I’ve been looking at various ways of being able to light the inside and outside of the yurt when it’s complete (yes, I know I’m getting a little ahead of myself). I’ve reached out to a few companies, groups, and artists that work with solar and electro-luminescent materials. One option that I find intriguing is the solar harvesting textiles of KVA’s Soft House — picture below.

This fabric would act as a solar panel for the yurt and could power things on the inside with ease! The other material I recently discovered was electro-luminescent wire, which is flexible and, unlike neon, doesn’t get hot while it’s on. One of the women involved in the Institute of Figuring’s crochet coral reef project, Eleanor Kent, uses it to crochet jewelry and coral pieces so I’m thinking I can weave it into the inside of the yurt and have a few rows of light towards the oculus on the inside!A few of Eleanor’s works are below.

Another piece of her jewelry made out of the wire is below.

Thoughts? Suggestions on how to make this work? Ways to light up the outside?

Sirs, There are new biographies of Leon Trotsky and reviewed in the TLS (October 23, 09), one is Bertrand M. Patenaude’s Stalin’s Nemesis,The exile and murder of Leon Trotsky and Robert Service’s Trotsky at 600 pages. Both are to be reccomended, even for those who have read the three volumes by Isaac Deutscher. Two points in the review struck us. Donald Rayfield writes, “Trotsky had qualities, however, which emerge in both these books. First, his passions were sexual as well as political. A man who can, when sick, tired and sixty, write a love in terms obscenely primitive as Trotsky’s cannot fail to arouse admiration.” We certainly agree. he continues, “Secondly, Trotsky was a genuine writer: when he set aside party doctrine or factionalism and wrote about his and others’ lives, he wrote as vividly as the classics of Russian literature…” You will find more on Trotsky in It Is I, Ekaterina Degout.

Dear Readers,
I am in the Fares Tower of the Tisch Library of Tufts University and have an Oxford Duden German Dictionary and a copy of Georg Heym’s Dichtungen und Schriften, of which I am to translate various poems for Max Klinger and Der Zuschauer. I have also been asked to review a copy of The Oxford History of Literary Translation in English, Vol. 4: 1790-1900. I am now walking with a cane as much for balance as the left ankle, and I am also very interested in this question of Samuel Beckett and Karl Valentin that Klinger has raised. The autumn season here in Somerville/Cambridge has been gorgeous, and good theatre goes on all over the place. It is good to be out of hospital capitivity and see daily such things as hopping sparrows and harrier jet squirrels. These are days to be envied by those living and working on Guam Island. There are new biographies out on Leon Trotsky and I suppose Editor Degout is working on that. I have been thinking about how Henry James essays On the Art of Fiction (e. Edel) are of great value to the interst of all working dramaturgs. I am unsure if I am in any way a 21st century writer but at least it is clear I shall die one. We hope you enjoy your Turkey Day and all the trimmings.

Stanley Richardson
for Der Zuschauer

We stayed at  Torreya State Park for our honeymoon, just west of Tallahassee, in a yurt.  A yurt is a round framed structure covered by a canvas material.  It had heat and AC, electricity, and beds.  Not quite the luxury of an RV, but much more upscale than a tent, especially in January!

Winter hiking in Florida is really pleasant.  You don’t have to deal with as many horseflies or mosquitos.  Plus, the air is cool, so you don’t get exhausted from the heat.  Torreya was a great place to hike.  It has an old plantation house located on the Apalachicola River.  It was also a strategic place of battle during one of the wars.  On the trail that runs behind the house are markers and canons that aim out towards the river. 

The campground was elevated, almost like a table top.  The sunsets were spectacular; looking over the river valley, the red trees, the low clouds.  We saw plenty of deer.  And up the road there was plenty of hunting going on.  The central bathroom had hundreds of ladybugs in it.  Yes, a strange memory, but it was almost a delight…better than roaches, etc.

