Hard To Say Goodbye

Hi all,

Although there was internet at the new house, I didn't get my laptop out. But me recap...it all starts Sunday night...

During the icecream social with the neighbors we heard a crashing out the window. Deer! But we couldn't see anything. At about 11, I was curled up in bed when housemom came knocking on my door:

"Steph! Are you still awake?!"
"Of course...what's up?"
"I heard a deer outside..." (she wandered into the living room) "...but when I came down...it's huge!"

Yup. Definitely wasn't a deer. It was a cow. Happily munching away on our strawberry patch. "What do we do?!?" housemom wanted to know. Well, it wasn't going to eat tomatoes. That's for sure. So I went outside and started to approach it. It sniffed my hand (I'm used to horses, ok?), and ambled off down the road a bit as a car pulled up. Thankfully, it was Sam and one of the farming co-workers. He was not pleased. He asked me to go get a rope and then freaked out a bit when I started to walk up to the cow, until we turned the flashlight on and he saw which one it was. (Apparently some are not so nice, and 4 have a calf.)

So I went and opened the gate and he shooed it in. Then we found the second cow. And Sam found the hole in the fencing, shortly after almost being run down. So I went with the farm co-worker to get his boots, and then a new battery and more electric fencing. I'm not exactly sure what all happened (he did get a good hand-numbing shock from the car battery, and was running around the pitch-dark field with a headlamp on...) but by 11:45 the situation was called ok. As I told him: at least this will give me something to blog about.

I may have turned into one of those types of people. Oh dear.

Anyhow, we managed to leave at 10:40 Monday morning. During the next 8 hours we listened to 2.5 books on tape (Magic Treehouse and 2 Boxcar children...), I doled out countless snacks, we took several potty breaks, went through 2 states with tolls, had the younger cat meowing off and on - the older one was napping within 5 minutes, old pro - and sang along to a children's cover of Beatles' songs. Yellow Submarine twice.

Meanwhile, Sam and the other co-worker drove in the quiet, but bouncy moving truck.

It got to be a little much at the end - everyone was ready to get there! And we did. And it's ginormous. Which spellcheck has accepted as being a real word. Anyhow, it was a bit past 6 o'clock and so we unloaded the bare essentials quickly. We walked to their little beach nearby and took a very quick dip in the ocean...brrrrr! Luckily, as we'd run out the door in the morning, I'd realized that we'd forgotten to grab the meatballs and sauce that I'd prepared for dinner. While housemom was cooking dinner, Sam and I went out to buy some "beverages". It would've taken 35 minutes had we made all the right turns.

Obviously, we didn't.

I was driving and got directions from the main road. Unfortunately, it started out with a wrong turn before we got there, about 5 minutes lost. We found a store and everything was going great until we couldn't find that main side road. We eventually found it, not having driven past it. We turned onto it and drove. And drove some more....and more...and yeah. After about 20 minutes we turned around and called to say we'd be rather late. We were at an hour at this point. Then we proceeded to look on the wrong side of the road for about a half hour, missing the turnoff at least 3 times. It was hysterically funny, and we were cheerfully cracking jokes the entire time. I usually hate being lost, but really, what could we do? We knew we'd find it eventually.

And we did.

The children had been put to bed (it was about 9:45 by this point...) and luckily it was a normal house - it had a microwave. Ooh, ahhh. Did I mention this is the first time in 6 months that I've been away from the village for more than 12 hours?! We were pretty tired afterward and went to bed after chatting with housemom for a while and abandoning a movie.

After a cold cereal breakfast we got to work unpacking the truck. Well, I ended up taking the children (2/3 anyhow) for about 1.5 hours to a small pond to fish - the 4 year old's obsession - and then to clamber around on the rocks down at the beach. This was apparently helpful, as most of the truck was unpacked by the time we came back at 11:15. I helped with the tail end of things and we were done by early afternoon with a lunch break. We then helped to arrange everything that couldn't be lifted by 1 person and were done around 5. The children were out with housedad so we were able to have some quiet constructive time.

Sam and I accompanied housemom to go buy fresh lobsters (yum!!!) while the other co-worker opted for another frigid ocean dip. We also went to a convenience store and picked up oats and another item. When we got back to the house we put the water on to boil (steamed them), got some veggies roasting and I quickly threw a peach/blueberry crisp together. I've never gotten to cook lobster before, and it was an interesting (and amusing) process. We took a lot of pictures with Sam's camera, and I'll hopefully post them on the slideshow sometime tomorrow. And it was delicious. I had a "softshell" lobster which are apparently sweeter. And I now know how to sex a lobster. Although the "eggs" in mine probably would've given it away...

