The Logger's House - Pawlet, VT

Yesterday The Logger went back to Manchester to do buckets for me, and while he was there he did me the amazing favor of picking up my computer. Its poor little battery was dead. And then I also dropped it. But it's fine now, I apologized and it seems to have accepted. I even hooked it up to the internet so now it must love me extra-special. And that's what I'm telling myself.

After two days I'm finally feeling better. Yesterday I didn't really get out of bed. My body felt pretty crap-tastic. I woke up with a horrific kind of migraine, which I have not experienced for years, probably due to severe de-hydration. I spent all morning drinking water and staying in bed, and manged to eat some yummy Teleion salad, and my headache is mostly gone. I can have the light on now and my head doesn't feel like it's being bashed in with a sledge hammer every time I move. Triumph! The one good ting I can say about this flu is that it comes and goes quickly.

I found Lord of the Flies on the bookshelf today I decided to finally finish reading it. If I'm going to be here for another day then I'll need a way to occupy myself. I picked up that book years and years ago, read it to the climactic point and then put it down. It was some weird phase I was going through because I did it with several other books at that time as well. I must have only been about 10 or 11 at the time, because I was still living in New York. Lord of the Flies is the only one I never finished. Better late than never.

The Logger's House - Pawlet, VT

Last night, a few chapters into the fourth book, I finally put down The Chronicles of Narnia and have no intention of picking it up again. Why I got three books into this awful series, I'm really not sure. I always had bad feelings about it and I proved myself right. I clearly have a very serious and personal issue with C.S. Lewis, because I find him pompous and preachy. I didn't even take it personally when he insulted a character by pointing out their vegetarianism, but I can't deal with his underlying brainwashing in children's book. It doesn't help that the books are transparent and the characters are boring and two-dimentional. And I'm not going to take the fact that they are children's books as an excuse for over-simplified writing. The Hobbit was written for children. It probably didn't help that I put the book down while I was hanging out in the bathroom because I was feeling so sick and was tired of going back and forth from the bathroom to the bedroom, so I just brought a book to take my mind off of it.

That stomach bug finally caught up with me. I got it two days earlier than expected, but I'm glad to have gotten it over with. Mostly. Obviously I'm not going into details here, but there was a moment when I was curled up on the bathroom floor trying to use positive energy to make myself feel better and heal by thanking the virus for coming early and making my immune system stronger. This did not work. Maybe because I'm not sure that I really meant it. Telling myself that I had felt much much worse at other times in my life didn't work either. I knew I'd been through worse and that this would only be a few hours of my entire life, but man were those some terrible hours. I'm glad the worst part is over with. Why can't these things ever happen in the middle of the day when you're wide awake?

Getting sick meant that The Logger and I missed the bris today. Oliver called to tell us that the baby's name is Eden. I can't even say how much I love this name. I'm so excited to get back to Teleion Holon after I'm feeling better. Maybe another day or two. So glad we came here, because it would have been terrible for anyone else to have caught this, especially Bonnie and little Eden. I can't seem to get over my excitement of having a new baby in the house.

Today I feel achy all over, like I've over-used my body somehow. I had a strawberry popsicle this morning and it was the best thing I had ever eaten in my life. Or it was while I was eating it. I don't even like popsicles, but this one was made with real strawberries and had no artificial anything. Crazy how being sick will make the simplest things into life changing events. So today has been a popsicle and water day. I grumbled to The Logger a few times about how he was not allowed to talk about food in any way. I'm feeling a little hungry but eating sounds like the worst idea ever. Actually, I think I'll never eat again.

The Logger's House - Pawlet, VT

I'm currently under quarantine in Pawlet. The story behind this is a little frustrating. Almost two weeks ago, The Logger's sister went away to Spain and her son came up here to spent time with his grandmother. While he was here he came down with a stomach flu. Six days later The Loger's mother came down with it, though somewhat worse and he came out here to take care of her and his nephew. Bonnie thought it would be best if he stayed in Pawlet until we were sure he didn't also catch this flu and give it to her and the kids. One bad way to welcome someone into the word is to give him a stomach flu in his first week.

Six days passed and The Logger still felt fine, so he came back to Teleion. That night he got ill, thus exposing me to the virus. I told Oliver in the morning and we all thought it would be best if The Logger and I went back to Pawlet until the whole thing passed. If he had just waited one more night I would still be at Teleion, having something to do and not worrying about a stomach flu. I'm still fighting off this silly cold, so hopefully I'll just get this thing quick and get over it. I tend to get over things pretty quickly and my stomach is used to feeling crap-tastic now and again (for no apparent reason my stomach often gets upset for a few hours every now and again. I usually try to ignore it). Stomach flues don't usually last too long or hit me too hard.

So now I'm here. I forgot my computer, which is a little annoying. There's no wireless internet here, so it's not like I could post from it anyway, but I do like to type in the morning and also play that damn solitaire game I'm addicted to. Not to mention it has music and podcasts on it, which are endlessly more entertaining than watching TV. I've already finished the one book I brought, so it looks like I might end up reading The Chronicles of Narnia after all. I've been avoiding that one my whole life, but the whole series is sitting right there on the shelf and seems more promising than the pop-up Christmas book next to it.

Seriously though, I just need to get this virus, get over it, and then head back to Manchester. My computer needs me.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

Some exciting news today! Yesterday there were two newcomers to the Teleion Holon home. The first newcomer was the newest Levis. The little guy arrived while I was out feeding the chickens. He made his arrival known in the middle of the night and finally joined his family the next day. Max and I switched off watching the kids all morning and in the afternoon everyone took a little nap. We're calling him Zusha for now, but that will not be his real name. His name will be announced next weekend with everyone here.

He's a cute little guy and if he's like his older siblings he'll only get cuter. My mother never misses an opportunity to tell me what an ugly baby I was and how appalled she was that when I was born I looked like my paternal grandmother. She yelled at my father for this. Thanks mom. It is kind of funny how babies can look like old men or women, while being so new to the world. Little Zusha may have his old man moments, but they are cute and also rather red.

Guv is very excited about his little brother and didn't miss an opportunity to hold him. I'm sure that the closeness of Oliver and Max brings even more meaning to Guv having a younger brother. Talula seems curious and also a little concerned that this new baby is taking her mother's attention away. Yesterday was a long day for her and she was mostly over-tired and behaving as such. It might be hard for her to understand what is happening at this point, but I'm sure that as time goes on she'll find that her mother still loves her just as much as before, but has made room in their lives for another person to love.

I'm going to hold off posting pictures until later. I think it's fair to let Bonnie and Oliver send out pictures to family first, before I unleash little Zusha on the internet. Internet, you will have to wait.

The other newcomer I mentioned is a new WWOOfer, Tyson. He was sort of a last minute addition who called the day before to tell Oliver he needed a place to stay for three weeks. Another WWOOFer is coming on Sunday. This is going to be a busy, busy house compared to what it has been.

Oh Oh!! and I also wanted to link to this awesome website I found.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

How crazy that there is going to be another person in this house soon. I'm not even referring to the new WWOOFer that is coming in a few days. I'm talking about the new baby. It's a bit of a waiting game at the moment, but any day now there will be another little Levis, though probably louder and more opinionated than the current Levis family. I'm so excited to meet this tiny person that we've all been focused on. Bonnie wants to have the baby at home, so I'll be watching Guv and Talula if they don't sleep through it, or are not at daycare. I was hoping The Logger would be around to help me (i.e. keep me happy while I attempt to keep the kids happy), but his mother got a nasty stomach flu so he is off taking care of her, and has been kind of quarantined. If a stomach bug made its way into this house it would be a huge and awful mess. I couldn't even begin to imagine giving birth while fighting a stomach flu.

I find it so strange that a woman has so little control over when her baby is born, even though it is her own body. Of course I find most things that the body seems to do on its own with no prompting from the conscience mind rather odd. Carsickness especially baffles me. A friend of mine started going into labor six months early. She knew it wasn't right, but could not stop it. Evolution seems to have a much stronger hold on the body than the mind does. Luckily the doctors were able to help her and she gave birth to a healthy boy only a month early.

