Our visit to the Place of Evil Spirits

"The name Enumclaw is derived from a local Native American word meaning "Place of evil spirits" and the city is named after a mountain about six miles north. The local Indians believed that the Thunder Bird lived in a cave on this mountain, and had changed tribesmen into thunder for all time."

Well this is Mount Ranier from Cathy's back yard, not the evil spirit mountain. Our visit to the Calvert household was blessed with snow. They had four inches that morning before we arrived. It was cold and crisp and we had a great visit with Cathy, Jake and Jess.
We enjoyed getting up to speed on Cathy's latest work with the Muckleshoot kids in her after school program on the reservation. She's doing amazing things and has 46 kids involved! Very cool. Here's more about the tribe: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muckleshoot

Jake is working on his clothing business and is moving to Colorado, with hopes of eventually returning to Ellensburg to get his restaurant going. Jess is cranking through her senior year in head start college classes like no other and will be able to finish college in 2-1/2 years.

We had a nice visit, and drove straight home to pick up Laura at the airport. We walked into the airport as she was pulling up to the gate. Perfect timing. And good to have her home.

Christmas on Dunbar

OK, so we want to pretend that Christmas was fine without you kids around, but the reality is the hot tub tripped off in the middle of the night so it was only 91 degrees in this picture. Perhaps an apt example of how Christmas just was "luke warm" without you.

It was a shear delight to see Chris and Laura's face on Skype. We missed the call later in the evening to see Catherine too. Next time.

Our family party was very good. It kept us hopping with over almost 40 people here. Al and Cheryl from across the street came over, too. Lots of food and good conversation.

And we closed the evening with Talledega Nights. It was much funnier watching it with a bunch of guys than with Miss Cynthia, and the uncut version left in stuff that detracted from the fine production my mind had made it out to be. Oh well. Shake and bake, baby.

Now on to the rest of the week. A fine collage of visits, culminating in Laura's return on Friday. Thanks for drawing us a diagram, Laura. It was very helpful! We'll follow the perscribed plan. Remember to call us with your latest flight information.

Here today

Christmas came and Christmas went.

Here's a list of what happened today:

-shower
-coffee
-presents
-cooking
-big breakfast
-big clean-up
-LOTR the two towers
-cooking
-skyping
-big dinner
-big clean-up
-more skyping
-LOTR return of the king
-little bit of snow
-overview of new york travel guide book
-little bit more skyping and blogging

All of this happened, it's true. More than this happened, I'm not lying. We hung out with two Germans and a Korean. We discussed Christmas in different cultures. We sang a Christmas carol together. Friends and family is all I needed for Christmas. I got it. For the lot of you who weren't involved in my Christmas day, just know that my soul is not completely satisfied without you. God gave me more than enough today to remind me of how blessed I am. And I know I am beyond blessed, and I know that I will truly feel it when I come home on Friday to my parents (who hated to see me leave in the first place), to my boyfriend (who has been sure to tell me daily how badly he misses me), and to my closest friends (who I've yet to even give a merry hug to). Oh boy, I'm happy here, but oh the joys that come with home. Tomorrow, we're off to New York bright and early in the morning (that is if it doesn't snow too much, but what fun would that be if it did?!). We'll be going with Steffi and Tina. Nice people. I'm very very very excited. I love this place, I love my family, I love my friends, I love this holiday, I love love love...

So I bid you all a good evening, a happy heart, and a merry Christmas.

Laura

Skyping

OK, then. We have successfully come on line in the world of Skype. Cynthia and I talked with Justin in Paris this morning. Now perhaps we'll see all you kids in Pennsylvania on Christmas.

Key things to remember: load the camera software before plugging in the camera, or you'll have to start all over (I didn't read the camera instructions first...). You'll be prompted to download updates, too. Then you can test the camera with the Microsoft Lifecam software.

Skype is a snap to install on your PC. It will be interesting to do some snooping into whether your G3 processor can do the video Skype at all, or if it's just not so good. For now load it on the house computer, and then snoop around a bit. It's all pretty intuitive. I had to pull my speakers forward on the desk and face them away from the camera to keep it from feeding back (squealing) on Justin's end...

Look forward to seeing you guys. Our user name is The_Clothers. Peace family.

family as a whole?

I'd like to open this blog by stating that this Christmas is monumental for the Clother family.

I went for about two months thinking nothing of spending Christmas 3,000 miles away from my parents, but come Monday morning, I definitely felt a sadness settle over me. After I waved goodbye to my parents and Trippe once I passed through security, I turned my head and shed a few tears... it's true. I do cry sometimes. Laura's not heartless. Anyway, I was very sad for a good 24 hours and I think that made up for my lack of sadness for the past two months. No?

So, my venture out to Pennsylvania has been exciting, exhausting, peaceful, chaotic, happy, hungry, uncomfortably full, fascinating, and, most of all, entertaining. The companions and I seem to get along pretty well. I think they finally accepted me on Tuesday night, when I danced my butt off with them over a period of about an hour and a half. We partied hard and that's all I have to say about that.

Thanks to Trippe, I've taken some fantastic pictures and videos with his camera. I can't wait to show them off. Thank you, Trippe.

