Chamblee54

sun 1008 It is now sunday, october 8, 2017. Heston and PG left zaanaadoo yesterday. The original plan had been to leave on monday. However, reports of six inches of rain sunday night made that prospect unappealing. Today is a rainy sunday, full of laundry and unpacking. After yesterday… take down the camp, hike to the parking meadow, drive home… there is not much energy.
It was a splendid gathering. In 2015 it rained every day, while this year it was warm and glorious… until it was not. The people were great. The food and activities were great. The goats kept to themselves, and did not cause any problems. The report that follows is not comprehensive. What the internet does not know will not hurt her.
sat 0930 The first day gets off to a good start. Heston is ready at 8am. The journey proceeds smoothly, and zaanaadoo is reached before lunch. PG even gets a ride back from the parking meadow, a healthy hike over two steep ridges. After setting up camp, PG is beat. He makes it to dinner, but goes to sleep soon after. This is the first time, in a year, that PG has been away from a C-PAP machine.
Someone has a box of free books. PG finds Babycakes, from the Tales of the City series. He reads a few pages, and recognizes fresh meat. A TOTC book you have not read is a wonderful thing to find. This one star reviewer should be ignored. I hated reading it MakeupVixenon July 30, 2015 Required text at foothill college. I hated reading it. It wasn’t interesting at all. This should not be a required text for college, it was a waste. Nice bathroom break read but not for learning in school.
sun 1001 PG helped build a stone staircase in 1989. Since then, PG has devoted time to trimming weeds around the staircase. A resident now oversees the area, and PG consulted with her before proceeding. The area was in good shape, and did not need much work to look better.
Sunday morning saw the first morning circle of the gathering. Someone began by talking about the concept of eagar. PG noted that eager anagrams as e-rage, a popular pastime in modern life.
The heart circle has been described as “a faerie technology that is a cross between a Quaker meeting, a room temperature sweat lodge, and the collective experience of cruising on Christopher Street in 1972.” A talisman is passed around the circle. The person holding the talisman speaks, and the others listen. One innovation this time around was using simple, found, objects as the talisman. Many circles use feather encrusted instruments, often bought at a souvenir shop. The talismans this week included a tambourine, a rock, and the burned out aluminum shell of a small candle.
A couple of times a day, PG takes compost out of the kitchen. A collection of five gallon buckets contain food scraps. Somebody needs to take these buckets to the compost pile, and empty them. Unless you have a fork lift handy, it is best to empty these buckets before they are totally full. Taking out compost is a good job for people who want to help out, but don’t want to make a time commitment. If you have sexual fantasies involving the compost pile, you should keep these thoughts to yourself. Even if you are speaking to the John Waters look-a-like.
mon 1002 Today starts with that moment when a long winded friend is talking, and a pot of coffee … which will not last long … appears on the table. Breakfast at zaanaadoo is magic. Leftovers are combined in creative and delicious ways. PG used the phrase dog’s breakfast one morning, and his breakfast companion had never heard of such a thing. Fido should be so lucky.
The circle had a theme of serendipity, with PG calling for synchronicity. The circle was preceded by a yoohoo. This is a device for calling people to an event. It is shouted with high, high notes, and dragged out ewww sounds. This is how you alert the stragglers, scattered about the land. PG has never been fond of yoohoos, preferring to silently slack off, while others yodel the yoohoo. On this day, there were only two other voices, and every one was important. PG threw his head back, and a glorious falsetto yoooohoooo left his form. Was this growth, or regression? PG had the sense of crossing a boundary, into a lavender lagoon. (The spell check suggestion for yoohoo is boohoo.)
Meals at zaanaadoo are made by volunteers. PG made the mistake of standing idly on the front porch, when the call is made for kitchen volunteers. PG winds up shredding carrots for a salad, which is more work than you might think.
Dinner is fabulous, of course, and later there is drumming by the fire. PG gets into a chat, and hears some details about a shooting in Las Vegas. Zaanaadoo is off the grid, and PG is on a media fast. It was wonderful to spend a sunday without wondering who stood up for the national anthem. The outrage factory of our culture will have to feed itself.
tue 1003 This turns out to be the best day of the gathering for PG, and the one he will talk about least. Dinner was delayed, and PG fought boredom by washing dishes. These lazy days, full of time to kill with wonderful people, are a gift.
wed 1004 This was another uneventful day. At 5pm, there was a writing circle. 5 men were present, and everyone read something. 2 were porn writers. PG read a few poems. Someone read selections from Peace Pilgrim: Her Life and Work in Her Own Words.
The last man had poems about a recent breakup. He introduced one by saying it was in the voice of a wise old black woman. The word “mammy” was used, and someone objected. The poem was read. To PG … used to the rhythyms of the south, where the white people sound much like the black people … there was nothing wrong with the poem. A wise old lady is a wise old lady.
thur 1005 One of the chores at zaanaadoo is the parking attendant. You stay on top of the driveway, and tell people to be sure to move their vehicle to the parking meadow. The rest of the time you hang out with whoever is there. You will hear some good gossip.
