The Commune

Last Friday I took a 5am flight to the Big Island to help and observe Glenn, the owner of Olomana Gardens, as he consulted on farm that was installing an aquaponics system. After getting up at 3:!5am, and landing around 6am on Hawaii, we were picked up by Keika, the 45 year old woman who helped run Dragonfly Farm. On the 2 hour drive out to the farm, I began to learn a bit of how ...interesting...this adventure might become.

Keika (once know as Debbie) ranted about how public education is soon to be owned by Big Corporation (particularly those co. owned by the Cheney's and Bush's). So she believes in an 'alternate' form of education known as the Sudbury method. Let the kids decided how and what they want to learn. If the kid doesn't want to learn to read, no biggie. Then she told us how her kids have rickets, but she refuses to take them to conventional doctors to have it diagnosed and treated. Rickets?! Seriously? On the way to the farm, we stopped off at the grocery store to pick up some beer (2 cases of Sierra Nevada even though we were only going to be there less than 2 days), coffee, sugary cereal, and dark chocolate Dove bars (concentrated caffeine according to Glenn). Then we started driving through some barren black lava fields, when we turned off road and down the red dirt backwood trail. This is my first view of the Hangout:

Basically it's a huge structure with no walls. There is a 100,000 gallon water supply on the ground floor with the top floor built over the water tank. Around the edges are the kitchen and other work areas. On the top floor is the 'living' area. Here's a vid of the top floor inside of the Hangout: So basically, this is the remnants of, for lack of a better definition, a hippy love commune. Described by the eldest male, Maayag (formerly known as Peter I think), it is a place of 'no mine'. Meaning no personal possessions. When it started 15 years ago, those who joined put all their cash, all their possessions, and all their children in one pot. Obviously, those with more money put in more, and those with less money scored. While their philosophy was to create an environment to raise kids communally like the Aborigines, sharing partners and love was also a bonus. So Keika has 4 kids, each with a different daddy. About 4 years ago the commune disintegrated when Keika decided she didn't like the fact that one of her past lover hooked up with someone else in the community. Er?! Yeah, whatever. The current inhabitants are Keika, Maayag (her current man), Diga (one of her Ex's, formerly known as Jeff), and 3 or 4 kids, mostly Keika's I think. One of the kids, a 4 year old girl named Eelie or something, rarely wore any clothes. Maayag and Diga are the fathers of a couple of the kids, too. A woman who used to be part of the commune (and now drives a nice Porshe) came onto the farm to give the kids horse riding lessons. She lives next door, but it going to sell her farm and land soon. She bought the land from the commune when it went teets-up for $20K (bc she was family) and is now selling it for about $300K. So that's how it works. Another example of the dodgeyness of the who situation is the fact that when everyone put everything in the pot, the woman who was designated the treasurer put everything under her name. When things went south, she absconded with a lot of the cash. They went to a neighborhood abitration, but she said she'd just take them to 'real' court. Not sure how it turned out. Weird weird. So as you can see from the video, there is crap everywhere. Kay pointed out that they probably don't have too much time to keep things clean when they're running a farm, a school, and a household. Regardless, it was a sty. And the flies! I ate lunch in a swam of gnats and got mercilessly relieved of my blood by an army of skeeters. Needless to say, I was very very uncomfortable. I had to try to get Zen and see beyond the bugs. I failed. It sucked. Now I know why Glenn brought so much beer. That hot sticky night I slept on a futon, lulled to sleep by the dripping of the water tank and the bleeting koki frogs. They milked their own cows, so we had fresh raw milk for the coffee, and they milled their own logs. They are also off the grid, so they get all their power from a $50K solar panel system. So they hope that the food they grow using aquaponics will help pay for the solar system and their CSA shareholders. Here's a pic of

Maayag and the mill


and Diga in the milking hut.








While a fascinating adventure, I was glad to leave and even gladder that Jess and Evangelyn stayed back at Olomana Gardens.

Hawaii

Here are some pics of our time in Hawaii so far. We've been here a week. The first few days were good. We were shown around the farm, taught how to feed the animals, and had some free time to spend with friends. The last couple days have been tough. We're both being slowly eaten by mosquitos and my pregnancy hormones have been very active, making me cry over three more mosquito bites. Chris has been doing all sorts of things on the farm, but I can't do much cause of my growing baby. I've been given some menial tasks like stuffing papers into sheet protectors and collecting the chicken eggs. Today, I was shown how to take care of baby ducks and horses, but I don't think I'll actually be doing either. Yesterday was quite a day. We were meant to meet Milo for church, but he had other obligations which we didn't know about because we don't get any phone reception on the farm. So, we showed up at his house and he was getting ready to leave. No worries. We decide to just go on our own. We turned the corner and suddenly Evangelyn puked all over herself and the carseat! Yuck! All the eggs from breakfast came shooting out and I got to witness it cause I was sitting next to her. We pulled over immediately, stripped her down to her diaper and went back to Milo's to shower her off an clean everything up. Therefore, no church. No worries. Instead we visited a Buddhist temple, walked around Waikiki and swam at the beach. Last night, we went to Amy's bbq and ate delicious food! It was a very refreshing day away from the farm and mostly away from my little enemies.