Tonight, Chris and Catherine had the night off, so we went to the mall. We arrived after six and left at 10:45. We left with very few bags and I had an upset stomach. My oh my, we sure know how to shop... We bought things for ourselves and we're going to wrap them up and open them on Christmas. It's not quite the same as it was at home, but oh well.

I've been sneezing like a lunatic since I got on the plane to get here. No idea why.

I've almost crocheted two scarves since I've arrived and it's only been three days.

We're going to New York on Tuesday and staying the night in an apartment seven stories up off of Broadway. Yea, pretty serious. I'm excited.

I'm also tired.

I love you, family.

I love you, friends.

I love you, whoever else is reading this (it seems that a lot more people read our family blog than I thought).


Good night.

Christmas Cactus Considerations

With seemingly perfect timing, as if its growth is directed by our seasonal to-do list, my Mom's Christmas cactus is blooming.

Before Mom died she asked what we would want of hers. Odd, but practical question, I guess. Cynthia zeroed in not on furniture or jewelry, but this plant. And I'm so glad she did. It grows as a memorial to Mom; our mother and friend. And for me, memories of Mom year after year trying to get the blasted thing to bloom at all, let alone at Christmas.

Through the years she tried everything to trigger its blooms from moving it to new locations throughout the house, in front of windows, away from windows, submitting it to isolation in a dark closet, and once even throwing it out as so much compost, where it bloomed upside down in the flowerbed...

Now this cactus blooms each year at Christmas without any effort on our part. I have started to write many applications for this cactus story, but I'll leave it to you to draw your own truths. For me, it's God honoring Mom with something she always wanted. A Christmas cactus that blooms at Christmas.

This is Chris, the day before my sister comes to stay with us. K and J have a bell choir performance today at the non-denominational church down the street, so I went to check on whether K was moving. She told me she would be up at 6:19, which is when she set her alarm for, but at 6:34, she was not moving, so I knocked lightly on the door, which I found was not resting in its jam and the door pounded into its place when I knocked on it, making a loud sound and stirring K immediately. I expected an apologetic muffle from the other side of the closed door, as K had failed to be responsible this morning, but after I asked if she were moving, I heard her quietly reprimanding me for pounding on the door. I explained how the door pounded against the door jam, and that it wasn't intentional, but that it doesn't matter because she is running late, and I don't think she understood me because she said to me again how it is against the rules to pound on the door and how I am not supposed to do it. So, in a stern voice, because I was irritated, I said that the door slipped and that she needs to get moving. She said okay in a cheerier tone, and I huffed away. And I woke up today with the front part of my hair making a great big 'S' curl like how I hate, and last time it did this, it took like a week to calm it back down into hanging in a more manageable way. I really hope I don't look like a dope for the majority of the time Laura is with us.
Here's some news about what's going on this week, little sister: it sounds like afternoon classes have been canceled for everyone, so that those involved in rehearsals for the Friday send-off christmas thing can rehearse everyday. But swimming may very well not be canceled, because it is 'therapeutic' for a lot of the companions. So bring a swimsuit for sure. Catherine and I will both have times working on the land this week, and you will be dragged to help at least once, so bring some clothes you can get grubby in. And...some parents of a student here have offered their place to any coworkers at Soltane interested in using it over the holiday break. They won't be using it because they will be elsewhere, so Catherine and I expressed interest in us using it for one night between the 26th and the 27th. The place is a fancy apartment seven stories up and six blocks to the west of central park. New York Just may be a bit more relaxing than I was thinking it would be.

White Christmas?

Looks like 25-50% chance of a white Christmas for you guys in PA. Our map is far less hopeful, but today we have a crusty white ground and icy streets from yesterday's little storm of hail and snow. I'm happy enough about a little snow that when two snow balls came out of nowhere; one narrowly missing the hood and the other hitting the side of the car, I chuckled. Cynthia thought it was more serious. I thought we should drive back and give them another try.

So there was this huge wind storm last night, right? ...and all these power lines went down, rendering us without electricity, bored, and helpless. We managed. Lit candles. We even played a game once we figured out whose turn was when and whether or not we were going around clockwise. We settled with clockwise. We attempted to take pictures of each of us, but Dad's didn't turn out, so I put the ones of mom and me up, and instead of dad, I put the bouncing Santa Clause up. Sorry, Dad. After the parents went to bed, I was left bored and wide awake with no internet. I scrounged around in the laundry room by candle light for a flashlight. Upon finding one that put off enough light to work in, I hung it from my reading lamp over my bed and crocheted until my benadryl kicked in. What a night, huh? I woke up freezing. The power came back on right after I took a shower and started to freak out about not being able to blow dry my hair. Praise God.

Point is, it's Christmas time and I'll be in Pennsylvania in three days with my beloved siblings and all of their fabulous companions.

Morning Sudoku and Rudolph

So today we are having coffee in the living room. It's a nice setting with the tree and all, but no kids in the house at all. Laura spent the night with Trippe and Witney, and they're off on a great adventure today. I could bang around in the kitchen without disturbing Laura's sleep, which made me a little lonely.