Atlanta peeps were producing thursday night dinner. After parking duty was over, PG stumbled into the kitchen. When PG has good instructions, and adequate supervision, he can avoid causing culinary damage. This night, the contribution consisted of shredding kale for a salad, mixing the salad, and spreading cheese over casseroles. Before long, PG was getting in the way, and left.
fri 1006 PG starts to write his notes, and realizes that 66 years ago his parents were married. PG quotes two cliches at the morning circle … two wrongs don’t make a right, if you can’t say anything good don’t say anything at all. These things too shall pass away.
PG had a chair, and would try to find level ground to read, and take notes. The carefree atmosphere would vanish when the parade of goats would pass through the yurt yard. PG was attacked by a goat in 2012, and does not enjoy the four hooved company.
At some point, rumors began to spread about 6 inches of rain falling sunday night. The weather had been so wonderful, you knew payback was coming. PG and Heston had been planning to leave on monday. The incoming rain party was something to miss. Departure was moved up to saturday.
The know talent show was friday night. This is always a high point of the gathering. This year, it was in front of the barn, with no microphone. PG’s loud voice came in handy. The 4 poems he read are posted below. These poems have been previously published, in graphic form: sausage jockey, wonder weasel. sonnet number two, such bugs and goblins, strumpet derriere,
sat 1007 The gathering is over. Take down the tent, move the gear to the barn, hike over to the parking meadow, collect your rider, and load the vehicle. Going up the driveway, gravel spun under the wheels for a heart stopping half second. The ride home was totally uneventful. The trip was 476 miles, door, to parking meadow, to door. In the 400 miles of interstate travel, PG did not have to slow down for traffic one time. That has never happened before, and will never happen again. Blessed be.
brothers of the fudge big boy combo play ~ microwave popcorn hot dog engineer
bowling in the basement hershey highway ~ liquor in the front poker in the rear
intestinal tourist private first class ~ backdoor barbeque michelangelo
anal chainsaw massacre backstage pass ~ vegan hotpocket curly larry moe
hunker down brown town panorama ~ sausage jockey creeper peeper
sliding all the way to lower alabama ~ stick it in stick it in deeper deeper
dance the chocolate chacha elton john ~ driving on on on auf der autobahn
shake hands with a salami cluster bomb ~ its got a beat you can dance to it
whitewash the fence with huck and tom ~ spray whipped cream on a banana split
trigger therapeutic trouser snake ~ satin head serpent of carnal knowledge
tenderize lumberjack happy tube steak ~ put mr. kleenex’s kids through college
pull your own baloney pony weight ~ put relish on your hot dog spaghetti
play tag with your pink torpedo mate ~ wax one-eyed wonder weasel chevy
plug in semen extraction toaster ~ calibrate satanic surge protector
ram the ham secret sauce roaster ~ tip off the crazy hand jive inspector
bake brownies blow mud build a log cabin ~ bust a grumpie burn a mule blow ordure
code brown crap factory get happy win ~ lubrication defecation manure
discharge doo doo craptastic driver ball ~ drop kids off bomber pool hot honkey night
wolf bait trout duke it out go down the hall ~ dump trump wailin’ palin burger delight
deep fried twinkie luther burger breakfast ~ regurgitation free the turtle fast
expel shy hamster dumper diver lunch ~ grease the bowl grow a tail corpulent crunch
fly fecal matter effluent sinner ~ give birth to future state trooper dinner
thou errant doghearted measle squid ~ gorbellied whoreson haggard booby hatch
you should be women yet your beards forbid ~ tottering obscene greasy tallow-catch
hence, horrible villain I’ll spurn thine eyes ~ like balls before me I’ll unhair thy head
poisonous bunch-back’d toadstool surprise ~ brine smarting in lingering pickle dead
thou clay-brained guts knotty-pated fool ~ cockered ill-breeding beef witted tool
thine horrid image doth unfix my hair ~ per bootless mongrel strumpet derrière
your virginity breeds mites much like a cheese ~ as tedious as tired old whore strip tease
thou dankish unchin-snouted malcontent ~ spleeny dog hearted onion-eyed pignut
bawdy flap-mouthed giggler testament ~ frothy beetle-headed gudgeon mac butt
thy hugger bugger kiss is comfortless ~ as frozen water to a hungry snake
wayward canker-blossom pox-mark putress ~ thou mangled sheep-biting bladder forsake
i scorn you, scurvy companion buttock ~ misbegotten folly-fallen rut sock
fawning dizzy eyed porcine maggot-pie ~ roguish earth-vexing bugbear lullaby
rascally, cheating, poor lack-linen mate ~ away you moldy old rogue ruminate