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So at least in the interpersonal sense…

Submitted entry: I just got done making a pile of pancakes for our breakfast and am now sitting on the bed with the alphasmart writing this entry and getting up the energy to go across the room and get my third cup of coffee. You know you’re a coffee addict when you still need to motivate yourself to get your third cup of coffee! I’m listening to Kurt Elling, who Sage and I keep rediscovering at seemingly the right moment. He’s a wonderful jazz vocalist - his tone is as perfect as Mel Torme while he tends to be a bit more free-form and abstract in his singing. I’m so surprised he’s still pretty unknown (as best I can tell).

Okay, I did it - I got my coffee… Anyway - it’s been a wonderful few days here. Two days ago we had Casey and Crow over for dinner. We kept talking about inviting them over but never got around to it. They both got home from work that day and looked so tired that we thought that that would be a good night to do it since we already had refried beans started. It was such a good time - we’re definitely going to have to do that again.

Then yesterday we had our friends from East Wind over for lunch, dinner and a hike. It was such a fun time. Their daughter is about 6 months old and is really growing fast. She & Paul even got to play a little although we had to supervise Paul a bit since he still hasn’t got “gentle” down yet completely - especially when he gets excited about a new person. But surprisingly they got on extremely well and really seemed to notice each other for the first time. After we ate we all went for a walk up the mountain at just about sunset. It was incredible. The leaves are all changing color here and the evening sun brought everything out beautifully. It was a trip to watch the shadow of the mountain (which is to the west of where we live) creep over the landwhere we live as the sun set behind it. It was absolutely breathtaking. I truly apologise for not having brought the digital camera with us. I know it’s been a while since we’ve put up any pictures. We headed home before it got too dark and then came home for a quick dinner and another hangout. We’re planning on going to East Wind in a couple weeks or so to cook a meal with them for everyone. It should be really interesting since we’ll be cooking for 50-60 people. I’ve never cooked for more than 5-6! We’re thinking perhaps of an Indian meal: dal, a couple of curries, raita and a chutney or two. I have to say I’m alternately nervous about cooking for so many and excited about the prospect.

We also tried to get the network cabling done between the houses here. As it stands now the network is working all in one room. Casey and I were to meet for coffee and then we were going to drill holes and string up network cable in order that Casey’s computer could go in her room and her kids computer could go in their house. Well, we couldn’t find the appropriate drill bit so the work side was a bust but we did have a fun time drinking coffee and having breakfast together.

Kitey and I had a talk a couple of days ago about how things are stupid between us. Since the night back in July I’ve felt awkward and crabby and a bit like I was walking on eggshells around her. It was a good blab - she explained the same things she talked about when we had the arguement - that she wouldn’t have chosen to live on the same land as a man and that it’s really difficult for her given the life she’s led. For some reason it was easier to talk about that time than in the summer. But of course we weren’t hot and crabby and flailing around trying to deal with the dogs and the failed water pump, etc. etc…

So at least in the interpersonal sense things here are really seeming to go better between everyone.

Sage and I also had a talk about “where next” and also when it should happen. Okay, it started out as a pretty horrible argument but once we got ourselves together we started to be able to talk sensibly. I told her that I wasn’t really happy not living in a community and that all in all as parts of the country go the Ozarks really aren’t for me - I prefer New England - Vermont (of course), Maine or New Hampshire preferably. She really doesn’t want to leave but could consider it later in life when Paul is more grown up. She suggested 5 years down the line when Paul is 6. It’s a bit of a while to wait but she is right - he really does need his granny around and so does Sage for that matter since she really never had a relationship with her.

So anyway - we’re planning on staying at least 5 more years - as long as Casey plans to stay that long anyway. So I’ve resolved to not have a terrible time of it and do things to make life more enjoyable. In particular I miss working together - having co-workers to chat with and collaborate with is something I miss a great deal. That’s where being in a community would be cool since we’d have that and hopefully like-minded parents around. So I tried to figure out a way to have it both ways. To live here with Sage and to work together with other parents and I think I might have an idea but of course I’ll have to check with the other parents who might be involved.

Nobody around here sells fresh tofu. There really is nothing like the buttery taste that really fresh locally made tofu has. It hardly compares. So I’m looking in to see what it takes to make our own tofu, both for our own use as well as to sell first in town and then later possibly in a nearby small city. In that city there are both health food stores and asian grocery stores. Both of which would be a potential market. With enough parents around the making of the tofu could be combined with a playgroup for the kids and as they get older they could help if they were interested. From what I can see it isn’t terribly difficult to make but I do imagine that like bread or anything else that’s pretty involved like that it does take practice.

And I got the network up and running finally. It’s so cool now to have everyone able to browse the web when they want to. We’re using a software product called Internetshare which has a 30 day demo and is only meant to cost us about $39.95 for the three user license. If it works well we’ll buy it. It seems like it’s working well so far. And you can’t get any easier to set up than this product. The hardest part was getting the hardware to talk to each other. After that it was a piece of cake!

I also got in touch online with my friend Catherine who owns La Belle Cuisine in Allentown. She runs a wonderful store which sells excellent cookware, coffee, tea and other gourmet items. She’s also my Vermont connection. She’s from Vermont too and makes frequent trips for cheese and maple syrup. When we were in Bethlehem I also used to get my coffee there. Sage and I are going to give her a hand getting her site in the search engines since right now it isn’t really being seen the way it should.

So that’s about all that’s new these days. Sage’s birthday is coming up tomorrow (27 years old) and she’s already told me what she wants. A full day of “whatever I want to do” which should be easy enough to give her and also quite satisfying for her too I think. She still will have to nurse Paul but other than that I’m going to do what I can to ensure that she can spend a whole day exactly as she wants. So that said, I’m off for the house to drop off the alphasmart and get my email.

Communities

Cool Outside, Toasty Inside