Cynthia woke up early with anxious plans for the family Christmas at our house intermingled, no doubt, with sadness over all our kids being in PA for the holidays. We'll see how the all goes. I'm excited for all you kids having a special time together though. These will be memories that last a lifetime.

Me, I'm fighting a zit right on the end of my nose. It started yesterday at church, and by last night I looked like some sort of drunk. Today Cynthia had me pop it and soak my nose in hot water. She says it will help. I still think having me sit in the living room with my nose in a coffee cup of hot water was some sort of joke that will come up in conversations throughout the next few weeks... Call me Rudolph. Today's our staff meeting, so there's no hiding in a closed office today...

On Thursday, it was so cold outside, and Catherine and I had the night off, so we went to a movie in Pheonixville. Pheonixville, being named after a flaming eagle, has a festival every holiday season where someone in the town erects a a large eagle shaped sculpture made out of dry wood. We saw this year's sculpture (it's sitting in a field by the side of the main road), and it's around 16 or 17 feet tall, and in a week or so, they are going to light in fire in a parking lot. We watched the movie 'the U.S. vs. John Lennon' and we learned about the overall political and cultural mood of the united states during the late 6o's and early 70's. Our friends Jason and Mia came with us, and we briefly discussed the reasons for wanting to make a movie on this subject, and we constructively criticized the abrupt ending of the film all while standing out in front of the theater in the freezing cold, because we were watching, in the glow of the nearby streetlights, the beginnings of the first snow of the season. Once we realized just how cold we were, we hustled and jogged through Pheonixville's little strip of downtown to the dark parking lot where the Mitsubishi was, all while the snow persisted. The ground was so cold and the snow was rather dry and dusty, and the wind was terribly invasive, and the snow blew around in menacing swirls over the surface of the street. We enjoyed daydreams of waking early the following morning to shovel sidewalks so that everyone in wheelchairs could get around, but by the time we got back to Soltane, the snow had eased and stopped. we let Jason and Mia out of the car and then Catherine and myself went on to Pizza Uno's for a late dinner.
Friday, the temperature didn't rise above freezing, and the sky rarely had more than two clouds in it, and it was windy, and it was my least favorite kind of weather. Me and Catherine went to get coffee, and then we went to Kimberton Hills, the camphill for older people. They have a place to get lunch there, and a thrift store that's open four times a week for four hours at a time. We got some warm soup and some old books and for dinner last night, we had Macaroni and cheese that we made. Sara looked sad last night, and I thought for a moment that it might have been because of the blog I wrote last about us not wanting to live in Rockrose. I don't actually think she knows about this blog, but if she did, reading that last one might have made her sad. So I reread the last blog, and I thought that it wasn't very mean, but was honest and even-handed. So I decided not to erase it and instead planned to confront Sara about the issue at hand if it came up. It turns out she was getting sick last night (which means she's probably not going to help clean the house today, how convenient for her) and that made her look sad. Before Christmas break though, she has to have a meeting with each coworker in Rockrose, one on one, facilitated by one of the entry activities coordinators about how things are going in the house. I don't think I'll be able to opt out of being honest about my feelings, so I hope it goes okay, and I hope that she won't take any newly developed animosity for me out on Laura when she gets here.
When Laura gets here, she's going to help me cook meals, go swimming at the YMCA, do land work, make things in the pottery studio, watch the students fix things in home maintenance, and do movement in the morning (Catherine and I do the quasi-yoga class every Tuesday and Thursday, but you can do the tai-chi one, or you can go jogging). You may or may not have fun, but there's always rest hour after lunch, and there may be some special Christmas activities in the community while you're here, like maybe a christmas play or something, that I might be one of the three kings in maybe.

Night Time Surprises

On our way home from the staff Christmas party I spotted a big bird perched on a street sign near our house. Wierd to see a bird at night. We turned around and went back to stare face to face with a barn owl keeping watch over Jenne Road. Beautiful bird.

This is Thursday, and away we go!

I'm in a funny spot in life.

I can't wait to go to Pennsylvania. It will be nice to vacate Oregon for a while and look at the world from a new place. Maybe it will allow me to look at my life unbiased. Probably not, though, since I'm still me and can't escape my own skin very easily.

I need to be doing so many things right now, but I don't want to do anything but sleep and read. There's another reason I'm looking forward to PA, I won't have any stresses. I will be able to read and sleep and talk with my siblings.

I love talking to relatively new friends who know my siblings but don't know that I'm related to them. When they find out, it's like I'm automatically 10 times cooler. It goes like this:

Laura: So, I'm visiting my brother and sister-in-law in Pennsylvania for Christm--

Relatively new friend: Wait, are you Chris' sister?

Laura: Indeed, I am. Isn't that fantastic?

Relatively new friend: Yeah! I love him!

Laura: I know. I know. I do too. So, anyway, I--

Relatively new friend: I think I went to a show with Chris and Catherine once. With Danielle... Wait, no... yea! with Danielle!

Laura: I'm sure you did.

Relatively new friend: Sorry, go on.

Laura: It's okay. So, anyway, I'm going to New York while I'm there and--

Relatively new friend: Chris is an artist, right? Did they work with the Somalis last year? 'Cause I think I did that with them too.

Laura: Yes, he is. And, yes, they did.