Summer 2009

We started with a flight from London to LA, spent the night in San Clemente, and returned to LAX at 4:30 the next morning to fly to St. Louis for Pat's wedding. We spent about 5 days enjoying the wedding festivities, spending time with friends, eating frozen custard, and visiting the zoo! Our next destination was South Orange County for a couple of weeks. Nothing compares to perfect beach weather, Pedro's, Golden Spoon, and evening picnics. We spent the 4th with family in a madhouse of 5 kids and then on the Seraj's street in Costa Mesa where we watched the neighbors compete for the best firework "show." Now, we're in Hawaii living on a worm farm. We sleep in the back of a truck converted to a cabin. It's about a step and a half up from camping. So far, we've learned how to feed the chickens, geese, baby ducks, goats, fish, and rabbits. Chris helped build some sort of pipe yesterday while I hung out with the baby and enjoyed a 1 1/2 hour nap. Today, a 4th grade class is coming to tour the farm, so Chris has been asked to explain some of the aquaponics and I'll hang out in the back of the crowd and follow along.

NorthDownsWandererers

Mens Retreat March09

Gabriel Stroud and I took a little ride along the Pilgrims Path over the weekend. More details to come, but here are some pics...

The Netherlands Saga

Monday Feb 9: Out of house by 8:30am to get to Folkstone by our 10:15 check-in time on the Eurotunnel. As always, things were hectic until the moment we hit the road...
Part of our downfall was deciding to go see a movie the night before. A free babysitting offer came in and we figured we could spare the time since we're pretty good packers and don't need a lot of time to do it. Plus being able to spend some time w/o the kid before a week of 24/7 kidwatching seemed too good to deny. Wrong. I forgot my jacket of all things. Luckily my cousin Scott came through, but he should have had to. Other little things went screwy as well. The 2+ hours we spent watch Revolutionary Road should have been spent packing and alleviating our predictable morning stress. At least we got to the train on time and everything turned out hippy.
Got to Calais, set our clocks forward and hour and started our trek up to Haarlem. Googlemaps predicted it'd take 3h15min to get to the hotel. It ended up taking 6h. Now this did include about an hour of stops for lunch, potty, gas, etc, but still. There was a bit of traffic around Antwerp and some confusing directions. Whatever. Evie slept most of the time. Which meant we were in for a night of hell in the hotel trying to get her to sleep.
Nice little hotel called Hotel die Raeckse. The room was a bit smallish and we put an extra chair out in the hall to fit Evie's porta-crib tent thingy. After some settling, we wandered around Haarlem downtown to find a non-existent Indonesian place. Cute little area. Cool big church and main square with some pedestrian areas. Nothing too special, but fine. Eventually we found a nice Thai place and I had some good peanut coconut Musaman (?) curry and Jess had her spicy Pad Krawpow shrimp dish that she likes but can't get anymore at our local Thai place, Siam food Gallery. Evie was good as always but we held her for most of the time. But man, did she have a tough time going to sleep back at the hotel. And there's nothing worse than a crying baby at 11pm in a hotel. It's one thing if it's at home, but another if you're worried that the other guests are getting angry. After seeming hours of trading off walking and rocking and putting her in the stroller, Jess finally sat down on the bed to rest, and that's when Evie decided to fall asleep. Whatever. We figured the long car drive and how much she slept during the day threw her off. Both of us had sore backs and wrists from holding and rocking her so much. Hopefully Haarlem would be worth the torturous frustration of getting her to sleep at night.
Tuesday: Typical continental breakfast (at least it was included in the 65Euro price) and we were off to explore some more of Haarlem. Cold wet winds and rain most of the day. The worst part was not having a jacket and layering up with thermal shirts and a wool cardigan. God bless the big umbrella-ella-ella we brought.
Jess wanted to go to the Corrie tenBoom house museum. Who? I ask. Corrie was a Christian woman who helped hide Jews during WWII. Cool. So we met the 60ish tour guide and she gave us a well-rehearsed and scripted tour of the house and the secret room. We were the only ones on the tour. While the tour was recited without much emotion or pauses for breath, it did have a health dose of the Gospel. That was neat and made it a bit more interesting that the museum was also part of Corries legacy to spread the Word.
Scott met up with us later in the day and was my hero for bringing me a nice snowboarding shell and a fine selection of Etnies SWAG goodies incl. shoes and 3 zip-up hoodies. Yeah Scott. We went out to sushi when we couldn't find his buddy's restaurant recommendation, Cafe Bizarre. Odd. Seeing Scott was the highlite of the day and pretty much the whole trip. It was so cool to hang out with Scott and catch up with him. He's enjoying himself in Amsterdam working as a sales manager for Etnies. He's got a nice big place that we offered to us whenever we hit Amsterdam again. Sweet. I think Kirsten and I might take him up on his offer in April. (He's on couch-surfer .com if you're interested...). Sneaky Scott also grabbed the sushi check and would have paid for the apple pie if Jess didn't distract him while I paid. I'm really stoked for him and it was just cool to see him. We hung out a bit as kids during family gatherings and at UCSD, but haven't seen each other since our wedding. While Haarlem wasn't the best of places, it was worth it to see Scott.
