When autumn knocks me to the leaf-strewn ground
with a full-body tackle,
how can I help but sit on the front step in the morning sunlight, dazed,
with a warm cup of coffee
and my head in a cloud of poetry?

notes:

maples on fire
DJ Makeout King is a sweaty bike slob
be suspicious of old men with pinky rings
check out Trader Joe's for dumpstering
women + bikes + striped clothing = hot (I <3 Mpls)
Flat Earth Tripel = yummmm

winter gathers
at the periphery
of the horizon

for more, read the tour log at www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/ruraleast

or

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=3Tzut&page_id=78732&v=1X

for the most recent post.

day lily stems are edible. Andy fried them with sesame seeds, paprika, and other spices, but still crunchy. mmm.


read more at our bike tour journal.

We have several posts and lots of pictures up at our bicycle tour journal:

www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/ruraleast

Check it out!

 It's a lucky woman who can say she loves her homeland best. 

On the ride home last night:




Ah, Winona, I shall miss you. 

View of town from my dad's house:




Recently, I saw two people moving a canoe with a bicycle! Andy said, "My favorite modes of transportation... combined!"

for Sarah, who is my bluff-sister,

These days
the river cloaks herself
in deep blue storm clouds,
backlit by golden sunshine,
offering up
great belly-laughs of thunder.

The valley awakens,
remembering her winter dreams,
weaving them into
swelling buds
and rising streams.

Across deep mist,
backwater islands host
brash silver maples
unfurling their crimson flowers
despite threats of snow.

The scent of stiring soil
hints at the secret ceremonies
of earthworms and fungi
as they prepare for spring's banquet.

All the bluff people
await the arrival
of the first robin...
dozens arrive suddenly
with egg-fat bellies
to join the rising chorus
of early songbirds,
and soon enough,
spring peepers!

 http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/ruraleast 

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/freerangecycling


Our tour journal and bios for the bike trip!

"The purpose of the trip is not to put on the miles or see the major attractions. Instead, our intentions for the trip are: to meet farmers and investigate a variety of sustainable agriculture systems, observe landscapes and ecosystems, and find examples of creative people and communities within the matrix of bland, plastic monoculture. We have contacted many farmers and other people contributing to constructive, holistic worldviews and practices, and we are excited to visit them."  (Read more at the site!)

In preparation for the bike trip, 
and general self-overhaul, 
I have cut most of my hair off. 
Well, actually Andy cut it off, 
suggesting that we leave a mohawkish strip down the middle.
So we did!
(To see me with long hair, look at my Dec/24/07 entry)

Also, I baked Sunflower-Millet-Flaxseed bread, 
and it is amazing!!! 

Hickories and elms, 
hackerries and oaks, 
a whole of spring
waiting to leaf,
still dreaming beneath 
crystalline feathers
of

 

The ridges rose like spines
of so many sleeping dragons, 
this small orchard perched
on one articulate vertebrae...


 

One late November day, my arms were aching from hauling wood all afternoon, stocking the woodpile for winter. As the light sank away, the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen played across the hills. From the edge of the ridge, the colors spanned more than half the rim of the horizon, stretching themselves like napping kittens, one eye half-open. Layers of clouds made compelling patterns as they slid past each other at cross directions.

Harry pulled the other tractor up behind mine saying, "I was hoping you would turn around and see this." We stood in the cold, watching the colors flowing and shifting, souls making their subtle evolutions. 

Color had almost deepened into darkness when I saw the first shape float silently across the field. "Owls," I said. And they were. A pair of short-eared owls were patrolling the field we had just cut for hay, rodent inhabitants now exposed. They called softly to each other, and were quite interested in us. They flew past us several times--I could see their flat faces, their round eyes transfixing me, making eye-contact for the transmission of secrets. We watched them hunt, flying in total silence, till our toes were tingling with cold. Such grace and beauty makes the hard labor of farm-life worthwhile.

Oh such frollicking and merrymaking!

