Taking a break between rambling sessions...

We're back in Oakland. We took a train down from Portland yesterday. We passed through the most spectacular part of the trip, the Cascades, after dark, but we will see them in the light on our next trip. Trains are the way to travel... comfortable, spacious, and with an opportunity to walk about. A train embraces you at night, carries you through the Kerouacian darkness, past houses where people are in the kitchen at  3 AM - a mystery we;ll never have the answer to. And where are those lonely cars going at 3 AM?  When the sun rises,  coloring the horizon with paralell bands of multiple colors, it's like a tall musical chord with thousands of notes.

So... we gained many insights into what to do with our future on this ramble. No specific plans yet, but directions. The rambling will continue, watch for notification.

Portland

Yesterday we visited Bridge Meadows, an intergenerational living project where seniors and families of adopted kids share an apt. complex, and all are involved in helping the kids. This is extremely appealing, but the waiting list is years long. Something to think about.

Portland is a fine town, funky and creative as the Bay Area was once upon a time (before the Dot Com invasion, for example.) Smaller and more relaxed, too, and full of parks where wildlife abounds. yesterday we hiked through a park where douglas fir, ponderosa pines, Oregon ash, and many other stands of native trees thrive. A wetland was home to many ducks, including the somewhat elusive hooded mergansers. We heard a pilleated woodpecker pounding on a tree, but couldn't spot it. These are the big woodpeckers, their pounding sounds more like single strokes than other woodpeckers' rapid rat-a tat.

There are funky cafes and threatres and cafes here, teriffic book stores, many interesting projects, and a generally friendly feel to the town. We will pass through here again in some form.

What is an ecovillage?

We're staying at coho Ecovillage, outside of Corvalis, Oregon, to investigate the question of whether we might want to live this way at any point. It's fascinating and complex, many issues we have to ponder. An ecovillage is something like a co-housing project, with more of an ecological focus. This one is on a nice plot of land near town, and near the Williamette River. The area is very bikable, and there are busses.

This is a multi-generational community, with many kids (who like my stories.) Yesterday there was a potluck, where everyone provided home made soup or bread (we brought bread.) Very nice dinner aith good folks, the chocolate truffles were also yummy. The people come from a wide range of backgrounds... teachers, scientists, dancers, retired folks, and many more. We are about to go to a community meeting to see how they deal with sticky issues... far too much to explain here. It will give us more to ponder.

Corvalis is a sweet town, we have passed through here before and like it quite a bit. A very literate, eco oriented place in between the Cascade Mts. and the coast. In winter, huge flocks of Brandt's geese circle the town. Again, though, there are many issues we need to ponder and investigate about life here.
Tomorrow we will head from Portland, where we will look at another community and hopefully meet an old friend. More to come.