It was a foggy morning that I woke to see. Over night it had been quite clean, with the growing moon and bright stars. It was 5:30 am. I couldn't tell if there would be rain or whether the fog would burn off. I lay around not wanting to deal with the mosquitoes. They were camped out Between the tent and rainfly.
Had to get my butt in gear though, because I wanted to publish a post before meeting up with my friend Colleen. I packed up as the sun began to penetrate the misty woods. A new weather system was pushing it's way in. The forecast called for drizzle on this day. Though the walk back into Wiscasset would crowned with a blue sky, as soon as I got into town and settled at the Sunken Garden again, the clouds began to blow in covering the sun.
I worked pretty feverishly to get that last post up. I'd be meeting Colleen at noon. Tiny drops began to fall just when I finished and I left for the Courthouse lawn to wait for her...
I got a Wi-Fi signal there and saw a message that she was already in town. She met me earlier, driving up in her truck. I threw "Green Bean," the name for my new backpack, in the back seat. There were a lot of great ideas for this pack voted on at the IWALLK - Journey Group at Facebook...
I'll probably be using some of these others as nicknames.
Thank for such great suggestions!
Finally, I got a chance to meet Colleen in person! We had been Facebook friends for a couple of years now. But there is nothing like meeting someone in the real world. I was also psyched to see her cabin. We took some back roads before turning down her driveway...
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Colleen Powell-mareiniss parked the truck and we got out. I could tell she'd done a lot here since photos I'd seen earlier in the year. She'd just run a long conduit for power from the road, doing the work herself with a small excavator. There is no reason why she wouldn't be hands on with her own house project. She'd had experience in reconditioning structures before. And, apparently using heavy equipment was no problem. She is involved in every aspect of this project.
So many people are leaving the conventional concept of "working for the man." Long time readers of this blog know well what my thoughts are on this. Obviously, I am only satisfied with being my own boss. Colleen is of the same mind. Being about the same age, we heartily agreed that as we have gotten older it is the real things in life, the natural things, the simpler way, that appeals. Although she has her work cut out for her with this place, I thought to myself that if I were to have one realistic fantasy fulfilled, it would be doing exactly what she is doing.
But, that was all that we had in common. In a sense, it was more difficult to see what we didn't have in common. Colleen is a musician--percussionist, saxophonist, and multi-instrumentalist, has played with numerous bands over the years, DJ's for WMPG (University of Southern Maine's Radio Station), and is a trained sound engineer (CRAS - Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences). Back in "the day," when I was playing with bands in Southern Maine, so was she. If fact, we have a few best friends in common and had been in the same events without even knowing it.
Naturally, the simplified lifestyle she has chosen is not at all at odds with her creative inspiration. I can see quite well how the two can go hand in hand. Yes, she is focused on getting her house ready for the winter--a big job for sure, but without the expenses associated with a rent payment or mortgage, she has more flexibility to decide what she wants to do and when to it.
The cabin is larger than I'd thought from her previous pictures, and she is judiciously gathering the items necessary for becoming self sustainable...
Front door, from the driveway.
These containers can be an inexpensive way to catch or hold water.
Formerly filled with green hot cherry peppers--about $25.
I met her dog "Little Girl," and the three of us took a walk along the well worn path down to the end of the pond where she has another clearing (and where I would end up camping for the night)...
These were great. Tree stumps were now growing ferns.
(Sorry it's out of focus, but I'd see some others too.)
Looking at the end of the pond, with birdhouse and two decoys.
Each stump grows its own stand of ferns.
The pond was beautiful, idyllic, and a real treasure for someone who plans to be self sufficient in a small house. Though she has other plans for utilities, the fact that this springfed pond is hers to use, with proper filtering it could be a great backup or primary water source. It sure was nice to look at. Nearer the house, Colleen has set up a hammock overlooking the pond where she goes to think and relax.
When we returned it was drizzling, but not enough to keep us from starting a great conversation inside, one in which the pup seemed mildly interested...
...and then heading outside to talk near the grill area...
Along with removing an old gas stove, Colleen installed a majorly thick beam (looked to be about 8" wide, 16" high, and somewhere around 20' long) under the roof. The cabin itself was steadily being fortified, with a reinforced foundation. She wiped out an ant problem and was now deciding the best way to insulate the cabin. It was nice to see the exposed wooden walls on the inside. She had even contemplated insulating the outside to preserve that interior look, but is most likely to go with a standard indoor insulation plan. Even an inexpensive fiberglass would be quite effective. Then she could use reclaimed wood to cover certain walls on the interior and retain the rustic feeling.