Our first night there we hiked down the East trail from the campsite.  We went through  a swampy area and then up a steep hill and towards the river.  We saw deer and foxes.  By the time we got to the river the sun was just setting and steam was rising off the water, but it was already too dark for my meager camera skills to capture it.  We went for other night hikes below our yurt on the lower trails.  It was really beautifully and very hilly.  Definitely terrain I am not accustomed to.  We are awaiting the day when we can bring the kids.

Karl Valentin

From all of us here, serving drama on Guam, to you, where ever you are. Keep hope alive.
The Editors

Today over at Funtasticus they posted a slew of knitted bodysuits…seriously. It inspired me to post because I think of the yurt as a woolly alternative to literally knitting or crocheting yourself into a human shaped suit!

I mean, this guy does look quite warm but not quite as mobile as he could be.

You can’t help but laugh to see these guys in their suits — they must be so snuggly but I still think a yurt might be more fun!

August 22, 2009.  Our trip started with a Saturday 3:15am alarm, ugh… then it was off to the airport.  We were on our way to China!  We flew to Chicago then had several hours layover before we boarded our direct flight to Beijing.  After 4 movies and several meals we were in Beijing.  The airport was a modern wonder of design.  After fetching our bags and getting some Chinese money we made our way to the hotel.  The 30 hour trek went by without a hitch!  The hotel was beautiful and new, as were all our China hotels (except for Inner Mongolia).  The room was large and the bathroom was perfect. 

As we settled in at the hotel, I thought I would check out the food.  The restaurant was classy – all the wait staff in black suits, linen table settings, mmmm, looking good!  However, no one could speak English and the menus were in Chinese only.  So I started guessing on the menu… the first thing I pointed to ended up being dog and the second was horse.  I went back up stairs and we went to bed with a nice meal of snack bars.  Don’t get me wrong - I do believe in trying the local cuisine.  I was just too tired for the challenge. 

The next day we flew to Baotou, a bustling city of almost 3 million in Inner Mongolia.  We drove and drove and made our way to Resonant Sand Gorge to begin our adventure in the Gobi Desert.  This was like a trip through western Nebraska, miles of rolling land with only an occasional house.  Our driver was determined to make time so he would pass cars anytime, anywhere.  He seemed unconcerned with approaching traffic and held his own, even going up hills.  No one slowed down – it was a game of chicken.  As our driver pushed on, the approaching traffic would veer to the side of the road to avoid collision.  Eventually we got to the Gobi Desert and prepared to ride camels. 

The camels patiently wait for the next rider

I guess the excursion to Inner Mongolia gave us a few surprises (we had lots of surprises during our two weeks).  The web site said to bring sun screen etc. since it could be a hot sunny day.  This was late August so it should have been hot, but the weather was already turning colder… the temperature was in the 50s and 60s with lots of wind and driving rain.  We bought rain coats ($2 each) and went to the camel corral.  There we learned we needed to remove the rain gear so we wouldn’t frighten the camels.  Anyway…  The ride on the camels was great as they slowly plodded over the hills of sand.  It was quite a site to see a long line of camels crossing over the hills of sand.  I later learned this area has crazy weather.  The desert is on a plateau and can reach over 100 degrees during the day, yet frost at night.  Also, when the winds come out of Siberia, everything cools down. 

Mary speeding through the Gobi Desert

Lunch was at a place that seemed like it could have been a 1950s Communist party recreation center.  We went into a large industrial type building and the cooks put the food on a table in large cooking pots (they looked like they would hold 4-5 gallons each).  People would take large spoons and fill their plate (a metal tray pressed with sections for your food).  As we approached the table, people would shove and push and hip check in order to get to the pot first.  Once you tasted the food, you wondered what the tussle was all about…

Genghis Khan Mausoleum

Our trip to Inner Mongolia also included a visit to the Genghis Khan Mausoleum, a horse-back ride, a Mongolian show and more Mongolian food.  Finger mutton (you got it, you eat it with your hands), rotten vegetables, not so good.  The pork and mushrooms was a nice surprise, but, I will admit, by now the bar was pretty low.  We spent the night in an unheated yurt with a concrete floor.  The bed was a blanket on a hard board platform.  The pillow was a bag of dried seeds – it was like sleeping on a bag of soup beans.  The bathroom had hair and dirt all over the floor and the next morning we noticed it was in the bed too.  We had a thermos of hot water that was to last the two of us all day for our bathing needs.  

