Rivers beyond rivers

For years I have wanted to live by a river. Ever since taking a trip to Quebec City and driving along the St. Lawrence and seeing solemn houses rooted on the banks of that mighty waterway - stationary witnesses to the constant movement past their doors - it has captured my imagination. Yesterday I woke up remembering an even older dream about walking along the Winooski River in Montpelier (Vermont!). For a week now we have been reading about Egypt and the Nile in preparation for traveling to that part of the world in March. Andy was offered 4 tour-managing trips to Egypt this year. I decided to take advantage of frequent flyer ticket, a friend in Cairo and the possibility of a little Egypt exploration with Andy before and after his tour. So the Nile has crept into my river imagination.

We have recently moved Magnolia to a new berth on the Hominy Creek in Asheville. They call it a creek here in NC, but really it is a river. Our new home on Earth is on a friend’s land near downtown west Asheville. Andy has dubbed it an urban woodland and junkyard because it is a wild undeveloped 3-acre piece with lots of junk that has accumulated there over the years. A trailer burned down here 10 years ago and the detritus from that is blown all over. Also my friend has been accumulating potentially useful recycled building materials for a couple of years in preparation for building a structure here some day.

It is our wildest home in Magnolia so far with no nearby house to attach/extend to. It is challenging us to set up basic systems like kitchen (work table, cooking surface, hand and dish washing, food and water storage) poop composting, keeping warm in a metal box and also paths to move across this wild and overgrown land. We took advantage of a special YMCA membership for $10 so we have a warm place to shower, yoga even swim and sauna! There is no electricity on site so we will need to drive Magnolia somewhere to plug her in to recharge her battery bank. A solar panel would be very nice for this, but that is definitely not a functioning system yet! The Hominy runs along the lower border of the land and our campsite is at the top.

Asheville is a good place for us in this moment. Only a few hours from Chapel Hill and Zpora, it is reassuringly close enough, yet far enough to create space. It allows us to disentangle our hopes, dreams and desires and develop separate paths - reclaim our individual choices and encourage a broader perspective on our lives. Zpora wrote on Andy’s birthday card this month “may your year be more directed by your wishes and less by my needs.” And so it is. And the river Cancer flows by…

Our plans are still short term, at least in terms of where we’ll be. We are nearing ready to stop, to put in to port, drop anchor and dig in the dirt. I’ll be back from Egypt on the Spring Equinox. Andy will travel on for a tour in Italy. I am meeting with folks at a very active local radio station here to work on a women’s programming initiative and to feed my community radio interest. I am still plugging away at editing the hours and hours of interviews I’ve done since this journey began (August 2005!). We are also beginning to work on a BOOK about our family’s experience with cancer revolving around Z’s writings through it all. It is tentatively called “Wind On My Scalp.”

I’ve been thinking about my roots a lot lately. What makes home? What does it mean to be home on Earth? This morning I imagined finding a place along the Winooski to park Magnolia... There are rivers beyond rivers.

Much love,
Ruby