This former three season cabin has several large windows, which are nice for viewing the woods in back and the pond in front. She is thinking of leaving the old multi pane front windows and removing a few single pane ones from the back wall to add extra wall space and make heating more efficient. I had meant to take some interior photos, but overlooked it during our incredible conversation.
As she described her well-thought-out concepts for each option, I admired the careful approach she was using. Wisely, she did not want to rush into major changes without a lot of thought involved. Even out around the house, each day she walked the property noting physical features--large boulders, moss covered rocks, small hills, pond-side places for gardens, and where alternative solar energy might be established (one idea was particularly creative, but I am going to keep it mum for now, being so great that I think it might be commercially valuable to her).
She kept mentioning things that reminded me of my own ways and means. Her focus is on usefulness. What is the sense of having things you can't use? And, looking around the property, I noticed that that was all she had. "I'm very much a follower of Frank Lloyd Wright's 'form follows function,'" she said.
Superfluous items are to be turned away from. It is the erroneous need to accumulate things for things' sake that can either lead to, or be the product of, the rampant consumer based materialism we see all around us. Having lots of stuff, means caring for it, maintaining it, storing it... Stuff (especially stuff we don't use very often) equals complexity. But what does it do for us?
As I have expressed many times in this Living Magazine, shopping for what you need, and passing by the other things that tempt your "shopping for sport" social conditioning, is the pathway to simplicity. In each of our past lives in the conventional culture, we both used to go out just to shop. Now, we agree that there is true satisfaction in buying only what we require. When we are able to abandon the idea of accumulation, we find that it is much easier to want what we need, rather than need what we want. Colleen has put this concept into practical use.
She offered to take me for a ride around her neck of the woods--her neighborhood. It was really quite something to see how each neighbor used their land. This area of town is a good place for rock, sand and gravel quarries. In general I'd say that the diversity of things one could do with so many little, ponds, rock cliffs, fields, and woods was damn-near infinite. I all but envied the many potentials Colleen had available to actualize with her own piece of land.
Speaking of using the things around her, many plants certainly seemed to fit that bill. When we returned to her property, she wanted to show me some plants that she'd noticed around the driveway and road, wondering whether they might be useful. So, we took a walk...
Where the power runs to the road.
Pines, firs, maples and oaks are abundant...
A new oak tree just on its way up.
Just to the right of the entrance to the rough path on left,
is a dark green plant with fern like foliage (though definitely not a fern).
I'd see the plant before many times, but didn't know what it was. We thought, because its leaves were so fragrant when crushed, that it might be some kind of citronella. But in looking it up today, I discovered it is probably, "sweetfern" (Comptonia peregrina). I didn't get a picture of the specimen we saw, but can show you an image from Wikipedia...
Wikipedia Image of Sweetfern.
For future reference this is citronella (Pelargonium 'citrosum')...
Wikipedia Image of citronella.
The other plant she wanted to show me was this...
This bush is woody, with large ovate leaves, flower bunches in the spring
and hard orange berries that have a sour apple taste.
Would love to know the species if anyone out there recognizes it?
When the afternoon got late we made our way back to the house and I decided that I should set up my camp site. Colleen went to town and bought some food then came back. The plan was for me to join her and hang out for a little while before bed...
Panorama of the sleep spot.
Two panoramas of the pond.
Upside down photo of a reflection.
My tree companion.
A perfect example of the fern-growing stumps.
Close up of branch moss.
Images of the Particle 13.
Still going strong and set up for a light rain.
I messed up this plan by getting sleepy and crawling into the tent for "short" nap. I was very tired, having walked so much the day before and in general for the other reasons I've mentioned lately. The next thing I knew it was pitch black out, the frogs were the only sound when they occasionally croaked. And, the pitter patter of a steady drizzle could be heard in the leaves around the area. Very interestingly, there were no drops on the tent. The tree companion was so thick above, that not-a-one drop fell on the rainfly. I checked my watch. It was 10:20 pm. After feeling a bit silly for missing our appointment, I eventually made it back to sleep.
It was comfortable and peaceful there by the pond. Colleen had inspired me that day. She was doing what I dreamed of doing. If I truly had a choice, I'd give up these Journeys after this one and work to build a property, just like she is doing. I'm very tired of traveling and being Nomad. I so very dearly want to have a place like Colleen does.
For me it is all about getting the land. Then, I can do the rest, taking a page from Colleen's play book, progressing slowly and intelligently, shaping, molding, carving and growing the property into a green and self-sustaining jewel. She knew what she was doing when she went looking for this kind of real estate. I have to learn more about how to do that. At least I will have her to consult and advise me, while I watch her transform her house and its land into a beautiful, true and lasting home.
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