The yurt village where we stayed

The evening ended with the Chinese guests (we were the only two westerners) singing songs around a fire with busted-up lumber, a fun touch.  There are so many stories from Mongolia… But, I will not go into all the details about our car breaking down in the rain or the driver getting lost several times and making U-turns in the middle of major 8-lane intersections in front of the police, etc.  This part of the trip could easily be the material for a “Vacation” movie.

Please don’t get me wrong, we did enjoy our adventure to Inner Mongolia.  The people seemed very nice… we just could not talk to anyone but our guide for about 3 days.  Some of the food was tasty… I think I’ll end the story there. 

Off to join the Mongol army

               Bir tecrübemi paylaşmak istiyorum, kitap okurken müzik dinlemek ile ilgili. Öğrencilik yıllarımda  kaldığım yurttaki gürültüden soyutlanıp okuduğum şeye daha iyi konsantre olabilmek için kulaklığı takıp okurdum okuyacağım şeyi. Sonraları bazı müzik parçalarını yeniden dinlerken zihnimde bazı sahnelerin canlandığını  ve bu sahnelerin özellikle okuduğum romanlardan birer kesit olduğunu farkettim. Bunun güzel bir şey olduğunu hissettim ve artık bilerek yaptığım bir alışkanlığım oldu.

             Yeni bir kitaba başlayacağım zaman o kitap ile güzel uyum içinde gidecek güzel bir karışım oluşturacak bir albüm ararım. En hoşuma giden karışımım ise Servet Kocakaya’nın ‘Pencere’ albümüyle birlikte okuduğum İran tarihiyle ilgili bir aşk romanıydı. Artık ‘Pencere’ nin benim için anlamı tamamen farklı olacaktır. Bu bir film izlemek gibidir aynen, nasıl ki müzikleri tutturulursa bir filmin tadına doyum olmaz bu da öyle bir şey işte.

               Burdan şu sonucu çıkarabiliriz, beyin bir anda aldığı tüm duyuları (bunlar ister görme olsun ister duyma hatta koku olsa bile)  bir birine yakın olarak kodlar. Ve bu duyulardan biri yeniden uyarıldığında öbürü de hatırlanır. Bu bir yemek kokusunda bir şeyi veya birini hatırlamak gibidir. Çünkü o kokuyla o şahsı aynı yere kodlamışsındır.

               Çeşitli karışımlar yaparak hayatı daha eğlenceli ve güzel ve mutlu kılmak mümkündür. Yeter ki doğanın, yaratılmış güzelliklerin farkında olup onları kullanabilme yetisinde olalım.

I know, I know, it has been almost a month since my last post, which I admit was a little lame.  I am confident that people have stopped checking my blog since I have been so neglectful in updating it.  The truth is, my camera is broken, so there aren’t any pictures for me to show in that respect, which is rotten, but any more, blogging is just another thing on the to-d0-list, which just keeps growing.  But that’s life as a teacher here, and it doesn’t surprise me.  Right now, however, it is Sunday evening and I don’t want to be at work anyway, so I thought it a perfect time to update my blog readers on my doings in the last month.

In a word: work.  Alright, so other things have happened besides that, but mostly I’ve been busy with work.  School has, once again, infiltrated my life, as it does every year, and most of what I do is coated in a good layer of work, even my personal life.  Do I have time to hang out?  I don’t know, I have a lot of work.  Do I have energy (or time) to go for a walk?  Hmm, it was a long day at work.  Should I play my violin this evening?  Well, that would mean staying at work, since it is bad for the instrument to stay in the yurt anymore.  And this is how it goes.  But it’s really not all bad.  Fortunately, I like the people I work with, and I like my job (95% of the time, which is pretty good, looking at it objectively).

