Life has been very busy on the Temple Land as of late. My Thai Massage studio is complete with a beautiful new cork floor, walnut trim, milk paint walls, and other lovely accents. Thanks Jason. I'm booking appointments on a regular basis and you too, can experience the magic. check out www.templethaimassage.net Aunty Wissa (formally known as my sister, Alissa) ventured from Sydney to visit us in February. Yes, I'm actually recapping a February event in a June posting - so what? We continued the seating bench around the firepit, replacing the old wooden one with urbanite and cob. I can't remember what else we did because it was so long ago. But I know we had a great time, as always and we're already looking forward to her next visit March 2013.
On a slightly more raw and earthy topic, a new compost hacienda has replaced our monstrous compost box that has been quietly cooking our waste for the last 2 1/2 years. We decided to transfer the old pile, which wasn't quite done curing, into its new home. Quite a fascinating thing to shovel out a 4 cubic foot universe of kitchen scraps, humanure, straw, sawdust and lord knows what else. The very bottom of the pile, which had been aged for over 2 years was fed to the raspberries and also filled a new garden bed at the foot of the massage studio.
The floor of the cob building was excavated down several inches and more brainstorming done on the new design of this little dwelling. Only 3 months stand between us and the second annual Complete Cob workshop and the workshop promises to be even better than last year. Jason's masonry heater business is off to a great start with a beautiful heater in uptown Port Townsend. Check out www.templefire.net for pictures. A shower house in the low meadow is nearly complete and once finished, will be enjoyed by our renter, Jo and dirty workshop participants. Maybe Fela too. Come to think of it, I might be down there too. The garden has expanded into the dry barren hillside behind the house. Thanks to the dutiful leaf raking and piling efforts of my friend and neighbor, Barbara, I have heaved several truck loads of leaf mold and compost from her yard into mine with hopes that it will decompose, add fertility, catch water and increase the "bio" by several million orders of magnitude. And if you think I occasionally take wine breaks in the garden with Fela, you are right. Hydration is extremely important.
Also important is keeping safe and Jonah swears to me daily that he will keep me safe from sharks, alligators and spiky fish. And then he asks what I will keep him safe from. I try to mumble something about overhanging cliffs, STDs and pleated pants. He wrapped his arms around my neck today and told me I was his best friend. I choked to hold back my sobbing screams of joy and happiness. The love I feel for this child threaten to obliterate my heart and I wouldn't have it any other way. Of course, I know our days are numbered and soon he'll pretend not to know who I am, only calling on me to pick him and his friends up from the Silverdale mall.
On another note, Gina caught 2 baby bunnies and managed to injure one bad enough that I had to "let it go into the forest to be fixed by its Mama with bandaids and special cream". Which, of course, actually meant I fed it to Fela. Gina wears a bell when she goes outside but apparently is still as stealthy as a ninja. And as deadly. She's the alpha of all of us, in case you didn't know. Thank you to the Colliers for royally screwing up our hierarchy but damn, I do love that cat. And she loves me too. moving on.
I did, in fact, strut the catwalk in the 2012 Wearable Art Show wearing a creation by the fabulously talented Paula Lalish. My jacket was made from 5 miles of crocheted VHS tape, my first dress of red stretchy something with blinking boobs and the second dress was chalked up like a side of beef, declaring Hollywood's vision of women. Silver tights and winged black boots completed the outfit. Thats right. And I wore it proudly and Donna Summer sang my song, "She works Hard for the Money" and what a fitting tribute, as she died shortly after the show. Thank you Donna Summer for being amazing. I actually choreographed and performed a dance for myself in front of mirrored wall when I was 8 to this song. I just wish one mile of the VHS tape I wore in the jacket had captured the dance.
Jonah competed in the Rhododendron Festival trike race, rallying against other 3 year olds for glory and fame. He enjoyed it so much that he decided to ride again in the kiddie parade though he was confused about why there were no cats in the procession. kiddy cats. He was the only competitor in the "bike and trike" division for a while, though some baby joined in wearing a sailor outfit and won 1st place. Jonah won second place. out of 2 but who cares because yours truly got to walk in the parade as well holding one end of a rope tied to Jonah's trike. See the parade took place down steep roads and I could just imagine Jonah careening down the streets and ending up in the drink. So I walked him on the end of a leash, actually a neon tie down strap. carrying a purse and wearing my gardening hat.
Anyway, we've had such stellar weather lately that I'm digging out sunscreen, wide brimmed hats and watermelon. Of course, the dreaded June-uary is around the corner so I haven't completely put away the woolens. Ah yes, maritime weather. And yes, the continued catch up continues - June-uary has arrived with all its dreaded gloom. We actually lit a fire in the wood stove last week. twice. And the shorts and skirts got pushed to the back of the drawer and I began wearing 2 new wool jumpers. I better mention the tractor festival on Marrowstone Island that Jonah and Jason attended for the second year in a row. I was knee deep in Thai Massage and Yoga class and couldn't join them. Jonah was in his glory.
I best end this now or the "continued catch up" will continue all winter long. wait, I mean all spring long. summer starts in a week!
Unrelated: Jonah was given a book about animal tracks from his good friend, Justin. He clutched the book in his hands from the moment it was gifted til he fell asleep that night. The following morning, it was the first thing he reached for as his eyes opened. It was a beautiful morning and we went downstairs early for breakfast so we could get outside and enjoy the day. As we were breakfasting, we looked out the window and saw a large deer stroll into our yard from the driveway. We have not seen a deer ever on the property and the previous owner said the same. I called Fela from his slumber and out from under his wool blankets he sprang and down the steps and out the door, thinking it was breakfast time. Then he spotted the deer, the deer spotted him and in 2 giant leaps, the deer traversed the garden, the slope and disappeared into the forest. Jonah had fresh deer tracks to identify and Fela had a new mission in life. And I began to plan a high garden fence....
