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Five Good Years
May. 29th, 2008 05:07 pmI've not been on LJ much for a while, a combination of something scheduled just about every single night for a couple of weeks, an extremely busy several weeks at work (earnin' my salary, yup), and most every remaining spare moment going into a bunch of house and land projects in preparation for Feri Camp and other summertime happenings...
...but this past Monday night, after getting back from Solstice Revels rehearsal (speaking of which, I really adore Bobby McFerrin's version of the 23rd Psalm, lyrics pasted below), the adults in Casa Chaos got together and celebrated a special milestone -- 5 years in this place, on our land. Five years ago, on Memorial Day, a small flock of us crazy folk migrated up Nawth, supported by exactly the kind of damn good friends that do help you move (and even help you pack up 10 years in one house of much assorted stuff, load it into two big broken-down U-Hauls, help drive said U-Hauls for 14+ hours, then unpack it all at the other end).
In that time, more than anything else, we've built relationships -- good, strong, healthy, abiding relationships, the kind that hopefully last for life, if not longer. There have been a few missteps, and some disappointments, sure, but at the heart of it, I feel so incredibly blessed for every person who I am close to in my life, brilliant shining souls every one...and for coming home each day to a house surrounded by deep delicious beauty, full of more love and life and laughter and good creative mayhem than I ever thought possible.
Besides the relationships, I thought back, and we've built these things, too, for house and land:
renovated the horse barn into event and dorm space, adding composting toilets, wood plank floors, a wood stove, 20 bunks, ceiling lights, phone and all kinds of other comfy stuff
replaced the oil boiler for the main house with a wood-fired boiler and 955-gallon heat storage tank, taking us almost completely off fossil fuels for the house
found a tractor, backhoe, front-loader, log-splitter, PTO-powered snowblower, built a tractor barn to put it all in, and (re)learned how to use it all
put a hot tub in the greenhouse
put a standing-seam metal roof on the house, hopefully lasting for, well, longer than we do
ripped out several walls in the house, creating one big kitchen/dining-room space
ripped out most of the carpeting in the house, replacing it with oak flooring on the main floor and the stairs
put an addition on the front of the house, for office and guest space
replaced the carpeting in the master bath with radiant tile, and replaced all of the linoleum in the entry, kitchen and hall bath with tile
rebuilt the hall bath with tile and wood and copper and a big green glass sink
brought in 30 tons of boulders and rip-rap and created erosion barriers for the streams
...and a few hundred other projects, large and small
So it's been a busy five years, and I can't wait for more to come. Here's to recognizing and celebrating milestones!
What milestones, large and small, are you celebrating in your own life?
-------
23rd Psalm
adapted by Bobby McFerrin
lyrics:
The Lord is my shepherd, I have all I need.
She makes me lie down in green meadows, beside the still waters she will lead.
She restores my soul, she rights my wrongs,
She leads me in a path of good things and fills my heart with songs.
Even though I walk through a dark and weary land,
there is no other that can shake me.
She has said she won't forsake me. I am in her hand.
She sets a table before me in the presence of my foes.
She anoints my head with oil and my cup overflows.
Surely, surely, goodness and kindness will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in her house forever, forever and ever.
Glory be to our Mother and Daughter and to the Holy of Holies.
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end.
Amen.
...but this past Monday night, after getting back from Solstice Revels rehearsal (speaking of which, I really adore Bobby McFerrin's version of the 23rd Psalm, lyrics pasted below), the adults in Casa Chaos got together and celebrated a special milestone -- 5 years in this place, on our land. Five years ago, on Memorial Day, a small flock of us crazy folk migrated up Nawth, supported by exactly the kind of damn good friends that do help you move (and even help you pack up 10 years in one house of much assorted stuff, load it into two big broken-down U-Hauls, help drive said U-Hauls for 14+ hours, then unpack it all at the other end).
In that time, more than anything else, we've built relationships -- good, strong, healthy, abiding relationships, the kind that hopefully last for life, if not longer. There have been a few missteps, and some disappointments, sure, but at the heart of it, I feel so incredibly blessed for every person who I am close to in my life, brilliant shining souls every one...and for coming home each day to a house surrounded by deep delicious beauty, full of more love and life and laughter and good creative mayhem than I ever thought possible.
Besides the relationships, I thought back, and we've built these things, too, for house and land:
renovated the horse barn into event and dorm space, adding composting toilets, wood plank floors, a wood stove, 20 bunks, ceiling lights, phone and all kinds of other comfy stuff
replaced the oil boiler for the main house with a wood-fired boiler and 955-gallon heat storage tank, taking us almost completely off fossil fuels for the house
found a tractor, backhoe, front-loader, log-splitter, PTO-powered snowblower, built a tractor barn to put it all in, and (re)learned how to use it all
put a hot tub in the greenhouse
put a standing-seam metal roof on the house, hopefully lasting for, well, longer than we do
ripped out several walls in the house, creating one big kitchen/dining-room space
ripped out most of the carpeting in the house, replacing it with oak flooring on the main floor and the stairs
put an addition on the front of the house, for office and guest space
replaced the carpeting in the master bath with radiant tile, and replaced all of the linoleum in the entry, kitchen and hall bath with tile
rebuilt the hall bath with tile and wood and copper and a big green glass sink
brought in 30 tons of boulders and rip-rap and created erosion barriers for the streams
...and a few hundred other projects, large and small
So it's been a busy five years, and I can't wait for more to come. Here's to recognizing and celebrating milestones!
What milestones, large and small, are you celebrating in your own life?
-------
23rd Psalm
adapted by Bobby McFerrin
lyrics:
The Lord is my shepherd, I have all I need.
She makes me lie down in green meadows, beside the still waters she will lead.
She restores my soul, she rights my wrongs,
She leads me in a path of good things and fills my heart with songs.
Even though I walk through a dark and weary land,
there is no other that can shake me.
She has said she won't forsake me. I am in her hand.
She sets a table before me in the presence of my foes.
She anoints my head with oil and my cup overflows.
Surely, surely, goodness and kindness will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in her house forever, forever and ever.
Glory be to our Mother and Daughter and to the Holy of Holies.
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end.
Amen.