As for the yurt, which is the more interesting part of my life, it is still standing.  I am working on becoming more faithful with my wood chopping.  I did learn to use the chainsaw, which is pretty cool.  Don’t worry, I am careful.  And I am also becoming a master with the ax.  I can chop wood all on my own, and get pretty small pieces chopped up from one enormous hunk of log.  When pictures are available, I will show you what I can do.  It impresses even me sometimes…  It does have its hazards, though, and I have ended up with some minor injuries.  I hit my shin with the ax handle once; it left a bump on my bone for about a month.  I have no idea what that means.  Because I got nearly frostbitten once, my toes become colder a lot quicker.  I need to start eating foods that promote better circulation, because it gets cold, and I live in basically a giant tent.  I jammed my finger between the sledgehammer handle and the ax handle.  Don’t worry, just a little swelling.  It’s totally fine.  When the wood splits I do have to be careful where it flies, because it has hit me in the leg a couple of times.  I have bruises on my body, and I’m not sure how I got them all.  I burned my arm a couple of times already on the wood stove.  But all this is nothing in comparison to what I’ve learned.  I mean, really, I can keep the place at a nice and cozy temperature pretty constantly throughout the day and night when I’m home.  I set alarms for the night time so I can get up and stoke the fire.  This way I wake up warmer, in a better mood, and with the energy and will power to make a good breakfast.  Although the place is a mess at the moment, it is still my favorite place to be.  The view is spectacular, and the solitude is more than welcome.

We still do not have any snow, which is a real bummer.  My friend Kim and I went for a walk out in the hills, and it was nice to have a frozen ground without all the wet, but we noted that, were there snow, it would be a perfect day to go skiing: clear blue skies, no wind, and warm enough to not need very many layers.  I am getting very anxious to ski.  Also, I have decided to be the ski coach this year, which reminds me – I need to take the coaching class so that I can get paid.   Another thing for the to-do list…

We had the annual all-teacher BSSD Education Conference in Stebbins this year, since Unalakleet is getting a new gym, so there wasn’t room for everyone.  It was really cool to see another village.  I’d never been there before.  It was also cool to see another school, other classrooms, and so forth.  It was a fantastic week with lots of learning and lots of reconnecting with friends.  Since we are so spread out, teachers don’t get to see each other very often.  Working weekends, committees, inservices, and sports are not only important for professional development, but they are great social events.  And we all know how highly I value socializing.

Halloween came and went.  I was going to be Darkwing Duck, but time got away from me, and as I was behind in so many other things, I of course didn’t get around to making my costume.  Ah, another time I suppose.  I should have bought the costume that I wanted… oh well.  Shoulda woulda whatever.   The day of Halloween, which was a Saturday, I actually traveled down to Unalakleet for a funeral.  Since I was only there for a day (3 other people and I got a charter flight to go down in the morning and come back to Koyuk that evening), I didn’t get to see many people.  One notable thing was getting to visit my other parents’ house.  I’ve been unofficially adopted… it’s great!  I walked in and was headed towards the kids’ bedrooms, and as Alex was running down the hallway he shouted, “Hi, big sister!!”  Needless to say, I spent the next half hour playing cars with him and praising him for his sweet costume – Indiana Jones, complete with a whip.  After the little sister finally got out of the shower, she showed me her vampire costume – sweet dress, blood, scary make-up, and all the fixings.  I was actually entrusted with sewing up a hole in her costume, which was a little scary, but completely successful.  Fewf!  This picture of the two of them makes me exceptionally happy.  I only wish I could have seen them in real life!  I also got to sit down with Stacey for a while, which was nice.  We had some good chats, as always, and I was (and still am) grateful for her generosity.

Back in Koyuk, we’ve stayed pretty busy.  There was a visit from the famous (in Alaska) Mr. Whitekeys and Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus.  (Does it bother anyone else that she doesn’t have a first name???  I’m going to name her Hilda.)  Kids got presents and pictures and fun and an afternoon out of school.  Operation Santa Claus strikes again!  It was a great community event.  Plus, an enormous plane landed on our airstrip, which was actually a pretty big deal.  I have no idea how they did it.  It was fun for the teachers, too.  The whole staff got a sweet picture with the Clauses.

