no need for flowery s@#%

View from bathroom to kitchen

Mercury painting

wow.  it's been awhile.  We (Matthew and I and two of the kids) moved out officially of the house on Ruby Ave today.  What a burden dropped.  Two lots, a 3 bedroom, 2 full bath house. . . cleaned and manicured to the best of our abilities, left for renters, living officially on the bus.  Whew!  I can't accentuate that enough.   We are staying with friends in the next town over for a week, then converting the bus to veggie in Asheville, NC in 6 days, then up the Philadelphia, thank God Irene didn't take it out. . .here are some recent photos, misc to the max. . .more updates as we actually take flight. . .peace. . .

Did I mention the documentary photographic essay of our lives in motion?

Peter Ford's bus in North Carolina - don't let the exterior fool you - it had a giant flat screen TV, leather couch, and is fully converted to veggie oil.  Peter gave us the run-down on his system and has been available by phone anytime.  Yeah, central cool is right. . .

 Ez at an archery lesson, Cub Scout campout - thanks Finnessee for taking the boys.  The community I have here already is amazing.

Me and Ezekiel at the ice cream shop inside the original small town cinema - we prefer supporting that and the drive in across the street then the newest cinematic technology. . .

Here's my Matthew and me

 Mercury in the bus, keeping me company as I wash the ceilings in preparation for painting.

 Mercury and her new sister, Haley

 Samson and I found a tomato hornworm moth in our kitchen one morning this summer.  This took up most of the morning.

Samson in an Asheville cafe before we visited Peter's bus nearby.

This poster was hanging above Samson at the cafe.  It was an auspicious sign, shortly before our meeting with Peter.  It also describes our family to a tee.  Absurdist being the first adjective. . .

The Ridiculous Banana Waffle Argument

Night three just ended of horrendous sleep quality.  Only one child was restless enough to come into bed with me (again) although I heard 2 of them talking in their sleep and Mercury was scared enough of the previous night's nightmare that she slept in the top bunk in the boys' room. . .last night it was Matthew who was up, in a seemingly constant state of panic throughout the night.  Wow, there's alot of tension and anxiety in the air around here.  I plan on alleviating some of that by making the bus pretty today.  I am going to finish painting the walls yellow and the little spots on the ceiling and in between the windows a wonderfully calming blue, and giving my mom the material to sew the curtains, and installing the curtain rods.  That's a do-list that I can accomplish for sure in a day. . .

Right now I am still standing my ground that the waffles the boys are eating do NOT have bananas in them.  Samson is adamant about his theory.  I will see, THEN I will paint. . .

Here are photos I took last week.  I have so many photos and videos, but the old G4 I bought off craigslist to replace my shot one is sadly insufficient for video - I'm realizing everytime I pick this up how I got what I paid for. . .little glitches, no DVD player (holy cow!), not enough disk space to upload video or photos,  and for some reason it is exceedingly difficult to download photos from my email.  With all this technology, it would seem getting photos on a blog should be easier.  And bam - there's my complaining done for the day - I've reached my ceiling on whining. .  Here's to a finished paint job today!  And berry waffles!

Mercury took this of me last week, washing the ceiling before painting.  Here's the framed out bunks, loft, kitchen on the right and bathroom on the left.  The bathroom is just the composting toilet - I have a solar shower that will hang outside.  Giving up baths is going to be one of the most difficult transitions for the kids. . .

Figured I'd at least put some sort of exterior photo since I painted it white last fall. . .a blank canvas for artists we meet on the road and in the communities, to represent our nation-wide and even global community through art - a traveling reminder of community. . .

This is the blue that I am painting the ceiling - this was last week as I was doing it.  It's all blue now.  

Reality check for the dreamers. . .

And then there was five

I've been busy.  It's been a scant summer for posting, and I've learned my lesson - that this neglect cannot continue, but I still find myself distracted by other things. . .this ruby engagement ring on my finger - the finger that forgot how to type. . .and I've had a difficult time re-arranging my entire last 3 or 4 years' ideas into including a husband/partner.  The first few words describing this blog state 'single parent family'.  It's a strange and bittersweet metamorphosis, for all.  There is heavy energy in the house as we enter into the dawn of the last week here.  It's about 30 minutes before sunrise and I was awoken by Samson about 2 hours ago with his nightmares, thankful that he woke me from mine.  I couldn't rest enough to dose back off, with everything stirring in my head.  We have to be out of this house by August 15, then we are taking 2 weeks (or more) to finish up details on the bus while we stay with friends in the town next door.  Sounds simple.  But like I said, I've been distracted. . .

Matthew proposed to me 8 days ago.  We have a quick history, but I have also been granted a gift of sensitivity and response when it comes to the truth. . .and though I try my best to deny the truth many times, I can't fight it, and after talking about what sense it would make both logically and passionately (yes, you can make passionate sense, it's wonderful) to get married a few months ago - I ran!  Then what would you know but God's funny fate brought us back around to meet up after initial tests of honesty and intent were passed. . .the last 2 months with this man have been amazing - from pettily refusing to shift my concept as a single parent family, to agreeing having Matthew join us, then having 3 hour phone conversations every night when he visited family in California for a week, to changing my leave date, to changing OUR leave date, to missing him while I'm at a 5 hour work shift.  Now I sit in the quiet, the growing dawn, while my dear children and dear husband-to-be slumber peacefully, wondering how this new logic will fit into my stubborn and independent attitude, and being humbly amazed how much I needed him to shake it up, a stark realization that the community I seek I sometimes push away for fear my strength and recognition will be diluted.

This dawn that's crawling up the damp mint outside those french doors that I can't claim anymore, this dawn seems to be lighting more then the outside world.  It's guiding me to clarity and acceptance and a bounty of thankfulness I had given up on long ago.  I'll raise my coffee to a toast - here's to all the grudge work procrastination has led me to in our final week, to friends grander then platinum for sure, and that I can now proudly say 'we' and 'our' includes a man, my man. . .

And there is my excuse - my wonderful, wonderful, wonderful excuse that is almost as good as calling out of work because you've got the runs - it ALWAYS works - I fell in love and nothing else has been quite as important as staring into his eyes.  There's not much that can be multi-tasked in conjunction with that effort.  But his eyes are still closed as I type, and there-in have I found my time again.

Tomorrow Dave is coming up from Asheville to convert the bus while we learn and do what we're told. We plan on 2 days to add the veggie oil fuel system.  Then it's some major crunch time moving furniture around to friends' houses, finishing up the painting in the bus AND the house, the dividing walls, the sink, patching the roof, making this yard presentable, driving the 11 year old cat up to meet Jay in DC after work friday night, and driving back in time for work Saturday evening, and living on the bus in one week from today.  Dang.  Oh, and in the middle of all that, I turn 33.  What a perfect number.  That, or 5.