Relatively new friend: Sorry. You're going where now?

Laura: It's fine. Don't worry about it. I'm going to visit Chris and Catherine in Pennsylvania.

Relatively new friend: Awesome! What are they doing in Pennsylvania?


...the conversation goes on like this and the relatively new friend looks at me in a whole new light, or rather a whole new shadow. Ha, but what a magnificent shadow to live in.

Things to do today:
-read bible
-study for practical nursing assistant final tomorrow
-work
-maybe find a moment of peace?

I'll end this blog on a low note. My life is busy as heck with the most boring crap.

Actually, I'll end with a poem by, you guessed it, Dorothy Parker.

The Searched Soul

When I consider, pro and con,
What things my love is built upon-
A curly mouth; a sinewed wrist;
A questioning brow; a pretty twist
Of words as old and tried as sin;
A pointed ear; a cloven chin;
Long, tapered limbs; and slanted eyes
Not cold nor kind nor darkly wise-
When so I ponder, here apart,
What shallow boons suffice my heart,
What dust-bound trivia capture me,
I marvel at my normalcy.

Another weekend has gone by and for the past two days it has been clear and breezy and cold. There is one type of weather that I think is the worst, and it's when it's clear, breezy and cold.
Catherine hatched a scheme last Thursday night that would make our experience here at Soltane more enjoyable overall. The best house at Soltane is called Nantmel Farm. It's the best because it's a house original to the property here and is really old and lovely and sits amidst the trees on the edge of the forest. It has the most amazing porch that looks out at the large trees in the yard. The best householder lives in this house and so does the best coworker. Both of these people are committed to doing a good job, actively helping out, and they think and talk about things that Catherine and I are interested in. There are two other coworkers that work in Nantmel Farm, and from what we've heard, they don't try very hard and they don't help out the most. The students in Nantmel Farm require more attention than those in Rockrose, so it requires extra effort to get by in Nantmel Farm every day.
So, what can happen is that the two coworkers of Nantmel Farm, a guy and a girl, can trade places with Catherine and myself. They can come live in Rockrose where the students are independent and amicable for the most part, and have a laid back time like they want to have. They can chat it up with Sara and Christoph because they would probably get along with Sara and Christoph much better than how Catherine and I do. and...Catherine and I could move to Nantmel Farm and live in the dingy little room they have there and work with people we can relate to and like to be around and after working really hard all day long we could go out in the evening and sit on the porch and look at the trees.
That's the plan. It would save us from the disagreeable architecture of Rockrose, whose expansive floorplan is a pain to traverse on laundry day, and from the near unusable deck here that sits exposed to the weather, either baking in a midday sun or being beaten by a howling wind or being drilled by an unexpected thunderstorm. Who puts a deck on a house that faces the west without any cover on it whatsoever. We like sitting on this deck in the morning before eleven, or in the evening after dusk. And then it gets cold, and there is nothing, nothing secluded about the setting surrounding the deck. I hadn't realized how interested I am in seclusion until this deck. And the house is painted disagreeable colors. Stylistically, it must have come from the early nineties because it reminds me of our living room at the fourth street house, except the decor here is poorly done. I would say our old living room was a balanced mix of pastels and floral prints, well selected lamps and furniture, while here the furniture and accessories are haphazard and incongruent. And our coworkers...they are nice and they have good intentions, but we are so far from relating to them, and they seem like they have little interest in relating to us. We walked into the house at the end of our free day last Friday, and after saying hello to Sara and Christoph sitting in the living room, received no acknowledgment from Christoph, and no hello from Sara, only an accusation that Catherine had not turned in the week's bread order. This is an example that demonstrates how we feel about our relationship with these two in a general sense.
So sometimes it's a little rough. It's really not as bad as this message lets on. It just feels nice to rant about it and know that people who like me will read it and tell me that it will be okay. On a lighter note, Laura Clother, from Portland, Oregon, will be coming to stay here in a mere two weeks. Catherine and I are beside ourselves with enthusiasm and have been working hard on a schedule of events. So far, we know there will be movies, coffee, and pizza uno's.

Dorothy Parker

Trippe bought me a book of poetry by Dorothy Parker.

He said that if I were a female poet thriving in the thirties, her poems could have easily been written by me. Here's an example:

Observation

If I don't drive around the park,
I'm pretty sure to make my mark.
If I'm in bed each night by ten,
I may get back my looks again,
If I abstain from fun and such,
I'll probably amount to much,
But I shall stay the way I am,
Because I do not give a damn.

Here is another example:

Frustration

If I had a shiny gun,
I could have a world of fun
Speeding bullets through the brains
Of the folk who give me pains;

Or had I some poison gas,
I could make the moments pass
Bumping off a number of
People whom I do not love.

But I have no lethal weapon-
Thus does Fate our pleasure step on!
So they still are quick and well
Who should be, by rights, in hell.

This is barely the tip of the iceberg--this woman is magnificent. I'm having a helluva time reading her poems.

I don't know if Trippe is completely right, but I love the comparison.

Firday Night Kitchen Dancing and BBQ

Here's Miss Cynthia dancing in the kitchen. We just got off the phone with Chris and Catherine, making plans for visits in the spring. It will be good to see them.



