A little bit of nonsense

'Natalia got a watch in June for her birthday in May. We checked it the other day and it said July.'

'Natalia has taken to wearing her bright blue hat like a smurf. I have taken to wearing a light blue scarf for increased communication.'

'In space we talk amongst ourselves; through machines, radio, and childish noise. We walk and speak to the sprawl beyond the sprawl. Come wash apples. Come love the worn out couch cushion; the one with the patched corner and the wine stain.' 

'Pigeon today, hedgehog tomorrow. (Or was it two hedgehogs yesterday?) '

 Everybody...meet Voditsa, Bulgaria!  

Structures seem to inhale slow and exhale audibly in this place.

The buildings are incredible here. I've been referring to them as active. As in actively growing. Ever-changing structures depending on the nature of their surroundings. The people that live in these places seem to be keeping them standing, through constant repair, attention to changes in the season, changes in neccessity, response to the location of the sun and stars in the sky, animal needs, structural needs. You know, etc.

'Our' house has just obtained an indoor shower, and plans to bring in another petchka (wood fire stove) as soon as the volunteers' room is emptied. There is some restructuring to be done under the garage roof before the snow comes, and the woodpiles are all slowly creeping closer and closer to the front door...

Halloween monsters line the back of a saggy orange sofa and the disco ball has been bouncing specks of light around the kitchen all morning.

Vasilka, the lovely baba next door has a rotating stash of vegetables. At the moment pumpkins (second biggest in the Popovo official contest!) overflow from a temporary nook next to her cooking room, the one where the kittens live, and a barrel sized hole in the garden is filled with giant beetroots. If you follow a little path between the kitchen and the front yard garden you will see Yorgi, her husband's, woodshop...and watch your head on the doorway. Drago, their son, always in his purple hat rolled up over his ears, is hovered over the distiller taking the alcoholic temperature of rakia (the local home brew made with whatever fruit there is too much of, this time plums). I steal a scrap of paper where Yorgi has done the math for us, to show that 60 proof plus 30 proof equals 90 proof, and divide it in half equals 45 proof...we didn't get the Bulgarian explanation to the math equation will have to do. (?!)

So far, in Voditsa, Natalia and I have:

1 turned a medium barn-sized plot of land (by hand, or pitchfork and shovel) into a bed of soft, beautiful, mixed up, dirt and poop

2 repaired the fence around the entire property to, almost, Dusty, the white as lightning guard dog, proof  standards. I say almost because she can now get out, but not back in. (we spent most of breakfast contemplating whether we should make a new hole so she can re-enter at night, or continue the search and destroy mission for the mystery hole...)

3 patched a hole between two rooms where the wall was ripped out at some point, with bricks. Yes, I can lay bricks; using only brick, water, mud, and sawdust

4 gathered enough wood to last two families the winter 

5 (I told my brother that I was only bragging to him BUT...) ran to the next village on Sunday, clocking 10 freaking miles (I haven't done that since high school x country!)

6 learned to locate a bunch of constellations including Plaides, which I've been calling The Littlest Dipper for years now!

7 learned to knit (for real! mittens and a ninja star headband)

8 learned the cyrillic alphabet (super rewarding since Tal can't read it and I get to read all the menus to her : )

9 Identified that Tina (of Ike and Tina the ducks) is a male and therefore will become apple smoked duck dinner : (

10 learned to hypnotize chickens (thak you Elly)

11 and Tal is so freaking close to doing a full blown headstand!

Basically, we work to keep warm during the day and hibernate next to the petchka in the evenings. : ) This is not the average 'farm' we've gotten used to since travelling, but a unique Newcastle/British version of an ongoing self-sustainability project. : )

Coming up next edition!:

We are planning to work at an Eco-camp in Kas, Turkey...drum roll please...south western Turkey just across the way from the Greek Islands. (Please let it be warmer. Please let it be warmer.) Either way we'll get ocean! The camp is a yoga/art camp and sustainability project in the summer but for us it will be quieter and mostly farm work. Still sounds marvelous : ) After that, Tal heads back to the States and I head to India...oh ma god! I'll work for a few weeks, Lauren will come find me and we'll travel, eat, peruse, whatever for a few weeks, and then I head to the mountains outside of Nasik (4 hours NE of Mumbai) for a month long yoga course : )-

I am making a map (with a big line around all of the places I've stopped) so you/I can make some sort of linear sense of this whirlwind trip.

Music post! I have some live video from Berlin and some 'sound for thought' photos...along with a solo performance from Natalia...just need fast internet that can actually upload stuff!

Ok! bye for now! (but not really, one more half written post to go : )