Dwagenheim

I got up early and had a nice light breakfast with Amy and Tom and then Amy was off to school. I chatted with Tom a bit and then did a minor amount of computer work. I was called by a former student of Amy’s named Buck who lived nearby. Amy had talked to Buck last night about possibly getting together with me to chat about natural building since I’d mentioned it to her in conversation. So Buck and I arranged to meet up at his place a little later. I finished up my computer work and then had a snack before taking off on a walk to Buck’s yurt. Buck has been living in this yurt for 3 years and lives with his new wife Odessa. Right away I could tell Buck was my kind of person. We had good talks about natural building techniques, living more harmoniously with the environment, and other topics like politics and society. We smoked a little homegrown goodness and then snacked on some lunch. Buck took me around the property, which is perched on a hilltop, and showed me his small garden, outdoor shower, and composting systems. We also talked about the house he and Odessa are planning to build. After a great few hours connecting with Buck, I left him to his work and returned to Tom and Amy’s. It wasn’t long before they returned home and Amy and I collaborated on a nice dinner. We had a great meal and then when Amy took off for a school meeting, Tom and I spent some more time talking. Tom is a cinematographer and video editor. We watched one of his creations he made for the school that Amy teaches at, a documentary on its unique style of teaching kids in an open-classroom environment. It’s a little hard to explain the system but let’s just say it’s much better than the run of the mill public elementary education. The cool part is that this is a public school. After watching the film, I decided I had to stop by during class tomorrow morning on my way out of town to talk to the kids and check out the school during working hours. Tom and I talked a while about filmmaking until Amy returned and then I asked her tons of questions about the school and its challenges and rewards. It got late pretty quick so I checked to see what my San Francisco accommodations were for tomorrow on email before bed. As usual, it looks like I won’t know until the last minute, but I’m confident that everything will work out.

Peace

Dave