I need to start writing more to capture more detail and reflection, but nonetheless here's a summation of recent ventures:
What an amazing long and drawn out holiday season Aña and I have been having. We started celebrating before the solstice visiting Aña's aunt and cousin near Milwaukee and my grandma in Red Wing, MN. She's 86 and still full of piss and vinegar, despite recently breaking her hip. I snuck into her house and surprised her and we had a great, but short visit. Then we backtracked in Wisconsin for a wonderful Solstice celebration with some lovely friends. That entailed dancing to drums, feasting, and rejoicing in the beauty of life. We saw those friends off while visiting Aña's cousin, Jake, in Steven's Point, WI. We had a nice sunny day of 15° F for some amazing tobogganing. At a state park there are some iced tracks where you can rent toboggan sleds and fly down a steep hill entangled with up to four other people. We went sledding that night and used our own sleds clandestinely on the toboggan runs. The little plastic sleds sounded like a jet taking off. The next morning we walked down a frozen water way with weary steps. The -2° F temperature gave some surreal security to our icy stage. We could not leave Wisconsin before seeing some dear friends in and near Madison. We stayed with some great people on the East Side; also known as the liberal or hippy zone. We visited with a couple who have an amazing 1 1/2 year old girl named Asha. One morning we were able to do a work exchange at a fair-trade coffee roaster while chatting with Asha's momma. Before leaving the winter northland we even ended up shoveling a frozen lake, or at least paths on it to make a large artistic pattern. We sought reprieve from the cold for x-mas.
We spent the days around x-mas in Conway, Arkansas where Aña's brother is going to grad school. Aña's mom and grandma joined us there which led to hilarity since her grandma is going deaf and refuses to get a hearing aid. This may sound mean, but after so long your only option is to laugh. That time went by quick and we left for my folk's place in Tennessee. I also have folks in TX who we were next to visit. My mom and step-dad are in Tennessee and my dad and step-mom are in TX!
In Tennessee we enjoyed relaxing, playing Big Boggle until our brains were mushy, some motorcycle riding, antique perusing, making some good food, and laughing until there were tears in our eyes. We shot up to Kentucky for a couple of nights to visit or friend, Emily, who was home on vacation from CA. Still managed to have a great time despite Aña having a cold and Emily having her wisdom teeth removed. her parents were a hoot and her dad had some delicious local (Kentucky) whiskey. Then back to Tennessee for a few weeks. The first week was warm and Aña surprised me by getting on a motorcycle with me and having a good time. My folks ended up with two motorcycles there so we were able to get a few rides in together exploring the river. Very fun to be back on a bike! To make our stay even more unbearable (100% sarcasm) I helped build a platform for a hot tub. They found a good deal on Craig's list and we spent our last few days there "soaking" in the view.
Next we moved onto Ft. Worth Texas stopping once more in Arkansas to see Aña's brother, Josh, and break up our drive. My dad and step-mom, Loretta, have a pretty nice place in the burbs. We're getting spoiled with creature comforts and culinary delicacies. This last Saturday was nice out, up to 60° F and sunny! We had been planning on heading to a rifle/pistol range and we weren't the only ones; it was packed. Too crowded to wait for the shotgun or rifle range, but we had a nice assortment of pistols. My dad was trained in the Special Forces, so he was able to bestow some fire arm knowledge upon us. We became comfortable with a .38 Special, a .40 cal. Taurus semi, a little .22 semi, and even a .50 cal Magnum "Dirty Harry Gun". I don't like the idea of guns, but with so many of them around I consider it useful to know how to use them. Today I'll get to meet my step-brother's wife and baby who are arriving from her homeland of Germany. Aña and I are going to make some pizzas and Loretta is having some family over to celebrate their arrival.
Tomorrow it's on to New Mexico. We're planning on exploring Roswell's U.F.O. attractions, and then be by hot springs for Aña's golden birthday on the 28th. We'll be couch surfing with luck and wwoofing soon. We plan to spend a couple of weeks wwoofing (being a Willing Worker On Organic Farm) at Ironwood Farm near Albuquerque. There we'll exchange our labour for learning, food, and shelter. It sounds like we're even going to get to learn how to harvest some sheep! We'll definitely post pictures of all the animal; dwarf goats, chickens, chicken guard dog, horses, sheep, fish, bees, etc.
Check out some somewhat limited, but fun pictures by clicking the link on the top right!
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