Spring was on it's way. I made it though the winter! The first day I came to the Okanogan and the Circle, I met a woman named Flyingsky. We became friends. Then when I moved in with John, she lived down the road, and we visited more. We had kept up with each other through letter through the winter. Now that the weather was better, I decided to go see her. Back to the Aeneas Valley!
I went and ended up staying with her, her two children, and her boyfriend all summer. I just used my van for a bedroom. She lived on an old homestead there. It had electricity, a wood heat and cook stove, and cold running water, that always ran, from a spring. It had an outhouse. I guess I should mention everyone had an out house, and her house was pretty deluxe with the electricity and running water.
We had a nice summer and now winter was coming upon us again. One thing about living in the North country like this. You are always getting ready for winter, and it is always coming. I couldn't keep staying in my Van. Flyingsky's house was way too small for me to stay in. I needed to find my own place. This is where John comes back in. He lived up the hill from Flyingsky. We didn't see each other that often, but we weren't enemies or anything. Well John hears I need a place to live, and he tells me about a little place he built and lived in a few years back. It is way back there, pretty isolated, and the guy who owns it lives down the hill. He was an old guy. John tells me to go ask the guy if I can stay in the place, and he says yes. I offered him money, but he wouldn't take it.
It was a little cabin that was half sunk into the ground. It had a barrel stove, that didn't hold a fire all night. It had an awesome picture window, that would let the sun come in so good, that you could let the fire go out, and bask in the sun, even in the dead of winter. The water was on another piece of property, with another empty house, probably like a 5 minute walk away. It was the most amazing spring water ever! it was very peaceful there. It was back there. I moved in and I was home.
I spent the winter back in that cabin by myself. People wonder why even now, I don't listen to the radio or music. I tell them that I learnt to listen to the quiet in that cabin. I was way back there by myself. My closest neighbor my landlord, was a bit of a hike, and I didn't see him very often. My main worry, was what if I got sick. So I got myself 5, 5 gallon buckets for water, and made sure they were always full. And then I made sure I always had plenty of chopped kindling for starting fires, and plenty of wood chopped and cut in my house. I never did get sick once. Probably because I was living such a healthy lifestyle. I had a new kitten, and she was my company. I chopped my wood, hauled my water. I went for walks, and listened to the coyotes. I read the bible, and prayed. I tried to observe Shabbat days as an intense meditation on God and felt his blessing shower down. But I also came out and related to people.
There were alot of hippie people living in those hills. Everyone knew each other, and were all basically friends. I had no shortage of friends and human contact. I seemed to follow a pattern of 3 days by myself, and then go out. I could take walks to go visit people or drive a few miles. One thing, there was snow, and plenty of it. Somehow I managed to plow myself through it, with my trusty Ford Econoline Van. And there were dinners and parties for things like Christmas and Thanksgiving. I had a social life. I had lots of nice girlfriends, and I felt like my relationships were rewarding.
I had one friend whose house was more civilized than most of house. She lived in a Old Ranch house. I would go down there and stay overnight at here place alot. She had a VCR and we would rent videos, and I could take a shower there. I also heated up water and took baths in a wash tub by my wood stove.
The other thing I remember is somewhere in all of this I had a babysitting job for a few months, for 4 kids. I would go down a few days a week and babysit them, and make some money. So I wasn't a total hermit, but I did spend alot of days back there, all by myself, listening to the quiet. It was a very rewarding time.
copyright 2010 © Stacey Bander. Please contact for any reuse.
No comments:
Post a Comment