I'd like to mentally help my body fight a virus because I've got a little bit of a cold at the moment, which has been going through the house. It did a good job of keeping me awake and cranky last night, so I'm happy that Bonnie didn't go into labor. Oliver told me to take this nasty-tasting echinacea & goldenseal herbal supplement to boost my immune system. I hope it's doing something, because the taste really lingers in your mouth forever, and it's not pleasant. I'm not really into taking medication, but since this is holistic and aimed at strengthening my immune system, instead of impeding it, I'm all for it. I feel quite certain that taking medications aimed at relieving cold symptoms actually make you worse, because those symptoms are the ways your body fights illness.

In other news, I made rice flour tortillas again, this time with an egg and they came out slightly better. They also lasted for more than a few hours and were still soft the next day. They don't stay together so well, but I think a blend of flours will help that. It's an ongoing experiment. When I finally get it right, I'll post it. I'm hoping to find a way to not use an egg, because I always prefer to cook vegan and I especially prefer it when people are not using commodity eggs on account of my recipes.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

Back in Manchester! I missed the calm. I especially missed sleeping in a big bed, instead of a small mattress on the floor, pushed up next to a floor futon, sandwiched between the wall and another piece of furniture so that it wouldn't move around. Ah, New York apartments.

This needs to be a quick post because I've got to drag myself up for the commute downstairs. I hear little ones running around in the hall, prepared to beat me to breakfast anyway.

A few days ago while I was n New York, I got two very wonderful emails from Nisi's former owners. They had found my blog somewhat randomly and in an awesome fashion and were excited to see their dog. We exchanged a few emails and I asked for a little of Nisi's history, because I've always suspected it was more interesting than the average dog. They were happy to respond, thus I am happy to share:

"Yishai and I found Nisi in Eilat, the southern most tip of Israel. It was Shabbat and we were returning to our youth hostel from synagogue. There was a cute little (she was about eight pounds then) puppy walking down the street, trailing behind a man and his dog. I am a sucker for puppies - and dogs in general - and I had to see this adorable thing up close. We caught up to the man and asked him if we could pet his dog, and he laughed and said it wasn't his dog, that she'd just been following him around for awhile. It took a good amount of cajoling, but I finally convinced Yishai that we were ready to take our relationship to the next level and get a dog together! (Nevermind that we were living in the Old City of Jerusalem, in separate apartments, with roommates who probably wouldn't want a puppy peeing on their stuff, or that we were returning to America in less than a month. It just felt right.) So we took Nisi back to the youth hostel, fed her some milk and chicken - I guess that's all we could find - and when Shabbat was over, she traveled back to Jerusalem with us on the coach bus.

Ultimately, we ended up buying her a ticket to New York (which was actually really expensive! I think it was over $200), but it was the best choice we ever made! Nisi is the coolest dog in the world. I'm sure you've determined by now that she must, somehow, be part human. There is just that look in her eyes where you know she is thinking something much more enlightened than the average dog.
Nisi was our baby for a long time. We took her absolutely everywhere with us, which included back (for seven months) and forth to Israel another time! We lived on a kibbutz for awhile, so that was when Nisi got farm life in her blood. She used to roam around the fields, run after the tractor, try to track rabbits, etc. From then on, no matter where we lived or how big the back yard, all Nisi wanted was to roam and run and wander.

When we came back from Israel the second time, she was definitely down. (I believe she was clinically depressed.) After a few months we got another dog, hoping that a friend would cheer her up. Initially she hated Scout, a beagle/hound mix, but eventually she grew to tolerate, and then casually enjoy his presence. But a dog friend was never really the answer to her despondence.

[I must add in here that she still seems this way with other dogs. She hates them at first, then gets used to them, plays with them, and then gets bored with them quickly. She is always excited to see Jackson, the dog at the Big White House, but never plays with him long.]

When we had our daughter Eden (pronounced Eh-Den - it's the Hebrew pronunciation), Nisi was a wreck. For whatever reason, she just couldn't handle her. We encouraged her to find her own space and take it when she needed it, but apparently, for Nisi, it just wouldn't do. She was very easily irritated and she tried to bite (though just in warning) Eden a few times. I told Yishai that we had to do something different, for Nisi and for us.

So we looked for different re-homing options, but were really only going to be OK with the "perfect" scenario - a farm environment so she had plenty of space to run around and feel free, but with owners that would love her and appreciate how special she is. We were incredibly, overwhelmingly lucky that Bonnie and Oliver (well, at the time it was actually JUST Oliver), were looking to get a farm dog!"

And that brings us here, to Nisi present. You know what my favorite thing about Nisi is? No matter how long you've been gone, if it's weeks, or just a few minutes, she's always happy to see someone she knows. She shows her excitement by leaping about and not really allowing you to walk without giving her some attention. She even does this to The Logger who pretends not to like her, but she knows better. Smart little dog.

The Logger's Sister's Apartment- Upper East Side, New York, NY

I can't deal with how well my job is going. Normally the tech is hell and I'm there 9:30am to 11pm everyday. Today I was back at the apartment at 6:30pm. I'm not even convinced this is a real play anymore. Why aren't there more problems? Well, I shouldn't talk about this, it'll bring bad luck. I'm not superstitious in any way, shape, or form, except when it comes to theatre. It's just the nature of the beast.

Anyway I took the Logger up to the SoBro house on Thursday night. It was amazing, as expected. He actually had a good time, which I knew he would. My friends might be a little crazy, but they are wonderful people and they never fail to have a good time. We played this fun card game called Van Huesen. I'm not convinced it's actually a well known card game; I suspect the person who taught it to me made it up. Anyway it's a difficult game to explain, but it's not really a regular card game. There are no winners or losers, no score, no real structure. The cards are simply a way to get random numbers. It's a really great ice-breaker, and it's also fun to play with people you know really well. So anyway after a few rounds of watching us The Logger started to catch on and decided he wanted to take a turn. I couldn't believe it. Especially because one of the stipulations to him going up there was that I would not make him play any games. Anyway he really liked it and told me so on the way home, and then again the next day. If only it was a game that was actually fun to play with two people. But the point is, he liked my friends, they liked him, and he did not have the terrible time he thought he would have. As usual.

Tomorrow is a run-through in the morning and afternoon, then I get out early enough to watch the Oscars, which I probably won't do. Instead I think I'm going to buy a bunch of veggies and make stir fry in a pot (because we have no pans). Somehow this sounds about a thousand times more exciting to me than watching the Oscars. I have not been keeping up with the no gluten thing, though I wish I were. The problem is that I buy many of my meals when I'm at work, and not having gluten is hard when you're on a tight budget and eating out all the time. I've managed to keep the dairy restricted only to pizza though. The funny thing about dairy is that I enjoy it when I have it, but I never miss it when I'm not eating it. I hate being thought of as a picky eater, because I know I am not. Generally my rule is: if it doesn't have an animal product in it, I'll eat it. I'll even put up with a little green chile every now and again if I have to.

Being in New York has felt like a tropical vacation compared to Vermont. The temperature has rarely dropped below freezing and I can honestly say there were even times when I was uncomfortable because my feet were too hot. Serves me right for bringing Vermont winter socks to New York. That being said, I'm ready to get back to clean air and quiet. It's hard to get completely silent moments in New York, but they happen so often in Vermont, I guess I take advantage of them. I also miss my short commute to work in Vermont (going downstairs). However, I'm not at all sorry I came. I love working on top of a ladder; I find I'm most comfortable working perched on a Little Giant(as a side note, that 21' ladder I'm so fond of is $840), focusing Source Fours for Bradford.

