Virtual Tour of Newton (kind of)

Okay. I try really hard not to ever offend anyone on this blog. I even hold back from trashy language and stories about table dancing. But, if you are from Dalhart, Texas, I'm just so sorry. Please understand this is just an observation and not a judgement. That town STINKS. Jay and I stayed there on our way back home. We were so freaked out we didn't even have dinner. We just barricaded ourselves in the hotel room and pulled the sheet over our head. The swimming pool was green. The front desk clerk was really spooky. I've seen enough scary movies to be able to envision a trap door opening in the bathroom and three men with chain saws and handcuffs creeping into our room. I had to pretend, for the sake of my child, that it was all fine and normal. I just kept saying, It could be a lot worse, while tears seeped out of his eyes. I'm afraid I've turned him into an elitist who needs fine hotels with fluffy robes and room service. About the stinky part - there are stockyards everywhere, and they smell so bad. I may have also turned my child into a vegetarian. He said, What are all those cows out there for? And I said, That's what we buy in the grocery store when we want a good juicy hamburger....those cows put through a meat grinder. The look on his face, which I see more and more these days, said to me that I probably gave him too much information.


We are back in Flagstaff now. I drove 2,870 miles. I am so flipping tired. But we had so much fun and it was such a great trip. We did so much to the new house; some of it fun, some just putting out fires. The fleas were horrible. I've never experienced that before. It's such a weird psychological thing. I immediately felt gross and dirty. I was FREAKED out. But, being in Newton, when I called the pest control guy, he said, "I'll be out there in about ten minutes (yes, TEN MINUTES)" and then he was. And the fleas were all gone within 2 hours. Then, the next day when I did a load of laundry, the washer drain pipe just SPEWED water everywhere when the rinse cycle came on. Called the plumber and HE said, "Okay, I'll get out there in a few minutes" and he was there in a few minutes. Weird. So, things feel fixed and okay. The house is all furnished and I am shopping garage sales for a porch swing. There is this beautiful friendliness thing in some parts of the Midwest. Newton is like that. There are a bizillion grandmas and grandpas back there and they all want to talk. So does every bank teller and store clerk. And it's so genuine. They truly want to know what you think and where you're from and how you like the Dillon's store down the street.

Here's a story about the trailer.....When we got all the furniture unloaded, I just wanted that trailer off the car. It bumped around and made a ton of noise. Jay and I drove to the only U-Haul place open on Sunday and went in. It was a huge room in an old (1940"s) strip mall. Really run down. Stuff (junk) everywhere. Parts of threshing machines, cans and jars of screws and nuts and bolts. There was a white haired man sitting at an ancient, dark brown office desk on the phone. There was an old fan on the floor, set at high, that was held together with duct tape and wire. I looked around and on his bulletin board was one thing; a paper certificate that said "Robert Unrue has been a member of the Lion's Club for 60 years." It was very official looking. On the wall were tacked two pictures from when he was a pilot in World War Two. He got off the phone, talked to us and got all the info necessary. Told us he's 88 years old and was born in the house behind this shop. I mentioned his certificate and the pictures and he really smiled. It was obvious that he was truly very proud of his commitments. He directed us to drive the car across the street to a grassy lot that had a couple more U-Hauls on it, go around the second tree, down through that shallow gully, and wait. I thought, who's he gonna have take the trailer off? We drove over, looked back, and there he was, with a bright red walker, making his way slowly across the street and over to us. He disconnected the wires and chains, lifted the tongue of the trailer up and set it on the grass, and we were free to go. Good, proud, hard-working people. Salt of the earth stuff.

I have to admit, when I first walked in the house, I thought "What the F**K did I do? I mean, there are cracks in a few of the walls and the sills could use some sanding. The porch needs to be painted and a couple of the windows have a difficult time opening. There's a root cellar in the back yard that needs a sump pump and a new roof to make it tornado proof and dry. So, there's work to be done.
But being there for days, settling in, meeting people and listening to the thunderstorms....I think it was one of the best decisions I've made, albeit a bit impulsive. I love fixing things. It makes me think of my dad. And everything is so green and there are creeks and ponds and streams all over the place. Here is a picture of the downtown and it is beautiful. There is a great coffee shop and a cool bookstore. There is a health food store that is wonderful and not expensive. Antique stores and a brick, old, corner tavern. It's a growing town, not a dying one. This grain elevator is three blocks from my house. The train station is four blocks away. My brother lives an hour to the north. And my parent's grave is thirty minutes from my house. I made another good decision...man, I hope this is a pattern.

Follow your bliss. - Joseph Campbell

Newton

We're at Mokas. Mokas is a small coffee shop on Main Street in Newton. They have free wireless!!! Jay is eating cinnamon french toast sticks, I just had a blueberry cream cheese coffee cake and a latte. I have a lot of catching up to do...

