BEING where we are

I am blogging from The Big House, perched on a tall stool in our friends' home the day is unfolding. I hear the washing machine downstairs and the ice maker roars on from the freezer. These good friends share their lives, their land and their home with us and we try to be where are and do what can be done. Anna is spending a few days in the hospital, getting the attention she sorely needed to root out a problem that just would not go away. Josh and Jane E. are on their way to visit her with a load of fresh clothes and I have promised to restrain from eating all the luscious berries turning to ruby globes. The gardens in front of their home are filled with ripening strawberries the taste of which can only come from a well-loved home garden. We've been waiting for them beauties since we pulled up in April.

The lifestyle of VARDOFORTWO is the sort that has no long-term scheme. We have three months into the learning process, adjusting to the effects of the environment, practicing building an intentional community and still have more to finish on the inside of our wee wheelie home. "We're starting to have a routine, aren't we?" Pete said as he turned the light out in the Vardo last night. "Hmmm...I guess so." We measure time by Josh's car engine starting up: if we hear it it's near 8:30 in the morning. When he comes home at night it could be anywhere between ... We don't chop wood for heat, but we carry a lot of water. Everything we do that needs water --washing up the dishes, filling a kettle for tea, general washing up of the hands, fingers and face means we walk to the Big House faucet and fill our glass jugs, walk back and empty the water we need.

Pete is in town alone, driving to places I don't go into and thanks to the shared resources arrangement we have going on with Josh and Anna Pete uses Josh's truck so I have Scout if I need to get off the Ledge for any reason, or for a whim. It's a luxury and a blessing, something we can't and don't take for granted. In return Pete fixes things ... installs a railing for Anna's safety up and down the front steps, finds out what the electrical outlets don't work on the porch, clears the walkway down to the basement. I water the gardens, pick the juicy berries and prep the bounty for freezing so Anna will have her berries in a fresh blended smoothie.

We're adjusting to a new form of living that includes sleeping and resting in VARDOFORTWO. The time outside that wee wheelie home spreads differently than some lives would spread. Anna is in her hospital bed getting an arm massage and I've just seen Josh's truck pull into the drive way. Our lives include routine and that levels out some of the steepness to the climb. For the moment there is a hum that is easy. That's something.