The General Awesomeness of Now
So...week ago today I got on a bus for Chicago...then another to Indy...then a car ride to good old Terre Haute. (For those who don't know, my good friend Keith attended school in the disreputable little city and I visited him a good few times.) And I stayed for three days in a nice little brick guesthouse on a college campus/motherhouse for the order. Nuns fussed over me, I learned about churches and eco-justice, I walked a labyrinth, and they commissioned me and took lots of photos that they threatened to put up in PR all over the place. I mostly quaked in my boots. However, the best part of the weekend, hands down, was getting to touch an alpaca.
The sisters have an organic, all-naturals farm on their extensive property, with gardens and an orchard as well as naturally restored wetlands. But, since every farm needs an animal, they also have five fields of alpaca. You've probably heard of alpaca wool, which is a big part of how the animals help the farm, but they're also helpful for manure and, I'm assured, other things as well. They're smaller cousins of the llama and the camel and, seriously, they're the most human-like animals I've yet met. They're curious and inquisitive, they don't want people staring at them, they're social and they take cues from each other. They'll come right up to you, but not super close unless they're genuinely trying to intimidate. I just, well, I really enjoyed them. Got to pet two, Georgiana and (I believe) Margie, and they feel like wool blankets crossed with dreadlocks, in terms of there being curls that are about the size of a pencil eraser and clearly distinct. Anyway, it was good, and I was given a really thorough explanation on the habits and lifestyles of alpaca by a no-nonsense intern named Sara, which was cool.
And then they checked me into a hotel where I lounged for 12 hours just recuperating from the crazy-ass weekend, and then I got on a 6am flight to California. Details on that...sometime later.
The sisters have an organic, all-naturals farm on their extensive property, with gardens and an orchard as well as naturally restored wetlands. But, since every farm needs an animal, they also have five fields of alpaca. You've probably heard of alpaca wool, which is a big part of how the animals help the farm, but they're also helpful for manure and, I'm assured, other things as well. They're smaller cousins of the llama and the camel and, seriously, they're the most human-like animals I've yet met. They're curious and inquisitive, they don't want people staring at them, they're social and they take cues from each other. They'll come right up to you, but not super close unless they're genuinely trying to intimidate. I just, well, I really enjoyed them. Got to pet two, Georgiana and (I believe) Margie, and they feel like wool blankets crossed with dreadlocks, in terms of there being curls that are about the size of a pencil eraser and clearly distinct. Anyway, it was good, and I was given a really thorough explanation on the habits and lifestyles of alpaca by a no-nonsense intern named Sara, which was cool.
And then they checked me into a hotel where I lounged for 12 hours just recuperating from the crazy-ass weekend, and then I got on a 6am flight to California. Details on that...sometime later.