It was a truly superb dinner.

The kids came in to help pick their mom's clean and to gobble up dessert. I had a nice time chatting with Sam while the other co-worker was reading about the islands around and housemom put the kids to bed. We all had a bonfire together and I roasted my first organic marshmallow. Gross. It had this terrible grainy texture when it melted, and was a bit like packing peanuts raw. I'll take Jetpuff any day...

Since the beds were set up differently, I ended up having a "sleepover" with the eldest child, in her extra twin bed. When I came down the next morning I explained that I'd been woken up with her creepily standing at the bed (I yelled "WHAT!? - Oh god, you scared me..." and mumbled on a bit apparently), but hadn't been sure if it'd just been an incredibly vivid dream and I'd woken myself up sleep talking. Nope, really happened. She'd apparently woken up confused and wanted to make sure I was the other person in the bed. So after we'd both been thorough confused and frightened we both fell back asleep.

I was up at 8 and after a nice pancake breakfast we were on the road by 9:30. The goodbyes were hard, but I fully intend on making a visit sometime. It may be a while, but I feel it will happen. We pulled up to the house at 5:15. It was a long haul to have 3 people scrunched into the cab, although I mostly was the one in the middle with no leg room. But we survived in good spirits, I think.

It's strange to have the new family moved in (new housemom will be called Hum, and housedad will be Hather (since Dum just sounds mean...)) and will take some arranging on both sides. The house will continue to run as before, but I'm sure changes will be made over time. At least we'll have some voice in them. It probably won't be easy, but the next chapter is ready to start.

I'll miss the children and housemom tremendously, and I'll appreciate the way that they've enriched and broadened my lifeview and carry them around in a pocket of my heart.

Hope all is well,
Steph


It'll be very strange

Oh. By the Way, I'm Going Too...

Hi all,

I managed (without actually meaning to) to get myself included in the group helping housemom and the kids to move. She'd tried to line up a few young guys to come, but the second spot kept falling through. Now, she'd never asked me (not a good idea with my back as is, currently), and so when I said "Well, you never even asked me..." she actually realized she hadn't and then considered it. So, though I won't be a help with heavy lifting, I can help with doing meals and moving boxes and getting things organized. Plus, the new family had arranged to have meals out and every villager from the house is on vacation, so I'm not needed there. My workmaster was great, and said I could go, and the neighbors endorsed the idea. So, I'm pretty much set!

Let's see now...Thursday. I went to the workshop and worked on the chain for my piece, it's coming along well. I left halfway through the morning to go to a meeting I'd been asked to attend (for input), and it was interesting to see how an official committee meets. I'm not sure I had much to contribute, but it's helpful for knowing what's going on behind the scenes, so to speak. Sam stayed home to cook, and it was pretty funny. I came in and gave him my favorite line (that he's used before, after a long morning in the garden..): "So, what'd you do today?? Cook? That's it?" It was fun to give him a little crap, and I think it was a good experience for him too.

I went out with housemom for karaoke, who has evolved her viewpoint on it. As a singer/performer, she used to feel that it was for people who can't sing, and are delusional about their talent level. Now she sees how fun it can be, and possibly therapeutic. However, we were the only ones from the village who went, but we still had a nice time. She brought down the house with a song, after a long line of people who really couldn't sing. A fun evening.

Friday morning Sam had asked if he could go watch the soccer game showing at one of the houses (who apparently have a TV...). Staunch supporter that he is, when I asked who was playing he replied: "...Something that starts with a 'P' I think...?"

So, practically Serbia, right?

At least, since he was in it for the social aspect he wasn't completely crushed when they lost. Just a little national ego bruised.

I was busy Friday morning running errands in and out of the village and then cooking the spaghetti lunch. The new house family (well, half of it "Hum" (new house "mum") and her oldest) had lunch with us, along with Julia from next door. It was very nice, and chaotic with the children.

The co-op time was mostly comprised of making the order list and starting to input it. Plus some stocking up and putting the new produce in. We had an extra helper, a co-worker from last year who is here on vacation who chose to come and help out. Made a nifty little sign for the free coffee samples. I asked if he'd come back next week in the afternoons, since I'd be gone. I think he will, so that'll be great.

