Shenanigans

By Paula D. Barteau

Valle Vidal

September 27, 2015

The stream here is so clear that you can see the fish that live there in perfect detail, even though they're too fast to be studied. I watched the fish for hours. They are so small and beautiful, about the length of my hand.

There are Rosehips growing along the bank. I picked some and made rose hip syrup to go with breakfast to keep away the cold everyone seems to be peripherally fighting.

Harriet picked some and made tea that we drank on the river bank.

I wanted to be connected to this place, so I asked Clark to sew me into the bank of the stream. It was cold.

I invited everyone to have their faces painted and don capes and fly a kite with me.

This site has been so much fun. Everyone has projects and performances going on.

Eleanora dug an earth oven and invited us all to eat the bread and vegetables she baked in it all day.

CB and Clark built a Zozobro out of willow shoots for us to burn our worries in at the end of the trip.

Clark set up a swing in the woods.

CB hung her paintings in the outhouse and did an official gallery opening in the toilet, complete with fancy drinks.

Harriet brushed her hair for the first time this year, with stunning results.

And Erin and Andrea put on a performance the last night of our trip. To find it we had to walk through the dark, following a string from tree to tree by touch until we happened upon a candlelight flickering through the trees.