The Logger's Sister's Apartment- Upper East Side, New York, NY

This trip has been pretty great so far. I'm so glad that The Logger is here with me because I was so frustrated by not having him around the last time I came here. This time everything is 100% better. The guy who hired my crew for this show got me actual experienced electricians and got himself some real carpenters. This time around we were able to get the whole light plot hung in a day, partly because I had four experienced people in the air(plus the Logger working from the ground) and partly because I didn't need to share my crew with the scenic department. I also didn't need to run around and babysit everyone, I could give them a project and trust that it would get done. This worked for the most part and there were only a few minor things that needed to get fixed on Tuesday. We got out of there at 8pm! This is unheard of! Normally my work days in NY start at 9:30am and I don't leave until about 10:30 or 11pm all week. I also had one electrician come in on Tuesday to help me out with all the little things that needed to get done and we left at 6pm. Today was focus and I had another set of four experienced electricians. We had the whole plot focused in five hours and I was out of there before 4pm. This is crazy! I have now resolved to never have another half-assed crew. I love to teach people about lighting and I'm patient enough to help anyone who has questions, but I don't like slowing down the whole process and then having to stay in the theatre until 11pm fixing things myself because it's the only way I know they'll get done properly. It feels so nice to really love my job this time around. This has been the most successful and well-run hang that I've ever had and I finally found a way to love being the master electrician, instead of being the one on the ladder (although I still miss that).

It was also great to have The Logger there. I asked him if he'd be interested in getting a day or two of work and he never really made up his mind. So I called around and figured out what his pay rate would be and when he would be needed and what he could do and he still didn't make up his mind, so I just booked him. He did not want to get out of bed to come in, but after an unsure hour he settled in and was extremely helpful. If I'm going to have someone there who doesn't know lights, I at least like to have someone I can trust. We always need one or two people on the ground to help the people hanging lights in the air, normally the people we get are not usually the manual labor types, but The Logger obviously is a manual labor type, so I was relieved to have him. Plus it was nice that he got to see what I do, so that he has a picture in his mind when I blab about it. However, I couldn't convince him to come in for another day of work because he didn't want to get up early and he couldn't come in later because he won't get on the train my himself. I offered to give him good walking directions, but he didn't seem very interested in that either. Oh well, at least I know he's not lost in the subway somewhere.

Because I got out so early today I went all the way down to 8th St and 1st Ave to get Dumpling Man and bring it back up for dinner. I have been going on about Dumpling Man since The Logger first told me he would come to NY. I couldn't wait to have dumplings with him. He did not understand why anyone would go so far out of the way just for dumplings. Anyone who has ever had the Dumpling Man dumplings would understand. We had an amazing dinner and The Logger has been successfully assimilated into a Dumpling Man lover. He has looked up suddenly several times tonight to say "mmm, dumplings..." and then rub his belly. Yes.

Tech doesn't start until Friday and I have very little left to do, which means I can go in and work for a few hours tomorrow morning and then I have the rest of the day to get The Logger out of the apartment and out to see the nicer parts of New York. He hates this city, but I think it's because he's gotten into so much trouble here in the past. There are nice, calm, beautiful places in New York, the trick is to not compare it to Vermont, but to appreciate it for what it is. And then later on I'm taking him up to the SoBro house. That should be mildly entertaining: a house full of theatre people, plus one logger.

The Logger's Sister's Apartment- Upper East Side, New York, NY

I have been rather absent lately, mostly because my internet situation has been iffy and also because I've been busy. But I have plenty to write about and a little extra down time right now.

I'm going to start from a few days ago, when The Logger and I were evicted from Teleion Holon. A new batch of cyber creeps came to stay at the house for the long weekend. and they brought a ton of kids. Oliver and family decided to stay at the big white house for the weekend and told us to stay in their apartment Friday and Saturday night. We had Shabbat dinner at the big while house, which went pretty late. When we went back to Teleion the cyber creeps were out and about and we passed one in the hall on the way to the apartment. I said hi and thought nothing of it. A few minutes later there was a knock on the door. It was the woman we had passed in the hall with another woman standing behind her. I greeted her and asked if she needed anything. She then launched into a bit of a monologue about the 17 children in the house and who were we and why didn't we have a separate entrance and she was told that no one would be here and what room did we normally live in? I answered her questions as well as I could and explained that I worked on the farm for Albert's son and that I was very sorry for scaring her and for the miscommunication of who would be in the house and assured her that we really didn't spend much time in the house, all the while acutely aware that she had not introduced herself and did not ask us our names. She seemed very bothered, but was not at all rude, so I figured the whole thing was over and she would calm down eventually.

The Logger and I got ready to settle in for the night when there was another knock on the door. This time is was Albert. He explained that we would need to go and stay at his house for the night because the cyber creeps found us too creepy. Apparently after talking to me the woman called Albert and asked for her money back. He apologized and told her that he would ask us to leave. I know that Teleion Holon is not actually my house, but I have been living there for quite some time and it's the closest thing I have to a home right now. It's a little odd when someone rents the house you live in and then asks you to leave. For the next few days I was really freaked out about going upstairs because I didn't want to cause any more problems. However, there is no bathroom downstairs that we can use when the house is being rented so I had to creep upstairs at least once to use the bathroom. Luckily no one was around. When Sunday came I wasn't too sad to leave Vermont because my coziness had been interrupted and I don't handle transitions and times of small upheaval very well.

So, now I'm in New York with The Logger. I had another job that started on Monday and his sister was kind enough to let her stay in her empty apartment. She lives a few blocks away with her boyfriend and her son. They came and picked us up from the train station and drove us back up here to her apartment. I don't really like driving in New York even though we had our bags and such, I would have been more comfortable on the train. I'm really not a nervous passenger, but New York drivers make me nervous. The only aggressive driver I'm comfortable being in the car with is my brother, so this car ride was somewhat terrifying for me. At one point Tara, The Logger's sister, started yelling to her boyfriend, Damien, that he was driving too crazy. He replied that he didn't think anyone's heart was in their throat, but I couldn't say anything because my heart was in my throat. But we ended up safe and sound in the apartment and I can only hope that I won't have a repeat experience with that car ever again. Ever. I love the subway, so I'm sticking to it.

New York update to follow.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

I've been feeling a little unhealthy lately, as though my body is fighting too many things, or I've not been treating it well enough to let it fight off simple things. Anyway I was talking to The Logger's mother and she was kind of feeling the same way, and had decided to stop eating gluten after she had read something online. She said that after only a few days of this she had begun to feel much better and some of her health problems had cleared right up, so I thought I would give it a shot. I stopped eating dairy a few days ago as well, because I finally got sick of it. I eat so little to begin with that it's not really a challenge. Lately, cheese has been leaving a gross taste in my mouth anyway.

There seems to be a fair amount of information out there about boosting your immune system by eating only whole foods and I used to eat a raw diet once a week, but recently stopped. I looked forward to those Mondays because I always felt light and full of energy, however I found it difficult to eat that way all the time due to time restraints, and also budget. Eating nothing but whole, live foods can be expensive and when you don't know what you're doing, you end up buying a lot of food out of season. I'm thinking that once the season starts up again and there's an abundance of fruits and veggies, I can go back to a mandatory once a week raw diet, and also incorporating this into my daily food as well.

The gluten thing won't last forever, but I'd like to stop it completely now and then maybe allow myself to have small amounts later, after I've adjusted to a new diet. I have decided to allow myself oats, as the amount of gluten in them is debated and probably small, or zero. I'm not having any kind of obvious physical reaction to gluten, so I'm not going to drive myself crazy keeping it out of my diet, but I will do the best I can. I think even reducing it drastically will make a difference.

All of this attention to my diet has got me thinking about where I eventually want to be with my eating habits. Ideally I'd like to have a diet that consists almost entirely of whole foods, and limited amounts of eggs and dairy, which would come from my own animals. I feel very strongly about vegan diets, and I agree that they can be much healthier than the diet of a meat and dairy eater. However, if I had my own animals, I could look after their well being and my own. I don't think dairy is good for a person, but neither do I think soy is healthy. I think both of these things in moderation can be ok, just like eating a cookie or two every now and again. I think the most important part is to cause no harm with your diet. That is my ultimate goal: to cause no harm to others, and to do the most good for my health.

When I talked to my mother about all this her reaction was, "So you're not eating anything." Which is kind of the reaction most people have. However, I find that since giving up meat years ago, I've actually begun to eat more foods and pay much closer attention to my diet. When I started eating more raw foods it opened me up to even more variety. Ever heard of a sunchoke? I hadn't, but I freaking love them now. Kasha and Quinioa are both fairly new to me. So by cutting out just a few foods (and yes, the list is very short), I've opened up my diet to many many more, which are much healthier.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

The entire Levis population of Manchester, VT has gone off to Aruba and Theo flew away to India, so things have become exceptionally quiet. Before Theo left he invited us to go to the Red Fox Inn. My reply was "mayyyyybe," which usually means no, but that my mind is open to be changed. When he told me that it was a reggae show, I decided to talk The Logger into going, because I figured he might like it. My idea of talking him into it went something like "OK, I've decided we're going and there's no use arguing because I'll win. Also, I'll pay your cover charge."