Evie gave us some some more grief, but after rocking and walking for a bit, I just said 'screw it just let her play in her tent' and set her in the tent. But she played for a while then just fell asleep on her own by 11pm or so. Reprieve.
Wednesday: Got up and hour late bc my iPod reset itself to London time and woke us late. We wandered down to bfast and it was all cleared. Crap. But the hotel owners were super cool and brought us some food and hooked us up. Nice dodge.
Followed the walking tour on the tourist map to see if there was anything we missed. Some pretty little Dutch streets and 17th century houses. A picturesque canal around the edge of the downtown. When we got back to the hotel in the afternoon, Jess let me go back to a pipe shop I saw the day before while she rested with Evie.
The pipe shop, Jan van der Pigge est.1800, boasts it's the oldest pipe shop in the Universe. Wow. Plus, while I have a couple Dutch pipes, Big Bens, I don't have one that I actually bought in the Netherlands. One of them is from Malaysia actually. So I spend a bit of time looking over the pipes at the shop looking for one of the Royal Dutch Pipe series of Big Bens. I found a nicely shaped and pretty colored one. Big Bens aren't known as the best pipes in the world, but they can be nice and this one is decent. Nothing too flashy. Not my favorite, but it smokes well and fulfills my quota.
Walked around looking for Italian food that night. Walking a lot actually trying to get Evie to fall asleep in the stroller. She finally did and we settled into a nice little place on the main piazza called Applesauce or Applause or something. We had a simple pasta dish with a sauce of roasted pine nuts, basil, garlic, chopped tomato, and red peppers all sauteéd in lots of butter and little olive oil. The pine nuts are what tied it all together. I tried to replicate it when we got back and got distracted and burn the butter...which crisped the garlic. So I said screw it and threw in some sundried tomatoes and mixed it with too much pasta. SNAfU. Oh well. I'll get it better next time.
Thursday: Woke up a bit earlier than the previous days, so around 8am, to pack, have breakfast, and bring the car around (the hotel also gave us free street parking). We saw the sun for the first time that morning and got really excited. Then it went away. Then it snew. Then it hailed. Then the sun came out again. Then it rained and snew again...while the sun was out. Weird. Then we were off. Scott couldn't stop talking about how good his favorite Mex food place was in Amsterdam, so we decided to hit it on the way down to Delft. It was only 2omin away, so we figured it was worth it to have some good Mex. A nice surprise was to see Scott again at the Taco Shop and hang a bit more.
Drove for about 45min down to Delft. Mini Amsterdam. Super pretty with canals and old timey buildings. Kinda wished we'd stayed there instead of Haarlem, but then we wouldn't have seen Scott. There is a couple huge cathedrals(?) on beautiful plazas along the canals. One of the towers is actually bending over the canal as the integrity of the foundations are being undermined by the canal. At least that's what I think is the reason it's leaning. (pic on right)
The Hotel Plataan is florally themed and each room is named after a tree. But the names are all in Latin so it was hard to identify where we were. Rhodopsis or something. The walls are all hand painted with odd little nature scenes and lots of naked people staring at you (see below). Weird but interesting. The headboard was a giant maple leaf. The gave us a complimentary drink down at the bar, so we hung out there and played Boggle (Foggle App on iPod) until Evie got too fussy. (Jess was addicted a similar Boggle-like game called Shake-n-Spell then entire trip. It's always funny to see her so engrossed in a video game. The last time I think was our little Tetris game that we took up to Big Sur). For dinner, I just went to a pizza place that I saw while we wandered around and order a Quattro Formagi (4 Cheese) to go. Then we watched '7 pounds' (we also got free internet in Haarlem so I used Xtorrent to download a buncha stuff: The Wrestler, Defiance, Australia, 7 Pounds, The Office, CSI, Underworld, Paintball movies, Pride and Glory, and a couple new albums) during and after we got Evie down.
Friday: No free bfast this time, so we went to a cool little place we like in NL called Bagels and Beans. While loading the car in the hotel parking lot, we noticed a bunch of chickens running

loose around the parking lot. Weird.
We didn't have to be at Calais until 4:50pm, so we decided to make a stop in Brugge for some chocolate and fries. It was pretty easy to do and we didn't get lost driving the confusing streets this time. It took us about an hour and half or so, I think, to get to Brugge from Delft. Then another hour and half to go from Brugge to Calais and back on the Eurotunnel train. Arrived back in the UK just a couple minutes after we got on the train in Calais since we set our clocks back again. After some crappy traffic, we made it back to the house around 7ish or so. Home again home again jiggity jog (as Mom used to say for some strange reason;) )-Chris

