Wednesday, November 23, 2005
I think I've been having dreams every night since I arrived at Whole Circle farm. Besides the one I recounted in my last entry, there was another one that involved Jon P. All I can remember of it now is a scene with him, myself and Meta trotting happily down a main street of a town, Jon in the middle. Another dream I had was of Ben from Everdale; he was showing me an incredible 3D animation he and a couple of his pals had done using some crazy new-fangled animation software. I remember feeling extremely impressed and more than a little envious. He even had a groovy soundtrack to go with it (which was playing in my head when I woke up). Two nights ago I believe I was dreaming about 80s-era computer hardware in some exciting context, which I forget. Last night I dreamt I visited Elyse in the middle of the night because she said she missed me. When I came to her house, she was studying hard for an exam and didn't want to be interrupted. So I found an inflatable pillow and was in the process of inflating it as I woke up.
Jeff and Leslie came to visit this evening before their 3-month-long trip to Italy to spend time on dairy farms. maggie was just saying how she'd had a dream that Johann started milking a certain one of their cows. I mentioned that I've had dreams just about every night since I arrived here. Immediately everyone in the room began to nod, as if to say that this was nothing out of the ordinary for people who come to spend time here. Leslie said it will probably pass after my first couple weeks here. Maggie said it's this house, it has a spirit. I suggested that perhaps it was because this was my first time in a while to sleep in a real bed that I could call my own, but Maggie promptly disagreed, sticking to her own theory.
I honestly wonder what it could be, seeing as this happens to everyone here. It is known that inhaling certain substances, herbs such as mugwort for instance, can influence one's dreaming. (A few of us at Everdale actually tried this, but our results were inconclusive.) In any case, I won't rule out the possibility that there may be certain substances present in this house (or in the barn, or elsewhere on the farm) that have an effect on its members' dreaming patterns. Maybe weed seeds mixed with the spelt berries contain lucid activators (virtually all baked goods produced here, including all the bread, are made from spelt grown here). Maybe it's just the balanced lifestyle that one adopts here that ensures you reach REM sleep every night. Or maybe Maggie's right - maybe the place really does have a spirit. Who knows.
But I'm enjoying it while it lasts.
Jeff and Leslie came to visit this evening before their 3-month-long trip to Italy to spend time on dairy farms. maggie was just saying how she'd had a dream that Johann started milking a certain one of their cows. I mentioned that I've had dreams just about every night since I arrived here. Immediately everyone in the room began to nod, as if to say that this was nothing out of the ordinary for people who come to spend time here. Leslie said it will probably pass after my first couple weeks here. Maggie said it's this house, it has a spirit. I suggested that perhaps it was because this was my first time in a while to sleep in a real bed that I could call my own, but Maggie promptly disagreed, sticking to her own theory.
I honestly wonder what it could be, seeing as this happens to everyone here. It is known that inhaling certain substances, herbs such as mugwort for instance, can influence one's dreaming. (A few of us at Everdale actually tried this, but our results were inconclusive.) In any case, I won't rule out the possibility that there may be certain substances present in this house (or in the barn, or elsewhere on the farm) that have an effect on its members' dreaming patterns. Maybe weed seeds mixed with the spelt berries contain lucid activators (virtually all baked goods produced here, including all the bread, are made from spelt grown here). Maybe it's just the balanced lifestyle that one adopts here that ensures you reach REM sleep every night. Or maybe Maggie's right - maybe the place really does have a spirit. Who knows.
But I'm enjoying it while it lasts.
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Sunday, November 20, 2005
In the round room on the last night of the internship (Oct. 30)...
Nathan reads us a bedtime story
Caro, Jeff, Ricky and Coral all cuddly
Caro and Jeff all giggly
Jeff and Ricky all giggly
Nathan reads us a bedtime story
Caro, Jeff, Ricky and Coral all cuddly
Caro and Jeff all giggly
Jeff and Ricky all giggly
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Jonson. This looks like it was taken at Everdale last year. I found this picture in some secluded corner of the house I'm living in at Whole Circle. When his name came up in conversation the other day, Maggie asked if he's the legendary one that everybody loves, the one who flew over to Australia with his wife. I told her she had the first part right.
