Lights Fantastic

Written on Wednesday, Jan. 25th, 2012. Sherwood Forest, TX.

Last night we watched the most fantastic lightening storm I’d seen in quite some time. It didn’t seem like it would rain that evening when, while walking home after a visit with Ryan, I stopped in the clearing to stare at the stars.

Because Sherwood is practically in the middle of nowhere there is no imminent light pollution, and so on a clear dark night one can look up as I did last night and see a sky filled with stars. It is almost as starry as a desert sky. It made me miss Arizona.

However, the clear night didn’t last long. Soon, clouds rolled in and we heard distant rumbles. I went to sleep, but woke up often through the night, and each time I awoke, the weather had advanced a little more. First, I woke up and noticed lightening far off to the south-east. I woke up again to see the lightening on the edge of our camp. The third time I woke, the lightening flashed right above us.

While the lightening flashed above us I lay there and wondered about John’s computer, which was plugged into Squatch’s power and sitting on a chair on the deck of his shop. His shop is covered, but the roof is very high. I figured the computer would be okay so long as it didn’t storm like crazy.

Then it started to rain, a light, pleasant spring drizzle. I thought, “This isn’t bad, I shouldn’t worry.” Well, around 5am it began to pour and John got up and we decided to rescue the computer. I dressed him in a hippie rain-coat – a trash bag with a hole for his head – and sent him out. He got back just as the real nasty bit of storm hit, the computer perfectly fine thanks to Squatch’s considerate thought to throw a blanket over it.

We stayed up, listening to the storm. The rain battered against the roof of the van, the wind howled and roared and up in the sky was a pyrotechnics show like nothing I’d ever seen. Light flashed constantly, lighting up the world like a disco party on acid. It hailed for a few minutes, and after that I waited in tense anticipation for the wind and the rain to suddenly cease, and then to hear the characteristic train-roar of an approaching tornado.

The storm swept past by around 6am, though, and no tornado visited, though we heard of warnings the next morning at breakfast. When I looked into my stock-pot I left outside that night, at least three inches of water sat in it. We fared well in the campground, however; we’re pretty much on a hill, so all the water drains away from us. We’re not sure how our shop – still in Toon Town – fared, however, considering the last time it rained like that down there, the creek came within three feet of Squatch’s yurt, and water flooded Ryan’s yard.

I’m positive the shop is fine. It’s not like that steel is going anywhere.

Right now it’s drizzling and cloudy outside. The temperature dropped a couple of degrees, but it isn’t a chilling sort of cold. Mostly, it’s just damp. Tonight, however, may be a two-blanket night. Colder weather to come, for sure, before this show is over.

Stay warm!

Peace.

A Winter In Review

Written on Tuesday, Jan. 24th, 2012. Sherwood Forest Faire, TX.

We’ve finally made it to the Sherwood Forest Faire, and I can’t say how much I’m glad we’re here. Not to say that our stay in Toon Town wasn’t nice, but I’m glad we are out of there. We carried a lot of drama from Louisiana with us into our winter camp; add that to the neighbor’s drama and we had a whole lot of bitterness circulating in the camp. This winter frustrated me. I had plans to either be very productive or to relax, meditate, and refresh my body and spirit; read some books, do some sewing, fix on my house, play around in the shop. Stuff like that.

It didn’t happen. Nothing happened, except a whole lot of frustration. I finally bought some steel and got a few pieces cut, got some stuff ready to go, made about 100 nail swords, but never really got much product made because of all the ADD-ness happening at our camp. Go figure, that when I finally wake up one morning and decide that I am absolutely done with being a procrastinator, everyone else suddenly decides to procrastinate about everything.

In the end, as we’re all packing up to head to Sherwood, it finally struck me (smack in the forehead with a _dong-ong-ong-ong!_ sound) – Why the hell am I waiting on everybody when I don’t need to? Why was I stressing about looking after friends who didn’t ask for help? I feel I’m in that stage of life where I’m learning the finer points of life.

Perhaps if we’d all had jobs, we might’ve been less bitchy.

We did have many good highlights to our winter, however. We ate wild hog and had many happy, filling, meals of cornbread, beans, pork and eggs. I got to shoot a .22 for the first time in nine years, and got to shoot a lot of cool trash. I lurked about, drunk on wine and high as a kite, in a bamboo thicket secretly pretending I was an adventurous 10-year-old again. The weather was lovely. We never found ourselves short of beer or pot. I listened to the ambiance of Ryan refining his lovely songs (on his slowly failing old keyboard, poor man). We had huge fires, were visited by many generous friends, met a lot of strange Texans (strange for Texas, that is), had a nice, warm, yurt to hang out in most every cold night, I learned a new massage technique from the fellow down the street, and I found out that I’m still not pregnant, hahaha!

All in all, it was a nice winter, but now I’m feeling very hermity. I’m done hanging out and partying for the most part. I can’t be looking after my own health, cooking for half a dozen people, fixing on my house, and fretting over the shop all at the same time. And I kinda need my health, especially for the busy year to come.

Take a moment to take care of yourself, dear Reader. Life is more enjoyable if you are alive and well.

Peace.