Making a Home

I've spent this weekend making my new apartment into more of a home. Now, don't go thinking it has any decor, a roommate or wireless internet yet. That's all a bit premature... but, I have taken my stuff out of boxes and removed the boxes from the living room (and bedroom) almost entirely. PLUS, I fixed an old futon I rescued from the curb, bought a used mattress and a lovely, soft new cover for it. I suppose that might even pass for decor. More importantly, though, there is seating in the living room! I baked cupcakes and the place still smells like chocolate, too. (Which reminds me, I am puzzled and horrified by it, but I can no longer deny that the dried organ powder - yes, that's dried guts in powder form - that I add to the cats' food smells like cocoa powder. It freaks me out every time. Eew.) Oh, the cats are settling in, too. I have taken some pictures, but I have yet to bring my camera, computer and USB cable all together in one room. I have been considering making some kind of video of them, but that may be a bit over the top and out of reach. Expect pictures, though.
The most important remaining duties are those of the apartment management: fix shower so that the warm water has pressure instead of only the icy cold water, fix dishwasher so that it drains (or replace it with one that doesn't violently fling all the light dishes around so I have to search for them when I empty the thing... *fingers crossed*), and finish reviewing the application of Beth my lovely roommate-to-be (I hope!).
I am very excited about the fall season right now. I have been drinking even more tea than usual and eating more and more soup. Mmmm... I bike through leaves blowing all over the streets as I go to work. It's a pleasant vest-wearing temperature. I even did the apple orchard visit thing with Mama when I was in Michigan (we got the yummiest fresh-pressed cider and pumpkin bread mix there)!
As I was unpacking my things, I got to a bin with all my winter things. It's sad not to have a need for them here. Instead of a warm, fuzzy ski jacket and thick knit hats and scarves, I have rain pants and a rain jacket for my winter wear. *groan* Hopefully, I will have a good opportunity to go skiing this winter. I just worry that it is not worth the money if I am not in good skiing shape. I don't want to pay tons of money just to do two runs before collapsing in an exhausted heap, that would be pathetic, or go all by myself.

...oops, I finished on a negative note... Really, things are good.

The Week in Review

This week started with sending Slav off to DC for the Co-op America Green Festival, which I am pretty jealous about. I would be a bit more jealous if I weren't going to go to the next festival, which is in San Francisco in November.

As has been the case with previous weeks, I have been occupying too much of my time with the search for housing. The market is a little crazy if you want to be anywhere near the neighborhoods I am interested in. How crazy is it? Well, I went to one open house where one of the groups viewing the place baked cupcakes to give to the landlord, one brought another unidentified plate of sweets and another brought beer. I ended up not really liking the house and not applying, so at least I didn't have to compete with that. It was like a housewarming or something! Anyway, the good news it that I got an apt right in one of my top choice neighborhoods! I am now looking for the perfect roommate, but at least I know the cats will be living with me again! Yay!

I had the opportunity to feel very important this week when I witnessed a car accident as I was leaving work. No one was at all hurt, but both cars were going to need some significant attention. I stopped to give my contact information to those involved and was later contacted by the insurance company for an official recorded interview. I was praised for giving my info and told that most times all the police and insurance folks have to go on are the biased accounts of the drivers involved. I don't know how much my "testimony" really helped since, in my view, the accident was dumb luck and bad timing rather than neglect or recklessness, but maybe it was of use.

I also went to a Capoeira class (my second one, but first at this school since I'm trying it out) on Tuesday, and it was amazingly fun! Capoeira is a Brazilian martial art that incorporates music, acrobatics and dance. Here is a video with some beginners/intermediates in it, but if you check out other vids on youtube you can see some majorly crazy acrobatics.

I think I am going to do this. However, I couldn't go back to class on Thursday, because I was so sore that I could barely walk. Actually, I could barely lay on the bed. It was intense - surely the result of essentially doing squats for an hour and a half.

On Wednesday, I went to a knitting group at the Yarn Garden and met some new people, including the owner of the shop. It was a good way to chill out, talking about knitting and drinking tea. Plus, I got some work done on my second sock.

On Saturday, Eileen, a woman that I met on the bike tours, and I went to Hood River for a very full day. First, we visited some homes on an eco-building tour of the gorge. The first, and most impressive, place that we saw was a bed, breakfast and retreat to be outside of Trout Lake, OR. Their location is beautiful, even though it was too cloudy for us to see Mt. Adams in all its snow-peaked glory. The highlights of this stop were eating the amazing organic fruit they gave out (and learning that the whole town of Trout Lake is organic!) fresh from their orchard, ringing the bell and seeing the cob meditation room with a fireplace and tree of life chimney.

Here I am, cautiously approaching the bell... Notice the stunning surroundings.

After we were full-up with eco-houses, we headed for the local alpaca farm (and yarn shop). First, we met the dog and cats, then the farmer, then the alpaca. We learned that alpaca are not related to llamas, but rather llamas were bred to guard alpaca herds in South America. So, alpaca are sweet while llama spit, kick and bite. Also, alpaca have soft lovely coats while llama coats are coarse and not really great for producing fiber. The alpaca were curious about us, but didn't want to be pet. They are experts at staying just a tad more than arm's length away. In the yarn shop, they had a huge section of alpaca yarn, mostly imported from Peru, but of course they had a section of their own. I got two hanks from their alpaca, one from Carly Rose (brownish like the alpaca in the picture) and one from Moonlight (a very nice cream color). I also got a skein of ultra-soft chunky from Peru, which I have committed to use for my first venture into cables (which are probably the main reason I started knitting in the first place). Overall, this was a fantastic stop, and worth the drive. The farmers were SO friendly and open to answering any questions about alpaca, about fiber, about knitting - anything. The alpaca are adorable, and the yarn shop had a great selection.

Finally, we headed back into downtown Hood River to check out the Hops Fest. Hops are a major crop here in Oregon, for those of you who don't know. Basically, this event was beer tasting, live music and a few food and crafts booths, but it was hoppin' (hehe)! We tasted a couple beers (as the driver I enjoyed some delicious and sugary root beer. Yum.) and danced away! We had some fun, and learned more about River Hours, the local currency of Hood River, which had sponsored the event.










All in all, it was a fantastic day. Great views of the gorge. Sustainability (green building, organic food, home-grown fiber, local currency and local beer). Checking out a new place, Hood River. And getting back to nature just a little bit.

Check out Eileen's new alpaca hat!