I also convinced Jason, the cook at the inn, his friend Brian, and Pedro to come along. Because if it's not worth the cover change and the drive out there, I'm bringing you all down with me. Well it was worth it. The band was called Gokh-Bi System, and they weren't actually reggae, so much as music from Africa that you can rock out to. They were great, and it was well worth dragging myself and The Logger out of the house after dark for it.

Last night we went over to the inn for dinner, because Jason was cooking. I've been missing vegetables a bit so I decided to indulge in some out-of-season yummies, though honestly the best thing for dinner were the mashed potatoes, which are not exactly an indulgence, considering we have tons of potatoes in the kitchen here. But it's nice to have good company and a professional chef to make them for you. Plus the asparagus and green beans were wonderful. I think when spring comes I'm eating nothing but fruits and veggies because I miss them so much. Just gonna go ultra-vegan.

I also went and took pictures of the Dorset Marble Quarry, because it looks amazing in the winter. In all honesty, the only reason for this blog entry was so that I could share these pictures, so I'll shut up and post them now.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

Last night Albert came over and asked The Logger and I to go with him to an inn that had closed a few months ago, to pick up a few things. From what I've been told, the inn was having financial troubles and it closed. They were unable to pay electric bills, or have someone drain the pipes, so they froze and burst and the building flooded. It is now condemned, but no longer flooded. The Logger insisted that Albert did not need anything from the inn and did not want to go, but I was eager to see the place and poke around a little, as I am prone to doing, so The Logger agreed, reluctantly, to go. Also, his car was at Albert's place and Albert wouldn't take him to go get it until after we went to the old inn to "loot."

Albert asked me if I had any flashlights, because there is no power in the building. I suggested we go during the day when we would be able to see, but Albert insisted that he didn't want to. I called him a criminal and then went upstairs to get all of my flashlights (electricians need these things!), because good criminals need backup and getting arrested would make for good blogging.

I've always been fascinated with abandoned places, even though abandoned places like hotels and hospitals, which are never dark or empty under normal circumstances, kind of freaks me out. While Albert was going through the kitchen with The Logger, I wandered into the dining room. The ceiling was falling apart and the floor was all wavy. It was easy to see that it used to be a great-looking place.


Dining room fireplace

There was also a snazzy little bar attached to the dining room. I went through the cabinets behind the bar and was surprised to see that there were still untouched bottles of alcohol. I had to remind myself that I was not in New York and that people in small towns in Vermont probably don't make a habit of breaking into buildings just to look for alcohol. Nor were there squatters, who would have probably drank the alcohol and then trashed the place even more, for whatever reason. No, the place was left pretty much untouched except for the flood. Even the final menu was written on the dry erase board in the kitchen, along with a shopping list.


A pretty little bar

I then moved out to the lobby area and picked through a bunch of computer parts and piles of office supplies. Again, this was a good-looking room with a cute front desk. It even had a snazzy little telephone booth.


I'm quite fond of this picture because it shows how straight I hold my camera. Precision and grace, I'm all about it.

I went up the stairs to look at some of the rooms, but didn't do much exploring. I admit I was a little freaked out sneaking around in the dark place alone. I didn't even take any pictures up there because the thought of looking into my camera and seeing something that wasn't actually there maybe terrifies me a little. IRRATIONAL FEARS! I'm good at those.

When I went back downstairs Albert was looking through the box of computer stuff in the front lobby. He asked me what several things were and asked me if he needed them, to which my reply was always, "No. If you don't know what it is, then you'll never use it." Albert seemed to have the intention of taking anything that wasn't nailed down. As someone who can't stand excess junk I only considered taking things that I thought would be useful: some tape and notepads for the house, a few old keys for my friend Lisa who makes shadow boxes, sheets of stamps, smoke detectors, and 4 reams of paper. Albert tried to talk me into taking some crap-tastic old desk chairs for my own desk (which I don't have by the way).

We loaded everything into the Jeep and minivan (except for an open thing of corn oil which Albert wanted us to take, but I hid from him because who knows how old that was and really, is corn oil that expensive anyway?) Albert asked us if we wanted to go out to eat, and I considered it for a moment because I hadn't eaten yet, until Albert said, "We'll go to Friendly's" and I suddenly realized I wasn't hungry. Not to mention I would not have let him buy me food anyway, because for some reason I've always found that awkward.

The Logger scored us a can of kidney beans and black beans, and also got two cans of refried beans for the chickens (because no one else will eat anything with lard). The chickens had an all-out feast.

Just to mention, Albert did give money to owner of the Inn, and she knew we were there. We weren't really breaking and entering, and then looting, and then rolling around in the profits like the filthy pigs that we are.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

Woo! I forced The Logger to take me climbing in Rutland on Saturday. He used to be a hard-core climber but has not climbed in quite some time. I decided (in that way that I'm good at making decisions for other people) that it would make him happy to go climbing. So we went off to Green Mountain Rock Climbing Gym. Don't let the website fool you though, it's not really just $15 a person, there's an extra $10 charge for a "belay lesson" which isn't much of a lesson considering you belay with a Grigri, which is self-locking so it's pretty hard to drop someone if you're paying attention. I wasn't actually annoyed about the belay lesson, but The Logger really didn't need it. Oh well, goodbye extra $20.

I haven't really been climbing since high school, when I took a climbing class. I loved it, although I was never great at it. Being short and not especially physically fit makes climbing tricky, but no less fun. It's no secret that I love heights, because I have always been a backwards person. Anyway it was a little sad that once I got to the top of the wall the only thing left to do was come down. I would have loved to be able to traverse a little around the top of the gym, but the belay system didn't work that way. I suppose I could have traversed along the bottom, but what's the fun in that? The floor is right there, you may as well just walk.

The best thing about this whole experience was watching The Logger stretch out all his limbs and climb. The walls were pretty high, but as soon as he started climbing it really didn't seem that way. I was worried that it was too easy for him, so I suggested he try doing a course (only use holds that were labeled with a certain color in order to be more challenging), but he feels the same way about courses as I do about traversing along the bottom of a wall; why only use certain holds if there are others around? Anyway it wasn't too easy for him, he just made it look that way.

I would have loved to put up some pictures of this amazingly giant person scaling walls, but I'm pretty sure he would have been mad at me for taking pictures while I was supposed to be keeping him from falling off of a climbing wall. So I didn't bring my camera.

The day ended with an adventure of finding food in Rutland, which is impossible for whatever reason. Good luck finding a sandwich in Rutland after 4pm, because it's not gonna happen. Not even on a weekend. Especially not on a weekend. So The Logger triumphantly got Taco Bell and I waited until getting back to Manchester to make an avocado, chile, cheese burger. Vegetarian style, of course.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

Last night we had an early birthday party for The Logger. Oliver and family took off for Aruba today and will be gone for two weeks, which includes The Logger's actual birthday. We made burritos, his favorite food, and after much harassment he finally told me that lemon cake was his favorite, but that I should not take the trouble to make one. I of course ignored him and made two.

Theo, Pedro (who works at the inn), The Logger's mother and the Levis family were all in attendance. I admit I was a little worried that people wouldn't have a good time and it might be awkward for some, but there were no problems. Why did I think there might be? Mostly because The Logger made such a stink over the fact that I invited his mother, because he claims she would not have a good time. I think she was very happy to be here and loved seeing Guv and Talula.

A little while before we ate, Bonnie and Guv disappeared for a bit. When they came back downstairs Guv gave The Logger a hand made birthday card, which was full of his favorite things. It's pretty much the best birthday card I've ever seen, so it made it into the blog.


I think I might be attacking that tree.

