Update May 16th
Ale is choosing another path….and I adore her!
Coming together and falling apart!
It is a strange scene lately. So many amazing things are happening and so many challenges too. It baffles me that time stretches and creates a new way and time also collapses and brings me to my knees. I find I have a lot of emotion rolling around and I am learning (still learning at 53) to keep things contained. There are few in this world that can handle my erratic-nessy-mess.
Few, but there are some!
Today I share about young lady who I always admired. Our lives crossed at a distance. I liked her years ago because she bartender’d at the best spot in Vilcabamba. This task (slinging the drinks) I, myself, travelled and traversed for many years in my younger years. I’d enter her establishment in our little town and she knew what I wanted…and delivered. She made you feel you were at home. I know this made Jimi feel at home. Her little corner on the square of vilca central was his living room for many years. He had his favourite chair. And, when he sat, he was at home.
Jimi felt at home with this gal. He liked her spunk. He liked me for the same reason. Jimi liked the tough and courageous gals a lot. He didn’t go for dainty and sweet. He liked it up front and real. I laugh at the statement because most roaring, real gals I know actually do have a very sensitive and delicate side. He discovered this through all of us tough girls and it puzzled him terrible..part of the attraction, I think. And, a mirror for him too…as a tough guy with a soft heart.
But, today I share about this gal ( Ale) because we are embarking upon a project that caresses Jimi’s legacy with intention and force. It is because Jim left us we have come together. It is because other shitty things happened to both us us that we have decided to compost. And, we can and so far, we are doing it well. It is called Microbiology! It isn’t about the amendments we add to life, it is about the web of life. It is about the “so below, so above”. It is about the ecology of the establishment so the good guys outwin the bad guys..more on this soon..as we can can “shit” and make it “living life”.
During the last days of Jimi’s life, Ale was a trooper helping us and me. The misfits (a circle or wyrdos) corralled to do whatever we could under very shitty circumstances. It was hard on her, Ale to jump into our predicament at the hospitals and see the chaos we were experiencing. When they kicked me out of the hospital Ale was a spanish dancer of certain, powerful flair. Spanish descent must have some connection to the Irish, I think! Between her words and my emotion, we succeeded. And, I know it was super tough on her to see Jim in his end stages. I watched her sink and sank into “oooooffffffffs”. I know, not a word…an emotion and a powerful one that crosses our language barriers.
And, the circumstances went from bad to worse to horrible. We ooooooooffffffed in Jimi’s offfff’d
The day after Jim passed. our circle of wyrdos unity trampsed Loja doing the legals. I share about this here. What I didn’t share in this piece was I couldn’t sign for Jimi’s paper certificate of death due to various internal reasons. Ale took the stand. I can’t tell you how much that meant to me. She rose when most couldn’t. And, I know it was “seen” by Jim. It was seen by me. It became an issue when we asked for the paper work as she was not “family”. But, with some smart and firey ferocity we convinced the morons behind the desks to appease.
Ale was Jimi’s little sister he never had. He had a soft spot for her. Ale and I were not that close when he was with us, but, that changed. It changed because she got me. Those days after he passed I knew she understood me. Why? Well, she’d had a similar experience just a few years prior losing the father of her child who is 4 now. She knew the break down. She knew the heart ache. She knew Cancer and she knew exactly what I was feeling. There are moments in life when you know something deep within and you come together due to this knowing. And, it is a glue..a strong glue. We are like the bacteria in the soil gluing the micro and macro aggregates together to make soil (soul).
So, we connected like glue…and that connection is really for good purpose and compost.
And, as we did, I realized something! This gal was a lot like me! I was like her. There is no difference in our background, culture and traditions. We are just two gals doing our best and coming together due to our suffering…and determined to make something good.
I shared the dream of the plans Jim and I had …and Ale was IN….YES to the microbiology and what we could do to help ourselves, our world, above and beyond, combined. Let’s make gold and good life out of shit!
Today Ale is living and breathing this dream with me. We are traversing the puzzles of legals, we are cooking composts and setting up the laboratory. We are taking the compost of life and making it fertile. We are making something from nothing…and taking shit and making it gold. We are sharing our lives and worlds…in a frantic frenzy…and making something together.
Ale comes with a little 4 year old…boy! And, this is perfect!
There is no one who I feel is more perfect to be in this project than Ale and Matteo. She really was Jimi’s little sister and if had a chance to be with Matteo, he’d feel him too. He liked her for good reason. We are powerful alone and together, well, watch out. We are smart and together we are intelligent-eh? (spanish word combined with canadian slang).
Anyone who has build something from the ground up knows it is not easy. The parts and pieces all have to function well so that the whole hums. You have to consider the little parts and make sure they function because if you do not, the helicopter might crash. Thing is, we have the knowledge and the know-how and the gumption.
We are in a perfect and potent place. We are working hard and staying focussed. I look into Ale’s eyes, often, and see she gets this although building from the ground up is not easy. We are not money people so it is our hands, hearts and labour that will feed the pockets of our success. In a strange way, this would not be happening if Jim was still with us. It is bitter sweet. And, I know he approves…and is proud of us.
We, Ale and I, are taking shit and making it living, life, love.
I will now be writing and sharing more about dirt, soil and mud and more of “Living Ground ~ Suelo Vivo”. Stay tuned because these two gals have a force and the smarts to make this work. We have both been through enough shit to understand. And, we get dirty in the dirt and are not afraid to do the work ourselves.
What a perfect beginning from a shitty end. We are smart…and our investing to protect ourselves because we know that big-Agro will notice us soon. Dot the “i and t” sssssss.
Here is the potential logo..it might change and morph…we are gathering parts and putting them together…let us know if you like this logo…or not…
