Possibilities

I am giddy with the number of possibilities that are being opened up to me on this trip - to see new areas of the country, meet inspired and open and goddamn cool folks, who seem to like me and want to be my friend (??). To realize that I CAN do anything that I want. That there isn't any real need to stress out over the economy, or my lack of desire to apply to graduate school (much less take the GREs), or the fact that I don't know what I want to accomplish with my life.

I mean, I don't need to have a legacy, or a job that outsiders can look at and think, "Gosh, she is such a good person, working so hard to (insert environmental cause)." I am starting to be okay with admitting that I can contribute just as much to my chosen community by doing what makes me giddy, what leaves me feeling passionate and satisfied at the same time, what gives me energy at the end of the day, what allows me to connect to people, even if those people are not ones that I'm evangelizing to directly through my views on composting, simplicity, bike-riding, energy use, etc.

It's kind of a liberating thought. I have so many ideas for prints right now, I can almost not wait to get back home to my woodblocks and start drawing, start carving, and ! I found a studio to use, so start printing! I have portraits of farmers from the summer to finish, and my first really abstract print to work on.

Anyways, I am excited. For spring, for whatever comes next.

westcoasters

I love the west coast. More later

mendocino county

Jan 11
When it was finally light outside, and my fingers and toes had half-turned white from the cold, we hitched from the road, the second car, to Mendocino. We cafe and bakery hopped for the morning and spent a couple of hours in the Arts Center. Then we hitched up to Caspar, a few miles away, a TINY town with a kickass inn/bar/music venue. With a heavily made-up mama with a 6 week old baby boy in the backseat. She dropped us off at the inn (which didn't open for a few hours), and we were immediately welcomed to the porch party of the mingled two bands- one ska/punk/reggae, one bluegrass/folksy, both from Portland ORegon. We drank a beer with them, met their new mascot - a giant Poohbear with a wizard cap, and then Niilo and I left to check out the whisper of a town, which was in fact only a bus stop, the Inn, a closed art gallery, and a small community center. Inside the community center, we stumbled upon a clothes swap and I spontaneously exchanged my tank top and sweater for another set. Oh lovely world.

In my new clothes, we pranced back to the inn and enjoyed some porch jamming for a while, Near sunset we all relocated to the coast, through a field and across a precipice-like path between cliffs to a sandy ledge with succulent little plants and a view of the waves, water, cliffs, and sunset. They jammed until after the sun set.

TBC.