Chronicles of the Wayward Moot

WELCOME TO THE MOOT, oh world-wanderers and word-whisperers. After two years of Peace Corps. After 2,200 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail. What. Comes. Next?

4 May 2009

Just a short and sweet note here. I added a link over on the right margin to the website run by one of my awesome cousins and her husband living up in North Carolina. They wrote a book called The Carbon-Free Home and I'm excited to be heading up to visit them soon. Hopefully we'll get to talk about sustainability, cultural (in)sanity, home retrofitting for efficiency, solar electric and heating technology, design, and installation, and perhaps I'll get some good insight and ideas as to a "career" direction. If not, it will still be a good opportunity to reconnect with family that I haven't seen in years. These cats are cool. They got some land out in the sticks, built a passive solar house out of natural materials, and grew much of their own food trying to live off the grid and not play into the unsustainable system that typifies modern society's means of existence. Through that experience the couple learned quite a lot, much of which they incorporate into their book and share with anyone interested in weaning themselves off of fossil fuel dependency while remaining a connected part of the human community. Excellent.

In the meantime, I've been busy in Mandeville dodging hailstones and rain, enjoying some delectable boiled crawfish, salad, and macaroni & cheese with great friends, helping to install a burglar/fire alarm system, spending time with my brother and his zippy little car, and getting excited over the excuse which will bring me in closer proximity to my enlightened cousin: a backpacking trip in the Great Smoky Mountains! Several years have passed since I've shouldered a pack and headed up into the Smokies, and I'm blessed to be able to return with some of the best friends I've ever known since their planned trip to Cancun was derailed by the hijinks of the H1N1 virus.

Being home watching late winter thaw into spring and rising temperatures usher in the coming of summer has been a treat for the senses (my goodness the fragrance of neighborhood flowers when I'm jogging or walking the dogs is intoxicating!) but I always have loved a change of scenery, so heading for the hills has gotten me thrilled. All the best to you all.

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