good bye sabbatical

I've been back to work for one week.
It was hard diving in. I cried. Well, I wept hard.

I was scared that all my compassion had dried up and that stumbling back into the madness of direct connection to a justice system so full of injustice and ache and madness (not insightful madness, but the angry, heart wrenching madness of a system rusty at the root and too heavy with the bones of too many souls to turn in any degree of right direction) would be too difficult to stomach.

When the days were long and the flowers were blooming and life was pulsating in the perfect patterns of aliveness all around me this summer and early fall, I felt contentment. I also felt that deep satisfying exhaustion due to all of the hard physical labor I did around the yard (our little urban farm on the edge of some woods; the kind of wooded area in cities where dead, human bodies turn up--eerie woods I would not walk alone in at night).

Anyhow, I was so fortunate to have these many months off and explore the pieces of myself that have often been pushed asunder because so much of my time is spent working away from my homestead. When I list what I accomplished over the last 3.5 months it is quite amazing:
Scraped and painted front porch and railings
Got chickens
got bees
learned about beekeeping from my beekeeper mentor and some books
harvested over 2 gallons of honey two weeks ago by myself--well kk was my helper--but I did it without my mentor
rendered beeswax
made lip balm
built from scratch with no plans mobile chicken run for chickens
put together pre made coop and permanent chicken run
took a permaculture course and got a certificate
dug a four by four by four root cellar in the back yard
filled it with a shit load of michigan squash, onions, and soon some sweet potatoes
planted and tended gardens at home/gardens at community garden
made a lot of pies
went raspberry picking
went blueberry picking
made blueberry freezer jam
dehydrated a hell of a lot of roma tomatoes
taught myself to cook lamb shank
cooked a lot of good food from local farms and my own backyard
read some books
tended to kk's dying grandma
ushered in her death in our living room
eulogized grandma s at memorial service
spent a vacation up north with my sister,eo, her husband, the 3 wee ones, my ma and dad, k's dad, and grandma c and got along swimmingly
threw a great dinner party for my baby sister's,ea, pre-wedding celebration
stood up in aforementioned sister's wedding with kk and other sister
road my bicycle a lot
planted three american black currants, two precocious hazelnuts, one american hybrid chestnut, two beach plums, four regent serviceberries.
pulled out bushes in front yard including stumps, by hand, in order to plant the serviceberries
ran a chicken wire fence behind where the tall bushes once lived
went to reskilling festival and milked a goat
wrote
drew a little
loved a lot
enjoyed my friends
enjoyed sleeping
drank good beer
rested
got my hands dirty
hit 5,000 miles on my portland
loved some more
realized how much i love animal husbandry and how one day i want to keep goats too and homestead as full time as possible

so, I am back to work and I still have an ever-flowing chest of available compassion which I am thankful for. And I have the understanding hearts of people around me, at work, who are insisting that I not jump full force into the nitty gritty and that I be good to myself.

Good bye dear sabbatical; you were so good to me and my heart is better for having known you.

banjos and blood

andru the banjo player

more banjo madness

Our weekend was marked by banjos and blood.

Yes, blood.

It came on Sunday with a blunt, sharp pouring out into kk’s panties.
I was not expecting anything else; I’ve stopped expecting it to be different. I’ve stopped thinking that this will work without intervention of the western scientific sort (which bothers me). But, now we are going on our tenth try, and, well, something is not quite working.

Yes, banjos.
On Saturday, we went to a fundraiser, the fullfreight banjo overload, for the Ypsilanti Freight House. It was held at the Corner Brewery and we had a delightful time. A bunch of different bands played music centering around the banjo (at least partly). Really, it was foot stomping fun. This young fellow,Andru Bemishttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif, played and he can really pick his banjo like there is no tomorrow. I dug his sound and energy a whole lot.

kk is hot. she had fun watching banjo playing

We also saw Anna Ash

She has a real sweet voice—like a bird, powerful and tantalizing.

And then the evening was capped off with Black Jake and the Carnies. Some more footstomping fun--real hyper and full of fun energy.

watching banjo playing and drinking beer while sporting my new self done hair cut

Haab's, Bicycles, and Fertility

one of the horses at Haab's on friday--picture courtesy of macbook's photobooth. My kk wants these paintings for our living room.

Haab's is our favorite local place to go for happy hour--they have $2.00 drinks (drinks include cocktails, wine, draft and bottled beer and they have good beers on draft like Dragonmead ) and $2.00 appetizers from 5-7 M-F. We often celebrate the end of the work week with friends (many happen to be our neighbors) at this fine old establishment.

This past friday we met some friends at Haab's and worked on a letter that we will be sending to organizations and bike shops; we will be asking a bunch of different folks and orgs to participate in our Bike Ypsi Expo on May 4, 2008--a community cycling day full up of various rides, fun, and all things bicycle--small bbq included (veg and real hot dogs). So, we had our computers with us and two of us screwed off with photobooth--but just for a little bit.









K had her first acupuncture appointment on valentine's day. she really loves the acupuncturist and is positive her services can help with something or other regarding her fertility. K's luteal phase may be a bit whacked and acupuncture cannot help with luteal phase problems--she may need progesterone or something like that. Next time around she will take an in-depth look at her chart with the acu-woman and hopefully they can get to the bottom of what is up with kk's cycle.

We start another round of injecting at the end of this week. I like to hope, but, as of late, I've kind of just left it in the air which is far different from hoping.

We will see.

In the meantime, I'll keep busying up my life with fun community things that are bicycle and beer centric, friends, and adventures at neat little places in ypsi--the places that keep me loving it here. Cause, come a kid, all things will change...