it is really here.  Yesterday i got almost all the pics loaded when the electricity went out.  

 

 

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was so HAPPY to be stitching,  i just went forward with sewing the Pocket on,  before i had finished the invisible baste.  Then realized that i couldn't do invisible baste where the Pocket is.  would seal the Pocket closed.

 

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i slipped this card in

 

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but i still had to think of something different than the usual invisible,  so i ended up with this long short  long short long short….and really liked it,  how it felt and how it looks

 

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because the long stitch is on the outside,  the Daydreams will not get tangled in the thread.

 

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one Butterfly stitched down….for me….how daydreams are…fluttering through,  there for moments, lingering,  and then gone.  but feeding the soul.

 

Long phone conversations,  yesterday and today with daughter.   Looping me in with their thoughts there.  Yesterday a lot of it was about how 4 adults reach consensus about land use,  about livestock.  We have differing imaginings….Jenny's man would really like a Cow of all things.  Alyssia is thinking she might want pigs.  I am content with Goats.  Julian wants chickens.  I guess we all want chickens.

it morphed into Dogs.  Alyssia has a dog,  Jenny and man have two.  I have Tay.  How will this all play out?  If there are issues,   and there very well might be,  how are we going to approach those issues?

Today it was housing.  There is a company called  Arched Cabins.com in Texas.  They deliver.  I got the link and as we talked,  we both looked.   She thought i would hate them.   But really…they're interesting.  If the foundation is set,  they go up in 2 days.  and i think,  why not?  They are inexpensive,  leaving any extra $ and Energy  for the "community things".  Like a building SPACE for a large food freezer,  large refrigerator  for  Cheese making etc.  More for the Solar.  We seem committed to Solar.  and as far as that goes,  TRYing solar.  Trying it for a year,  a circle of seasons.  Finding out,  by living,  if we might have enough or not.  There is no way to know unless we try.  It might be just fine,  it might not.  But there's no way to know ahead of time.  So i think the most important place we got to today is NOT KNOWING and being all ok with that.   With an experimental year.  

and coming to a comfortable place with really,  not knowing Anything…even as in will we get on eachother's nerves,  and how we might deal with that…if stuff gets crunchy.  And she wanted me to know that it's not that she has no confidence in Growing,  but that she also really doesn't want to have to develop confidence.  She is happy with figuring out infrastructure,    like how to build a root cellar,  different kinds of off ground cattle panel arches,  researching and then the actual building.  So we cleared that up.  She doesn't NEED to plant and water.  Alyssia and i are into planting and watering.  I don't need to dig a root cellar.  She is Happy to.  So…just all this kind of stuff and there is a ebb and flow in the exchange that is becoming smoother and easy.  and reassurance that we all have confidence in the idea of this Well Being of the Whole,  that that is at the core of it.

 

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26 responses to “monsoon season”

  1. Tina Avatar
    Tina

    Talking openly and honestly …. sounds like you have the beginnings for a happy ending.

    Like

  2. grace Avatar

    from this distance. I have the exchange with daughter. Who has exchange with her man. Who has exchange with Alyssia.
    i have separate exchange with Alyssia.
    we then report Exchanges.
    it’s interesting and GOOD. How we hear what we hear, through all our filters but that’s become a Given, the Filters and we take that in as part of what it is….
    i am totally INTO IT…watching it all unfold

    Like

  3. Jan Avatar
    Jan

    it seems that these extra months of waiting to actually go are giving you all the chance to have these exchanges. . .and how that might be easier from a distance before you are all trying to work it out on the same land. . .strong and gentle timing between all of you, and good to document here to remind yourselves later

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  4. joanne Avatar
    joanne

    The biggest expense with solar is the batteries. They store the sun’s energy and then convert it into electric power you can actually use. Now, you can power a water pump with a specific solar battery which isn’t as expensive (like the one we use to water the garden). But to power refrigerators and freezers–I think the batteries can cost several thousand dollars each. My friend’s husband has their home completely off the grid and it was tremendously expensive to store the electricity. But I am sure you know all this already.

    Like

  5. Mo Crow Avatar

    dreaming into being, when my ex bought his land he camped in a tent for a year observing the sun, the places that hold moisture, the places that drain freely before building and planting

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  6. johnson.mixedupmedia.margaret@gmail.com Avatar
    johnson.mixedupmedia.margaret@gmail.com

    ahhh, lovely stuff…ox

    Like

  7. Els Avatar

    Ahhhh … so many interesting plans, Grace !
    (good to talk in through !!!)
    Lovely pocket !

