First Days in Eugene
December 05, 2006
Upon arriving home to the eco-village, I picked up a cat5 network cable so I could check out Eugene’s school of glass. Turns out tomorrow night is their hot shop club night. $100 for 4 nights in the hot shop, for a total of 12 hours. I’d really like to go and see what this place is all about and meet some of the locals.
Later tonight I met Luke, a 28 yo handsome fellow living in a dome, working for a French café, saving money for ? He was supposed to go to the compassion center in Eugene hoping to find a non-smoking someone who owns land that might let him grow some herb. However he fell asleep from 230-830 and missed the opportunity. He goes to work between 7-9 and works until 1am washing dishes and doing janitorial work. He has a sister that graduated with a business degree and a divorced mother and father. Luke plays the piano rather well and has experimented with blowing glass using a cutting torch as well as lamp working torches and claims he can make a pipe in 5 minutes. He’s been here since the end of summer and used to work 3 hrs a day/5 days a wk for $150 on the premises, which I assume is his dome rent.
Next, enters Jason into the rec room. Jason is a tall, renaissance man in layers of loose textile, wearing a leather wide brimmed hat over his long dark hair, framing his sunken dark eyes and easy demeanor. Jason came up from Arizona about a month ago and tends to travel around in the summers. He prefers live/work trade and looks toward the spiritual side of life. He migrates from Flagstaff to Sedona living in communal homes, sharing love relationships while tending to the plants, or pets of his employers. His coat sports a dancing bear with a rainbow in the background, and he could pass as my cousin Randy on a double take. Jason also resides in one of the domes.
Both fellows step outside to smoke some herb that has been soaked in alcohol for a week, and screened to create a sticky hashish. I reply “not tonight, thank you” when offered and am granted the opportunity whenever I wish as I go on my way.
I end up walking past a woman on the grounds and say hello to the silence of her passing. As I walk up the stairs of the main building to the landing decorated with everyone’s shoes, I slip mine off and venture into the warm dimly lit abode. I see candle light coming from the only bathroom in the 3 bedroom house. I come closer to the etched glass bathroom door to hear the sound of water splashing in the tub and head back out into the full moon night. I end up making my way to the outdoor bathroom for my sleepy night’s preparation.
I’m now in the cobb guest house. I’ve lit my fire in the small wood burning stove and lie in bed admiring the handmade craftsmanship of the humble structure with the thick curving walls, and rounded edges. The roof is comprised of a 6x8 center beam with 1x3’s attached to 2x6 perpendicular joists created a ledge to support round limbs of 1” to 2.5” in diameter running parallel to the center beam. Above the twigs are potato bags, and I have yet to check the water proof covering above that. The idea is to create a building that when demolished, nourishes the earth where it came from for a completely recyclable and sustainable product.
Everything about this building seems special in an organic kind of way. The floor is compacted earth, and feels like concrete, while the walls look like adobe, and the matching cotton curtains give a cozy appeal of a quaint homey cabin. The building looks 100% natural and the effect is quite obvious…you want to be here in this beautiful structure. There are beautiful artistic embellishments like the carved tree in the center of the door shaped like a tree. The moon light shines through this lovely tree shaped window creating a glowing tree on the opposite wall of the cobb house. After glancing around at the books, I found one of interest dated back to 1974 entitled “The Mother Earth News Handbook of Homemade Power”.
Tomorrow is day two at work, and I am hoping to get to the Eugene School of Glass by 7pm for the start of a 12 hour class on glass blowing. So far everything seems to be in only 10 minutes distance. I could ride my bike to work and to this school on fair weather days.
They have a vegetarian dinner club here on Thursday’s. There used to be about 10 people in the club, where two would cook for the club and the rest feast. Luke told me more have joined, so you eat for a month, and then make a meal on the fifth week if it were 10. Sounds like a great way to get involved.
Upon arriving home to the eco-village, I picked up a cat5 network cable so I could check out Eugene’s school of glass. Turns out tomorrow night is their hot shop club night. $100 for 4 nights in the hot shop, for a total of 12 hours. I’d really like to go and see what this place is all about and meet some of the locals.
Later tonight I met Luke, a 28 yo handsome fellow living in a dome, working for a French café, saving money for ? He was supposed to go to the compassion center in Eugene hoping to find a non-smoking someone who owns land that might let him grow some herb. However he fell asleep from 230-830 and missed the opportunity. He goes to work between 7-9 and works until 1am washing dishes and doing janitorial work. He has a sister that graduated with a business degree and a divorced mother and father. Luke plays the piano rather well and has experimented with blowing glass using a cutting torch as well as lamp working torches and claims he can make a pipe in 5 minutes. He’s been here since the end of summer and used to work 3 hrs a day/5 days a wk for $150 on the premises, which I assume is his dome rent.
Next, enters Jason into the rec room. Jason is a tall, renaissance man in layers of loose textile, wearing a leather wide brimmed hat over his long dark hair, framing his sunken dark eyes and easy demeanor. Jason came up from Arizona about a month ago and tends to travel around in the summers. He prefers live/work trade and looks toward the spiritual side of life. He migrates from Flagstaff to Sedona living in communal homes, sharing love relationships while tending to the plants, or pets of his employers. His coat sports a dancing bear with a rainbow in the background, and he could pass as my cousin Randy on a double take. Jason also resides in one of the domes.
Both fellows step outside to smoke some herb that has been soaked in alcohol for a week, and screened to create a sticky hashish. I reply “not tonight, thank you” when offered and am granted the opportunity whenever I wish as I go on my way.
I end up walking past a woman on the grounds and say hello to the silence of her passing. As I walk up the stairs of the main building to the landing decorated with everyone’s shoes, I slip mine off and venture into the warm dimly lit abode. I see candle light coming from the only bathroom in the 3 bedroom house. I come closer to the etched glass bathroom door to hear the sound of water splashing in the tub and head back out into the full moon night. I end up making my way to the outdoor bathroom for my sleepy night’s preparation.
I’m now in the cobb guest house. I’ve lit my fire in the small wood burning stove and lie in bed admiring the handmade craftsmanship of the humble structure with the thick curving walls, and rounded edges. The roof is comprised of a 6x8 center beam with 1x3’s attached to 2x6 perpendicular joists created a ledge to support round limbs of 1” to 2.5” in diameter running parallel to the center beam. Above the twigs are potato bags, and I have yet to check the water proof covering above that. The idea is to create a building that when demolished, nourishes the earth where it came from for a completely recyclable and sustainable product.
Everything about this building seems special in an organic kind of way. The floor is compacted earth, and feels like concrete, while the walls look like adobe, and the matching cotton curtains give a cozy appeal of a quaint homey cabin. The building looks 100% natural and the effect is quite obvious…you want to be here in this beautiful structure. There are beautiful artistic embellishments like the carved tree in the center of the door shaped like a tree. The moon light shines through this lovely tree shaped window creating a glowing tree on the opposite wall of the cobb house. After glancing around at the books, I found one of interest dated back to 1974 entitled “The Mother Earth News Handbook of Homemade Power”.
Tomorrow is day two at work, and I am hoping to get to the Eugene School of Glass by 7pm for the start of a 12 hour class on glass blowing. So far everything seems to be in only 10 minutes distance. I could ride my bike to work and to this school on fair weather days.
They have a vegetarian dinner club here on Thursday’s. There used to be about 10 people in the club, where two would cook for the club and the rest feast. Luke told me more have joined, so you eat for a month, and then make a meal on the fifth week if it were 10. Sounds like a great way to get involved.
posted by Jaime at 10:17 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home