A spontaneous barbeque broke out to celebrate.

Christmas Decorations, Missing Children

The Dunbar House is beginning to look a lot like Christmas, every where you go, whether it's springy Santa in the dinette, or statue Santa on the bridge.

Baby Jesus has his place on the library table with the requisite ceramic figures looking on.

The living room is rearranged and the tree is in full decoration.

We even had snow yesterday.

But we don't have Chris and Catherine.

Sadness.

Santa Spring Time

I feel the hairs that usually sit higher up behind my ears growing out and hanging down in unfavorable positions. I hate thinking I need a hair cut-- they're so hit-and-miss these days. I've been getting pimples like mad, and I think it's because I squeeze them as soon as they come, getting my greasy fingers all over my face, making more pop up the next day. I also think I've been eating a lot of crap lately, not really crap, more like chocolate and things that make me feel better at the time but are, in actuality, my ruin. I think I have a cold. It's gross how I'm wiping my nose and then typing, and then thinking about how wiping my nose and typing is gross, and then doing it anyway.
It snowed today. It's supposed to snow more later. I have to drive all the way out to Canby and I'm pretending I'm not scared. I went for a drive last night with Trippe and his two friends that just moved here from Alabama. They are hysterical boys. RIDICULOUS. It was a lot of fun. We drove up to Mt. Hood, but not too far because Trippe's car was ill-prepared for the snow, so we stopped and ate greasy diner food and went home.
Mom got mad at me for playing with one of her Santa Clause decorations last night. I kept playing with it, not because I wanted to, but because it wanted me to. Nobody would have understood, so I took each reprimand for that stupid little Santa on a spring (he bounces back and forth like crazy with little more than a nudge...[!]).
Hope all is well with the rest of you.

Me without You doesn't necessarily mean being alone

So, our thanksgiving break made up for the difficult free weekend we had previously. here are some pictures of that free weekend:

Tuesday evening saw the genesis of a new opportunity to enjoy a long break. It started with Val, our friend who would be taking us to the glorious metropolis of Allentown for our evening rock and roll show, telling us that she had invited along her new friend, maja from norway, to join us. We met these fine people in windcrest house, and I brought along four mix cd's that I made that have all the songs on them that I want to listen to. No one else brought any cd's, except Catherine brought a johnny cash cd she checked out from the library, but I don't think she really wanted to listen to it in the van, so my cd's were the one's we listened to. Allentown is an hour or so north of Soltane, and it seems kind of nice, and the show was at a bar called the crocodile rock. it was nice to see some rock and roll music.
The next day, we went to Rachel's parent's house in Landsdale, PA, also about an hour from Soltane, and we just sat there until saturday morning. While we were there, we saw squirrels, finches, sparrows, tufted titmouses, cardinals, a fox, and some deer and a groundhog (the last two were at Soltane, though, next to nantmel farm) and Rachel's parents were excruciatingly kind to us. Rachel let us borrow her corolla to drive it to New Hope, a town on the Delaware River, across from NJ, filled with old homes and chic shops, a starbucks selling gingerbread lattes, and a town that occurs 10 miles before it with no apparent name but bearing a resemblance to the description we were given of New Hope. we mistakenly spent an hour or two wandering through the wrong community of stores before we overheard someone being given directions to New Hope at the restaurant. Since we thought we were in New Hope, this information startled us, and we eavesdropped carefully. Then we had a new hope, and we went to New Hope, and then we went back to Rachel's and all her high school friends came to visit and they built a campfire in the backyard and sat around it and we happily sat inside watching a movie with Rachel's parents.

I think that's a senator and his wife.

Our grand days out are generally made of the same components. Big city. Hamburgers for dinner. American history. Barnes and Noble. Anticipation, distress, exhaustion, contemplation. Every Friday we have come to expect the same line up of events.
This Friday we were feeling much anticipation for the Joanna Newsom concert we would see in the evening. Because the show was to take place in our nation's capitol, we decided to go down early and spend the entire day wandering around and seeing the things every American is supposed to see. I was looking forward to seeing dinosaurs and mr. lincoln. Chris wanted to see the giant squid and the insects. We were happy and had good music in the car.
Distress. On the way down of course the car started to over-heat. We had the heater blowing full blast which worked for a little while but while going through a long tunnel in Maryland the little hand decided to go past the red way-too-hot section and into the engine-about-to-explode section. We were both shrieking with disbelief, found our way off of the road and into a gas station in the middle of industrial Baltimore where we opened the hood and stared at the engine with great sorrow. And then we heard the lovely words we had been praying for come from behind us... "somethin' wrong with your car?" A friendly southern man in a work jumper and his adolescent son approached us and started poking around. He told us to turn on the air conditioning which would make two fans blow on the engine, and that would cool the engine down enough so we could drive the car to a mechanic somewhere. His trick worked for the most part, although we had to stop the car along the freeway every once in a while to let it rest. We drove the car straight to Washington and just put it in a parking garage and forget about it.
First we went to see the dinosaurs.

