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Journal (The Ember Update)

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Friday, July 28

Transformus

Last weekend we attended our first regional burn, Transformus. Visit my Transformus 2006 travelogue, view the slide-type presentation, or click on a photo below to see more:

Thursday, July 27

Luisa's Birthday

Luisa held a birthday party for herself and other friends born this time of year. Though I had to be at a workshop for 11 hours the next day, Kevin and I were having such a good time we didn't leave 'til very late, with a 1.5 hour drive home. Thanks for the great time, Luisa and everyone! Click on any thumbnail to see more:

Tuesday, July 18

JGBB Redux

Well, it's old news, but I just posted a travelogue for the 2005 Jerry Garcia Birthday Bash. Frank and Leah went with, and as always we had a great time. Read more, or click on any of the following thumbnails for a page with all the large photos:

Tuesday, July 11

Playa Del Fuego's DC Fire Conclave team made it into Burning Man this year … one of only 25 groups accepted! This means we'll be getting passes into the inner circle. Exciting. Here's a movie of 2004's burn night.

Assateague NOT-a-Burn

Last weekend, fellow Burners rented a group camp site at Assateague Island, calling the event "NOT-a-Burn." Tall Tom invited Michelle (and Ben), and when space became available, Michelle exended the invitation to Kevin and me. Kevin had been itching to go to the beach for the last couple months, so this opportunity was perfect. Read more, or click on any of the following thumbnails for a page with all the large photos:

Wednesday, July 5

We got lost while out hiking in a nearby orchard last week (silly us for deciding to take a hike at 8:45pm). It was dark, raining fairly steadily, so cloudy that neither moon nor stars could be discerned to help with direction, and both our flashlights failed after a time (bad girl scout!). We braved poison ivy, barbed wire (which I tripped over unseen, gashing my hand), gullies filled with appliances and other sizable debris, etc., trying to find our way back for about three hours. Finally we popped out on the major mountain road at about midnight, still an hour's steep and wet walk from home. A very nice fellow stopped as he drove past and gave us a lift home (10 minutes by car). He thought we were Appalachian Trail hikers taking the main road down the mountain, and being a hiker himself, decided to help. Thanks Jason!

Freedom and Friends

We invited some folks over for a Freedom Party this 4th of July. Eleven of our fourteen guests had never been here before, and it was fun watching them relax into the Happy Cabin for the first time. Everybody pitched in and food came together pretty easily. A leisurely afternoon with fresh fruits and artisan cheeses gave way to the evening's grilled vegetables, corn-in-husk, chicken and salmon (all yummy). The Shenandoah Valley lit up at dusk. For over an hour fireworks sprinkled the view like miniature flowers blossoming and fading. They're odd to watch from above. We then set off our own — including a wonderful fountain-type called "Star Spangled Banner" — followed by poi performances by DC conclave spinners Brenda and Christie. (Thanks again for visiting and entertaining us!)

Clicking on any of the following will take you to a page with all the large photos:

While we were showing Christie around, Brenda commented that she thought our upstairs Studio was wonderful, in essence for the fact that we'd minimized our bedroom (into one side of our small loft) so that we could make creative space available for various self-expanding uses; in our case for dance, yoga, art, massage, meditation and more. I have to give a nod to Butch for the idea of minimizing a bedroom into the smallest space feasible and comfortable. There's only so much most people do in a bedroom, and when your house is smaller, it's helpful to be thoughtful in how space is used.

Our newly-met mountain neighbors — and fellow burners! — Melissa and Troy also joined us. Melissa has lived on another face of our same mountain for the last nine years, and has a wonderfully decorated A-frame house, with abundant plants and a wilder-feeling landscaping approach (her profession).

We met when Melissa emailed a local burner list and gifted her used camera phone to any taker. A few days later I inquired and it was still available. After emailing about being in Northern Virigina, we discovered that we lived on the same mountain. Funny that even though we're so "close," it's still 20 minutes by car over these hilly, curvy, often dirt and gravel roads. (And funny that Melissa and Troy were also at Scott [Wineman] and Linda's PDF DeCompression … only Melissa had crawled into her sleeping bag before we arrived, so we didn't meet, and we only remembered Troy after we realized the commonality.)

Melissa has a large fire pit, a bit of land, and is within walking distance of her neighborhood lake. Last Saturday night she held a birthday party for a friend, where I was pleased to run into Wineman and Jon. Late in the party we all walked over to the lake to set off the three remaining fireworks. Lots of fireflies blinked in the trees at one end; it was enchanting.

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