Kyril's Journal -- November 7, 2004

Work and Visitors

Sunday November 7, 2004

I did dishes, and made pumpkin pies while Tom sharpened the stakes in the barn and measured the slope of the ramp. I had to remind him to let me know when he needed help though. Once he had cut the plywood to the right shape he did have me help hold it and place it while he pounded in the stakes. I also brought shoveled gravel, filled the wheelbarrow, and wheeled it to the right area about 6 times to dump loads against the length of the forms to help hold them upright between gravel and stake. The intention was that the plywood would push back against the gravel holding it in place. We decided not to bother with staining or otherwise protecting the wood even though it will rot away in a few years. Our intention is to build a rock wall against the wood and by the time it rots away the rocks will retain the gravel. So we also put a few heavy rocks against the wood to help hold up the gravel.

Joyful and Mark were due in around 7 pm. We got a call from them on their way to let us know when they would arrive. And then a second call to tell us the Northern Lights were visible. Tom and I went out to see them. They were quite pretty. The red coloring was up overhead instead of just in the north and there were some bluish lights to the north. This was only the second or third time I have seen them out here in the 20 years we have been here.

It was Tom’s turn to make dinner so he made rice and veggies. But I wanted to try the curry pumpkin soup recipe I found on the ‘net so made that as well. It was all quite good. They arrived just in time for dinner.

Mark had his laptop so got it set up and there we were with the three of us on our lap tops with Joyful doing some reading. Faol called so that he could talk with us all and told me all about the party he attended, the women he connected with, the fun he was having. I was a little surprised that he had the time to call even though he had told me he would. I thought he would be involved in having fun and forget all about it. I told him about the Northern Lights we had seen and getting the ramp form set up. Mark and Joyful had immediately volunteered to help tomorrow after seeing the project. Yay! Then I passed the phone to Joyful and she had an opportunity to spend time with him as well.

After that Mark asked about the church we were involved with so we discussed that a bit which led into discussions of community and SISL and actually having community. Mark is also feeling the difficulty in having loved ones long distances away with all the resulting travel with its time and stress. He isn’t thinking of having a single home with several lovers in a family/nest situation as Faol and I are but more like a small neighborhood of lovers nearby in their own dwellings. But the basic idea of being together in the same place at the same time and interacting as community is there. It was an interesting discussion that took us into the next day.