The apple harvest is almost over, but every day new surprises of delight thrust up from the earth or lean over the nearest branch. I have been eating fresh strawberries! Ones planted earlier this year have put forth their flowers and berries despite frosts, laughing at their success. Hawks and owls abound of late~ redtails especially. My apple pies are insanely good: many people have named them the best apple pie they've ever had.

Some sadness arises as one by one, our friends leave, harvest finished. Soon, Andy and I will be the only remaining workers at the orchard. But our friends the geese have begun laying eggs: eggs the size of my palm! And duck and chicken eggs nourish us as well.

The Pippin has been most annoying lately by waking me up in the middle of the night (a dozen nights or more now), with "gifts" of live mice for me to play with. The mouse runs around the bed squeeling; the cat runs around crashing into things trying to contain it; I run around with a towel or shirt, trying to catch it and toss it outside. Quite disturbing to the sleep cycle, obviously.

Oh! And the blackbird migrations: flocks of hundreds, thousands?, of redwing blackbird, grackle, and others sinuously paint the sky with mysterious forms that can be read as one reads tarot cards... but the secrets they speak of are more strange and wonderful.

I am hoping to post pictures of my Halloween costume soon. I hope everyone here is well! Much love from me!

At the orchard,
I am sometimes called
The Lady of the Lake~
she who lures men
to their doom in icy water~
because I enjoy a dip
in the pool after work~
work days of about 65 degrees
and a water temp of maybe 45.

The South Americans fear for
my health and sanity.
I just chortle!

 First day of apple picking at the orchard. We only picked for two hours, but my back is a little sore already. Also, we are reunited with our cat! Weee!

Danced wildly last night, and saw a fun homemade "fashion show" at the Winona Arts Center today. Lots of stripes,  colors, tights, and thrift-store re-creations.

Ho Ho!  What a lovely encounter!

I was walking back to the hotel in Orr from the only cafe in town (which servered only meaty meaty things and breakfast, which was also quite meaty), getting weird looks for walking along the highway. I noticed a colorful little shop called "Nativ Beadz and Thingz". Intrigued, I ventured over, but it was closed. Searching for a sign indicating their hours, I saw a little note on the door: 

"Weds. Gone popping rice. Will be back in 1/2 hour."

Weeee! I did a little jig with joy! Oh, wild rice! You sacred, wild food! How wonderful to see that there are people whose lives are still influenced by the spirals of the seasons. (It is not lost upon me that these are not white people. *sigh* Silly white culture.) 

I could imagine the smell of the toasting rice, the laughter and sharing amongst those who gathered and prepared it. And sorrow as well... that I was not stomping rice with Skogan this year, wearing his homemade leather booties (he tanned the leather himself with deer brains, fashioned the booties with an awl...) that are too big for me, the rice husks poking my toes. But one day I will stomp rice again. And I will also learn how to gather it into canoes, how to toast it, the whole process.

Wow. What is up with Canadians? 

To preface this, a was watching television-- yes I know... that evil box of commercialism and propoganda... I don't have a television at home--hell--I don't have electricity, I don't even have a home! ... but yes, anyway, I was watching the television in the hotel because I'm on my fourth book in the last 2 weeks, and my eyes are getting tired of reading. 

Well, International Falls gets a Canadian channel, CBC, and there was a reality show with (can you believe!) real-looking people (rather than wanna be celebretards)! And they were doing improvised singing and performing acts together. They were cheering and laughing uproariously at each other's performances, encouraging each other! Then, they decided that rather than having one of them voted off, they would unite! They would all walk off the show if the producers didn't let them go at least another night together as a cast! 

I've actually wondered why people on reality shows didn't do this before, but Americans seem all to eager to build psuedo-friendships only to betray each other for the win in the end. Are Canadians really this different from Americans? Why am I in this insane culture? Can I immigrate? Why is Canadian television so fun?

Oh sauna!
Cave of purification, 
of sweat and resolution, 
finding the kernel of 
the knot, 
unwinding it 
in the steam-ladden air
incensed with cedar. 



How simply marvelous to have find a hotel with a steam sauna! Despicable dry sauna, yech! The point is to glisten, not turn into dry fruit! 

Hopefully this will help my pounding headache and puffy eyes. What is wrong with me? Today is yucky.