I popped in some pizzas for dinner when I got home (the food processing group makes them here), but Beau left on vacation and Connie was invited out. Housemom and the kids were out late, so Sam and I were left with a pizza. We jazzed it up to make it a turkey hawaiian one, and it was delicious. Well, pretty good - and a nice change from "Bread and Spreads". Although I'm not sure I can honestly say that I've been missing soup!

I'd organized a big group planning to go out Saturday (tonight) night, and so I went door-to-door taking menu choices for pre-ordering. We ended up having 24 people I think, with most people pre-ordered. Crazy. Afterward (about 8:30), I made cake for housemom's informal farewell today - which no one came to because of bad timing - and then made meatballs.

I was on this morning until noon, so I did breakfast for Connie - who was quite anxious until she got picked up at 10:45. Then I did some errands and clean up for housemom. I had 2 whole minutes of being home alone today, until Sam came back at 12:30 to be on. I got to shower and relax a bit, and then tried to help pack up. Housemom was flitting from thing to thing, and being unusually decisive. I need a list, and when she finally gave me a project go ahead, I ran with it. We stopped around 4 to have some cake and I showed her the pictures I'll be burning for her from my computer. Some of them were really cute of the kids. She was pleased.

She also liked her going-away present from the house: we'd gone with a handmade broom. She'd mentioned one in the past, and she's leaving her broom at the house, so it made sense. Then it was time to pick up Bean's house for the restaurant...except one of her people was out wandering. We eventually found him, but were 15 minutes late. It worked out fine, and we had a great (though slightly chaotic) time. And of course the food was delicious.

And now, Steph needs sleep for tomorrow. Major packing starts at 9.

Hope all is well,
Steph

It's Official - I have the Coolest Housemom

Hi all,

Due to Karaoke and then a migraine last night (I was in bed by 8...), blogging just simply didn't happen. So...here's the run-through.

Thursday morning I wasn't able to get to the stain glass workshop because Beau had a dentist appointment. Sam can't drive (he's not insured here since he's here only 5 months), and so it fell to me to take him. Luckily, Beau was tally-ho about the whole thing, and barely rested during rest hour, he was so excited. He kept pointing to his teeth. His appointment took over an hour, so we basically just got back in time for lunch. He'd walk up to everyone and proudly point to his teeth. They do look very nice.

Before this whole excursion (goodbye rest hour in the morning...) I'd taken the neighbor housefather to go and pick up their car. It was a bad morning for squirrels...we saw at least 4 in the middle of the road. I was able to get my cell back (and had several missed calls and messages, as I hadn't blogged and had mentioned my allergic reaction...whoops), and that was nice.

I managed to conk out for 10 minutes (impressive, right?) and had a very intense dream where there was also a dead squirrel. Ah, my transparent brain functioning... This was kind of disturbing, but only got odder. As I was the only one (really... no one else was there from the work group!) one in the co-op, I lugged in the order that'd been dropped off early. As I tried to open the door - the oh-so-helpful delivery guy had gotten them too close - I see a squirrel run off. Probably the same one that jumped at my face. Anyhow, I finally get the door open and see that the clever bugger had chewed a flap on the end, slit down the tape, pried open and untwisted the plastic (without chewing a hole in it), extracted exactly 1 walnut, and had eaten half of it before I showed up. So, it was a strangely squirrel-filled day.

The other laugh I got out of the co-op was from the order sheet. I'd requested a sample, and at the bottom it stated: 4 oz sample: WTF and MUL. That's right, I got a free 4 oz sample of WTF. White Turkish Figs. It has to be a joke in the office. The MUL were mulberries, which I wouldn't recommend. Although I'd eat several ounces of WTF any day...

I missed dinner because I drove into Hudson to go to a chiropractor appointment. When it was practically too painful to get out of bed Tuesday (?) morning - I had to literally pull myself over to the chair and slowly shift to standing - I finally caved and actually called. The chiropractor set right to work - he's a spry, older gentleman who kept up the banter while giving helpful advice. Needless to say, the doctor's office has now given me fish oil...bleh, thankfully in capsule form. I picked up some packing tape for housemom at Walmart and then came home - feeling very light, as my back actually didn't hurt.

