Sunday

Sunday --- Day 3. Breakfast and closure

Please write and add pictures about the day

Mark's Sunday breakfast

Molly and Sadie photo by Patsy Dodd

Ken Scott, photo by Patsy Dodd

Mark at Stove photo by Ann Mason

Backstage, Sun. breakfast. Picture a room full of exuberant yet functional chaos, lots of people coming and going and talking and singing but work getting done.
...well before 7 a.m. Mark already in kitchen quietly rattling pans. Crisis: no cooking oil. I have car keys in hand to drive Patsy somewhere to buy it when Janelle (Venture Bob's daughter) arrives and offers some from home. Mark is well into prep and the rest of us tackle the remaining pile of last night's dishes.
7:30 a.m. Sleepy helpers stumble in looking for coffee then find jobs chopping potatoes, cheese, tomatoes, onions (complete with tears). More dishes. Earnest discussions / decisions about toasters, coffee pots, extension cords, signs, traffic flow, table layout and setup. I personally crack and whisk approximately 160 eggs, 3 of which land on the floor.
8 a.m. Our singing group is pleased to oblige Mark's request that a choir of angels serenade him while he cooks. We'd promised people sleeping in neighboring rooms that we'd hold off till 8 a.m. At the appointed hour Iris, Norma, Katie, Julie, and I and others launch into 6-part harmony and discover that the kitchen is terrifically resonant. The spirituals pour out of us, perhaps as a nod to Sunday morning. Judith, Thomas, Sue, Sara, Chris, Paul, and everyone else add their voices. Rain rings out "If I Had a Hammer." Others flock in to sing or listen and then pick up a dish towel or spatula and pitch in.
8:30 - 10 a.m. Assembly line in kitchen, with queue of hungry people holding plates trailing in the opposite direction through dining room into living room and out onto deck. Mark putting together the world's most delicious crepes (with organic Calif. strawberries and organic Mass. maple syrup). Thomas and Judith rustling up omelets, later spelled by Rain and Chris. The dish-washing brigade now overseen by Asa who easily breaks all Guinness records (but not one plate) by washing a thousand items in one hour.
The rest is a blur of breakfast orders, songs, cascades of laughter, a visit by a bee, spatters and sticky fingers, coffeemaker refills, soaked dish towels and sponges, trash cans filled and emptied, till finally the line shrinks and disappears and at last it's time for the kitchen crew to eat the crepes Mark saved for them.
All in all, one of my favorite parts of the reunion -- a delightful process with delicious results. The way life should be! -- Rio

Photo by Ann Mason

Lone Oak Hill closing celebration

After leaving Venture Retreat in Pescadero, we headed back to “The Land”.
The ending of our reunion would be to once again gather in the backlands
For some it meant first visiting spots where their homes use to be, or just sitting and visiting up on the hill as we gathered, Tom Smith entertained us with his banjo and Sara her guitar.
We circled, holding hands on Lone Oak hill to sing out and enjoy being together on the Land as a group once more.
We then scattered wild-flower seeds (poppies, lupines, and yarrow on the hill (all native plants) to the area, to spread our love of each other and this land, in some symbolic way. Wildflowers will return each spring and add beauty to this rich and beautiful energy spot that was for years a place we gathered.
Patsy

A minute from our celebration on Lone Oak Hill

photo by Patsy

Katie filming on Lone Oak

Woodstock Bob , photo by Patsy Dodd

Jim Fredricks, photo by Patsy Dodd

Photo by Ann Mason

Tree planting at Struggle Mountain

After the closing celebration up on Lone Oak hill on “The Land” we went over to "Struggle Mountain " and ended the day with the planting of a Flowering Dogwood Tree. A tree we can gather under and around in the years to come. A tree planted in the name of Peace and Love for this community and the world.
Patsy-