. . . and here are photos from the last two dinners, first at Overhill, next at DeKist 2. Next Thursday will be DeKist 1’s turn.

Overhill Dinner, January 31, 2019

It’s interesting. Much like potlucks (ours are not potlucks, but giftings; you aren’t required to bring anything to come), the amount and kind of food varies from week to week. This week was spectacular in the sheer amount of delicious food present, including three chickens! See the chicken in the red pot? That’s the one I made with Dan’s chicken, and it turns out we didn’t even touch it! So I made it into a hearty soup to follow our next work party, painting the garage, on Sunday last (no photos).

 

And see the humungous salad? Some of that made it into the soup as well. Way way way! too much! for the 13 people who were present.

What surprised us this time was young Sophia’s contribution, a very special chocolate cake with, she says, “not too much sugar in it.”

Neighbor Devin and Sophia’s mother Eva beam to see Sophia’s evident pride in her accomplishment.

She cut it into slices, and I think it was all gone by the time everyone left.

Oh, and BTW: on her way out the door, Sophia yells, excited:  “Wait until you see what I bring next time!”

 

DeKist 2 Dinner, February 7, 2019

Well, Sophia sure turned it on this time, and now, with her mother Eva contributing lemon bars as well. Absolutely, the three desserts “took the cake” at this week’s dinner. Each of them was unusually, indeed spectacularly good, the two others being some kind of fluffy pink cookie and a complex cheesecake that frankly, was the best I’ve ever eaten.  I don’t know if any of the 14 people present had less than three desserts . . .

We started speculating. What if Sophia (on right in photo). . .

. . . and her Mom Eva started a bakery business together? What would that look like?

The rest of the food was “okay,” filled us up; the exception being, of course, Andreas’ famous pork dish that comes  from his Cypriot grandmother (he tells me its one of three dishes he knows how to fix).

Three new people graced our presence. Chris, standing up talking with Devin at the table, who is Eva’s new husband and his daughter Siah (sorry, didn’t have my camera when she I noticed her doing a quick backbend in a dark corner). Here, Sophia’s Mom Eva is in one white sweater, and her mom Wanda in the other white sweater.

The other new person, Camden, who found us at the ic.org site (Fellowship of Intentional Communities) —

—  is a senior at IU majoring in Religious Studies. He and Devin, who also majored in Religious Studies, but 30 years ago and is now a poet, got into an immediate conversation. Turns out both of them are mostly interested in comparative religions. I asked, “What is one universal that they all hold in common?” Camden thought a moment, “Well, the idea of being good,” he said, and went on to mention several other qualities. A little while later, Devin found a thick book sitting on top of others in the living room, Homo Deus, by Yuval Halal Narari, and when he told me it’s about men becoming gods via AI and transhumanism, and that he was half-way through it at home, I shuddered, and declared that I would  not read this book.

Would much rather get back in communion with each other and the Earth herself. Plus push technology, and especially AI and transhumanism, into a back corner.

Camden, who hails from nearby Bedford, lives now with his granddad, and says his entire family — with many aunts, uncles, cousins, grandkids etc., all live within 25 miles of each other! That they not only get together for holidays, but many of them get together weekly. He says the ongoing presence of his family makes him feel “blessed.”

Meanwhile, Camden says he doesn’t have much to do in his final semester, and wants to join our work parties! Terrific! We’ve put him on the list.