A Double Bed

Each night Art and I cuddle up in a double bed. When we first arrived, I thought, "no way, I need my queen", but soon I discovered that there really is no difference and with these wonderful bamboo sheets, I am more comfortable than I was at home. We have two rooms and a bathroom here and I am not sure we really would ever need anything more. Space is what you make of it and we hope to fill our living room at home with more wonderful people and memories.

We leave three weeks from today and truth be told, I am ready to move back home. Both Art and I gave Holden Village all that we had and we are tired. I just finished a three hour dish team and Art is doing his now. Summer has been hot and buggy and those mountains we wanted to roam in will just have to wait till we come back with more energy.

That said, we have had a wonderful year!! Seeing my husband several times during the day after only of seeing him after a long work day for years, has been fantastic. We take breaks together and find each other when ever we feel like it. This has been a transition year for us and we have discovered and learned a lot.

We came to Holden to give all we could to a place that we both loved so very much. We wanted to work hard and help others enjoy this mountain retreat. We have met many wonderful people and really connected with the young people of the village. I am not sure how the next 20-something in Ellensburg will react when I walk up and say, "hi, want to hang out?"

Living this close to nature was truly the most special gift of all. Mountains and birds, snow and mist, bear and owls, chipmunks and deer, flowers and wild berries; this will be where my pain will be when I am gone. I find my heart is at home here and my soul loves the primitive and natural beauty.

Nursery School

Tonight Art came running up the stairs yelling "get your camera, the babies are out". Of course, I can not resist, but this time we had three does and four fawns right outside the back door.There seemed to be two mothers, both with twin fawns and another doe feeding on the clover. You can see by the color which two go with eachother.

I am sure that they all had met before but we felt like we were holding nursery school off our porch.

Even the chipmunks came out to see.

The drew quite a crowd from the village. Many spectators just sat on the grass and watched.

Finally the mothers strolled away, each taking their two. The only one left was the single doe.

The Village Center

Summer is busy and brief here at Holden. We wait all year to open up the village to a full service status for hundreds of guests and in less than three months it is over. The Village Center is a huge building right in the middle of Holden's main street. This building houses the bowling alley, the snack bar, the "Lift" (a late night music place) and a huge gymnasium area that we now use for our evening worship.In 1976 the white ceiling of the gym was deemed to not be suitable for what went on inside, so an artist maned Richard Caemmerer drew up a sketch of the painting that you can see in these pictures. He tried to capture the four seasons of mountain community in this wildly painted diorama.

My children grew up drifting off to sleep during worship gazing on this brightly painted scene. We worship here only in the summer and then winter retakes the building into its cold essence once again. Summer at Holden in the VC.

Prayer Around the Cross

Worship each and every Friday evening at Holden is the same, Prayer Around the Cross. This simple service of candle light and chanting hymns from Taize, a religious center in France, becomes the foundation of who we are here at Holden. As much as we love to try new and creative ways to worship, this service varies very little.

We enter the dark room in silence and sing simple chants as we wait for the candles to be lit. Around the cross are bowls and boxes filled with sand. We may pray in solitude at a box or if we choose to kneel at a bowls, we will be joined by others who will pray with us. Often a child will mistakenly kneel at a bowl and is very surprised when four or five people come and pray with them.

Most of us, as we live our lives, wear masks of happiness and contentment. This service is a place where the turmoil can spill out and we can unburden ourselves of pain. All of this is done in silence but the power of human touch can ease the heaviest of burdens.

I Can't Stop Taking These Pictures

Each evening the deer are outside my back door grazing on the clover and each and every time, I run upstairs for my camera to take pictures. The beauty of living this close to nature is both common place and awe inspiring. Knowing that this year is almost over and that I will never again (well maybe) live this close to so many living species, I feel compelled to document each siting.

Three mother does are now socializing their fawns with the village. The mothers used to leave their babies in the woods while the grazed the village lawns, but now they come along to experience the open spaces and the people who live here.

I know that this familiarity with humans has changed the deer living in the forest here. Most are very comfortable with us and we pass within feet every day. Whether this is a healthy thing, I do not know, but I do know that it is very humbling to live this close to another species.

A Warm Summer Evening with Aubrey

Capture the Flag

Imagine about 200 young people from the age of 7 to 25 all running and hiding in an 3 block by 3 block square area. This is what happens every Monday night here at Holden Village as they play a huge game of Capture the Flag. Everyone paints their faces the color of their team and then tries to capture others on other teams. If you walk through the village during their game, children can be seen under bushes, behind trees, almost any imaginable space. They will suddenly jump up and run as hard as they can across the village. I honestly don't understand all of the game but the freedom that Holden offers children is tremendous. They race till dark then off to bed.

Butch Thompson - Part 2

Now that I know who Butch Thompson is, he asked me to snap a picture as the llamas came through the village today.

Butch Thompson

Holden attracts some amazing people. Some come as guests and some to teach and and share their lives with us. Each week or two we have a new village musician who plays for worship, leads choirs and often puts on concerts. This week we have Butch Thompson a frequent pianist on Prairie Home Companion. Well I was unsure who Butch was but I knew that I wanted a front row seat at tonight's concert. I had friends save us seats in the front of the village center. When I arrived there was a man sitting right where I had hoped Art would sit. I asked him if he was expecting others to join him for the concert. He said, "no, I will be at the piano". Oh my, I was so embarrassed. I did not know that my seat mate was Butch himself.

Rag Time and Jazz are his favorites. He never had one piece of music in front of him all night. I was filled with his rhythm and fervor for the compositions.

At times, his hands moved so fast that I could not snap a picture of them. We Holdenites are very lucky to share our world with such talent.