Week 50

Day 343: Jul 19, 2015

We had a field trip today!! About half of the village headed down the mountain to spend some time down at the lake. It was truly like a camp field trip. We played telephone on the bus ride down which was hilarious because at different points the phrase was being translated from english into polish, polish to spanish and then back to english. Once we got down to the lake we quick slathered on the sunscreen and ran off the dock. Before jumping in, I saw about 5 trout that were about 10 inches long but they were gone by the time we got over to where they had been. The lake was cold but we got used to it pretty quickly. We swam around, found a log to sit on in the water. We pretended it was a boat and paddled around a little. We tried to stand on it without having it roll (we were only successful for a short amount of time) and just sat on it. We took a short hike over to the next harbor over (Refrigerator Harbor) and some people jumped off the cliff. I went up planning on jumping but decided against it once I was up there. I figured it was enough of a fear facing by just going up there. We spent time just enjoying the sun and read. It was wonderful. We headed back after about 4 hours of fun and it was like a kindergarten bus ride. Half of the bus was asleep at some point during the ride. The remaining part of the afternoon was pretty chill. After Eucharist a bunch of people gathered in my living room and played dungeons and dragons while others of us went out onto the porch where a few played guitars and the rest (mainly me) sang or hummed along. It was a lovely way to end a great day.

Day 344: Jul 20, 2015

I did basically nothing today beside put aloe on my burns from yesterday.

Day 345: Jul 21, 2015

So the power went out for the whole day at 7am today. It was only in the building where I work but that meant that I worked 2.5 hours and then had the rest of the day off. It was pretty great. I went back to sleep, cleaned up my room, and did some reading. It was great. I ended the day with watching a dodgeball tournament while eating ice cream and then spent some time on our porch while watching the moon set.

Day 346: Jul 22, 2015

Today was very musical. Levi came into the coffee shop today and played his guitar for a while and eventually Honna came in and joined in on the violin. In the afternoon I took a nap and read while listening to Levi practice and in the evening I showed Alex how to turn the heels on his socks and then we went to a different chalet where we talked, played Monopoly Deal, ate popcorn, and listened to Levi play more music on the guitar.

Day 347: Jul 23, 2015

Tonight was pretty great. We had vespers around the fire ring by the creek (there was no fire) and had a group hug because Max is still cancer free!!!! I am so happy that his scans were clear. It is a HUGE weight off my chest. He has been cancer free for a year which is awesome. The evening was finished with a little painting with Bob Ross and some coconut cake to celebrate a friend's birthday!

Day 348: Jul 24, 2015

Wow, the village is so quiet right now. There are about 15 people out doing overnight hikes today. There were two main groups, the trail crew and a group going to the next boat stop about 17 miles from here. When there are only 50 some odd villagers it makes a huge difference to lose 15. It is kinda bizarre. There is no one on my floor in the chalet and there is nothing to do tonight because most of the people I hang out with are out. I guess that means I will finally get a full night of sleep. I started making fruit leather today. It is in the dehydrator right now and probably won't be ready until tomorrow morning. It is strawberry, blueberry, black raspberry, huckleberry, and thimbleberry leather. Should be good.

Day 349: Jul 25, 2015

Oh, man. Once that fruit leather was completely dry it was amazing. It is truly leather-like and is completely dry but the flavor is awesome. Mmmm, so good. The day was pretty normal plus a few weird Holden moments. Tomorrow is James' (a villager who loves to show off his “hikeys” aka calves and loves certain shaped noses) birthday. He is a well loved very long term villager and tomorrow is his 50^th birthday. So, being the village that we are, we made a video for him. There were hikeys, noses, and 50 Cent (his favorite nose of all time) included and those are only the parts that I know of. We are going to show it tomorrow. Should be great. To end the night, we had a variety show. It was pretty short (only 6 acts) but Lawns and Gardens brought some freshly harvested carrots from our mini green houses. Those carrots were amazing- crunchy, juicy, wonderful flavor, and not woody at all. So much good produce, so little room in my stomach.

Week 49

Oh man, this was week 49. That is crazy. Well, here is what happened in week 49 of my year at Holden Village:

Day 336: Jul 12, 2015

It was a beautiful day outside. Almost chilly compared to what we have had in the last few weeks.

Day 337: Jul 13, 2015

Another beautiful day in the mountains.

Day 338: Jul 14, 2015

We have officially been down graded to a level one evacuation!!! I can stop living out of my suitcase!! Tomorrow, I take the day off and go to Holden Lake!