Thursday night was quite exciting. I got dressed up a little since housemom was coming out - Julia very graciously came and housesat for us. Sam was eventually able to get a car (long story...) and so I didn't need to drive. So I had a whole two drinks. Given my poor current tolerance, this was just perfect. It was also Flo's last Karaoke night, and Barry got a bit teary about it. Flo and I sang "Build Me Up, Buttercup", and I think everyone had a great time. We didn't get the typical German contingent, but there were still about 20 people there. Housemom said she'd probably never look at all the co-workers in the same light again. Need I mention that Bean sang (from memory, mostly) "I Like Big Butts"? Actually, there was a higher-than-typical amount of old-school rap, but it was still pretty fantastic.

We also pretty much dominated the scene, making quite the show for those 6-8 people clustered around the bar. Housemom mustered her courage, had a drink, and did some singing. She has a really nice voice, and a lot of people had come to hear her - and to say goodbye to Flo, of course. It was a great night.

Friday morning I was good to bounce out of bed and get the pancakes rolling. Housemom was chugging coffee all morning. I was running around like a chicken with it's head cut off, as I unexpectedly had to go to the doctor's office. Luckily, the reaction is almost gone, but I'll be taking some steps to hopefully keep it from returning. I also then did a co-op run with housemom. However, the meatballs, sauce, bread, noodles and salad all managed to get done in time for lunch. We had two co-worker guests and aside from the children being unusually loud and unruly, it was very nice.

Friday afternoon it was very busy in the afternoon with unpacking the produce order and the IGA order. I also made a UNFI order sheet, and learned how to put the order in. A very time-consuming process. Apparently you can use a scanning system (where you merely point, shoot, and request the number of cases based off the barcode and not the ordering number that you look up every time), but we haven't got it implemented. Baby steps towards electronification will be happening in the next year, especially if we end up using cards for foodstamps. Should be interesting.

I then horsed around with the 4 year old, using a shoulder ride as a bribe to get him out of the house, where he and the middle child were driving housemom up the wall. I surely paid for it this morning. My neck was SOOOOO sore. We have some topical stuff for inflammation and joint pain, and that helped, along with a heating pad. No more shoulder rides though.

Today we cleaned in the morning and had leftovers for lunch. I spent most of my resthour making calls. My house had cafe/gift shop rota, so I sat in the giftshop with Beau. We both had books (his picture album), and I tried a decaf something or another from the coffee shop (they needed practice...I thought it tasted fine, but I'm nothing that's close to a connoisseur!), and read "The Book Thief". Which I am thoroughly enjoying. It's also teaching me more slang and naughty German words - which I get to demonstrate to Sam.

We got back in time for us to prepare for Bible evening - something I've rarely done here. We had someone from outside the house come and run it, and it was a little different from how I've seen it before. Not to mention we were only 4 people. So it wasn't a bad experience at all - especially since she's quite an interesting lady.

Anyhow, I should probably clean my room so I won't do it tomorrow. I think I'll do a Great Barrington run tomorrow (although I have no one to keep me company), and then berry picking if weather permits with the house. It's rained every day I think this last week, and I'm ready for it to be done. Especially since it poured for a majority of the day today.

Hope all is well,
Steph

PS. And after an informal poll, it was declared that I do, in fact, have the coolest housemom in the village.

I Survived 5 Days of Juicing!

Hi all,

While it had some ups and downs (and a few really good stomach grumbles!), I am proud to say, that as of midnight tonight my vegetable juice cleanse is done! Although I'm not hungry, I definitely miss eating. And I shall be breaking my fast in prime style, due to Flo. Upon hearing I had nothing to do, he giddily asked if we could juice something (anything!) and then said that we should make midnight pizza. Do you know how fantastic that sounds?!? Mmmm. Although I'll probably have to take it a bit easy, otherwise my stomach might rebel.

Today was pretty much a blur in the morning. I spent all morning cooking. I got bread made, the salad, noodles, meatballs, sauce and salad dressing - all from scratch, except the noodles. Even I'm not that insane. I accidentally invited a new co-worker over who is vegetarian, so I kept some of the sauce separate. The kitchen was a complete mess when I finished, but I'm also pretty good at cleaning them up now. It's also difficult to cook when your sense of taste is off, and you're not eating. I had several willing guinea pigs though. No one keeled over, so I'm taking it as a positive sign.

The co-op was good this afternoon. Although I complained a bit in the beginning about going there, I've really come to like it. I'm slowly learning how it's run, and it's always interesting to see who comes in - and the requests that they make. They can write down on a sheet what they'd like to have us order. Unfortunately, a island vacation isn't something we can provide. The workmaster is really laid back but still has a strong sense of responsibility, so it's a good environment. Although things can get tense between the other workers at times (especially if Connie is in a bad space), I've really enjoyed my time there. Since my workmaster was a temporary fill-in (he's a short-term co-worker who's been here several years), this is bound to change. Couple this with my house parents changing over in a few weeks and this can seem a bit overwhelming. So I try not to think about it.

