January 2012
1 post
December 2011
2 posts
Christmas
Okay, so here’s the thing. I hate Christmas. I KNOW! I KNOW! What Christian can hate Christmas? I mean, if we can get all jazzed up for the day Jesus died, you’d think the unassisted birth of this awesome radical could get me, the future midwife, excited. Every year, I REALLY try to get excited about the holidays. It’s not fun being Scrooge! This year I even went out and picked...
New home part II
I think Gulliver likes it here
Now, meet our new backyard
(those ducks tell us what’s up)
(that is the view from the back porch and also our bathroom window! Do you SEE those mountains?!)
This morning was covered in thick frost, so I went out to take pictures while my sweet southerner boiled water to unfreeze the car door lock (DO NOT POUR IT ON THE FROZEN...
November 2011
6 posts
First Days
We arrived in Asheville on Saturday afternoon to sun and a local beer from our new roommate. Gulliver explored the grounds and lusted after the ducks in the yard before discovering the giant, low, bay window that he can stare out for hours at a time.
We’ve been reveling in the joy of living in this city that we’ve visited so many times. We’ve been spending every available minute...
So close...
Whew! Whatta whirlwind. Albuquerque-Atlanta-Columbus-Dothan! Tonight is our last night in Dothan before heading back north. Just one overnight in Atlanta (to gather stuff and break up the ride) and then we will be IN ASHEVILLE (can we hear some triumphant music)? I would really prefer to be journey-oriented rather than goal-oriented in my life, but I can’t help but feel enormous relief about...
ATLANTA!
Well, after a near 40 hours on the greyhound system, culminating in the last 5 hours, during which we were trapped on a bus that smelled like straight up urine. Everywhere. We got in at 3:10am.
But we’re HERE!!!
It feels so good to be back in the South East! The air smells so good and it seems like I had forgotten how much I love trees! While on the bus, it grew dark before we had left the...
Last days in New Mexico.
Hillary and I are leaving town the day after tomorrow! I’m amazed by how little real preparation this has required. I suppose this is what happens after giving away most of one’s belongings.
Fall is in full force here in Albuquerque, so much so that I wonder if I’ll have missed it when I get to the South East (of course, fall doesn’t start until December in Atlanta).
...
School?
I had some difficulty in school growing up. Not necessarily in academics, but emotionally, school was a totally destructive environment for me. I was told a lot about the way I learn during those years in Public School (and during that one year my parents pulled me out of school). I was given an IndividualEducationPlan, pointers on “organization”, “studying”, writing...
Back East
How long has it been since my last post? I knew this would happen! Now it’s a quarter past six in the morning and I can’t sleep, so this may be a great time to catch up.
When I last left you, Hillary and I were living at Trinity House Catholic Worker and I had just been mugged. Since then, Hillary went to the ER, we moved out of Trinity House, I got into “school”, we...
September 2011
1 post
3 tags
WWJD?
The day after getting back from Taos I went to the library and got myself a library card! I was so proud of myself for getting to the library without getting lost, taking the bus myself and having unlimited access to library materials in this city!
I took the bus back down Central, got off at the right stop and started walking back down the Acequias toward the house. It started raining and I...
August 2011
4 posts
High Desert
As I said before, Hillary and I took a couple of days to drive North!
We filtered some Veg-Oil for the car, loaded her up and hit the road (leaving it smelling like french fries and fried dough)!
Taos is about 3 hours North of Albuquerque. Because this state is so sparsely inhabited (compared to what I am used to), directions are fairly easy- very few roads to choose from! We drove through Santa...
2 tags
Lay of the Land
Wow, New Mexico is blowing my mind. I am an east coast girl! I grew up in New England and have (until now) spent all of my adult life in the South East. I’ve ridden and flown all up and down the east coast! Until now, I had only ridden in a car as far west as Louisiana (once to Jena, once to New Orleans), have had a brief visit with the mid-west (re: Jesus Radicals), and once, about 8 years...
Albuquerque!
I arrived in Albuquerque on Wednesday evening after an exhausting visit with family (it really never does get easier, does it?)
I am so happy to be reunited with my sweetheart and sitting still for a while! I must admit, it’s now strange to think about staying anywhere for more than a week at a time- seeking to inhabit space in a more indefinite way is almost as anxiety-producing as being...
it's been a while
So, it’s been a while, friends! I knew this would happen!
I made it back to Atlanta, helped Hillary close out the house, headed to Minneapolis and SURPRISE! ended up in Massachusetts a couple of days later. Surprise visit for a couple of weeks.
Here are some highlights of the past few weeks:
P!
is a little PERSON!
Not a baby, not a toddler, but a running, jumping, talking PERSON!
who...
July 2011
4 posts
3 tags
Wrapping up time at Little Flower
Things have been moving along here
candyland has been played
Markers have been abused
and siblings attacked
Today we went to the Wayside Center for Popular Education for their first anniversary party.