First, I have no Internet service at my new house. It seemed silly to pay 30$ a month
when I'm only here a few weeks a year. So I'm unable to just sit on the futon at night and write and e-mail and blog.

The trip so far.....
Last blog we were in Amarillo. We left the next morning and drove about 6 hours into
Newton. I am so not going to bore you with the minutia of my trip, so suffice it to say that we made it to Newton, unloaded and drove to Salina where my brother lives and where there were tables and chairs, a couch and a washer and dryer to load up to drive back to Newton (thank you!!). Two words - River Festival I usually do not put in a series of pictures, but I think the pictures say so much. The festival was four days of incredible art, bands and community. Salina has a population of about 48,000 but they have a daily turnout to this festival of at least 10,000 people. We ended up staying Salina for two days so we could go to the festival (and sleep). A few words about the pictures....that butterfly is painted on the grass!
And that's a picnic table in the background. It's on the bank of the river.



The ants are wire sculptures. Every bridge had some sort of art attached or surrounding it. There were poetry walls, tons of kids activities and two big stages. There were bands and dancers and poets and story-tellers.

The art, food, and crafts were all juried and were awesome. I had one of the best music experiences I ever had; a band called Black Violin. They are two guys, classically trained violinists, playing in a more hip-hop/rock/R&B style. They were incredible. And here's Jay with a big spider.


The next two pictures are more random art; a string of fish on the river and a grass snake on the bank. I was just really impressed with the caliber of the art and music and food. We had alligator on a stick!! So, that was a fun and unexpected detour.

We got to Newton on Sunday and unloaded that day. Monday we traveled to a farm house in Sedgewick and bought a fifty dollar stove, we cleaned, we made Walmart runs for a toaster and a shower curtain and a set of tools. Jay vacuumed and did dishes.

Tuesday (today) we woke up to fleas (YUCK) but just a few and I already had the pest guy come out and KILL them all. (Me, on the phone, "I need you to come out NOW, or I need to call someone else because I am FREAKING out) We are headed to go get a refrigerator and then my friend, Kristy from Topeka is coming in to see us.

I have so much more to write about, and pictures of the house and Main Street and all the beautiful green trees everywhere but, Jay apparently does not want to sit in a coffee shop for two hours. So before we have to step outside to settle this, I'm going to head out and write more later.

Over Half Way

Jay and I are in Amarillo, Texas (this is the view out the hotel window). If I wanted, I could have eaten a 72 oz steak within one hour and it would have been FREE. It was on billboards all over the highway. I thought about it. Instead, we're at a pretty sweet hotel, watching the play-offs and eating a pizza from Pizza Hut (they deliver). I drove 607 miles today. We were on the road for over nine hours. We listened to music, sang a bunch, Jay watched DVD's and we ate. It's amazing we ordered a pizza we ate so much on the road. We had apples, apricots, peaches, raspberries, beef jerky, pop, peanuts, chocolate chip/M&M cookies, coffee, danish, cheese, two sandwiches and carrots. We still have a lot left in our cooler and tomorrow we are not stopping for lunch either. I have about six hours to drive tomorrow to get to Newton. The facts are this....I was worried about the trip. I'm pulling a U-Haul for the first time ever and I had my fears. In the shower this morning I even had a moment when I thought I was going to cry. Jeesh! What can I say....I worry sometimes. I am afraid of hydroplaning. I am occasionally afraid of large objects falling from the sky and hitting my windshield....and I don't mean hail. I think more about pieces of space craft breaking through the atmosphere and careening downward (so there is a modicum of irrational thought going on too). But once we got on the road and it was a reality, I just had to kick back and have fun. And here we are, halfway there and having fun. Just don't anyone mention that tomorrow is Friday the 13th.