I did meet the new houseparents today, they're staying off-location until housemom and the children leave. They seem nice enough. It's mostly just disheartening to realize I have to start from scratch to build up another relationship. Things aren't always easy with housemom, but I respect and genuinely like her. A lot of houseparents seem to operate off of a power construct with fear or intimidation (although that makes them seem evil, which as far as I know, none of them are...) or at least a strong sense of aloofness. I suppose that after being a houseparent for years upon end it's a natural development to hold yourself back from getting involved with young co-workers. I suppose that some people have a hard time managing those boundaries. Still, I'm glad of the time that I've had with housemom and will really miss her. The children too, to various degrees.

They youngest came into work with me today, and he was great. He was very helpful with stocking up shelves, tossing cardboard boxes and being cute in general. Of course, he also had the motivation of icecream (fudge bar = one chocolate-y face!) and housemom picked him after an hour.

Anyhow, tomorrow is my day off and other than finishing a photo project for my youngest brother's graduation party on Sunday, I haven't got an plans. Although, I will definitely eat some food. Maybe leftover pizza???

Hope all is well,
Steph

Hi all,

It was a wet and rainy day today. Rather gloomy, and prone to sudden and sporadic showers that were just light enough to make wearing a raincoat barely worth it. This morning I used the leftovers (frozen) from my mushroom and barley soup to make a mushroom risotto. When Sam came to take a peek, he exclaimed in dismay: "Why is it purple?!?"

Well, from the red wine, of course. Although I was then told that risottos is made only with white wine, this was impossible as we only had red on hand. Not to mention that I'd made the soup with red wine, so it was more practical to continue with it. It turned out ok, a little gummy after setting, but had pretty good flavor. I also had to raid the seed room for cabbage, as the co-op's supplier didn't get their shipment of lettuce, and so neither did we. So, risotto and coleslaw for lunch!

After lunch I trekked over to the woodshop to meet Flo to work on the planters. He'd also made a box planter, although after putting some screws in (which went every which way...not looking too pretty at this point...), it isn't lining up right anymore. The one with the angles is looking pretty good, and hopefully they'll both be "finished" by Wednesday. As long as they hold dirt...

Our orientation outing was canceled due to the rain. We were apparently supposed to be scraping paint off of a building. One co-worker raised the question (finally) of why we were doing all these jobs - what did they have to do with "orientation"? So after a half an hour of some manual labor - we seemed to be getting farmed out for this a lot lately - we sat down and had a discussion over what we thought it should be like. It lacks cohesion and a purpose, and hasn't really helped to "orientate" us to anything. So hopefully this will prompt some changes.

Since housemom changed the seating arrangement, I've noticed how little she noticed how much and even how Maria interacts at the table. At dinner I always did a "1 piece of bread and then more after soup" since housemom is always talking about meeting nutrition requirements. So it was almost funny to see her struggling to get Maria to finish her bowl of soup after she'd let her have 2-3 pieces of bread first. Not to mention she was talking about how we have to maintain her weight, and I don't quite think she believed me when I was telling her how often I have to remind Maria to just eat. Her child-like wonder can get her so revved up on questions that she just doesn't think about it.

I'm a little irked that tomorrow I'm going to have to stay home so housemom can take her youngest into the ER. He's been having a reoccurring problem for the last 2-3 weeks (not life-threatening, but painful) and she should've done it then. It's probably petty to resent being kept from going to something I actually really look forward to (since I'm really starting to get into the real work at the stain glass workshop) and she treats it as though it's not important. Yet she's always going on about the value of work, no matter how small it is. Housedad has an appointment tomorrow himself, so you'd think that would somehow be able to work out. Apparently not. It's just frustrating that I have to keep picking up the pieces. It's clear that her children are her first priority, but that does shift a lot to me. Housedad and Sam share a lot of the work for their care, while I was pretty much taking sole care with Maria. It's true housemom does a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff, but it's sometimes hard not to feel as though I'm taken for granted.

I know it's great that I get to be out of the house at all in the mornings, but it's just disheartening to finally have a chance to do something I feel I can be passionate about and then get it taken away - it doesn't inspire confidence that I'll be able to stick with it.

Hope all is well,
Steph