An oilified picture of colourful leaves at Everdale while they were still on the trees.
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Saturday, November 19, 2005
Dreams within dreams.
I dreamt that a girl I knew was going to a party, a little girl, say 6 or 7. I think my mum was taking her. The girl didn't seem all that enthusiastic about going; the party would be taking place at some science centre, a little place downtown in a city among crowded streets. I tried encouraging her, saying how lucky she was to be going there and that I wished I could go instead. She didn't buy it. In any case, she had to get a gift for her friend that the party was for. My mum and I took her to a department store to look for girls' hairpieces. All the hairpieces - hairclips, scrunchies, bobby pins and the like - had this orange/gold theme with orange packaging. I remarked to my mum how I thought it was silly that India and Indian fashion was all the rage now, hence these orange and gold hairpieces. Then that was that for the little girl.
My mum was staying with my sister and I, wherever we happened to be living. We all went out one day. I think Meta and I were going Christmas shopping while my mum had her own tasks to take care of. I bought some French fries with mayonnaise from a French fry stand on the street. I offered some to Meta, who sighed and reluctantly had a couple. Then we saw our mum coming from another direction. The three of us were all going to see some performance in a theatre. I offered some fries to my mum and she ate them gladly. She told us our seats were on row 23, which was towards the back of the theatre. The row was split in the middle because of a stairway that was situated in the middle of the room. She said she realized that not all our seats were adjacent, and she was going to talk to someone there to get them switched so that they would be.
I somehow lost track of my mum and my sister as we entered the theatre and they went to find their seats. I could see the band preparing their equipment on stage. It seemed as if they were going to place folk music of some kind; there was a young female fiddle player. I looked for row 23. I found the left half of the row, which, to my delight, was occupied by Coral, Jon, and Evan, in that order. There was one empty seat beside them. I came over and was so happy to see them. I gave them all a big "uni-hug" (a term I used when I referred to the event later; "tri-hug" would have been more appropriate, but such are the mysteries of the subconscious) and told them how glad I was to see them.
Then I "woke up." That is, I dreamt I woke up from that dream. I decided to call Jon in Australia to tell him about it. I recounted the dream starting at the point I entered the theatre (which I distinctly remember pronouncing as "thee-ter") up to the part with the uni-hug.
"You know Coral, right?" I said. "I've mentioned her to you before. I think you'd like her. Actually, I know you would."
To this I got no response from Jon. It sounded as if Jon was still on the line, because I seemed to be able to hear background noises, just no Jon. "Jon?" I asked. Again, no response. I concluded that the cordless phone I was using ran out of battery power. Then Meta said she had to use the phone. I woke up as I was in the middle of trying to recharge the phone.
I dreamt that a girl I knew was going to a party, a little girl, say 6 or 7. I think my mum was taking her. The girl didn't seem all that enthusiastic about going; the party would be taking place at some science centre, a little place downtown in a city among crowded streets. I tried encouraging her, saying how lucky she was to be going there and that I wished I could go instead. She didn't buy it. In any case, she had to get a gift for her friend that the party was for. My mum and I took her to a department store to look for girls' hairpieces. All the hairpieces - hairclips, scrunchies, bobby pins and the like - had this orange/gold theme with orange packaging. I remarked to my mum how I thought it was silly that India and Indian fashion was all the rage now, hence these orange and gold hairpieces. Then that was that for the little girl.
My mum was staying with my sister and I, wherever we happened to be living. We all went out one day. I think Meta and I were going Christmas shopping while my mum had her own tasks to take care of. I bought some French fries with mayonnaise from a French fry stand on the street. I offered some to Meta, who sighed and reluctantly had a couple. Then we saw our mum coming from another direction. The three of us were all going to see some performance in a theatre. I offered some fries to my mum and she ate them gladly. She told us our seats were on row 23, which was towards the back of the theatre. The row was split in the middle because of a stairway that was situated in the middle of the room. She said she realized that not all our seats were adjacent, and she was going to talk to someone there to get them switched so that they would be.
