hen & chick

Tour update #2

I received a brief email from Zeke last night. He said that they are being treated like royalty, he'd hardly slept and he's getting sick. I had a feeling that might happen since he forgot to bring a coat with him. Now I'm worrying ( perhaps over worrying) that he's going to come home with pneumonia.

He's a video  of Unrestrained playing in Caudry France

http://www.dailymotion.com/xVinceWHCx/video/x7wuuh_unrestrained-le-baron-caudry-020109_music

News from Zeke's tour

The photographer for the band posted this on Big Heavy World today:

UK Customs and Unrestrained

by taylor cook. on Tue Dec 30, 2008 9:18 am

First day of tour and Zeke and I got detained by customs for like, 6 hours.Fucking ridiculous.Then, to top things off, they were all "oh, you're totally not getting through. we're sending you home".So Zeke and I had to tell them what was up, and they got in contact with everyone else in the band, and eventually said to everyone else "you are not staying here. you are going home" and took their passports. At that point, we were all pretty crushed. And I think they could tell, because at least one or two of the customs agents were totally trying to help us out.After a long fucking time and a nap in the detaining room, Zeke comes back in from being questioned again, and utters the magic words "they're letting us in".About 20 minutes later this aretha franklin look-a-like customs agent motions for us to leave the room, and we got our bags, and got the fuck out of the airport before they changed their minds.Now our passports are all flagged, though. So that kinda sucks. But at least we made it.Head of customs had only this to say: "well, it wouldn't be very beureaucratic of us to not let you in."Apparently UK-US relations are at an all time low, so they're doing whatever they can to make sure americans don't hate england.

So yeah, we almost didn't make it into the UK, but we did at like, the last minute.

super cool kids

Zeke's band, Unrestrained,  played their farewell show Saturday night at 242 Main. Then left for their European tour. People keep asking me if I'm freaking out about Zeke traveling. I'm not. I have so much confidence in him. I'm proud that he has managed to make this opportunity for himself and I am excited for his opportunity to explore the world in ways I haven't (yet).  His tour schedule is:

Dec 30 2008 8:00P	EURO TOUR @ House Show	Leeds
Dec 31 2008 8:00P	EURO TOUR @ 1in12 Club	Bradford
Jan 2 2009 8:00P	EURO TOUR @ Le Baron	Caudry
Jan 3 2009 8:00P	EURO TOUR @ Juz	Mannheim
Jan 4 2009 8:00P	EURO TOUR @ NO SHOW - HELP?	Munich
Jan 5 2009 8:00P	EURO TOUR @ Shelter	Vienna
Jan 6 2009 8:00P	EURO TOUR @ CIPRUS	Buddapest
Jan 7 2009 8:00P	EURO TOUR @ Irish Pub	banska bystercia
Jan 8 2009 8:00P	EURO TOUR @ u tetoura	Zlin
Jan 9 2009 8:00P	EURO TOUR @ v jeleni	Prague
Jan 10 2009 8:00P	EURO TOUR @ Juz Riot	Lichtenstein
Jan 11 2009 8:00P	EURO TOUR	Aachen
Jan 12 2009 8:00P	EURO TOUR - @ SUB071	Leiden
Jan 13 2009 8:00P	EURO TOUR @ The Underworld	London w/The Carrier, Killing The Dream

Saturday morning we had brunch with some of our oldest and dearest family friends, and the kids Zeke grew up with. It was so nice to spend time with them and see the beautiful and kind people they have all grown up to be. I would do those days of dirty diapers and tantrums over a million times for a morning like this.

The big kids..

with the not so little siblings...


and the mommas...

Hawaii

I know. Its been awhile. We are going to Hawaii on Thursday and coming home on the 30th so I'll be posting fabulous photos of our trip.

We're here!

Voila! We  have finally and for real moved to the Rose Street Artists Coop. I unpacked like a madwoman the first night we were here and it has slowed down terribly. I am just about  sick of unpacking boxes of things I haven't been missing, but everything needs to be sorted through again before being put in storage, sold or given away. We started feeling at home here immediately, its been an easy transition, in fact I feel much better here than in the home that was our home for 13 years. Here are some pictures from before we moved in...

This is looking into the living room from the kitchen. I love the wood floors and big windows. The pictures don't accurately reflect the size...

The living room is 15' x 20' .  The windows are about 7' high.  I love the old wood floors.

One bedroom has a loft with a retracting staircase...once we get a new pulley for it.

looking down from the loft....

and the other bedroom has lots of light.

Moving, really....

