knoxville tennessee

we have wonderful friends in knoxville.  my dear friend patience, her husband john and their two sweet boys, abe and baby jed.

 sweeties!!

patience and i have know each other all our lives. our parents have been friends since the hippie commune days in the hills of oregon.  my dad and her parents were founding people in a commune called 'sunnyridge'.  we have seen each other now and again over the years but its been at least 7 years since we saw each other last because i had not yet met her older son, abe.  it was wonderful to see her and meet her adorable boys and her lovely husband john. 

they live in an old historic area called 'old north knoxville'  and i actually only saw this area and the marble quarry where we took a hike one day.  my visit to knoxville was really only to connect with these lovely people.  here are a few photos of some of the old  beautiful houses in their neighborhood.

their house front

their house back

 big house

red house

brick house

 cozy on the corner

 porching it up

i took this photo of the cosmic easter sunday sun! it was a relaxing day of cleaning up in the camper and lying in the sun relaxing. perfect!

we went out to a  marble quarry that is now a large park for hiking and biking where patience and the boys often go. it was beautiful!!

jed on the old tracks

old marble loading area

through the forest

to the rocks we go

going up

going down

rocks

the way through

 everywhere i go!!

 big rocks

abe the climber

is this the amazon

 jungle?

it was a wonderful visit. totally relaxing and chill. i could imagine staying forever in patience and john's back yard. but the road calls me ever westward. 

my house

sisterfriends

yeah!

all smiles

 great, fun guys

sweethearts

i love you guys!!

acorn community

acorn community is in mineral, virginia. this community started in 1993 and seems to be quite well established. they have a seed saving/selling company called 'southern exposure seed exchange'.  they have 72 acres which are largely gardens.  we got to have a grounds tour from a lovely woman, irene.

heartwood

new outdoor oven

 greenhouse 1

 the roots are edible

chicken coop

onion patch

 greenhouse 2

housing

the herb garden

 is everwhere

 plant markers

the picking room

irene in the office

the party pooper

dishes

the pantry

beautiful butterfly

there are currently 27 members of the acorn community and there are about 30 people usually living there at one time. there is only one person from the original founding group still living there.

''we are committed to income-sharing, sustainable living and creating a vibrant, eclectic culture. We encourage personal responsibility, support queer and alternative life styles and strive to create a stimulating social, political, feminist and intellectual environment.  Our thriving seed business Southern Exposure Seed Exchange is part of a growing network of farmers, gardeners and seed savers dedicated to organic and heritage agriculture. We sell heirloom, open-pollinated, non-GMO and organic seeds and do seed saving education and outreach.''  (taken from their website. www.acorncommunity.org) 

also visit the seed business at www.southernexposure.com

prayer flags

 garden field

 the old shacks

it was a beautiful day to visit the farm and it was interesting to learn about all the plants and seeds they grow and save and how they live as community.  we bought some seed packets to bring as gifts for people we meet along our way.

there were a lot of interesting names of people at this farm, exploding heart, rejoyce, surprise and river were a few of the more creative ones.  the atmosphere was very relaxed and somewhat quiet but i guess that's what happens if you live out on the land and watch the plants grow to eat and collect seeds from.  it was beautiful but a bit too quiet for me, but i guess if i were part of the community and connected with the people for longer then an afternoon, i would probably feel different.

driving in circles

my mom and i left my godmothers house on friday the 30th of march thinking we were going to be driving two hours to ashland, virginia to a place called 'foam to size' to buy some new foam to fix the beds in the camper.  the old foam was was too soft and i was waking up with a back ache.  we were planning on reupholstering the bed cushions and then get on the road and head down to knoxville tennessee to see some old friends down there.

but the universe had a different plan for us....

we got to the foam place in the afternoon and bought some foam. we went to a campground very near by and covered the new foam cushions. when we lay down to sleep we both burst into laughter because the new foam was as hard as rock. i mean it was really really hard!! we decided then and there that we had to go back to exchange the foam because there was no way that we could keep this hard foam. i hardly slept that night, tossing and turning. the next morning we realized that it was the weekend and they would not be open till monday. ouch!!

so we decided that we would lay down all the soft things we had with us, sweaters, coats and yoga mats on the hard foam and drive up to washington DC to meet my mom's book editor and go to a special church there. neither of us have ever seen the white house either so we decided to drive into the city to see the government sights. we arrived in DC as the sun was setting and were able to get some good views of a few of the famous places.

the approach

the treasury

the white house

eagle 

occupy DC

cherry blossom light

the washington monument

the crapitol

the pentagon

we spent two hours walking around seeing the buildings and visiting the occupy DC campground.  the occupiers are not allowed to sleep in their tents but they are allowed to sleep on the sidewalks across the street from their tents. the police raid the camp often to make sure no one is sleeping inside the tents. we had a long conversation with a young activist, keil, who hitchhiked from the state of maine to join the movement in october. he had a lot of great things to say, some good ideas, was very excited and spiritual and ready for action.  if all the occupiers were like him then perhaps something could really change but most of the others we met had more of a feeling of just hanging out and did not seem motivated.  it was interesting.

after our short DC visit we drove another hour to park heights and spent the night in the parking lot of the christian community church.  sunday we spent at the church, met mom's editor and other nice friendly people.

movement for religious renewal

the church yard

in the evening we headed back down to ashland, three hour drive, to be at the foam shop really early on monday morning.   we got new much softer foam and changed the upholstery, its much much better now!!  i can sleep really well and don't wake up in pain, yippi!!

as we had been driving up and down the I-95 we found that the steering in the van seemed really loose when driving fast. so since we were still just two hours away from rapidan and we have a friend there who is a mechanic who could look at the steering and probably help us get a good deal if something needed to be fixed, so we decided to drive back to rapidan. we had spent 10 hours driving and lots of gas and we hadn't gotten anywhere.  bummer!!

so we drove back to my godmothers house on monday afternooon and our friend tom, the car guy, had a look at the steering and said he could not fix it but that his buddies in town could have a look so we drove into town and the guys had a look and said they could fix it but not until tuesday so we spent the night at my godmothers and brought the van in on tuesday. the guys got one thing fixed and had discovered something else that needed repair but said that i should go to a different shop because they couldn't do the wheel alignment and blah blah blah. so now its thursday and i am still in rapidan at my godmothers house waiting for the van to be ready for the road..... 

in the shop

its fun to see my godmother again and i know its good to get the van all fixed up so that we can be safe on the road but i will be happy when everything is done and we can really get on the road! 

lightleadsme!!