Well, tonight I am off to listen to Mennonite sermon with Matt and Mandy, people in whom I find exponential sanity.  This is my church, I suppose.  We have a sort of potluck meal, though I fail more often than not at contributing something worthy to their meals.  Good company, good conversation, and someone who doesn’t think I’m crazy for thinking the way that I do.  Success!  I am not alone.

Oh, and in even better news, Heather had her baby!!  Today we went over to visit, and little Xander is so beautiful!!  Heather is doing great, sleep deprived, but happy.  Others were impressed with my skills with baby, which is not a sign, by the way.  I’m great with other people’s kids.  That’s about it.

Take care blog readers!  I hope these pictures show up…

Awesome job everyone — we were just pushed over the 40% mark for yurt fundraising at Kickstarter! I’m so humbled by everyone’s generosity and the outpouring of support by total strangers too — it’s AMAZING!

HUGE blue ribbon to everyone who has pledged their support and if you’re waiting for the right time — now could be it! Thanks so much for spreading the yurt around to your friends too — it means the world to me!

Yurt at Fort Stevens State Park

I had a crazy weekend, how about you?

The crazy-ness of my weekend was not so much about Halloween, but more about getting out of town, staying in my first yurt, and watching the spectacle of cyclocross for two full days in a row.

Did I just lose you?

Front porch

Yurts, if you don’t know, are round, semi-tepee like structures that you can “camp” in.  I say “camp”, with quotes, because the yurt we stayed in this weekend was entirely civilized, with a bed, desk, chairs, lights, and heat.  The only thing missing is indoor plumbing, and since my husband and I like to backpack, we didn’t miss that a whole lot.  It was only a short walk to the (extremely clean and well lit) bathroom at any rate, and the bathroom building even had separate little rooms with showers in them.  Yes, with hot water.

Inside the yurt

And cyclocross, you ask, what the heck is that?  Cyclocross is a biking event, very similar to steeplechase in that you are riding through water and jumping over barriers . . . except of course, your trusty steed is a bike rather than a horse.  My husband has been competing in cyclocross for a couple seasons now, and he and several members of his bike team were in Astoria, Oregon, this weekend competing in one of the biggest events of the season.  I spectated and stayed as far from the mud as I could, which wasn’t very far at all.

Muddy Fun

This event in particular is fun because there are two days of races, rather than just one, and-more importantly-it is on Halloween weekend every year, which means costumes!  People really go crazy with their costumes, to the point where you can’t quite believe they can ride a bike in them, much less jump over obstacles and slog through mud at the same time.  My least favorite this year were the Borat-inspired green man-thongs (especially on the guy who chose not to wear the nude underpants and tights with it, eeewwwww), no pictures of that . . . my top favorites where the guy on the jacked up bike wearing the 5 foot tall giraffe head, and the two hockey players who threw down their bikes after jumping the barricades on each lap and proceeded to fight each other, NHL-style.

Silver guy, Pinocchio, and the Human Barricades

There is so much more I could share, lots of fun stories about Team Beer and the Beer-kettes, or about the guy who crashed twice during warm ups on the barricades (trying a little hard) then crashed badly on his first lap in the Elite race (the guys who are really good), apparently cracking several ribs and nearly passing out, then got back on his bike to finish the race, and came back and raced three times on Sunday too . . . and cute stuff like the two year old who “practiced” in between races by throwing his little Stryder bike (the kind without pedals) over the barricades, and the adorable dog who was dressed up as a bull along with his owners who were matadors, and on and on and on . . . but really you should go look up cyclocross and find a race in your area.  It has to be one of the most entertaining sports I’ve ever watched.  Even without my husband, who is pretty darn entertaining on his own!