I am now going to boast about this amazing cake that I made, mostly because I have never tried this recipe before and normally when I cook something for the first time it's not all that great. Maybe it's because Guv helped me, but this cake was really yummy. When the batter was all made I tasted it and I really liked it, which made me worry that it wasn't lemony enough because I don't really like lemons. I ended up making two round cakes and putting a layer of lemon bar (without crust) between the two cakes. I used my mother's amazing fluffy frosting which I call marshmallow frosting, because it tastes like marshmallows. Anyway, here's a picture.


When Bonnie saw the cake she called me Martha, which pretty much ended my cake-making days forever.


We didn't have birthday candles, but this one is home-made.


Happy birthday Logger.


So, maybe I didn't think about how huge the slices would be if I stacked two cakes right on top of each other, but no one complained.

This morning I remembered that I had gotten The Logger an exceedingly stupid birthday present (I'm good at that). Because of my love for little plastic animals and The Logger's new-found fondness of chickens, I gave him this little plastic chicken I had found when helping Oliver organize some stuff and had been carrying in my pocket. He of course did not understand what it was for and has thus become the pouty chicken, which comes out whenever The Logger feels like he needs to pout to someone (or something).


Sally the chicken

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

Yesterday some pretty amazing things happened. I went with Bonnie, Oliver and The Logger to go check out a farm in Pawlet on the border of Wells that they were thinking about buying. The land is owned by The Larsons, who I had met a few nights before when they were invited over for dinner. I thought the Larsons were amazing people and they seemed to really be interested in helping Bonnie and Oliver succeed. The land is not on the market, there are no brokers or real estate agents involved and they would sell it for the same price they bought it for. They are dairy farmers and they think that a partnership with vegetable farmers would strengthen both businesses. They would trade dairy for veggies and use some of the land for pasture, which provides great fertilizer for the plants. When they left the house after dinner Bonnie asked me what I thought of the whole thing and I asked her if we could move tomorrow.

The farm is about 30 minutes from here on a back road to Wells. It's a very quiet road and the views are so spectacular. The house is right by the road, which makes it easy to get to in the winter snow. Especially because the Jeep could not make it up the first big hill in such deep snow, so we got out and walked around the property.


Those tracks in front of the Jeep are from a snow mobile.

Oliver first led us into the woods and The Logger stated that there was no good logging wood in this section but plenty of fire wood. Oliver then took us to the better of the two barns, which he planned to make into a WWOOFer house. I took a look at it and said "no way." He talked excitedly about the changes he would make and how great it would be for summer housing. I asked him what he planned to do for a bathroom and said there would be a composting toilet and a shower head "around the back." No way Oliver, I don't mind pooping in the woods, but I draw the line at a crappy shower after a long day of work. But then again, I can't speak for all WWOOFers and I'll be in Dorset again by summer (using a crappy indoor shower).


Ummm. But there are no walls on that thing. And how do you explain the phantom pants?

The other barn is so structurally unsound that it's falling apart and just needs to be taken down. It used to be used for Dairy, but now it might be good for scrap wood. Part of the structure seems ok and might be saved, but for the most part the farm needs a new barn. It was at this point that my camera battery (which said it was full when we left) died. No more pictures. Arg.


"Stop wasting my battery Oliver."

The last part of the tour was the farm house, which Bonnie was not at all excited about. Honestly, from the outside, it's an ugly house. When we went in, it was still an ugly house. It had so many weird spaces and all the walls and ceilings looked like wooden floorboards, which was really odd. The place also smelled a little uninhabited, because it had been for a long time. The rooms were pretty small and the whole house has only one bathroom, which is right next to the kitchen. However, there is a great fireplace downstairs in an amazing room that was added on later. After a very long debate in which everyone was interrupted several times Oliver finally made a plan for renovation that sounded pretty great. He would move the kitchen to the living room space, knock down a few walls, and put a sink and toilet upstairs in the kids bedroom. My only input was that he should draw out a groundplan and really look at the measurements to make sure there was room for everything, including his two huge refrigerators and three bay sink. It sounded like a really exciting plan, but it could end up being an expensive one. I told him that if he bought the farm, then the Logger and I could live there this season and start the renovations while he farmed his last season in Manchester. He asked me how many day a week I worked for the theatre. Six. Ha.

From there Oliver wanted to take us up to see the rest of the woods and see what kind of trees were there and if there was good logging. Bonnie said that she and Talula were too cold to trudge around in the woods, so she called the Larsons and asked if Bonnie and the kids could go over and see their place and say hi. I decided to go with them, because the Larsons have horses and I would pass up a freezing walk in the woods to go meet some horses any day. We talked Guv into coming with us by telling him he could pet the cows and horses. I told him that petting a horses nose was one of my favorite things to do, which it is. Guv agreed, so off we went, leaving Oliver and The Logger to go look at trees.


Talula is not into this whole snow thing.

The Larsons live right across the street on their own huge piece of property. The house they have there is amazing. Apparently it used to be a much smaller house and then they built a larger house right onto the back of it. So the front part of the house is used mainly for interns and one of their sons. It has its own kitchen and living area and four bedrooms. Not too bad, especially if they decide to share WWOOFers, which was talked about a little. Although I'm not sure if I would chose to live with the Larson family over the Levis family, especially because the Larsons eat meat. Boo.

Two of the Larson kids took us out to see the cows and horses. There were two dairy cows, though only one was producing because the other was pregnant. I don't think I've ever pet a cow and I was a little charmed. I've always thought cows were very sweet-looking creatures and these cows seemed sweet enough. I love their big sloppy noses and wide foreheads. They are such oddly proportioned creatures, with their jutting hips and bulging bellies. Bonnie pointed out that it was hard to tell which one was pregnant, even though she and the cow are due right around the same time, about a month and a half from now.

We met one horse, which Guv was shy to pet. It's funny how he was all about petting the cows, because he had done so in the past, but was hesitant to pet the horse, which he has less experience with. I was the opposite. I stuck my hand under the horses nose and let her lick my hand. I love how most horses will do that. It must be the salty sweat on people's palms, but she was also licking the gloved hand of one of the Larson kids. Guv got a little lick. When I told Cynthia Larson about my experience and love of horses she told me to give her my email address because she could use some help. I jumped at the opportunity and could not write my emil down fast enough. How exciting if I finally get to work with horse again. I've spent so much time in farm country Vermont and these are the first people I've met with horses. Yay!

Anyway the farm is beautiful and the house has potential to be beautiful at some point. I'm not sure you could find better neighbors anywhere. Here are a few more pictures I managed to get in before the camera died.


Walking back to the Jeep.


Now imagine that in the fall and summer.


The Logger is uncertain of how to carry something so small and squirmy.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

Now is as good a time as any to explain my love for Friday nights here at the Holon. Every Friday night is Shabbat, starting at Sundown on Friday until Sundown on Saturday. Because things are so slow in the winter, I don't find myself counting down the days until Saturday, but I do look forward to Friday night dinners. Theo and Max always come over and Albert and Georgette generally stop by. The food is extra special and we all sit down and spend time together. Theo, Oliver, Max and The Logger play music and Guv usually sings along and drums. Talula loves to dance. I'm not always the most active participant, but that's just my nature. I love to sit in a room full of people and enjoy what goes on around me. Fridays are late nights around here and there's a lot to enjoy for the evening.

For the last few weekends there have been cyber creeps in the house, which means we can not use the dinning room and we eat in the kitchen. This is usually a kind of cramped thing with some people eating standing up, or in the big comfy chair in the corner, but last night Oliver had the idea to pull the wooden counter top away from the stove and make a dinner table we could all sit around. It worked perfectly and we could all sit down and look at one another while we talked. Mostly about Obama and a little about the environment vs. gay rights, which sounds like a ridiculous topic, because it is. Theo's argument was that the state of the environment is more time sensitive than gay rights. Oliver's input was that the people who argue against gay rights are the people least affected by it. I said that the argument of who can marry who is such a stupid topic to begin with that I couldn't believe anyone would put effort into it, especially while there were pressing issues like global climate change hanging over us. This was something everyone could agree with. However, the argument does exist and I feel very strongly that we can not take care of the planet if we can't even take care of each other. How can I say that it's more important to buy a hybrid car than for someone to be able to openly display affection and marry the person they want to grow old with? Just because one is more time sensitive does not mean that it is more important. I don't think I expressed this very well last night, but I don't think that anyone was arguing against this point, just saying that it was so stupid that such prejudice even exists when the world as we know it may not be here in twenty years.