    Like

  8. jude Avatar

    It’ll be difficult I think, like group things always are. t least for me it is always that. But overcoming difficulties is a challenge and like all challenges it tests something in us. I laugh when I think of how hard we work at it, just the two of us here…

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  9. ² Avatar
    ²

    yes it is, something in us , i ll recognice that by myself , how hard we work at it ,at lest at the end it will give results
    greets to you

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  10. ² Avatar
    ²

    yes through all our filters
    and then find the given thing
    we become more ” wath we really are ”
    we see the shelters we have create
    to servive
    we look forward ,did we still need them
    greets to you

    Like

  11. ² Avatar
    ²

    mo that was an excellent idea
    greets to you aswell

    Like

  12. Michelle in NYC Avatar

    Seems to me what counts most in human relationships is kindness. When push comes to shove I use my old personal mantra “Just don’t” to help me pull back and get some space before acting. I’m still practicing. Of course, since I live alone I’m only faced with that challenge out in the world. But in emails and other contacts (phone,letter) it can be a savior. In fact, in the heat of something I’ve often written a letter spilling it all only never sent…just a mediation…time to consider.

    Like

  13. vicky aka stichr Avatar

    i looked at the arched cabins….real stair ways and metal roofs…perfect and perfecter….

    Like

  14. grace Avatar

    yes…what really do we need, still need…
    Love to you Maria

    Like

  15. grace Avatar

    we are making good use of the Wait Time…and i am
    glad to hold it all Here…

    Like

  16. grace Avatar

    i don’t know a lot about solar, really, joanne, but i
    do ask a lot of questions of them, i do repeat things
    about why we want certain things, reminding “us”, why
    those things would be missed if we couldn’t have them…
    Like the freezer…which would be only One, shared.
    and yes…the expense of the batteries. But if we save
    on creating our living spaces…spend as little as possible
    then that can be used for batteries.
    there is so much to consider. to weigh. the biggest
    decision, really.
    Alyssia really so much wants her children growing up
    to know they can “live by the Sun”….over time, in their
    lifetimes, it will become so much more common. She wants
    them to know we cared….during This Time. That we cared
    enough to do all we could.
    it will be interesting to see what they end up deciding.
    There isn’t all that much money left in the “Pot”. A lot
    of things will be given up “for batteries”.
    Thank you for weighing in and i would appreciate any other
    input?……

    Like

  17. grace Avatar

    yes…if it were possible, that’s what i would want to do.
    there will be a lot of this kind of Observation before a
    lot of things. I am very excited to Observe…that
    Field Note thing of Deb G’s.

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  18. grace Avatar

    stuff IS lovely, isn’t it….

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  19. grace Avatar

    Thank you Els….there is just a complete MINDFULL and FULLER
    of stuff to consider….it’s all so OPEN to so much!

    Like

  20. grace Avatar

    yes…to care enough to try to make clear exchange about
    what matters….to each….to listen with… well, i
    guess, love.
    i have never been a “group” person. and even now,
    i wouldn’t be tempted by it….but things are happening
    so quickly, i believe things are rapidly changing and
    i want to throw my lot in with them, see how we can work it.
    All of us are deeply committed to the children.
    even say, 5 years ago, we never could have done it. We
    all have mellowed, are being tempered by the world around
    us and see a common purpose.
    and then, the fact that we all have separate spaces…critical.

    Like

  21. grace Avatar

    yes…the unsent letter…good exercise.
    it’s all so interesting….and well…interesting….
    being this 3 generation female thing, mother/daughterMother/granddaughterDaughterMother…
    there have been some rough years in all that, but here
    we all found ourselves ending up…standing there, looking
    at each other and smiling…

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  22. grace Avatar

    do you think???????
    a real suprise to see….i still don’t know what to think
    but it would be as good as anything. And it’s strong
    and there is no upkeep and they are less expensive than
    other possibilities…other than to slowly accumulate
    and salvage materials and we don’t have that option. They
    take two days. The interior can happen as it goes.
    and well….less prone to go up in flames.

    Like

  23. vicky aka stichr Avatar

    they are all your children grace, tying you all together, but you also have the goats. the beautiful goats.

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  24. vicky aka stichr Avatar

    fire was my thought too. yes, simple and fast. and will last longer than a tent.

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  25. grace Avatar

    a tent for sure. but otherwise it would have been made of
    Wood. a little hut built in a more usual way. Boards.
    and what is really going to “save” the dwellings on the Hill
    no matter what they are made of is that canal at the bottom
    along the road.
    Cal Fire people, local fire departments used the water from
    that canal to fill their equipment. She said the road was
    lined with firefighting personel and equipment…
    They focus on land with dwellings and they would be “right there”. So i think this will always keep that land from
    burning.
    But…fire is fire and i’m not sure even the Arched Cabin would withstand. I don’t know, but ….
    the front and back of the house would use cement board. If
    she wants to try it we will.
    for whatever reason, i do not worry at all.

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  26. grace Avatar

    i think about that a lot. and really, so much spins out
    from the Goats. Even before “we” became our common purpose,
    the Goats were, for all of us. They were from the beginning
    when she first got the first two.
    and we hadn’t even intended them, or even known. They
    just took their place at the center and created a
    Herd of which we have become part.

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