Mietzke's POST Holden Adventure

It is beautiful
This village silent and illuminated
With a veil of moonlight dreams
And the mountains stately and tall
Coated in blue and silver
A thin veil of spirit
Weaving magic
In our midst
How many sleep, enfolded in this nighttime bliss
While I, awake, try to hold all the magic
In my broken cup
And watch as each drop of moonlight
Spills quietly to the floor

The college students are back for a month of study, bringing with them such beautiful energy. They are so earnest in their striving and willing to be a part of everything. They jumped right into volunteering for worship and are so open to receiving. They are filled with passion and hope and their vitality fills me with the sense of possibility! This is a really great group and the professors that are here teaching them are the very best sort. Adventurous and respectful with reverence for all that this mountain living holds. It is so fun to see the dining hall full at all hours of the day and night. The third night they were here they organized a swing dance and invited the village. It was a lot of fun! They have been hard at work organizing a service of prayer for Israel and Palestine for Monday and I am amazed at how many are involved. I just get to sit back and they are doing all of the work. Tonight we had an open Mic night. It was a hoot. Many of the staff offered a medley of music, and a few of the college kids participated with poetry and a piano solo. Marta and Rolf played a Joni Mitchell tune and it brought tears to my eyes watching the Father/daughter team perform together. I am a sappy sort of person that way. I will try to be better about posting. It got so busy during the Holiday rush that I hardly had time to think yet alone write.

The moon shines regardless of my mood
Brightly pulling me out of my evening sulk
Out into the light of the divine
I want to hold onto my discontent
To sink under the cover of my own mask
And hide away from the blue light cascading over snow and ice
As much as I like my woes
I can’t seem to hold onto them
When even of a sliver of silver light
Comes through the cracks in my curtain
Beckoning me out into the night
To be amazed at the tops of mountains
And dance in the shadows that play across the path
At a point I find myself without my worries
Without loneliness and to my surprise
I have become heaven to myself
Basked in light and mystery
Forgetting the consumption of fear
And turning my face upward towards light
And still the moon shines regardless of my mood

It has been a while since I have written mostly because this place has been hopping! Last week we held the Holden Winter Olympic Games starting with the torch relay that went from the Garage to the top of Chalet Hill where the eternal flame was lighted. Anyone who wanted could participate in the relay and both Jordyn and Nyrie carried the torch proudly down the road. It was quite a procession that grew along the way. The flame lighter name was drawn from a hat and we commenced the ceremony with ABBA which was a lot of fun.
In the morning the Holden games began with a competitive game of broom ball in the main road followed by sled dog races in which villagers and guests alike were both dogs and mushers. There was the Holden drag and Hoist where children were put into clean compost barrels and Adults had to drag the barrels (while in drag) down the hill put it onto a sled without dumping the “compost” and pull the sled to the Garbage truck where they had to lift the compost kids into the truck. The contestants got points for costumes and technique, and fun and laughs were had by all especially when a guy named Chris came decked out in Gold with heals and fabulous red and black tight fitting pants and a gold handbag. He had red tails off of his outfit and a gold matching handbag and he managed to run through snow in heals only breaking one of them.
He won for best dress and got an award for the best posture while running through snow in heals.
There were bob sled races which Dave and Jordyn won by getting down the hill in 24 seconds. They had great technique and lots of fun. There was the synchronized snow Angle competition and the Coffee girls did the Macarena laying down in the snow it was a hoot! The kid toss was next. Dan and Nyrie got the Distance and height award. Nyrie flew over seven feet high and 13 feet of distance. There was snow tunneling which proved to be more difficult than anyone anticipated. Then of course there was the full contact sledding and know one really knows who won that it was a jumble of bodies wrestling and stealing sleds from each other. It was fun to watch! My friend Rachel and I participated in the snow sculpture with three penguins piled one on top of the other carved by Rachel and two whales outlining the penguins that I made. The penguins were masterpieces! There was a three legged snowshoe races and a long distance cross country ski. Last but not least was the candle relay which was a nice meditative way to spend the last even of the day. Team Mietzke and Espan made the best time and mostly just had a lot of fun!
It was a much needed day of fun and frolic, that ended up waking everyone up and setting the tone for New Years day.

The roof-a-lanche came down in slabs, covering a freshly stomped path to home. I knew it would fall even as I packed down the snow this morning. Isn’t that how it is sometimes? That you continue on about your day sometimes with a feeling that all the work you’ve done will just have to be re-done. This morning was a doosey, mostly for utilities, but for others as well. At about 12:30 in the morning a power line went down near the Hydro and the utilities team was up all night responding to the issue. Dave had the radio in our room ready to respond if needed and we heard them trying to work it out. When we awoke this morning it was to a fire alarm, no power in much of the village, and a foot of new snow on the ground. The sleepy village made its way towards the Village Center to search the building to try and discover what the problem was. It was quite a way to start the morning. I am often amazed at how ready and willing people are to take charge when situations arise. Sometimes I find myself grumbling and grouching the whole way down the hill praying that there really isn’t a fire, but being simultaneously annoyed that we have to respond at that moment.
All of the roofs are sliding and the kids have to go around and down the sledding hill to get to the dining hall. It is just to dangerous otherwise. I watched a couple of roof-a-lanches go this morning and the power of them shifted the building as the snow was coming off. When Koinonia went there were three foot long chunks of ice that fell that were each about a half a foot thick. When you see the power of gravity in action you just have to stand back and admire it, and thank your lucky stars it hadn’t come down on you, or anyone else for that matter.
The kids have been outside on and off all day today building snow forts and sledding. They are also helping plan the Holden Winter Olympics which happen on New Years Eave Day. They were so much fun last year with kid tossing and full contact sledding and “dog” sled races and the snowshoe on one foot and a ski on the other foot race, and hot chocolate spitting contest and broom ball in the street. We are getting pumped up for this year’s sporting events, which are yet to be announced. The girls are all having a big sleepover tonight all of the village girls over at Raina’s it should be fun and Jordyn and Nyrie are excited!