Where Does the Time Go?

It's been almost a month since we were at Lightning in a Bottle. I was able to get a post out about our first hour there, but that just barely touched the surface.

Since then, I've worked more as a set dresser than I have for the last 12 years, granted for ten of those I was a Set Decorator and by our Union's rules I couldn't have been a set dresser even if I wanted to. In fact, I am writing this from a pretty funky hotel in Parker, Arizona where I'm staying while I work on a train unit shooting just the the other side of the border, California's that is.

Then of course was the chicken/rooster Odyssey, which has calmed but by no means is over. Plus there is a ton of gardening and "farming"

But......time to recap Lightning in a Bottle. Or at least get us through the day and to just before it gets dark when LIB takes on an entirely different life.

Lightning in a Bottle--Part 2

After running into our friend Leslie, we realized that we hadn't eaten and headed out in search of food .




Skye and Cindy are camped out under this lovely shade structure while I forage for beer.

Chillin

After refueling we were ready to explore. There were several eco-workshops that I was interested in. They were in the nether regions of the festival and it was quite a hike to get there.

So up we hiked to the Sustainability Stage and the Temple of Consciousness. A lot of the workshops and speakers I had really wanted to see were on Friday and Saturday, but there was a speaker on Permaculture which I was interested in.




It turned out to be a pretty basic, very 101 introduction into the field which I had already researched, so unfortunately it was too basic for me and the speakers, well.....

So we left the Sustainability Stage and headed to the Temple of Consciousness.



Talks of astral travel and such was a little too fringe for me, rather it was not the fringe that I inhabit, so back to the Woogie Stage we went.

The cool human hamster ball had made it's way to a more central field with the addition of helpful instruction by way of a stiltmaster.

I have always love stiltwalkers and these were among the more creative and fun group of them. I am mesmerized.

We spent the next several hours hanging out in this area. Listening to music, people watching, someone had put up a slackline like the one we have, so we jumped on that and tried to play and impress.

As it started heating up and the DJs spun a water truck showered the crowd.



This was our audience as we attempted to cross and master the slackline. As you can imagine it was a supportive and understanding group.

To Be Continued.......

Lightning in a Bottle --Part 1

Lightning in a Bottle

The website read, "The Festival will be open from Friday May 28th at 7am until Monday May 31st at 5pm." Add to that, that the eco-workshops I was most interested in would be conducted on Saturday, and most importantly, (and subconsciously), we were swamped with more things on our To Do List at home, than is humanly possibly on even the best of days. So the obvious answer would be to cut our loses and catch the festival next time around.

So we "obviously" didn't take the easy approach and got day passes for Sunday, arriving around 11 am wide-eyed and bushy tailed, ready to enjoy the festivities.

Very early into it, we realized that the vast majority of the people were there for the entire weekend which under different circumstances in a different phase of my life would certainly be the way to go. What that meant, was that most people were still up from the night before or were just waking up.

When a topless woman calmly strode past us, I knew the lessons Skye would be learning were not the ones I had anticipated.

Let's see...Skye's comment, my response.

1. After the aforementioned female passed, "Um, that was awkward" "Think of it like a sculpture at an art museum, " A twisted look that meant either, "At this stage in my life I am uncomfortable with that as well or Dad, that wasn't a statue" to which I countered, "The human body can be very beautiful and the whole notion of modesty and covering it up is unnatural man-made construct" That didn't go over well either.
2. "I think that guy is gay, cause he just keeps pointing at you not me or mom" in regards to the stilt-walker in purple fuzzy leggings dancing to rave music at 11:30 am. Me, "I don't think it's necessarily a gay thing"

1. The above conversation continues, "OK, I think he's drunk" "At this time in the morning, with that kind of energy, I don't think it's just alcohol." "What do you mean?" A brief and cautionary explanation of recreational drugs. "I am never doing drugs" I think the disco-dancing-sexually ambivalent stilt-walker was a bigger deterrent that 100 "Just Say No" ads

That all happened in the first 30 minutes.



Skye, still getting the lay of the land and not so sure of the whole thing.




High energy music blaring away before noon, I would hate to be that DJ

As we tramped on through the dust and heat, wondering if this was such a good idea after all, I spied a very cool-looking metal human hamster ball type contraption.



"Whoa, check that out that looks so cool" and I hurried us along toward the object of my fascination.