Getting back to the Friday night Shabbat dinner, I've been thinking it might be fun to put up a recipe or maybe a bit about what we've been eating. Generally when I am in charge of my own meals and no one else is eating them I don't eat unhealthy, but I do eat lazy. Since being here, I've found that it's still easy to eat lazy, but also really well. Many of our meals do not take a serious amount of effort or prior planning, but we still eat like we live on a farm(...). Last night was home made seitan (which does take effort and planning, or you can just buy it for an outrageous price) with mushrooms, carrots, sunflower seeds and soy sauce; follards (Which is what Bonnie and Oliver call their fake collards: the greens of broccoli, which are not generally eaten, but yummy nonetheless) sautéed with garlic; everything served over rice. I made some oh-my-god easy bread and Theo brought over some home-made nut butter, mayonnaise, and horseradish (which was so amazingly strong I wanted to die, but in a good way). Guv was kind enough to do the bread blessing twice and Talula did not break anything all night. Success!

oh-my-god easy bread (also known as Simple Crusty Bread) recipe:

1 1/2 tablespoons yeast

1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt

6 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, more for dusting dough

Cornmeal (optional).

1. In a large bowl or plastic container, mix yeast and salt into 3
cups lukewarm water (about 100 degrees). Stir in flour, mixing until
there are no dry patches. When using white flour I find I usually have to add a little more in when mixing. Dough will be quite loose. Cover, but not
with an airtight lid. Let dough rise at room temperature 2 hours (or
up to 5 hours).

2. Bake at this point or refrigerate, covered, for as long as two
weeks. When ready to bake, sprinkle a little flour on dough and cut
off a grapefruit-size piece with serrated knife. Turn dough in hands
to lightly stretch surface, creating a rounded top and a lumpy bottom.
Put dough on pizza peel (or a cookie sheet)sprinkled with cornmeal; let rest 40 minutes.
Repeat with remaining dough or refrigerate it.

3. Place broiler pan on bottom of oven. Place baking stone on middle
rack and turn oven to 450 degrees; heat stone at that temperature for
20 minutes. If you don't have a stone, don't worry about it. I've tried it with and without and it makes no difference at all.

4. Dust dough with flour, slash top with serrated or very sharp knife
three times. Slide onto stone. Pour one cup hot water into broiler pan
and shut oven quickly to trap steam. Bake until well browned, about 20-30
minutes. Cool completely.

Yield: 4 loaves.

You don't really need cornmeal or a baking stone, I just use a cookie sheet and extra flour.

This recipe is very skeletal and easy to change for different kinds of bread. I made a few loaves with half whole-wheat flour half white flour and put raisins in it. I thought it came out pretty yummy. I'm curious to try one with rosemary and olive oil.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

Happy New Year everyone!

The holiday season this year was calm and wonderful. I spent Christmas with The Logger Family in Pawlet. There was yummy Mexican food a-plenty and good company. Fighting was kept to a minimum except for one outburst about appreciating your family history and being proud of being Dutch because they weren't WWII Nazis. I didn't mention anything about the horrific Dutch slave trades or the fact that they ruined their own economy with their obsession with tulips. Being Italian probably makes my own family tree pretty dark at parts, but if you go back far enough in history, no one is innocent anyway. Being American makes your family heritage seem extremely far away and removed anyway and being American is not currently giving me much pride. Thus, I declined to take part in this conversation.

New Years Eve was spent here in Manchester. Albert fired his DJ for the evening so Max and Oliver and I kind of threw some list minute stuff together with Theo's sound system. I borrowed a mirror ball from the Dorset Theatre and Albert found this crazy mirror ball projector thing that projected shapes onto a disco ball which spun the shapes around the room. The fact that there were star shapes spinning around the room made me super happy.

The Logger ended up washing dishes all night, which was a shame for me because I had no one to entertain me (read: no one to pester) all night. He bought a new sweater from The Gap and put on clean jeans for the occasion, which might be the most dressed up he's been since Oliver's wedding. True it was a formal dinner and dancing New Years Eve party, but that's pretty formal for The Logger, so it counts. But like I said he ended up in the kitchen anyway.


Max and I downloaded a ton of music to play and I watched over it during dinner, and then Max took over during dancing. This worked out well because no one wanted to dance to the music I put on. Story of my life. This crowd was not into anything after 1970. Nothing. Don't even try it. Johnny Cash? Who the hell does that guy think he is anyway? Can't dance to it. Micheal Jackson? Hell no. Frank Sinatra? It's about time, now where's my dance partner? Lost him when you put on that modern crap you call "music".

I left the Inn early and got a New Years Eve kiss all snuggled in bed. My offer to play Auld Lang Syne on my compy was declined. I love going to bed early, even on New Year's Eve.

The Logger's House - Pawlet, VT

For Christmas this year we've got kind of a long post, but stick with it, because like all good stories worth telling, it's a bit of a long one.

Oh chicken moving day. Bonnie said it would be a crazy and funny, and those chickens did not fail to deliver.

The chickens haven't been coming out of their houses much since the snow fell and so they hadn't really been eating much either. I started giving them grain inside the chicken houses and putting the buckets of food right outside the doors, but it's still a little cold for them and they have trouble moving around in the snow. They went from laying about four dozen eggs a day to laying less than one dozen. Last winter Oliver moved all of the chickens over to the other greenhouse at the big white house. They cleared out all the old plants in there and made the soil super fertile, and stayed warm all winter. This year he has so many more chickens than last year, so he wasn't super anxious to move them.


Chickens do not like snow as much a Krysta likes snow

We had originally planned to move them at night, while they were a bit calmer and sleepy. Apparently he still did a bit of chasing them around last year, but they stacked into plastic totes pretty easily. Plans eventually got changed and we ended up doing it the next morning. The Logger and I found as many plastic totes with lids as we could, but even with so many of them, we knew we'd have to do it in more than one trip. When we were all ready to go Oliver walked up to us and said "OK, how do we do this?" No idea Oliver, you're the chicken moving expert. It ended up that Oliver and I were the ones catching chickens, while the Logger (who is also a ninja as it turns out) kept them from jumping back out of the totes. Oliver reminded me of my camera, so I took a few pictures during this ridiculous task.


Logging-Ninja skillz

The chickens were a little unsure at first, but many of them are used to being picked up so don't freak out a ton. Once they started to realize what was going on though, they all started running around like crazy. Nisi did not help the situation at all and I eventually had to lock her in the kitchen. Oliver, who is quite tall and quick, was grabbing several chickens at a time, but I could only really catch and carry them one at a time. At one point Oliver told me I was doing such a good job, considering I wasn't very keen on even touching the chickens when I first got here. It's true. Since when in my life have I even run after a bird, instead of running away? Never. Not once. And I'd like to make it clear that it's not because I think chickens are gross, it's just because they have wings and beaks and scary ways of being. It helps that they don't actually fly. I will admit that when I sometimes caught them without holding their wings I had a mini-panic when they flapped around in my hands.


Oliver with 4 or 5 chickens

Finally the totes were all filled and piled into the truck. Oliver drove it over to the greenhouse and got as close as he could in the snow, which ended up with the truck just down a small hill, but still very close. When we opened the totes the chickens were all huddled in together and looking rather cuddly. They made no attempt to climb out of the totes, so we had to kind of dump the totes over and encourage them to check out their new home. They seemed to get happy rather quickly after the ordeal. We closed up the remaining holes in the greenhouse, moved the nesting box and various chicken supplies in, and then got back in the truck to go deal with the second load.


