End of summer report

My dear friend Orin (I'm honored to call him a friend) sent me a copy of his recently published book, Lost Souls and Mad Saints: Finding Faith In The Wilderness of Mental Illness, which had a profound effect on me as I read it. Besides being a dip into the world of mental illness and spirituality and how those two can mix, it's also the story of Orin's life facilitating that mixture. Reading it gave me a deeper appreciation for Orin, who has always struck me as an incredibly compassionate person, but I had no idea how well he put that compassion to work. I don't think it was his intention to reveal those things about himself in the book, but it came through between the lines.

Another result of reading Orin's book was an increased awareness of how comfortable and easy my life is. Partly because I have a strong community of family and friends (though at a distance) and I feel that support daily. Partly because I don't have a "broken brain", as he refers to mental illness in his book. Partly because I have a wonderful partner and a sweet little home.

I'm also reading another book that's having a big effect on me, Howard Zinn's The People's History of the United States. He really debunks the myth that the US used to be of, for and by the people, and somehow we've just taken a wrong turn lately and need to get back on track. He thoroughly documents the continual struggle between the working people and the priviledged few from the beginning of this country until now. What I'm learning is there's always been a big gap between the rich (who governed) and the poor (who worked). There is no "we, the people" that speaks for all Americans. There's always been politicians and wealthy merchants telling the poor "we're all in this together" while writing the laws to increase their fortune and power. I'm only on the third chapter, so stay tuned....



Here's me and Ben reading Orin's book. Anyone who reads our blog regularly will notice a pattern: me in the papasan and Courtney napping with Ben (as seen below). Depending on the age and energy of the reader, it probably looks really boring or really yummy.

Well, it's not all reading and sleeping for us. There's also shopping. We bought a wood stove this week. Hoorah! Which included having to pick out a hearth to go under the stove. It was quite a big project for us. We looked at stoves around Corvallis and Albany. Did lots of comparing of size and effeciency and price. Finally decided on a balance of just the right functionality and esthetics. Now to install it and wait for the rains!

Actually this week has not been much about reading, sleeping and shopping for Courtney. He first dug a trench all around our house and now is laying the pipe for a new drainage system. He's bravely figuring it out as he goes along (with advice from a very helpful contractor) but I owe him a huge debt of gratitude for what he's taken on.




As you can see, Ben is growing bigger and cuter every day. We have lots of fun taking care of him. Courtney is the consumate diaper changer, skilled at getting 5 oz of milk into Ben and really great at interacting with him and noticing each new thing he does. It's such a fascinating time of growth and change.

That's it for this week. We're helping organize a fundraiser dinner in September for the Hour Exchange (local currency program we joined as soon as we got here) and that's helping us meet people who have similar interests to ours. Also getting to know people in the local Veterans For Peace group and Alternatives to War members. Courtney went to the second Corvallis Open Forum today and there were more speakers than last week, so it's growing.

Hope everyone reading this is well and happy. Keep in touch. Thanks again for taking the time to read this.

With love,

Valori