Kiddie Cross

But wait, there’s more!  I’d hate to leave you without a recipe, since I don’t know when I’ll get the chance to post again–so I’ll share our go-to camping meal.  We do some variation of this pretty much every time we camp, whether we are car camping, backpacking, or now yurt-ing.  It’s also a great, simple meal to make at home either on the grill or in the oven.  Tailor it however you like, you can’t go wrong!

dinner in the fire

Sausage and Potato Foil Packets

• chicken or pork sausage, one or two links per person
• red and/or gold new  potatoes, about 1 cup chopped per person
• sweet onion
• garlic cloves
• fresh rosemary
• salt and pepper
• olive oil

Chop the potatoes into a large dice, each piece no more than 1/2 inch across.  If you like them larger, that’s fine–they’ll just take longer to cook.  Dice onion.  Peel garlic cloves.  Toss potatoes, onion, and garlic in a bowl with a drizzle of olive oil.  Add in fresh rosemary, stripped from the stem and chopped, and a dash of kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper.  Toss well.  Lay out a sheet of foil about the size of a cookie sheet.  Place one serving of potatoes near one side of the foil, and top with one or two links of sausage.  Fold in the sides and roll the potatoes/sausage into a packet, crimping the edges.  Keep the packet fairly flat in shape to facilitate cooking.  Cook in the hot coals of a camp fire, on a grill, or in a 350 oven for 30 to 60 minutes, depending on the size of the packet and the cooking method.  Packets are done when the sausage is cooked through (or fully hot, if you’re using precooked), and the potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork.  Or charred, as ours were.

even the dogs were tired at the end

As many of you are aware, this past Saturday was the International Day of Climate Action organized by the group 350.org. I’ve been familiar with the group for a little while as a friend of mine from high school, who lives in San Francisco, is involved as an organizer there and his Facebook keeps me informed!

Saturday they posted photos that flooded in from around the world of people holding up 350 signs — this one came in from the town of Bulam in Mongolia — they tied the 350 movement to their yurts, literally! Congrats to the 350 crew!

And yurts too I should say! I feel like there’s a song in there somewhere…anyways, since the launch of this project I’ve been getting sent photos from friends and strangers around the world of awesome sheep and yurts that I wanted to share!

The above is from Mt. Vernon — they’re George Washington’s sheep!

And then they promptly ran away from my friend Courtney!

The above is a yurt from the Dutchess County Wool and Sheep Festival from Molly Made!

One of my clients sent me this phone pic from his business trip to Australia — look at that beautiful bushy merino! HUGE! Thanks everyone — keep them coming!!!

I’m so thrilled to report that with everyone’s extreme generosity we’ve already raised over $1,100 for the yurt! This puts us at just over 20% funded on Kickstarter — if we keep this up we’ll be able to raise more than enough and the yurt will be even more awesome than I imagined!

So team, BIG gold star — please please continue to spread the yurt love!

I’ve been getting some requests, especially while at Crafts in Chelsea yesterday for Yurt-related collateral. Sticker, bags, the usual! So I went on Zazzle this morning and have made a few products, bumper stickers and regular stickers so far, so that people can, if they so choose, spread the love of the yurt.

I’ve posted the pictures of them here and they can be purchased here. If you’d prefer I order them and send them to you just let me know — the more yurt love the better!

I’m hearing some feedback that people can’t visualize what the yurt will look like when it’s finally complete — totally understandable. When I went to my friend’s new wool importing and knitwear trunk show last Thursday I was expressing this concern to her and she kindly introduced me to her friend Thyra Heder, who is an amazing illustrator. I described the yurt to her and we organized an exchange — a crochet hat for a drawing of the yurt!

Posted above is the one that I feel most accurately represents the yurt and can help people get what’s coming when this project is complete — you can see the door and the smoke-hole at the top. So exciting! Dream on…about yurts!