Settled and cuddled


The chickens were unsure of this new and white tunnel

Oliver backed down the hill and backwards up the driveway of the big white house and then as he pulled forward and turned towards the street, the truck got stuck. When we got out to see what the problem was, we couldn't really tell. The wheels were on the ground, not really dug in at all and the snow was not very deep. We got some snow shovels and tried to dig the truck out, but that didn't work. So then The Logger tried bouncing on the back bumper to get some weight on the tires, no luck. He and Oliver pushed while I drove, still no. Then Max called and Oliver told him to bring the Jeep and some chains to try and pull us out. While we waited, we tried putting wood under the tires to give them something to grip to, but nothing was working. Finally Max and Bonnie arrived with the Jeep, but our angle was so weird that the Jeep couldn't do much and when we tried to put the Jeep at a better angle it ended up getting a little stuck in the snow. Finally we decided that since there were so many people there, Bonnie should drive the truck and the other four of us would push (I would like to state for the record that I only suggested Bonnie should drive because she is pregnant and falling in the ice and snow would stink. I did not suggest she should drive because she isn't tough, ok?). This crazy idea actually worked and the truck bounced forward and the wheels caught.


But why is it stuck?


Very bad angle for the rescue Jeep

But the story is not over yet! The truck now had to move backwards to have enough room to pull forward down the driveway and onto the street. The Logger got in and started to back it up, only to get stuck again, this time at a slightly less ridiculous angle. So we got ready to push again, but this time it didn't want to come out. We were able to hook the Jeep up to it again and with the Jeep pulling and three of us pushing, the truck got out of the ditch we had dug ourselves and aimed straight at the road. Hoo-ray. It's worth mentioning that Talula was asleep in her car seat in the Jeep through all of this.


What was left after the truck was finally out

Oliver then went with Bonnie and Max to the Inn to help his dad with something that needed to be done that afternoon and the Logger and I headed back to catch the last load of chickens. This should have been pretty quick and simple as well. The remaining chickens were mostly closed into one of the chicken houses and we had already brought over the extraneous stuff and gotten that mostly set up. So I ran around catching the chickens, sometimes asking The Logger to help me corner them. One particular breed of chicken is super speedy and hard to catch, but we eventually got all the ones not trapped in the house. When we went to get the ones that were in the house, that went super fast until the end when there were only a few left. We quickly realized that we could not have more than one white chicken in a tote, because those ladies are just too crazy. I started getting dizzy chasing the remaining chickens around, so The Logger took over. He's a very tall guy with a long reach, so he just kind of reached out and grabbed them like it was the easiest thing in the world. I have to practically get on top of them to catch them because I need two hands, but he just used his ninja skills and packed the rest of them up.

Then back into the truck and over to the greenhouse. Unfortunately we could not make it up the driveway even half way. It's a far enough walk to the greenhouse from where we were and those totes of chickens were pretty heavy. We carried two loads to the greenhouse when the Jeep showed up with Bonnie and Oliver. Oliver backed the truck out to the street and let the Jeep in first, then he attempted to back the truck up the driveway by flooring it with a good head start from the street. He only got a little further than we had. So we loaded the chicken totes on top of the Jeep and drove the remaining chickens over in that. Meanwhile several other people had been trying to get up the driveway, because there are more houses behind the big white house. Albert was worried that the plow would come and wouldn't be able to plow the driveway because of the truck. We got the rest of the chickens into the greenhouse speedily and then The Logger and I took the truck back to Teleion Holon, all before the plow came. Those freaking chickens better be so grateful.


Happy chickens

After we got back we threw our things together and headed out to spend the holiday with The Logger's family. We did not get stuck on the way there. Amazing.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

Last night we went over to Theo's for a winter solstice party. It's hard to believe that last night was already the shortest day of the year and that days will start to slowly get longer. It is not hard to believe that it is winter though; a two day snow storm just ended as we were leaving Theo's party.

It was pretty much just the Teleion Holon crew at the party due to the weather. It's a good thing we're a big crew, because there was no mistaking that it was indeed a party. Theo's house is pretty amazing, and there's a little space with really fun acustics where he's got his instruments set up. Guv did a little one-man rock-out on the drum set with a microphone and sang a song about people being good and doing the right thing. It included lyrics like, "listen to your mom and knock down all the junk food factories." I managed to forget my camera, as usual, but Theo took some pictures, so maybe I'll be able to post evidence of this occasion after all.

I wandered around the house a little during the musical session. It's a nice sized house and it looks like someone put a lot of thought into it. When I went upstairs the only room with an open door was easily recognized as Theo's room, so of course I went in and looked around. His room kind of reminded me of a dorm room with all its mis-matched posters and printed quotes on the wall along with a lingering incense smell. He had a hand written sign that said "Strength" above the bathroom mirror, which I thought was pretty awesome. What better way to start your morning? Anyway I think Theo reads this blog and I should stop before he thinks I'm a total creeper, which I am.

Theo's such an interesting guy and I'm really glad we got to go over to his place. I had just been saying to Oliver that I thought it was a little odd that Theo was over here all the time, but we had never gone to his place. There's so much to learn about a person from their home and I don't just mean wandering into a bedroom. For example, none of us knew that Theo had a drum set. I never would have pegged Theo as the kind of guy to have one. I guess there's a downside to this kind of intimacy as well; if people came into my room and hung out they'd quickly realize the extent of my zebra and plastic animal obsession.

All right everyone, I'm adding some new features to this blog. I was helping Oliver create a Teleion Holon blog and was inspired by some of the features I saw in other blogs we looked at.

There is now a navigation bar at the top of the page under a pretty terrible masthead. I'm not much of a graphic artist and I don't have any image editing software, so it'll have to do for now, until I can either get some software, or find someone to make one for me. Out of love. If you know of any free (read: illegal) copies of Photoshop, I'd love to know about it.

Another wonderful new feature is that by clocking the daily photo (Foto!) you will be taken to a full sized image. This is my second favorite feature after the nav link "The People," which sounds like a cult name, but is actually a little about the people I write about most frequently.

Everything else is self explanatory. To most people.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

I'm finally done planting in the greenhouse! The last few times I went over there were not so terrible because I brought my computer and listened to Vegan Radio podcasts. My brain just needs something to think about and react to if I'm going to be doing repetitive tasks for hours at a time.

I went back to the greenhouse yesterday to make some row-cover magic and I took my camera.


Three and a half rows of salad goodness. Can I just point out how wonderful it is to listen to a vegan talk show while planting salad greens. It's pretty sweet.


These half-circle wires, called wickets for obvious reasons, were put in about 5-6 feet apart down every row.


A double-layer of row covers will keep the plants warm. Putting the row covers on wickets will prevent the row covers from freezing to the plants and will also stop them from pressing the plants down.





And then The Logger helped me knock all the snow off the greenhouse roof so that light could come in and the roof did not get too heavy. We got a crazy amount of snow since it started yesterday so this process of knocking snow off the roof with the high-tech broom gadget will need to be repeated as often as necessary. The Logger loves this job though, so it's good thing about winter for him.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

Yesterday was more greenhouse planting. The sides of the greenhouse had so much snow an ice on them that they could not be rolled up, so we had to till with the greenhouse all closed, which made it kind of smoggy. We left it open for a few hours and I'll go back today to do more planting. No one can work in there when it's full of exhaust.

The Logger had come with me to give me a hand with rolling up the side (abandoned) and starting up the rototiller. It may be a little sad to admit, but I have never started a lawnmower in my life and the rototiller engine is the same idea. In my defense though I moved to the desert with my family before I was old enough to mow lawns, and we didn't have a lawn in Tucson, because that would be stupid.

Anyway, after much annoyance, the damn thing finally started up and The Logger started tilling. He had complained that he was moving in slow motion that day and true to form the greenhouse was already stinky though he had barley gone a few feet. So five-foot tiny Krysta took the tiller from six-foot extra-large Logger and speed-tilled the rest of the bed. Classic.

Anyway I want to put up pictures of the greenhouse once it's all planted. The salad looks so amazing and yummy. And it is.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

After years of avoiding it, I finally caved and purchased some long underwear. Long gone are the days where I would only be cold running to and from the subway. I spend enough time outdoors to justify this purchase, no matter how much I was trying to fight it. They're even nice indoors on chilly days, because Bonnie and Oliver don't heat the whole house, just the kitchen, which makes sense. No point in heating the rooms no one spends time in. It's cheaper and more efficient to just put on a sweater (and long underwear).