Day 339: Jul 15, 2015

My hike was wonderful! I left the village at 5:30am (mainly because I was awake anyway) and spent the morning hiking up 22+ switchbacks and through an avalanche shoot, berry patches, forests and meadows to Holden Lake. It was a gorgeous day for a hike- high in the low 70s and it started out cool enough to wear long sleeves. I hiked alone but had music playing so I would not surprise any bears that I might come across. I really enjoy hiking alone because it means that I can go at my own speed and because of that I only had to stop once on my way up the switchbacks and that was mainly because I needed to take my long sleeves off. It took about 3 hours to get up to the lake, I spent about an hour exploring the lake and saying hi to the marmots and then took about 2 hours to come back down. I noticed some really awesome rocks on my way up but decided to not pick them up until I was on my way back. That way I would at least have less water weight on my back and could replace that weight with rocks :). I was kind of disappointed because I heard there were some “really awesome” rocks and there were some cool ones but no “really awesome” ones. I think I ended up spending more time picking huckleberries, black raspberries, and thimbleberries than I did looking for rocks. Most of the rocks were pretty much the same -sparkly/metallic with mica but I did find a really cool piece of core that had been drilled that had some quartz crystals in it. I ended up with probably 7 rocks and 2 cups of the various berries. I ended up back in the village at around 12:30 which meant that I had time to shower and take a nap!! When I woke up from my nap, though, it was like I had been seriously injured. I was limping like crazy because my butt muscles were so sore. It was actually kind of funny. I ended the day with an open mic night where I performed a piece that I had written to remind myself and others that although the darkness seems to close in on us, it will not last forever if we don't let it.

Day 340: Jul 16, 2015

Vespers was lovely tonight. We started a new weekly vespers where we sit outside, sing one or two songs and then people are given free reign. We can go for walks, have conversations or stay and listen to some music. I chose to sit and listen for a while. It was really nice to be outside and listening to Levi and Elizabeth play some songs. I really enjoyed it.

Day 341: Jul 17, 2015

A pretty average day that ended in a birthday party with homemade ice cream.

Day 342: Jul 18, 2015

Tonight was the block party!!! I made 16 bags of popcorn and we brought our bean bag game up the hill to share. There was even a little tea party. I definitely made too much popcorn so I went around to different areas where remediation folks hang out to try to off load some. It kind of worked but I still probably could have made 8 bags and been fine. Oh well. I got to hang out with Thunderpaws the cat and I found a few black raspberry bushes and enjoyed a few of their berries. They were delicious.

Week 48

Day 329: Jul 5, 2015

The valley was cloaked in smoke when I walked out my door this morning. I was a little worried that the wind had changed and the fire was headed toward us. Turns out, basically all of eastern Washington is on fire so we are getting smoke in from other fires. Our fire is slowly spreading in all directions which is good. If the fire had been blown in one direction it would be much harder to control. The fire is doing pretty much exactly what we want it to do.

Day 330: Jul 6, 2015

A fitting poem by Langston Hughes (with a twist I put in myself):

Still Here

been scared and battered.
My hopes the wind done scattered.
Snow has friz me,
Sun has baked me,

(fire has threatened me)
Looks like between 'em they done
Tried to make me
Stop laughin', stop lovin', stop livin'--
But I don't care!
I'm still here!

Day 331: Jul 7, 2015

I LOVE MY CUSTOMERS!!! So a little while back I found out that one of my remediation costumers' wife co-owns a yarn company called Spincycle Yarns. They hand dye all of their wool and have some really awesome color schemes. So my customer told me to look at their patterns and see if there was one that I liked. I picked out a hat pattern that I love and thought he would just send me a digital copy. He just came back from his days off and handed me a kit for the pattern! I was shocked and am truly grateful. I am a volunteer trying to pay off college loans and so don't have much extra money to spend on yarn and a gift like this reminds me that there are wonderful, generous people out there. YARN!!! Plus, it really rained this afternoon. Only for about an hour but they were serious raindrops and only a little thunder so hopefully it was helpful.

Day 332: Jul 8, 2015

The barrier wall on the other side of the creek was completed today!!! It is the most expensive project that you will never see. To celebrate, we put together a mix of songs and spoken word about their time here. It was pretty great. Otherwise today was hot and humid.

Day 333: Jul 9, 2015

I watched people play dungeons and dragons today. It was interesting to watch but I am not sure I really want to play. It is surprisingly complicated. Other than that today was pretty boring.