In Brugge

We took a weekend trip to Brugge...roamed around the streets and canals, shopped at the Christmas markets, drank hot wine and hot delicious chocolate. It was Evangelyn's first trip across the channel and to the continent. She loved it and was so good...except at around 10:30pm. She fought sleep for about an hour and we didn't want to let her cry herself to sleep because we were in a hotel. She finally fell asleep when we put her in her stroller and pushed it back and forth in the hotel room.

Summer Travels

Of course, our summer began with TASIS Graduation and the end of school. We then took a short trip to San Clemente to hang out with friends and family. After returning to England, Jeremy visited for about a week. We went to London and saw "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. We also took a day trip down to the coast and stopped at a castle along the way. After Jeremy left, we had our own 4th of July celebration, renting "the Patriot" and making American flag cakes. It didn't compare to the 4th in D.C., but it was better than nothing. We drove up to Liverpool for about a day and explored the hometown of the Beatles. Our next stop was the Peak District, one of England's national parks. We stayed in Bakewell, where they supposedly bake well. We weren't big fans of their famous Bakewell tart, though. The Peaks are filled with walks through moors and towns. We did one near Heathersage, a short walk, of course, since I'm pretty heavy these days. I was very proud to have done a four mile walk being at the end of my 8th month.

Geneva - Another Day in Paradise

I went to Geneva, Switzerland a few weeks ago for an ESL conference. I learned a lot, but the best parts were the cheese fondue, chocolate, and Phil Collins! He was a guest speaker at the conference because his kids go to school at an international school and are bilingual. After he gave his speech, which I barely heard cause I was still grasping the fact that he was a real person, he played one of his songs. I've never been a HUGE Phil Collins fan, but it was super cool to hear him perform!

Croatia - Dubrovnik

We took a trip to Croatia during our February break. Here are some pictures of just one town we visited, Dubrovnik. We also ventured to Split, Hvar, and Cavtat.

Christmas in the UK and OC

We celebrated the beginning of the Christmas season with friends and co-workers in England and finished it with friends and family in California.

The Giant's Causeway Coast

A Very Windy N. Irish Day

Northern Ireland

For our 3-day Thanksgiving weekend, we flew to Ireland. We stayed at Heathfield Farm, a lovely B&B with the most hospitable hostess. Breakfast was delicious with homemade Irish bread and there was a relaxing lounge area with a fireplace (so warm), hot tea and biscuits. But the best was the bed with electrically heated matresses. It was like sleeping in a jacuzzi, but dry. We spent our two days exploring the area of the Giant's Causeway and getting wind-blown by the stormy, rainy, windy weather. So much fun!

Germany InPro

In October, we chaperoned 19 students on a trip to Germany. We started in Berlin and ended in Münich, visiting a new town practically every day in between. Our group of students was fabulous, quite the opposite of our tour guide who loved to nag, nag, nag. Here's a small taste of what we saw and experienced.

German Puppet Show

Amsterdam

We took a short weekend break to beautiful Amsterdam.

We rented bikes and went on a self-guided tour of the city...One of the many canals...
Chillin' in Vondelpark...
More chillin' at the central canal...

España!

Hangin' out in Plaza del Rei.

Barcelona Sidewalk Art

One of Gaudi's CreationsSegovia in the DistanceAvila - Walled CityCuencaBull Running in PamplonaBeach in Benicarlo

Hever Castle

A few weekends ago, when the weather was dry (unlike the last two weeks), we took the Vespa on a mini-trip to Hever Castle, the home of Anne Boleyn, queen of King Henry VIII (until he had her head chopped off). It was about a 2 hour ride and just chilly enough for my toes to be numb by the time we got there. We sat in a cafe and drank tea until I defrosted. The sun was shining off and on for the rest of the day, so we were able to enjoy a picnic lunch of hummus, pita chips, and fruit. We wandered through the gardens and found a nice place to nap near a fountain. Well, we weren't the only ones who liked the spot. Chris awoke to a tapping on his leg. It was a duck! There was a pair of ducks who decided to keep us company. They came right up to us and were so friendly that one of them let Chris pet him. I fell asleep again and when I woke up a second time the friendly duck was sitting right between my leg and Chris's. I've never had a "wild" animal come so close and feel so comfortable. Eventually, we had to say goodbye to our cute little friends.