Chris' hair had a stupid wave in it all day. The insect exhibit and where the giant squid is were closed for renovations, and Chris was having stomach-twisting flashbacks to when things went wrong with his cars in late high school and college. A giant ground sloth offers no consolation when all you can think about is how you're most likely going to be stranded on the side of some foreign freeway between Baltimore and Delaware at 2:30 in the morning. We went to the Hirshorn museum and looked at some art and then went to the Lincoln memorial which had a big spire and a pool of water in the way of our getting there. We saw the vietnam veteran's memorial and when we were walking past the White House, Catherine told me a terrible story of her and her boyfriend being stranded on the side of i-5 late at night, and how it worked out okay in the end. This meant we could eat at Harry's with some peace of mind, and then go across the street to Barnes and Noble without much fret for our immediate future. Whenever you're feeling stressed in strange place, seeking out the familiar seems to be the way to ease one's mind, and the most familiar thing in Washington d.c. at that point was the Barnes and Noble with the starbucks inside. We sought the same respite when we were in downtown Philadelphia for the first time. We sat in there while it got darker and colder outside, and then we went to repark our car closer to where the 'black cat' is. the car began to overheat again as we drove it the 15 blocks to the venue, and we had to keep the a/c on low and start and stop the car when we could. This meant all my fears from earlier would be rekindled, and I would be tense and worried throughout the evenings show. But the show was gorgeous, Joanna Newsom is a genius, her new album is excruciatingly good, and unlike anything I've heard.
From 12:15 to 3:00, we drove with sweaty palms and frigid feet. Driving on a cold November night with the a/c on fearing that at any moment the car will uncontrollably overheat and blow up was nice for ensuring that the driver won't fall asleep. We were both oozing with thankfulness for the safe ride home when we finally found ourselves in bed that night.

a love for life?

i miss my siblings.

i've been confused as of late, but i think i'm gaining some clarity.

best be better, better not be bitter.

am i right? i mean, am i right?

Home from Scottsdale

Yeah, we're home! Scottsdale was a great get away. Here's a photo of our last night. Rummy Tile and a glass of wine with the woman I love. You can't ask for much more this side of heaven.

We returned home Saturday night and hit the ground running, with Cynthia loading up the car with her pottery and heading off to her first sale at "A Husband's Worst Nightmare" in Hillsboro on Sunday, and me back in the saddle at church. And now it's Friday already! I hope for some time in the yard today... It's leaf raking time! 

Dear Family,

Sadly, we will no longer be able to share pictures or stories with you containing identifying information on any of the people we are living and working with. Thus the previous blogs have been edited, and photos deleted. We will continue to write amusing stories, but the names will be changed or left out entirely. Also, could you please change the title of the blog, which tells the name of our specific work place, to just "pennsylvania?" Thank you.

Also, I wanted to say YAY to Laura for finally reading her high school graduation presents!

a prarie home companion

i have felt better.

i'm almost finished with franny and zooey. i've also been reading thoreau on man and nature. i feel all intellectual because of it, so don't try, don't even try to bring me down.

here's a comic i thought was funny:

Fountain Hills Arts and Crafts Festival

Wow, for our Friday adventure, we headed off to Fountain Hills, east of Scottsdale. Each year they have a three day event with 500 artisans of all types. This event is a BIG DEAL. It was a holiday here, so there were ALOT of people.

We wondered if we would be able to make it through the whole event, but by being a bit picky about what we looked at, we made it through in just under five hours.

We settled back into the condo for the evening to reflect on which types of art inspired us most, and what influence it would have on us forward. We discussed the merits of remaining in Scottsdale indefinetly, but realized Laura would miss us (we think anyway), and although I could probably take care of quite a bit of my responsibilities at Abundant Life remotely, that we would miss the connectedness of actually attending the services and seeing the people first hand. So alas, we will be returning to Portland.

Art Walk, Art Talk

Today we enjoyed Scottsdale for its art. First we went to the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMOCA). The building is a Will Bruder design, like the 3.8 million house we looked at one day with Linda and Ted. It was free day, PLUS we walked in just as a tour was starting, so we got to learn the background behind important works such as Byron Kim's monochromatic series based on the people he knows. Otherwise is was just 396 equally sized squares of various skins tones.

We went on from there for a walk, and dinner at Frank and Lupee's. The food is so good and the price so great, it's almost worth flying down here for dinner. Here's a picture of a cool mission they're in the process of restoring to give those passing by a place of contemplation and prayer. Nice work, Scottsdale.


Then it was off to finish the tour of galleries we had started the previous Thursday. I learned this trip that the idea of a Thursday gallery opening started right here in Scottsdale. I tried to be discrete with any photos to respect the artists, so my collection here is what it is.

The gallery at the right wasn't open, so I snuck a little photo as my slilent protest. We saw many different kinds of art, including holograms, video, found objects, sculpture, pottery, and a bazillion paintings, from old masters to extreme modern. And, yes, there was a bit of southwestern stuff around, too. All in all a good day!

Man & Nature

Every leaf and twig was this morning covered with a sparkling ice armor; even the grasses in exposed fields were hung with innumerable diamond pendants, which jingled merrily when brushed by the foot of the traveler. It was literally the wreck of jewels and the crash of gems…. Such is beauty ever—neither here nor there, now nor then—neither in Rome nor in Athens, but wherever there is a soul to admire. If I seek her elsewhere because I do not find her at home, my search will prove a fruitless one.

