the "co-op"

My new living place began as a spark of imagination (amongst an endless amount of fellow sparks) in Keveau's head. He had the idea to gather some like-minded friends into a rental agreement for the duplex next door to his purple-shuttered home. This partially happened as some undergrads continued their lease on one side contrary to our vision. Stephan (we'll, he has yet to fully move from D.C.), Seth and I have laid claim to the plentiful hardwood footage of 401 Keller St. While we have big plans to cooperatively share anything we can think of across the small side-yard, so far Dalton spearheaded the effort with some tasty Baba Ghanoush and later pesto (both with ingredients from either their CSA farm share, the garden plots across the street, or from a local grocery store dumpster (not kidding). We had an amazing impromptu falafel dinner last week before the Appalachian Porch Party. I'm proud to say our Porch Party sported a couple sets of overalls, some moonshine/rum distilled in the front yard and a bonfire in a wheelbarrow. With a little muscle from Ken, the guys successfully installed our new porch swing. Bella, Dalton's mostly Beagle doggie and Keveau's cat Conga hang out at our place on a regular basis to do their part.

the next chapter

Is there anybody out there?

I begin this blog as a travel journal. Now I'm not traveling. I guess you could say I'm not home either though. I'm in State College, PA. I seem to have inspired Russell to make a blog for his upcoming travels. Now I'm inspired again to put some better writing up on this page. I had grandiose expectations for my would-have-been wonderfully written summer in Europe travel epic. Instead I rushed through borrowed or paid for computer time, hoping to keep family and friends up to date, letting them know I was still alive even if I had no idea where I would be on a train to the next day.

I spent a gorgeous few weeks after my travels house-sitting for Kurt and Masha, some of Russell's friends who were in Russia for a month. They own a wonderful little Victorian house outside of town (and there's not that much town to be outside of here), filled with Kurt's artwork and handcrafted wood furniture by another friend. Amish buggies drove by every morning. Red, the cat, woke me up every morning with his teeth and claws starting at my feet and working his way up. Russell and I spent most of our time in the garden, brimming with veggies and flowers, behind the house. Beyond the garden - only a corn field and forested ridge line.

Russell and I moved out of the house-sitting gig into my new place.