As we got closer, it looked like our friend/aerial arts instructor Leslie. I knew she might be at the festival (Facebook update) but what were the chances of actually running into her, given the length of the event, the hundreds of people and the physical acreage.(When we did try to reconnect with her later and knew where and when she was going to be there, couldn't find her)



Leslie getting a quick tutorial. I had meant to talk to the guy and give the thing a spin, but timing and various distractions wouldn't have it.

That begins to give you an idea of the event;

Hour 1...
We were there until just before midnight..
More to come

A Whirling Swirling Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day Weekend

Three days to chill and relax, maybe get some last bits of spring cleaning done, barbecue with friends and family, or it can be like the rest of my days, a mad attempt to cram three weekends full in one.

Guess which one materialized seemingly out of thin air.

Saturday

Two future events colliding with results of the past would dramatically shape our weekend.

One was that Cindy was hired to work on additional photography and I would be leading for her. That was a very familiar and regular work relationship, 13-plus years ago.

Two was that in just over a week I would start teaching the Ecology 101 class. We decided to keep it simpler by keeping it to one class a week as opposed to the two that I was doing before. Now the class looks to be twice as large, with a goodly mix of new people and ages.

The past events were series of things ranging from flooding, to too many projects, to Cindy returning after being gone for practically a year and her life abroad arriving in multiple boxes and of course the on-going chicken saga. This basically meant that the two rooms that I conduct class in, the living room and dining room were jammed pack of stuff.

Lots of Stuff.

This doesn't look like a classroom. Where do the children go?

And we didn't want to just cram it back into the garage and various closets, nooks and crannies, etc. That's how we ended up with have tons of "stuff" and never being able to find it when we need it.

So with that in mind, we both acknowledged that the weekend would be primarily dedicated to that major projects.

Balance

That concept ended up dovetailing with the other concept of wanting to not become beholden to our stuff and the banality of chores. Which meant that we were going to not just work over the weekend. For us that doesn't mean doing less work or lowering our goals and expectations, rather we try to just shove more into a twenty-four hour day.

The Lakers were positioned to beat the Phoenix Suns and secure their spot in the NBA Finals. There was also a big MMA UFC fight. And one of are favorite couples are huge Laker fans and MMA fans, so of course we invited them over for a multi-hour sports indulgence.

Sunday

There was also a weekend long festival I had heard about, Lightning in a Bottle. After some discussion and some debate we decided that we would work extra hard on Saturday and get a day pass for Sunday. We made these plans and purchased the not so cheap tickets prior to
realizing we would be having a sports viewing marathon with guests, something we rarely do.

Monday

By Monday, we were exhausted and far behind in our quest to get the house in classroom condition. Add to that, we had done none of the "homework" we needed to do for the job we were starting the following day. There was gear to wrangle and many phone calls to be made. So Monday, even though we were fried from the festival, still tired from the day before, we were resolved to but our collective noses to the grindstone and get some shit done.

At around 6 that morning as I am beginning to tend to the gardening end of things, our cat Daisy stumbles toward me foaming at the mouth. Mad "Googling" and calls to find a vet open on Memorial Day ensue.

Details to follow....

The Magic and Science of Food

A few years ago, in a magazine, Bon Appetit or Gourmet, I ran across an recipe for frittatas that called for Lay's potato chips, and specifically Lay's plain, noting that the recipe's designer Ferran Adria, a controversial, innovative chef from Spain had experimented with several brands of potato chips and that the Lay's performed better than say a chip with ridges or a bar-b-que style chip. The term molecular gastronomy was thrown in, interesting concept, I thought. I then searched out the Lay's and other ingredients and ended up with a pretty wonderful brunch.

Since then I have become more and more interested in food and cooking, in the history of foods as well as the future of foods and cooking. On our road trip to Nicaragua, traveling companion/business partner/culinary enthusiast, Charles Lee and I ended up listening to a great book, "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan. A book that discusses how, what and why we eat what we do and the many resulting outcomes and implications. We were engrossed in it for many, many hours. For better or for worse we opted for it over the various Spanish lessons I had brought along.
This coupled with the wonderful food I had in Nicaragua, combined with a trip to Paris, along with the additions of a wood-fired oven intensified my desire to learn more about food and cooking, which somehow lead me to a wonderful DVD, "Decoding Ferran Adria" that Cindy and I watched with amazement and awe. I highly recommend it. You don't need to obsessive about cooking, although it helps, or interested in the science of food, also helpful. Ferran Adria is wonderful to watch. He is like Willy Wonka, in so many ways.

Ferran's culinary lab, El Taller

So I thought I would pass on these wonderful experiences.