Mietzke's Holden Adventure

Okay so it’s been a while since I wrote an entry for the blog. There have been a few things on my mind in the last few days. I had a realization today about one of my difficulties in adjusting to Holden Village. I have for the past few years worked in community, that is to say working closely and interacting frequently with my co-workers, friends. Here we have been surrounded by and enveloped in this amazingly welcoming and nurturing community. However during my work day I have been for the most part working on my projects, on my own, often without seeing or interacting with my co-workers except on breaks, and at lunch. It has been hard for me to keep my focus and accomplish my tasks in isolation. I find myself going over to the shop to get something, or walking up the hill to the chalet for a tool, or my water bottle. I have a hard time deciding what tools or methods to use without someone to bounce ideas off of. It seems counter-intuitive that in order for me to focus on, and be truly productive at my work there has to be some social interaction. As I look back over last couple of weeks I find that I have been missing my friends at work, missing the short conversations, or just having someone available, in sight, to lend a hand.

Another thing is: I got a little remote control helicopter for Christmas (Like Jeremy’s). Here in the Village we have a huge gymnasium, empty in the winter, perfect for flying it in. There is a problem with the battery; it won’t take a full charge, so the flights have been short. I’m going to try shock-loading it with a twelve volt charger, and see if that won’t get it to charge up. If not it might just start a cool battery fire, which could be fun too.

The snow is getting deeper; all of the windows on the north side of the house are buried now. I have managed to keep the back door clear with daily shoveling, twice on the day it snowed twenty-two inches. The snow building up on the north side of the roof has been acting like a glacier, every day creeping down a little further. I have been breaking it off over the door and then shoveling out the well. I don’t think it is going to slide catastrophically any more this winter. It is supported on a sheet of ice that reaches down to form a tunnel along the house.

Angela’s parents and Karma arrived here at the village today. It is great to have them here and to be able to share some of this experience with family. We had another short present exchange and caught up on the past few weeks. It was funny Ang and I kept starting to tell them about some little thing or another and they would stop us and say, “Oh yeah, we read about that on the blog”.

On Friday nights the service is Prayers Around the Cross. We enter in silence, sing some short chants, and there are a couple of readings. After that all are invited to light a candle and pray around a cross in the center of the room or just stay in their seats and pray while we sing some more. There are two types of places to pray, one to pray by yourself, and another to have others pray with you. You may stay for as long or short a time as you like. For me it is a very peaceful centering time, as well as a time to think about all of you.

In Peace,
David