I somehow lost track of my mum and my sister as we entered the theatre and they went to find their seats. I could see the band preparing their equipment on stage. It seemed as if they were going to place folk music of some kind; there was a young female fiddle player. I looked for row 23. I found the left half of the row, which, to my delight, was occupied by Coral, Jon, and Evan, in that order. There was one empty seat beside them. I came over and was so happy to see them. I gave them all a big "uni-hug" (a term I used when I referred to the event later; "tri-hug" would have been more appropriate, but such are the mysteries of the subconscious) and told them how glad I was to see them.
Then I "woke up." That is, I dreamt I woke up from that dream. I decided to call Jon in Australia to tell him about it. I recounted the dream starting at the point I entered the theatre (which I distinctly remember pronouncing as "thee-ter") up to the part with the uni-hug.
"You know Coral, right?" I said. "I've mentioned her to you before. I think you'd like her. Actually, I know you would."
To this I got no response from Jon. It sounded as if Jon was still on the line, because I seemed to be able to hear background noises, just no Jon. "Jon?" I asked. Again, no response. I concluded that the cordless phone I was using ran out of battery power. Then Meta said she had to use the phone. I woke up as I was in the middle of trying to recharge the phone.
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Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Going to Whole Circle tomorrow... for a month or so... have fun.
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Friday, November 11, 2005
Holy.. just have TVO on in the background here, and I suddenly hear Alison's voice.. and I look and it's really her on this preview for a show called VOX Talk, or something like that. (Alison might even be reading this...) It was just unexpected is all. How weird it is to see someone you know well in person suddenly in television context, and seeming very comfortable there. You know? Like, suddenly they're one of those people that gets interviewed on talk shows. It's as if she's been sucked into the box and become part of that medium that is television, where before she was just an Everdale volunteer. Maybe Everdale-volunteer-Alison is the rare Alison. She's probably much better known as teen-activist-Alison-who's-on-TV-sometimes. Funny. I think VOX Talk is on at 6pm on Sunday, though I'm not absolutely sure she'll be on it.
Ricky found this funny site, TribalTek.org, that has a big, confusing collection of links to sites about neoprimitive and appropriate technology, and anything else that's vaguely related. He thought it was funny discovering these eco online dating services: GreenSingles.com, GreenFriends.com, and HippiePersonals.com... and I bet there are more. That is pretty funny.. but rather intriguing too... still, the whole idea of dating services is so weird in my mind. It's so... robotic.. not wholesome... a symptom of our increasingly reclusive lifestyles. I think I still prefer the first-person method, despite my continued lack of success with it.
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Sunday, November 06, 2005
For anyone who's interested, Andy is filling in as drummer for Natasha's band at Sneaky Dee's at midnight tonight. I'm going, and probably all the interns and a few other volunteers are.
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Tuesday, November 01, 2005
End of season, Everdale is closed. Sigh... I'm feeling a little empty. We're going to try to have one last get-together on Sunday at Sneaky Dee's, where Andy will be performing with his girlfriend Natasha and her band. But then that will be that and we'll all be going our separate ways. I only spent about three months in total at Everdale, and I'm already feeling pretty crappy leaving. It must be even harder for the interns that have been together for six and a half months.
On Friday I slaughtered and gutted a chicken for the first time. I'm really glad I got to have that experience. It wasn't nearly as difficult to do the deed as I expected it to be, either mentally or physically. We slaughtered five of the chickens in total. Even two of the interns that call themselves vegetarian each did one. Maggie and Johann (who run Whole Circle) came a couple weeks ago to teach us how to slaughter meat birds, and we had little trouble remembering how to do it on our own. Now that I've had that experience I feel a lot better about eating meat (as little as I do anyway).