Let it be known that I love my dog. Here she is, the happy pup, the little thing that keeps my feet warm in the yurt. She’s been very good lately, and usually I don’t even have to leash her. Although, she’s on probation at the moment… But most of the time, she’s great. Energetic and loving and happy and spoiled and getting fat. She’s my lovey!

she is a cute dog

i am so scary. (mom thinks i'm just yawning. shh, don't tell.)

back in civilization, but still in the u.p.

having spent the last few days in a yurt in the “porkies” i write this from the wi fi joy of another cheap motel room.  from munising we raced across the u.p. toward the “porkies” with the desire to get there before nightfall, i’m still a little unsure of when nightfall is with the more northern latitudes, but we are also at the extreme end of the time zone so i guess that changes things as well.  ma’s tummy was bothering her, and she felt a kombucha would make everything feel better.  marquette on the way was rumoured to be a bit of a college town – and college towns equal food co-ops which equal a source of kombucha.  sure enough with a little wondering we were able to find a food co-op.  i’m not sure what it is about food co-ops but they are such a comforting thing.  it doesn’t really matter where you go, they are all the same, have the same smell when you enter the door, sell the same products and have the same aesthetic, even it i don’t really like it i feel comforted by the consistency.  kombucha in hand plus a couple of other odds and ends, we move on to taking care of a couple other essentials, coffee and sweets – which of course are right next door, a local coffee roaster, and a bakery.  marquette is quickly dubbed the ann arbor of the north (this is not ment to be a complement, though we are happy with the convenience it affords us).  coffee is good, and baked goods are fantastic.  refueled we head on.

for lunch we had decided we needed to try the most essential of northern treats – the pasty.  we had seen pasty joints advertised all throughout our trip and up till now had resisted their charms, but felt we needed to try them, and today for whatever reason was the day.  we passed though town after town with no luck.  the last village of any size was ontonagon, i’d pretty much given up any hope, but could tell ma still held out, and with that we entered ontonagon a town with more bars than any other businesses.  not a good sign – i’d say it’s a case of group chronic depression – but i’m just a visitor so far be it from me to judge.  one diner in town advertised pasties, we are saved.  rather than sit down we just get them to go, we have places to go.  i took a quick inventory of median age, not a soul under 55 – ontonagon things are not looking good for you.  i started calling ontonagon octogeragon on account of the ages.

the pasties were weighty, ma passed me the bag and i was surprised by the burden she had been carrying.  in the car i munched and drove, and tried to figure out just what i was eating – rumor had it that there was rutabaga in it, but it tasted just like potato to me – i don’t know if they ran out, or if rutabaga tastes just like potato, i admit to not having eaten rutabaga nearly enough.  the pasty was not all that exciting to my tasty, but i suppose if i was a cornish miner i might feel otherwise.  i didn’t even finish it, not cause it didn’t excite me but cause i was full.  those things are big, should have ordered the mini pasty.

the pasty

making it to the “porkies” we stop at the visitor center to learn about getting keys to our yurt as well as some hiking info.  our ranger guide “sunshine” is super helpful, giving us a bunch of great recommendations on where to hike.  we decided on a quick hike in the lake of clouds.   lake of clouds is amazing, a vista at the top tempts me to get to the bottom, a half mile scramble down hill to a little bridge which is nice, but doesn’t offer closer viewing.  we take another path which gives great views but no close-ups.  we turn back, it’s time to set up camp.

lake of the clouds

we hike into the yurt almost getting into a fight, i think one of the only ones of the trip.  the hike into the yurt is messy and muddy, they have gotten plenty of rain up these parts in the last few days.  the yurt is pretty much adorable. ma is in love and talking quickly about our yurt we will build on our land in the future.  we quickly settle into our rolls, ma making the place all cute and cozy and me worried about having enough fire wood for the night.  you could argue that being warm is more important, but coming back to the yurt after chopping wood for an hour or so and having your bed all made up for you is pretty wonderful.

the yurt

i get a good stack of wood indoors and ma gets dinner going.  dinner of broccoli and brown rice pretty is filling and tasty but at this point almost anything will suffice.  i get the heat cranking in the yurt, maybe a bit too much, i’m not good at judging on how much heat you need for such a small space.  i’m happy with hot cheeks (on my face) and a beer in my hand.  ma and i chat a bit into the night, but both of us are tired and retire to our individual bunks and our individual books to read.  the night is marked with extreme warmth in the early part – until the early morning when the fire goes out and i have to get up and try to start the fire again.  i wake up late, ma makes me get out of bed – this is a major change usually i’m the one getting her up.  we have coffee and oats for breakfast then off to hike.