I haven't had time to post. I have been sorting, packing and getting rid of all kinds of things. We really are moving, but it hardly seems like it since I've gotten little information and communication form the landlord. This has been such a frustrating process. I just found out that our move in date was pushed back a week. I should have been moving next weekend but instead it will be the weekend of the 19th and 20th (Zeke's birthday). I've been so ready to go. So after notifying our utilities, making appointments for switching over the phone and cable, reserving a moving truck and changing our address, I need to change all of that, I don't even know if I can change the mail forwarding...ugh!This is a hard transition. The combination of the frustration from the lack of communication from the coop coordinator and the pain of leaving our home of 13 years is a bit much for me sometimes. I'm really happy about the move but the powers in charge are making it difficult. I'll be happy  to settle in and be able to breathe again.

Gogol Bordello

Gogol Bordello, originally uploaded by mother_red_cap.

On Friday night I took Ophelia to her first concert, to see one of our favorite bands, Gogol Bordello.  She had the most fabulous time...and she almost didn't go. It was such a good time, in fact, that it may have spoiled her future concert experiences. This is her and her friend having a ball at the after party, which may have been even more fun for her than the show. She's a lucky girl.

Gogol Bordello

Gogol Bordello, originally uploaded by mother_red_cap.

Will Hurd and Eugene Hutz at the Gogol Bordello after party.

moving placenta

We're moving. Not far, just a few blocks away actually, but it feels like a big deal. I've been waiting for an opening at the Rose St. Artists' Coop for years and finally I was at the top of the list. The timing is a little hard but we can deal with it. So in January, after living in this house for over 12 years, we'll be moving into a 2 bedroom apartment, a really cool 2 bedroom apartment with a loft and wood floors and 16 foot ceilings in a coop  where all the members are artists.

Moving to an apartment after living in a house for so long will be an adjustment but my house feels like a little island of sanity surrounded by chaos. I'm thankful for the sanctuary it has given me but I'm exhausted by the sea I'm floating in here. Living in this house I have dealt with a DEA drug bust next door, a neighbor who was stalking me and secretly photographing my family, there seems to be a murder within a two block radius every year, crackheads breaking into my car, a homeless Sudanese woman asking for shelter, the neighbor who chased Zeke's friends with a broom, witnessing prostitution and drug deals... I know "life" happens but I feel like I've had a little too much "life" and absolutely no community here.This is a transitional neighborhood, its changed a lot. I've stuck it out for a long time thinking good people staying can change the neighborhood. I've been here long enough to see that that is not true and its time to move on.

This is the only house Ophelia remembers living in. We moved here when she was 14 months old. She was born at home and we are renters. I  had no idea what I wanted to do with her placenta, so we put it in the freezer while I decided. I couldn't decide. We moved into this house and the frozen placenta came with us. Knowing that this is not my house I couldn't plant it here. My mother lives in a house that was never my house. I couldn't plant it there. I couldn't decide what to do with it, so it sat in the freezer, often almost forgotten, except when the freezer got empty enough to see the purple Tupperware bowl in the back. I don't want to move the placenta again and I need to take care of this before the ground freezes.

I've tried talking to Ophelia about it, but her 13 year old sensibility does not understand saving placenta and my attachment to it. I've asked her to help me decide what to do with it and her solution is to just throw it away. I can't. I've asked her if she would write a story about it, that way I'd have something else to hold onto, but she refuses. I've asked her if I could take her picture with it, that didn't go over so well either. She just thinks its gross and wants me to get rid of it. This poor girl has to have me for a mother. I can just imagine the stories she might tell someday. I asked a friend of mine to help me decide what to do. He didn't think I needed help. I beg to differ. I've had placenta in my freezer for over 13 years!! That's just not normal.

When I was talking to my mom today she suggested that I bring it to a favorite spot. My favorite spot, the place I go to that feels like home, the place that I always want to return to, is in Maine.  I don't know if I want to tote the placenta all the way to Maine. I'm trying to think of a favorite spot here in VT, somewhere that I can visit, somewhere that is important to me. At this point it doesn't have to be important to Ophelia since she feels no attachment. Maybe it can become important to her later. I may even make a letterbox for the spot. Since I love letterboxing. I can only do what feels right, and I still don't know what that is.

Ladybird

I've been taking swing lessons for awhile, right now I'm taking a performance class which has been challenging and has shown me  that I am more capable than I imagined. Today I did my first lift, called a ladybird. It was so ridiculously fun I could barely drive home. I don't think I've been flipped upside down since I was a kid. I wish I could find a picture or video of what it looks like. Essentially I get flipped, feet first over my partners shoulder, my abdomen balances on his shoulder while my legs are straight out and arms out to the sides, like a bird, hence the name I'm sure. Then I flip back down. It rocks. If you want to see me do it you'll just have to come to benefit show On Saturday, November 10th 2007, members of the Vermont partner dancing community will work together to put on the "Fourth Annual Camp Ta-Kum-Ta Benefit Partner Dance Showcase" to support Camp Ta-Kum-Ta, Vermonts cancer camp for kids.