Saturday was the big end-of-season Hallowe'en party. Ali and Leslie from Whole Circle catered us some delicious roasts, stews, soups and pies. Some of the season's past volunteers were there, including Melissa, Alison and Natasha. An enormous dinner table was set up in the round room that sat something like 32 people. It was a costume party, and most of the costumes were surprisingly good. I dressed up as a crocodile myself. The headpiece was pretty heavy and the tail was incredibly awkward, but people seemed to like it. Rachel and Ben came as a football jock and cheerleader, respectively. Ricky did an awesome job being Gavin, and Jeff was Andy. Andy was a sequined, long-haired rocker; he made a wicked pattern in his beard for it. Alex was a busty woman, Carolyn was the Paper Bag Princess, Coral was a ladybug, and Tarrah, Nathan and Melissa were all bees. Gavin and Karen dressed up as a chicken and the weasel.
There was the annual end-of-season gift exchange. I made a chainmail bracelet (I always put too much effort into things). Of all the gifts that people got, I think I got the best one: a do-rag and a couple pens. An interesting headpiece is exactly what I've been needing for the past couple years, and I'm always low on pens.
We danced until pretty late. Gavin's pretty funny when he dances while he's drunk. He tends to just slowly spin around while staring at the ceiling.
On Sunday we dawdled about for the morning, and played a couple games of football at noon. Andy, Natasha and their friend left early for Ottawa. The afternoon consisted of a massive cleanup of the round room, stables, and kitchen after the gigantic mess that was left the previous night. Tarrah was rightly impressed by our productivity. We went out for dinner to some fancy country inn. The funniest part was when we were passing around the magic mushrooms underneath the table... Nathan read us a story for most of the evening, and then four of us played doubles with a hacky sack.
And now I'm back in Cobourg, missing everyone like the dickens.
On Friday I slaughtered and gutted a chicken for the first time. I'm really glad I got to have that experience. It wasn't nearly as difficult to do the deed as I expected it to be, either mentally or physically. We slaughtered five of the chickens in total. Even two of the interns that call themselves vegetarian each did one. Maggie and Johann (who run Whole Circle) came a couple weeks ago to teach us how to slaughter meat birds, and we had little trouble remembering how to do it on our own. Now that I've had that experience I feel a lot better about eating meat (as little as I do anyway).
Saturday was the big end-of-season Hallowe'en party. Ali and Leslie from Whole Circle catered us some delicious roasts, stews, soups and pies. Some of the season's past volunteers were there, including Melissa, Alison and Natasha. An enormous dinner table was set up in the round room that sat something like 32 people. It was a costume party, and most of the costumes were surprisingly good. I dressed up as a crocodile myself. The headpiece was pretty heavy and the tail was incredibly awkward, but people seemed to like it. Rachel and Ben came as a football jock and cheerleader, respectively. Ricky did an awesome job being Gavin, and Jeff was Andy. Andy was a sequined, long-haired rocker; he made a wicked pattern in his beard for it. Alex was a busty woman, Carolyn was the Paper Bag Princess, Coral was a ladybug, and Tarrah, Nathan and Melissa were all bees. Gavin and Karen dressed up as a chicken and the weasel.
There was the annual end-of-season gift exchange. I made a chainmail bracelet (I always put too much effort into things). Of all the gifts that people got, I think I got the best one: a do-rag and a couple pens. An interesting headpiece is exactly what I've been needing for the past couple years, and I'm always low on pens.
We danced until pretty late. Gavin's pretty funny when he dances while he's drunk. He tends to just slowly spin around while staring at the ceiling.
On Sunday we dawdled about for the morning, and played a couple games of football at noon. Andy, Natasha and their friend left early for Ottawa. The afternoon consisted of a massive cleanup of the round room, stables, and kitchen after the gigantic mess that was left the previous night. Tarrah was rightly impressed by our productivity. We went out for dinner to some fancy country inn. The funniest part was when we were passing around the magic mushrooms underneath the table... Nathan read us a story for most of the evening, and then four of us played doubles with a hacky sack.
And now I'm back in Cobourg, missing everyone like the dickens.
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