manage that variety.)
Friday I wandered around SF, including (in order):
* dim sum (with my lovely hosts)
* Good Vibrations
* metaphysical bookstore
* Grace Cathedral (with labyrinth)
* Chinatown (which did not entice me after all)
* City Lights bookstore (yum)
* the Ferry Building (snooty-foodieville)
* tamales in the Mission district
* a well-hidden oils-and-incense shop south of the Haight
* a brief jaunt through Haight-Ashbury (commercial hippies...)
* a similarly brief jaunt through the merest corner of Golden Gate Park
* ...brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to howth castle and environs
Saturday:
* Sitting on the beach, singing to the ocean at the intersection of wind, water, sun and sand
* a cup of caffeinated coffee that didn't kill me
* a long, delightful walk in GG Park with Eva, James and their Katiebug, who fell asleep as soon as we got to the playground
* a similarly long, delightful hike (there were hills -- it becomes a hike) in Muir Woods with brassratgirl
* a fun, tasty dinner with all of the above
Sunday: a long but manageable airplane odyssey that eventually got me home
There was a surfeit of wonderful food, including: sushi, Thai, the best coffee I've ever had (not the caffeinated one) and what I was informed was some quintessential surfer pizza, as well as the aforementioned tamale and dim sum, plus some marvelous cheesy risotto stuff that Eva made.
In Chinatown and the Ferry Building I found two flavors of Extreme Consumption; they look different, but seemed to have a lot in common. In Chinatown I could have my pick of cheap, pretty stuff made by underpaid workers somewhere in the world. In the Ferry Building, it was all gourmet chocolates, expensive kitchen gadgets, $50 bottles of olive oil -- and, to be fair, some very tasty and inexpensive bread, and a fair amount of local produce. The stuff at the Ferry was more to my taste, but it still felt like extraordinary consumption to even consider most of it. Neither much appealed to me. I had built both of them up in my mind as being full of things I'd like to explore, and that really seemed not to be the case.
The opposite was also true: I find great delight in places I considered not going. Odd as it may be, I often find myself at a loss in bookstores, not really interested in exploring them so much. I visited the Fields bookstore up yezida's recommendation, and City Lights upon the urging of everyone under the sun. I had a wonderful time in each, and was particularly delighted by Fields, where I got lots of excellent book recommendations. I suspect that I have become too accustomed to mediocre bookstores, and have forgotten the magnificence of the sort of places I visited on Friday. Hurray for enlightenment.
I had a wonderful time in SF, and will be glad to go back!
taking off again -- San Francisco
Wow -- The last few weeks have flown right by! There's so much I've wanted to write about, and it just hasn't happened. Now I've even started to forget what I wanted to write about.
Some of it was all about economics:
* what is money good for
* local economies / Bill McKibben / Deep Economy
* some other stuff inspired by both the food co-op and Feri work -- it all flows together
Also:
* a terrific meal, including a genius idea (if i do say so myself): Jamaican jerk-seasoned pot-stickers. Sooooo very tasty.
* this past weekend's events, including a zombie/free-hugs pub crawl, laser tag, biking in the rain with a dozen friends, an epiphany, and a word-fast
* pictures of a recent project
Hopefully, I'll get to write about some of that when I get back from my next adventure: I'm off to San Francisco in the wee hours of Wednesday morning. I'll be working on Wednesday and Thursday, and then have a few days to explore the city. In the process, I will hopefully get to see eac, yezida, and brassratgirl.
For now: I must get home, pack, and get to Columbus.
Love to you all!
spring please!
Is it spring yet? My calendar says so, and today it looks like the world believes it too. I woke up to a clear sky for the first time this week; it's chilly out, but felt remarkably mild for the 30°F that the thermometer reported. It's spring, folks -- equinox is today! The groundhog is out of time and off probation.
Our lawn is a rain-soaked mire, and I saw our first onions coming up in the garden this morning. The world is getting busy.
Happy Spring, Happy Equinox! (And, even though she probably won't see this: Happy Birthday to Promethea Tupelo-Schneck!)
back from Massachusetts
I am back from a long, fabulous weekend in Massachusetts, during which I:
* helped the Puma and Turtle get ready for their wedding
* met a whole mess of cool people, including caitrin, fauxmiddlechild, anotheryarn (who has one of the coolest LJ names ever), knitprincess, tashadandelion and shellsapoot (whom I've met before but should really see more often.)
* stayed up way too late with my brother, laughing and telling stories long after we'd turned the lights out, which I don't think I've ever done with him before. most worthwhile.
* banged around Northampton for a bit, and saw all sorts of quirky, cool, and attractive stuff (including, surprise of surprises, my friend Mary/Gaia, sometimes of Twin Oaks, who happened to be at the same breakfast joint where the rest of us were)
* attended the wedding, which was one of the loveliest I've ever been to. I love how many weddings I can say that about.
* ate a lot of really tasty food
* visited my friends Susan and July in Boston
* met up with a pair of Blue Moose for lunch and had a lovely time meeting them for the first time
* spent a few delightful hours in the Harvard Coop bookstore, which had a really high density of books I want to read. I only bought one of them, Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future by Bill McKibben, which July had recommended the night before. I read about the first half of it while I was in transit last night and am really getting into it. This will not be the last you hear of this book. In fact, you might as well go get a copy now, as I'll undoubtedly be pimping it extensively in the coming weeks.
* had some tasty pho
* arrived back home, veryvery glad to be back with my beloved branchandroot, who came to pick me up at the airport rather late at night.
A most excellent weekend! I've come home to find an enormous pile of LJ-backlog, and I'll never get through it all. As per usual: if anything really exciting happened, let me know...
Oh! And happy (belated) birthday to otterkin, pisceskitty, my brother, and the IPL.
We wish you a happy birthday,
A joyous and celebrated birthday
To a whole mess of lovely people --
We wish you a long, long life!
traveling again: Massachusetts
I'm about to head out on the first of several major excursions coming up in the next month. I'm off to Columbus tonight, and Massachusetts tomorrow for the Puma-sister/Turtle wedding! So much rejoicing. I'm looking forward to seeing many of you there.
Also in the works for the weekend: a brief visit to Boston, and just possibly a covert meeting with some Blue Moose.
a muppety idea
Attn Henson Studios: I want to see a Muppet skit featuring a band called "Beaker and the Pipettes".
thank you. that is all.
S meme
jtigermoon gave me an S to love upon:
- Singing -- often, and in pleasant company
- Swimming -- preferably outdoors
- Salt -- I have a sweet tooth, but right now salt is the vice of choice
- Sensuality -- in all its myriad forms, including several other S-words
- Spring -- please?
- Supper -- and food at any other time of day
- s00j -- who was just here visiting
- Semantics -- "What do you mean 'it's just semantics'; it's semantics!"
- Scrabble -- wanna play?
- Socks -- I am generally more willing to shell out for good socks than for any other garment
You probably know the rules. Ask me, and I'll give you a letter to love upon as well.
LEAP!
Happy Leap Day, everyone!
(LEAP!)
And Happy 9th birthday to Michelle, wherever you are!
book of the day
I was upstairs in our library this afternoon and came across this relic from the Sixties:
God Is For Real, Man, by Carl F. Burke, 1966.
With chapters such as "The Lord is my Probation Officer" and "The Story of a Cool Cat Called Noah"
Excerpts from the book were also evidently available on vinyl!
This is just what today needed.
today's xkcd
For q_sama, pumaviking and all you other band geeks: Today's XKCD.
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