I got Christopher Alexander(et.al.)’s A Pattern Language from the library a few days back and am just blown away by it. This man had such humble, democratic insights into the task of the architect and a real feel for natural, beautiful, human and humane living spaces. His book first proposes patterns for building cities, towns, neighborhoods. About […]
Monthly Archives: December 2012
Riot for Austerity – November and December 2012 – 49-50
OVER FOUR YEARS OF RIOT! Four year summary coming soon (I know, I keep promising) This is the Riot for the months of November and December 2012 for, mostly, the three of us. My summary of our first three years is here. Edson fixed the calculator: all go tither to crunch those numbers! Gasoline. Calculated per person. […]
Clarity, in Pieces (ii)
The Thirteenth Moon Even if you have lost heart She puts a tide in you Even if you have lost heart You will be moved You will be all lined up The soil has tides Bedrock has tides The horizon heaves She will drag even you “That turns out to be a place where it’s […]
Solar Hot Water: Going Ahead!
After too many estimates but wonderful and very instructive conversations with installers, we have committed to going solar for our hot water. We got our shade report that tells us that our solar effect of 95.35% qualifies us for the State rebate (minimum requirement is 75%). Our solar fraction is 73.1% which means that solar will provide that […]
Evolving Upheaval Poem
This poem is evolving as I try to explain my growing insight into what hope is and what my role is in this world. I started it here. Do you dare to test the endurance of your hope To take it to that far place where still it refuses to leave or maybe not. Where, […]
Clarity, in Pieces (i)
I feel like I’ve gained some clarity in the last few months, but it has been hard to write about it. Every time I sit down to start, the task seems impossible. So let me break it down into pieces – events, insights, decisions, changes in plans. The first evening when all of my thinking […]
Amie’s Self-Portrait
Back in the day when this was a Mama blog, I used to report so often on Amie’s art and drawing. There is a whole series about her early drawings on here, somewhere (enter “drawing” in the search engine). It caught the attention of Brent and Marjory Wilson, who wrote about Amie in the new […]
Today 12/14/2012
Today I had to go into therapy with my chickens. I sat in the sun watching them and calmed down. They look at you without filters, without pity or fear. Their question is always: Who do you think you are?
Upheaval Poems
There has been a major change in my thinking/feeling about our culture, our future, and my role. An upheaval big enough for me to burn some bridges (to set fire to them, at least), to shed some tears. Well. Good things are happening too as a result of it, I hasten to add. Clarity is […]
Composting with Birds
This huge brussels sprout was pulled from one of the school gardens and on its way to the compost. I had ideas for a different kind of composting.