When it gets so cold the car doors won't close because the latch froze, it's time to think about ways to keep yourself as warm as possible. The Logger is outside right now trying to get his car door shut. I guess that one of the hidden dangers of smoking. If he had just let the chickens out and gone back to bed he wouldn't be stuck outside freezing, waiting for the car to heat up. At least it's not snowing.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

When I came back from NY after my ob had ended I rented a car and made some vague facebook references to having a puppy. To clear things up, I did not get a puppy. My friend Angie, who lives in Poultney. Bella was staying in the SoBro house with our friends while Angie had a job with the admissions department of Green Mountain College. She had to be on the road recruiting at high schools for a few months, so she was not able to look after Bella. When she found out that I would be going to NY for a job she suggested that I drive back with Bella, because her job is over now. She paid for the rental and I got to hang out with Bella. The poor little puppy got carsick though.

The drive back was a little crazy. The directions I got from google were not great and they were all back roads, often unmarked. I was able to get back without asking for directions or getting too lost. Four hours is not bad time. Returning the car turned out to be a bigger problem because no one knew where the Budget was. The Logger and I drove around Rutland forever trying to find this place. I now know Rutland pretty well. But this stupid Budget was tucked way back behind a shopping center and the sign in front was super tiny. I finally called Budget to find out exactly where it was. That's the last time I trust anyone else's directions. Poor Angie was waiting there forever. She doesn't have a cell phone, so I wasn't able to call her. Of course the place was closed when I finally got there so they charged my card for it. Gr.

While I was in NY, I took Bella to the dog park on Thanksgiving. She was kind of hilarious because she was so excited to be out, but she was also terrified. The other dogs tried to play with her, but she immediately jumped on my lap, or tried to cower behind Slocum, who had come with us.





I took her back to the SoBro house after that and hung out with my friends there while they cooked a turkey. Their dinner prompted me to go out and buy some fruit while I waited fr 6pm to roll around, which was when I planned to head over to my own Thanksgiving, which would be vegan. We had a little dance party during all of this.



And of course, the vegan Thanksgiving was amazing. Because really, everyone knows that the best part of Thanksgiving dinner are the sides.







Squash, sweet potatoes, kale, stuffing, bread, cranberry sauce, and dumplings (which I purchased from Dumpling Man). The best Thanksgivings I've ever had were the vegan and vegetarian ones.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

Snow today!!! White, beautiful, amazing snow! I took Nisi out to the meadow and we ran around a bit. That dog loves snow so much! She ran about scooping snow into her mouth and jumping on me. What a wonderful way to start the day.

Theo came over today with the Sunday Times. He encouraged a fire in the dinning room, read the paper, talked a bit about blogging, attacked me with magazine perfume (ugh) and then took off. I guess it's hard for anyone to want to work when it's so cold and quiet outside. At least the chicken fence got fixed today and the eggs got washed. I guess since Alex left I've been less excited to work because I end up spending hours working alone, which makes me feel a little sad. I'm just so used to working with a bunch of people and spending down time alone, not the other way around. It's an adjustment, I'll get used to it. The days have been colder and darker, which probably doesn't help my mood.

Anyway I've decided to spend Christmas here in VT. Christmas has no religious meaning to me, but is a good excuse to be with the people you love (though it's a little troublesome that I need an excuse for that). I was going to have Christmas with my aunt in the Poconos, but the more I think about it, the less I want to go. Maybe if they were having it at home on Long Island I'd still be into it, but getting there sounds like a huge ordeal during an already nightmarish time to travel. They want to ski and make a big sport of the holidays, and I really just want to be warm and relax. Plus I don't like to ski. Of course the main reason I don't want to go is because I can't think of anyone I'd rather spend the holidays with than The Logger. I missed him terribly last time I left and I really don't want to repeat that so soon. Maybe I could ask him to come with me, but I think we'd both be happier here.

Vermont is the place to be.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

I've been neglecting my blog and my photos. I have a bunch on my camera that need to be posted, but I am being oh so lazy. My sleep pattern is still all messed up and I usually blog in the morning. The Logger and I drove this woman, who works at the inn, to the bus station in White River Junction (90 minutes from here) in the middle of the night two nights ago and then picked her up last night at the same time. There was a bit of an ordeal involving some crap-tastic cars and shortage of gas and coolant, but everyone eventually ended up where they needed to go and she was very thankful for it.

A few people made negative comments about the whole ordeal and thought that maybe we had been taken advantage of or "suckered," but I really don't feel that way. I think that helping the people around you and those part of your community is generally more important than getting a few more hours of sleep. After all, working here on this farm I get no pay, but I am given food and shelter, the minimum needed to do this kind of job. She gave us gas money, the minimum needed to do this favor. I did the driving for the second night and other than being paid back for gas, I don't really want anything extra. I don't have a ton of money, but I'm not hurting and I never feel ok taking money from someone in a worse situation than myself, especially when I don't need it. Helping people can be its own reward. That being said, I am not keen on being taken advantage of and I let this woman know that we only took her because she had no other options and was in a bind. I am not so eager to do it again and I know The Logger isn't either.

The only regret I have is that the house is full of guests renting the 9 extra rooms for the weekend and they were up 2 hours after we got back. The kids are so loud in the hallway and I was not able to sleep in like I thought I would be. Maybe if I had known that would happen my willingness to help would have diminished slightly. I'm not a fan of napping, but I did sleep for a few hours this afternoon. That helped. Early to bed tonight. I can't wait to be back to waking up naturally at 6am.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

Oh to be back in the VT. I feel like I never left, except that my sleeping pattern is all screwed up now. I knew I would miss it here, but I don't think I'd realized just how much. Some of my friends and co-workers commented on how grumpy I was and they were right. I didn't even enjoy my job as much as I usually do, and I love my job. Bradford even made fun of me for not wanting to climb the extension ladder. It's true that they freak me out, even though I love climbing ladders, but it's not like me to say no. Normally I just tell myself to suck it up and get on the rickety thing, reminding myself that I have never fallen off one, nor have I even seen anyone fall off of one. This time I told him I'd rather not. So he did it. Lame Krysta.

It didn't help that my normal "whatever" attitude clashed sharply with the "hurry up and freak out" attitude of one of my co-workers. I'm a bit spoiled by working with Bradford all the time because he trusts me enough to just let me do my job and know that it will all get done right. He also knows that if I have a problem, I'll ask for help. This other person did not know me. I guess I don't blame him for freaking out a little. He's very serious about his job and I like to goof around. It would be a little worrisome to walk into a theatre and see that your Master Electrician is 5 feet tall and looks like a kid. And she also sends silly emails and takes huge chunks of time out of hang and focus to teach interns and unskilled labor how to do the jobs they were hired for. But, it's low-budget. Not everyone knows how to focus every light and some people are trying to get over a fear of heights. I know everything will get done on time and I would never decline to answer a question just because we could potentially be done 3 hours early. If given a choice between working with people who know what they are doing but are annoying, and working with my friends who don't know everything but want to learn, I'll work with my friends every time. That's why I work for Keen company. I enjoy their work ethic of "If it's not fun, it's not worth doing." I like to keep my job fun. But not everyone find joy in the same things that I do. Some people don't care much for the process and only get something from the finished piece. I am not that person, but I think my co-worker was. At least Bradford got a laugh out of all of our bickering.

After everything though, the lights were done and I think the show looks great. And a shameless plug happens here: Go see Beasley's Christmas Party at Theatre Row if you happen to be in the NYC area. The designer folks did not even have to come in on Monday. I had hopes of leaving the theatre by noon on Monday, but I ended up having a ton of extra work. I left NY at 7:30, even though I had planned to leave at 5. Who knew that you needed a real credit card to pick up a rental car, instead of a debit card. Well too bad I had left it in the Bronx and I had to go all the way up there to get it and then head back to 43rd. Ah well. It was a nice night drive, but I was so tired by the end. I got in at 11:30. The cute freaking logger of mine had waited up.

So now it's back to Vermont farm work. I love it. I feel so relaxed again and I am catching up on all that sleep I lost in NY. I love living where I work. The subway is great, but not having an hour commute in the morning is quite wonderful. Not to mention the fact that I can not eat the lights at my other job, but I can eat the spinach I planted today. And I did. Tasty.