Field Trip and Itty Frogs

One of the things this whole "not working very much" thing has afforded me is the chance to go on field trips. Official field trips. With my son's class. This year we did an overnight camping trip to Jerome, a two night camping trip to Kartchner Caverns, and a trip to the San Francisco Peaks. Today we went to Red Rock Crossing in Sedona. It was beautiful. There's only two days left of school and the kids have been done (in their minds) for at least a week, so it was the perfect day for a field trip. The picture above was the view from behind where we set down our towels. The creek was in front of us. There was no sand, just red rocks, huge ones, that we sat on. The kids played for hours, caught tadpoles and chased each other in and out of the water (which, for the record, was FREEZING). Here are two teeny frogs, with their tails still on a bit. I wanted to take them home. We always tell the kids they need to leave the wild things where they found them, you know, take only pictures, leave only footprints. But in my head, I always think, I WANT them. I sound, often, like a seven year old in my head. I WANT those frogs and I want to keep them in a baggie until we get home and then I want to put them in a fish bowl and keep them FOREVER. But I don't. Jay caught this big crawdad. He is not the kind to just pick these things up but he did and brought it to show me.
(When I saw my skinny white son running around I became obsessed with taking him home and making him eat a big bowl of pudding or a huge plate of chicken nuggets or even just giving him a big sack of candy....the boy is THIN.) There was also a speckled fat toad, a zillion tiny fish, more crawdads, and tadpoles everywhere. There were no injuries, very few tears and several fourth grade infatuations in the making. I have heard that the change from fourth to fifth grade is big. It's when some of them start noticing the "other" sex. It seems like, up until now, they've all been one big microcosm, similar interests, dispositions, and mannerisms. Now, and I can see it in them, some are getting ready to morph into being the nerds or the jocks or the freaks. I remember all those cliques, like small villages, and now my son and his friends will start that long branching off into what they will become. They don't have any idea where they are headed. But they are anxious to get there. Everything about them is getting bigger; their emotions, their bodies, the importance of who says what to who, and why. The changing of grades is as crucial as birthdays. As Jay keeps saying to me, "in two days, I'm a fifth grader".

Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the
universe, a moment that will never be again. And what
do we teach our children? We teach them that two and
two make four, and that Paris is the capital of France.
When will we also teach them what they are?
We should say to each of them: Do you know what you are?
You are a marvel. You are unique. In all the years that
have passed, there has never been another child like you.
Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move.
You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven.
You have the capacity for anything. Yes, you are a marvel.
And when you grow up, can you then harm another who is,
like you, a marvel?
You must work, we must all work, to make the world worthy
of its children.
--Pablo Casals (1876-1973)

Humor

This was funny to me.

Dragonfly Time

Dragonfly time. Whole different gig. Well, kind of. Let's see.....

During my one year of Opus I didn't buy clothes or articles of adornment. (Yes, I remember the accidental tee-shirt) So, tomorrow I'm going to go out and buy these; new sneakers (mine have holes in them), new Levi's 505 jeans (one pair. and why is it called a pair? does that refer to the number of legs?), one package socks (men's tube socks, for the winter), I think that's it. Refine my first new sacrifice. Tweak the old one a bit.

1. I can only buy ONE wearable item a month (and no more house buying).

Rule two from Opus was no credit card usage. Still works.

2. No credit card usage.

The former third rule was only two bought coffee drinks a week. I've done pretty good with that. I've driven right past Starbucks countless times and just made a french press at home.

3. Same. No more than two bought coffees a week.

The fourth was a secret sacrifice and that will stay the same too.

4. The Secret One

Since those are pretty much the same as before, I feel compelled to add a couple new things. Which I don't necessarily think of as sacrifice but just "commitments" to my year. And now that I think about it, I want to think of them all, the sacrifices, the goals, the defining things, to be Commitments. Simplify!

5. Figure out a way or have an idea or create a situation where I give back. Where I do something to make the world better for someone else. (Is that f**king hokey!? Man, I need to go drink a few beers and pull myself together.)

6. Get a flipping job. Whoa! Okay, let me just get this out right now. Ready? I AM NEVER AGAIN GOING TO WORK AN EIGHT TO FIVE JOB. Whew. But, as no one is throwing cash my way to just exist, I have to be realistic (Dragonfly - moving beyond self-created illusions). Here's my dream. Work a twenty hour a week job (with benefits?!), also teach my poetry class, and do other things to piece it together. Flexibility is key. Maybe sell my furniture (Hahahaha), or teach a poetry workshop outside of the college arena. I don't know. I'm throwing it out to the universe (please take care of me, universe).

7. The creativity - No more four hours a day. I'm going to shoot for two. Two hours a day, five days a week of working at the creative. I still have book ideas, documentary thoughts, and, oh, ten more pieces of furniture in the garage. I did not learn how to can in my year of Opus, so I'll do it this year. Failure is NOT an ending, it is a chance for a new beginning (Could someone put that quote on a calendar?).

There. Seven commitments. And I'm going to throw out a challenge for you. Make two commitments. From June 1st to June 1st. Oh, do it. It helps to tell people. You can e-mail me. I think this last year, for many reasons, made me stronger, and more appreciative of what I have. It felt good to want a skirt, and NOT get it. The separation of want and need is important. That does not mean that we shouldn't also get what we want, (See, I didn't NEED that house in Kansas) it just feels good to be very conscious of the choices we make. And baby, it's all about the choices.


I can't find the quote I wanted to put here but I can kind of remember it. It's like this....

If you want to change your life, you have to CHANGE YOUR LIFE.