cranking up the heat inside the yurt

first hike is presque isle area – about a 3 mile look around three groups of falls.  maybe more than 3 falls, it’s hard to tell what are falls, in the lower peninsula anything that drops a half foot in a river is called a waterfall.  here it’s at least a solid 8 feet or so.  so much more dramatic and so much more insulting to the rest of the state.  we walk though wonderful old growth forest, at times i’m so overwhelmed with excitement and beauty that i feel totally disoriented and high.  i can’t help but wonder if this is the way that we are ment to feel – in our element in the forests that we for so many millenium co-evolved with and the feeling i’m having is one of coming home.

i find myself wishing to live in a place where it would be so much easier to reach old growth forest in a brief period of time, and that of course leads to thought of being on the west coast, where it would be so much easier to get to old growth in a matter of hours.  i wonder if i would be happier there, and i  can’t help but feeling great guilt as i’ve ridiculed so many people for their midwest exodus.  i don’t know if being in old growth forest would make me feel complete but there is a tendency to want to find meaning in ones life and if that were in the form of old growth of forest instead of organized religion or complex meditation, i’m all for it.

after the amazing falls, we lunched on what else but smoked whitefish sandwiches, then head out for a longer but more level trail – the pinkerton trail.  the trail is amazing, level and going though old growth forest, ma and i barely spoke a word which you might think a sign of a problem in the relationship, but i see it as a sign of how we can hang out without needing to fill the air with nonsense.  i might have prefered that she fill it with pointless banter as i was instead forced to listen to the thoughts in my head, which would just not shut up contemplating my future and just what i should do with my life.

we walked past the end of the pinkerton though a beautiful stand of birch trees and on to lake superior.  the beach was small and rocky, with plenty of interesting stones.  this beach had very different rocks from the ones we had encountered near pictured rocks – much more igneous rock.  i gave ma a limit on the number of rocks we could bring home and that i would carry them.  we debated over rocks, but several had crystals in them, so they won pretty quick and ma selected small ones so she could take more.

after pinkerton a quick trip to summit peak, one of the tallest mountains in michigan and much easier to get to than the tallest mountains.  the view from the top is amazing, i can see the apostle island which i think are 30 miles away.  flurries are starting to come down and i could see the snow coming down heavy in the east.

view from summit peak

after a day of hiking on a friday in the north there is only one thing left to do, a fish fry.  into silver city – the first village out of the park for beer and perch.  we eat at a place called foothills, a classic roadside place.  in addition to my perch, i’m offered coleslaw and garlic toast.  the meal is ok, but most of all i enjoy the classic midwestern accents of the other diners.

back at the yurt ma and i spend the evening playing cards – i only know one card game so that limited the options.  ma claims to not like cards, but she played for an hour or so.  she says we should learn more card games so i can only assume that she has changed her mind.

in the morning we are greeted  to the sight of snow.  ma wants to get going early as she feels a little nervous in the snow.  i’m not particularly concerned, but i’m happy to give her peace of mind.  i take a few pictures before we had out, and we break camp.  headed out to marquette.

snow on the creek behind the yurt

So, it´s still a bit of a building site mess but I´m getting there.
Damn I´m enjoying this!

It´s amazing what can be accomplished with some IKEA stuff, wood, concrete and a router
Spent last night mounting a Waeco 65L 12v fridge into IKEA´s “Bekväm”, perfect fit. Pictures will be posted.

Please click through for caption and courtesy information.

Please click through for caption and courtesy information.

Before the tsunami warning Wednesday, 35 American Red Cross workers were able to assist American Samoa families in assembling 90 tents that will be used as temporary shelter on the island.

Another piece of yurt love to share from Molly Made! Molly is a performer with a yarn habit as well and via friends and family she was introduced to the yurt project yesterday — and boy am I glad! Not only has she brought newfound attention to the Yurt Alert but she’s also fun to talk to about the project — she’s as excited as I am!

Molly makes amazing crochet accessories and knitwear — you can find her, if you’re in NYC, at Crafts in Chelsea next weekend!

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