Day 334: Jul 10, 2015

One thing that really sucks about being on anti-anxiety/anti-depressants is that you rarely can cry. It takes a lot to actually cry more than a tear here and there. When it does happen it is like the flood gates open. You totally lose it. Ever since my teacher died I have felt like I really need to grieve and I am but it feels very drawn out. I haven't been able to just sit there and cry. It really sucks. It also doesn't help that I have other things that are troubling me either. One of my friends here has been fighting cancer for two years now. For a while, every lump he was finding was cancerous until recently. He found a bump that turned out to be nothing a few months ago. He has been cancer free for about a year but he just found another lump about a week ago. He went out to get a doctor to check it out but he couldn't get in to get a CT scan. Luckily, he has an appointment at Mayo Clinic in a week or two with his regular doctors. That was about the same amount of time before he could get a scan here so he decided to wait until he gets home. He came back here because he figured that he would at least be busy and not think about it too much. My fear for him makes me want to cry. The fear and anxiety that he must feel has to be excruciating and would make it very hard to sleep.

Another thing added to my “makes me want to cry” list is that a different friend here just had his girlfriend (who also lives up here) cheat on him with one of the construction guys. My friend broke up with said girlfriend but she wants to fix things between them. The only thing, though, is that she is still seeing this other guy. She is stringing along my friend and it is almost like she is testing them to see who she really wants. It is tearing my friend apart. He is incredibly depressed and feels like there is something wrong with him when the problem is hers. I worry about him, I really do. He is a great guy who is definitely marriage material. I used to have a crush on him before they started dating but had to move on. I just wish there was something that I could do to ease the pain beyond just listening to him. She doesn't seem broken up about it at all and is even trying to squeeze her way back into his life and since he still loves her but feels betrayed all at the same time it is like she is driving the stake further into his heart. It kills me to watch.

Day 335: Jul 11, 2015

Today was an interesting roller coaster. I woke up before my alarm by about a half hour. It was early enough that it sucked but late enough that it wasn't worth it to go back to sleep. So I went to work early which was good because I was able to open early so that people could get coffee before the planned power outage. The outage was about 45 minutes long but it was during my usual quiet time so it was nicely timed. Levi came and visited when the power came back on and played music. It was interesting because I could tell that something was up and when he left he said something about how playing the guitar helped. After work I visited him in his room to ask if everything was ok. I think he is feeling betrayed by God right now. With one of our friends facing the possible return of cancer it is hitting Levi hard. No one deserves cancer especially someone as young or great as our friend and it is hard to face. Maybe it is the part of me that has faith that the bump that they are feeling is nothing that is helping me right now, I don't know, because I should be terrified for my friend. Don't get me wrong, I am still scared but I think he will be ok in the end. Cancer is scary and seemingly can hit at random which is almost scarier. I ended up drawing quite a bit today to work through my feelings of the last few days. It helped but not as much as I wish it did. I also wrote a poem/prose about some stuff but I want to get someone else's opinion before I post it online. I hope next week is better emotionally for many in the village than this week was.

Week 47

Day 322: Jun 28, 2015

Today was hot and sweaty. Because of that we pretty much laid low all day.

Day 323: Jun 29, 2015

It is raining! We had a thunderstorm last night that has extended into the morning. The rain is great. It has drastically cooled to outside temperature. The down side, though, is that one of the lightning strikes started a small fire two valleys north of us. At of right now we think it has only burned a hand full of trees but the rain is slowing so who knows. The forest service is on it, though. They are checking it out and getting it under control so we shouldn't have to evacuate due to this one (hopefully). It is supposed to rain on and off all day but then nothing for the rest of the week. I hope they get the fire under control today since it will probably be easiest now. Update: the fire has officially been named the Wolverine Fire. Update 2: The fire is no longer active but people will be out there monitoring 24 hours a day for the next few days.

Day 324: Jun 30, 2015

USA!!! We won the women's world cup semi-final!! On to the final. It was awesome because Rio let us watch it on their satellite TVs so we could actually watch the game. It felt great to yell at a TV and watch commercials like they are the greatest thing ever. After the game, we were given the opportunity to go on a tour of the work site. It looks pretty much the same as it did last summer. There has been a ton of work done, it is just all under ground. After vespers, a few of us sat on the porch to enjoy the cooler temperature of the evening. It is amazing how beautiful this place is and having background acoustic guitar doesn't hurt the beauty either :) . Once it started to get too cold/ dark we headed inside and watched Arrested Development.