There were workshops, but mostly this is what we did
There was also some napping
which let me get some more knitting done. I’m almost done with the 2nd...
Ningun ser humano es illegal
Have you been following the “coming out” demonstrations around the nation?
Students in Georgia have been responding to the awful Arizona-like laws being passed in my former state-o-residence.
First there were 7 in April, now 6 just this past month.
There have been others, too, coming out all over the country to stand up for their HUMAN RIGHTS. The wife of my grandfather told me...
Daily Devotions and the 4th of July
Ohhhh Church and the 4th of July. So many churches are covered in American flags! They have flags on their walkways, in their windows, on their signs, over their alters! I’ve heard stories of American flags being carried down the isles in processions during church services! And everyday, we pass so many churches whose signs read: “God Bless America”, “God Bless Our...
Back at Little Flower
Updated Itinerary!
Currently, I am still at Little Flower.
It’s been hot, so we’ve been cranky. There have been approximately a zillion breakdowns a day from small people. It’s hard not to kick your sibling in the head when it’s hot, humid and you’re watching Cars for the 3rd time that day.
The kids got baptized last week
They were only minorly traumatized.
...
June 2011
11 posts
A great piece by my sweetheart! You can check out... →
sparrowcommunity:
it feels like every year the christmas season starts earlier and earlier. it used to be that the tree and the man with the beard didn’t start working their magic until after thanksgiving. now, jingle bells start ringing the morning after halloween.
the election season has adopted that same…
The Tree House!
The day I left Lynchburg, Annie took me out to The Land, where some friends of theirs live in this tree house! It’s a lot that a friend owns, right by the train tracks and on the site of an old factory. Some goats live there.
They were friendly
They knew the way into the woods.
First there is the underground house that Annie and Johnny were going to live in, but the old rail ties it...
Daily Devotional and Florida House
” ‘God is Love’ (1 John 4:16). This is no longer a general wisdom of life but, rather, the only real and indestructible ground on which a whole life is built. It is a truth and it is a reality. It is a part of the church’s definition that it has to say such things to people who must feel this either as a well-meant phrase and as an untruth or as obvious. The saying...
PAPA Festival and Lynchburg
Well, it’s been some days and I had several phone conversations this morning that started with “WHERE ARE YOU???”
I am in Lynchburg as of last night.
A new friend picked me up at Little Flower last Tuesday and drove me down to Lynchburg and 8 of us left town the following morning to attend PAPA Festival.
We stopped in Philly first to spend the night with a housemate’s...
Twin Oaks
So, it turns out that Twin Oaks is about 12 miles from Little Flower, so we went swimming there the other day
It’s funny, because I’ve heard quite a bit of Twin Oaks from other folks in the Intentional Community circuit and I even bought the book Is it Utopia Yet? for Hillary during a particularly trying time in our household last year.It’s interesting to read that...
Mas Childrens
Today there was a high of 81 degrees!!! Sweet mama Jesus! Hallelujah! After 2 weeks straight of temps in the high 90s/low 100s in Atlanta, the weather here has been a blessing for sure. We celebrated by playing outside for 20 whole minutes before deciding that “cooking” marbles inside was a much better game (oh, sweet children, you don’t know how to appreciate the good...
3 tags
Daily Devotionals and cuteness
This feels like such strange suspended reality. It feels like vacation, but I’m never going home… because I don’t actually have a home.
Vacation looks like this
I’ve been trying to get into the habit of praying daily. I’ve always been bad at keeping rituals for myself, even when I know that I feel better when I do them. Having a designated space for that helps....
Little Flower
I finally arrived in Charlottesville after a 14+ hour train ride (meaning, we were over 3 hours late. Of course! First, we were stuck behind a freight train, then there were signal issues, then a man attacked one of the conductors on the train, slamming his head into the ground until he was knocked unconscious. So, the train stopped for 2 hours just outside my destination while they arrested the...
Things I will miss
House dinners! On Sunday, Amy and Parker came over from their new house for a last house dinner (minus the meeting in which I complain that no one does their dishes)! We had tacos and salad and Kawal (our wonderful friend and landlord of the past couple of years) brought his boys and chocolate cake!!! Sarah showed up later with ice cream, but didn’t make it into the photos (Sorry, Sarah).
...
those in our lives
The ends of things are always so dramatic. With so much being stirred up, so many wonderful people and wonderful things pop up… and, unfortunately, so many cruel and unfortunate things do as well.
I am trying to be grateful for the wonderful things… Like these folks in Virginia who are taking me in and making me a home on such short notice and without asking any worldly goods in...
May 2011
1 post
2 tags
Getting Ready
My train leaves at 8:04pm on June 8th from Peachtree Ave. in Atlanta and heads north. After 11 hours and 5 minutes, I will be deposited in Charlottesville, Virginia, where I will spend a week or two at the Little Flower Catholic Worker Farm. Then, I will head south to Lynchburg to spend time with my dear friends the SewDevs, who are visiting some soon-to-be dear friends Chris and Melissa and their...