–Henry D. Thoreau

I’ve been finding life more and more beautiful. I think God’s throwing beauty at me from all angles lately… some examples: I happen across a passage like the one above; I overhear a clever conversation; somebody exchanges my cynical point of view for an optimistic one; the sun peeks out from behind the clouds just enough to show off the brilliance of a single flaming yellow-orange tree… I mean, how fantastic is that?

I woke up this morning with one goal in mind: catch up on my bible study. I’ve been steadily four or five chapters behind the group every week, and with a whole morning all to myself it would be cake to read twelve chapters of Deuteronomy. I hopped out of bed and opened my bedroom door to greet the morning with enthusiasm, but to my surprise, I greeted Danielle instead (with just as much enthusiasm). She informed me that she was skipping school today and all she wanted to do was read her bible and listen to records. Isn’t that neat? We had coffee and sat in the living room reading our bibles, occasionally chatting about deep things, this and that. Then we made lunch and continued our conversations. I needed this morning so badly and I didn’t even know it. I love Danielle Strannigan.

I played with Christy this afternoon. She got some new chairs. We sat and ate ice cream and watched The Boondock Saints. I LOVED THAT MOVIE. What am I saying? I still love that movie. It’s playing in my head over and over again. If you haven’t seen that movie, see it—even you, Mom, because if you don’t like it, at least you will have watched it and then I can sleep in peace knowing that one more pair of eyes has seen this extraordinary film.

Then bible study happened, and because of all the wonderful conversations with Danielle this morning, I was still 5 chapters behind the group. But at least I’m consistent.

After bible study, I went to Trippe’s house. His mom was in town for three days and helped him decorate his new place. It looks terrific. Trippe read to me at Coffee Time from a book that is no less than amazing. We saw a guy standing on the bench under the outdoor heaters trying to keep warm. He would occasionally do a slow, bouncy dance similar to the one I saw a bee doing on the top of my car a couple months ago. I was confused about that bee for the longest time and then I forgot about it. I know why the man outside was doing the bouncy dance: he was cold. But I do not know why the bee was doing that dance, and although it is comical to think about, I sort of wish I hadn’t remembered, because I am still confused about it. Trippe makes me think about beautiful things.

So, that’s that. I’ll be driving down to visit Natalie and Heather tomorrow afternoon. I’ll stay the night and return on Friday morning. I think it will be good for my soul to play with and see them.

I'll leave you with this because I thought it was funny (click on it to make it bigger):

Sun Bathing, Rawhide, and Rush Hour

Today we relaxed. I went for a walk. We layed in the sun for THREE hours, and I didn't mind. The pool is a perfect temperature, the sun the perfect intensity, and the company, oh the company. I'm enjoying quiet time with Miss Cynthia.

After sun and lunch, we headed off in search of the new Rawhide old west town. We got lost (thanks, Mapquest), but got directions at a Walgreens (I was the one insisting we ask- NOT the typical guy thing). The lady at Walgreens told us where it was and suggested we not waste our time. A customer piped in the same. But, hey, we set out to see this place, so off we went.

We arrived and there was one other car in the parking lot. We were there 15 minutes before they opened, so sort of understandable, although our Walgreen friends warned us it was sad there was nobody there when they went. The good news is all the characters gave us special attention, and we got a free stage coach ride out of it. Here's a picture of the local law.

We left after about an hour. It was sad. There must have been 20 or so employees all there to show the few of us a down home cowboy good time. Someone tried to sell us a time share, too...

We were in rush hour traffic and I got to playing with the camera making time exposed photos. Look for them in a gallery someday, and me retiring in wealth as a result of their commercialized reproduction.

We stopped at Albertsons and got mushrooms, shrimp, and garlic. We had an amzingly delightful and simple dinner with these elements and some left over bread.

Sedona On My Mind (and in our spirit)

Tuesday we decided to go on a quest for spiritual enlightenment and we found ourselves pulled toward a gravitation vortex, and ended up in Sedona. Our spirits felt drawn toward the beautiful red mountains and a challenging trail to conquer.

We headed out to the Devil's Bridge, a gruelling uphill trek, but well worth the pain. At the top, we took this bridge from the devil, and relished in God's panoramic view. After the hike back down, we celebrated with a tailgate party of cheese, crackers and an ice cold Corona. We then looked again to the hills and heard them say "tla key paw key."

So we again set out on another journey to find the meaning of these words. We traveled through Sedona, searching diligently for any clues, when suddenly we came upon a Spanish Village that carried this name, Tlaquepaque.

We celebrated our discovery with licorice and chocolate covered pretzels. Weaving in and out of buildings, still seeking more spiritual enlightenment, we saw how others were enlightened through their God given artistic talent. We celebrated this by purchasing an ornament for our Christmas tree, instead of a $4950 bronze of an Indian.


After a long, tiring day, we began our journey home. On the way, we were blessed with the most beautiful sunset. Perfect. We celebrated this with chinese food and a movie. God is good.