Day 325: Jul 1, 2015

Wow, time is flying. It is already July. Crazy. Today was pretty normal (minus a quick meeting about evacuation and what to do if it needs to happen) until staff meeting. It was kind of a downer way to end the day because it ended up being an hour and a half of Chuck and Peg explaining what they want to do during their tenure. It was long, the room was hot, and they tried to bribe us with candy. Don't get me wrong, it was good to see what they want to do and hear about things but the whole thing could have been cut in half. As staff, we don't need to know everything and, in fact, most of us don't want to know everything. There were people getting a little upset because they are focusing mainly on programming stuff (makes sense since that is a HUGE part of having guests here) rather than betterment projects around the village. Yes, we need people to help keep the village in good shape but not nearly as many as we have needed to do all of these projects that we have done in the last few year (underground electrical, better communication stuff around the village, new pipes, new foot bridge, etc). Programming is what makes this village a fun place in the summer and it is what keeps people coming back. It is important to make the first guest season back a great one so that people get excited and tell others it is amazing so that guest seasons quickly ramp up in numbers.

It is now much later than I would really like so good night all.

Day 326: Jul 2, 2015

It is never a good sign when the directors want everyone to come to vespers 15 minutes early to make an announcement about the Wolverine fire. Turns out the fire is in a really bad spot. It is basically in a pit surrounded by steep cliffs. They have been pouring water on it from helicopters but you can't really get control of a fire or put it out without boots on the ground. Since the fire is in a treacherous area they can't get people in to fight it. Unless something changes (it rains without lightning, the wind changes, or a general miracle) it looks like we might evacuate within the week. The fire is no danger to the village but it could pass over the road which is our only way out. They really don't want us trapped. If they evacuate us it will be so that fire crews can do a controlled burn on the north side of the road so there will be nothing for the fire to use as fuel. I am hoping that if we do get evacuated it will only be a few days. I am supposed to leave soon and really don't want to have to come back to get my stuff. I guess I am going to go through some stuff and pack tomorrow....

Day 327: Jul 3, 2015

My stuff is packed and I am ready to go. Things are getting hectic and Hot Shots (fire fighters) came in for dinner and are working down valley. Everyone is making it sound like we are heading out tomorrow which is very possible but according to someone who works for the fire service he thinks it might be another few days. It is going to be a stressful few days.

Day 328: Jul 4, 2015

I think this has been one of the best Forth of July's that I have ever experienced. In the morning I gave free coffee drinks to anyone who stopped by (we went through 5lbs of coffee and 5 gallons of milk). It was fun to stay busy all morning and make people happy. I really enjoyed making the remediation guys happy and then some of the fire fighters came in and I got to surprise them with coffee too. I think we are going to give the fire guys free coffee every day we are open. I figure it is the least we can do for the help that they are giving us. So, I stayed pretty busy all morning and then rinsed out my tie-dye shirt which is my new “work” shirt. It is a random pattern where I just squished the shirt together and then dyed it rust brown which is more of a medium roast coffee brown color. On the front of the shirt I drew a coffee bean and wrote BEANIE'S and on the back I wrote “The best coffee in town”. It turned out pretty great except that the soda ash mix made the permanent marker run so it isn't as crisp and clean as I would like but I am still pretty happy about it. I took my usual nap in the afternoon but woke up early. It was so quiet in town that I got a little worried that I was missing something but it turned out that most everyone was taking a nap since it was such a warm day. We had vespers early but the remediation guys were already off work so a few came (they did an evacuation drill) and then dinner. Most everyone ate outside and it was nice because we (everyone who sleeps in the village) were all together enjoying a meal. It had cooled off nicely by dinner so we sat outside and listened to music. After dinner we started the festivities. We had proclamations where anyone could say anything they wanted, tug of war, face paint, water balloon toss, mini golf (with hockey sticks and ping pong balls), and chalk to decorate with. It was so much fun. Then we got ready for the parade. I ended up pulling Alex and Sam down the street in one of our luggage carts. They were the Grand Marshal and his wife. It was really easy to pull but a little hard to stop so we tried not to do much of that. We went down main street once and then flipped the line and went back. It was a fun way to do it and made the parade a little longer. When we flipped, I got into the cart and they pulled. It was a fun way to do it and it didn't make them seem like assholes for making me pull the whole way. Once the parade was done we headed to the village center and got free ice cream before the fireworks started. Our fireworks consisted of pictures of fireworks and all of the bubble wrap collected throughout the year. The bubble wrap added the bang without the flame. I have not had so much fun in a long time. We jumped into piles of bubble wrap and danced in the piles and once it was all popped and the “fireworks” were done, most of the 20-somethings hung around and danced some more. It was great. I used popped strings of those air pockets that are not in sheets and make a huge noise when you pop them as a dancing ribbon. We treated the popped stuff like it was a pile of leaves and threw arm fulls in the air, rolled around in the plastic, jumped in it, etc. It was such a great day and now it is 11:30pm, I am exhausted and content, and it is my day off tomorrow. :)