A Grand Day Out

Monday we got up, had breakfast and went for a bike ride on one of the paths that run through the neighborhoods here. I shot a series of photos while riding along, following Miss Cynthia. Here's one that shows the homes and lake. It's a great bike path that took us to the Mustang Library where Cynthia read a magazine called Art News, and I read about how rich people get rich.

Here's a shot of the library entrance. As we rode along, we discussed how everything in Scottsale is near perfect. At the condo, a team plants new flowers around the fountain and trims all the landscape just so. Along the path special grass is being planted to keep the lawns green for winter. Houses and streets are devoid of old cars, unkept landscape, or any number of things that might detract from the experience of the environment. No messy people here, either. It made me think about why I was so attracted to our old neighborhood, and why our current neighbors probably didn't like my old cars in the driveway...

We did a little grocery shopping, laid out in the sun by the pool for a couple of hours, then returned home for a quiet evening, including a salmon dinner and a movie.

currently

The conclusions are as such: the students in my house are very different from me. No matter how many times special needs advocates may claim otherwise, I have determined to stand by this observation. Not to say that I haven't been taken aback by the unexpected similarities between myself and the companions, but it's operating from the perspective that the companions can learn about things like myself, or understand things in the way that I do that sources much of my frustration. In our Monday seminar a little over a week ago, we discussed autism as a disability and a lot of what it does to a person. One of the things that I walked away with was that an autistic person suffers from an excess of neurons (I think it's neurons), and this results in an exacerbation of their sensory perception. They can be frightfully sensitive to light, sound, taste, being touched, and so on, making the world they share with me a much more uncomfortable place for them. A. throws tantrums when food he doesn't like will be his only option for dinner. I have become frustrated when I think of his actions as immaturity. Now I can think that A. is looking at a table where food that will reek havoc on his tastebuds is his only option for sustenance, and he is raging against the fact that dinner will mean suffering for him. When it comes down to it, most, if not all, of the companions unpleasant behavior can traced back to an understandable source if I try to trace it. We've been given descriptions in seminar that help us imagine the space between the ears of any given companion, and we've learned about the chaos they have where we would have negligable order. So much of the brain function we have and take for granted acts as an exhausting obstacle course for the companions, which is why when I ask N. what dried fruit he would like to eat at the bowling alley, he stares at me and at the ground and mulls over the question for minute after minute, all because the idea of choosing registers as something much different and apparently stultfying for N. If I think of N. as being like myself, I would sigh and tell him about how it doesn't matter and that he should just pick, and I would think of him as incompetant because I certainly could have made such a choice quickly. But N. actually knows all the reasons for why a choice is easy. He is as smart as a twenty year old can be, but he has a different brain function in the realm of making decisions, which not only arises from his having down syndrome, but also, if not entirely, comes from the fact that his whole life up until this point has had people in it who take his ability to choose away from him because of how hard it is for him to express himself clearly. I may even think that if I spent my life letting others choose what's best for me, being asked to make decisions as a twenty year old would be as diffficult for me as it is for N. With this, I will drive home the point I will make before I stop this post, and that is that much of the frustrating behavior exhibited by companions does not come from the fact that they are neurologically different from me. It comes from the fact that having a disability means having a difficult set of circumstances in your life. People exclude you, tease you, move you away from home, and often times do much, much worse to you. These are the factors that can make a person, any person, challenging to live with.

Sunday, Sunny Day, Some Day...

Yesterday we went to Central Christian Church where we participated in a special service on Christian martyrdom. Every three minutes or so a cross was projected on the wall, growing larger and larger, then added to a tally of crosses, signifying another Christian dying for their faith. I think they said 450 die each day somewhere in the world. Worship was silent as if we were hiding from the local authorities. The message was a mix of videos about persecuted Christians and their international pastor's personal thoughts. Very moving service.

After church we went shopping for million dollar homes, because without all the hassles of religious persecution here in the US, we have time for such things. Here's Miss Cynthia standing next to a saguaro cactus out in one of the yards that's a bit taller (also quite a bit older) than she is.

The houses were brand new. They had four floor plans to choose from. I can't imagine paying a million plus for the same house as my neighbor, but hey, Cynthia says it would be easy to collaborate on decorating ideas... Here's a cool doorway into one of the model homes...

Afterwards, we stopped at Sonic Burger and ordered over a speaker with loud traffic in the background. Cynthia had to tell me what they were saying, because I couldn't hear that well. As a result I didn't get to order a rootbeer shake, and settled for plain rootbeer instead.

We went on to Old Scottsdale to shop and ran into a Greek Festival in the park. Lots of good music, dancing, and Greeks. They even had a lamb roasting over a pit of coals (I thought it was a dog, Cynthia reassures me it was a lamb. Sad either way I guess).

As we came home to our luxurious condo last night, in reflection, our day was a weird collage of the simplest life to the most complex, the hardest life to that of opulence. I'm not sure what to do with all of it. I guess the stuff I worry about probably doesn't matter a whole lot compared to seeing your kids killed by police because you wouldn't deny Christ...

comics and coffee

a new guilty pleasure of mine: perry bible fellowship comics. there are some real gems. for example,
and also,


other than that, my life is more exciting than you'll ever be able to comprehend, so why bother trying to explain it? I'm fancy. I'll leave you with that.