_ It’s taken me this long to blog about this because I begin to ramble and have had a hard time being succinct, as you’ll see. I have yet to relate my “Alchemy” experience. And so the ramble begins….

Prelude to Decompress

I’ve wanted to go to Burning Man for years now, and for a variety of reasons never made it there, even though I knew a lot of people who went and living in LA ,it wouldn’t have been the epic trek it is for many people.

In September/October, I went to “Alchemy, The Georgia Burn”, a regional burn structured around the 10 principles from Burning Man, for four amazing days.

I had the time of my life, made some wonderful friends and jostled many of my beliefs, opinions, views on life etc. , validating and confirming some, confounding and disrupting other and forcing me to consider and rethink some that I had held, up until that point, relatively steadfast. 

Several weeks ago we attended the 7th Annual Atl DSB Orphan Burner Thanksgiving Potluck Dinner and again had a wonderful time, surrounded by open, giving and accepting people. And more friendships were made.

_  The Week Ends- Decompression Begins

Friday night, after meeting up with several of Cindy’s co-workers and going to a couple local bars, I was able to convince a group of adventures to travel over to The Jungle for the First Fur+ Fire Ball. I hooped a little, danced a lot and saw some amazing performances, but may have overdone it on the partying level, leaving me depleted and not quite up for the Decompression, which fortunately was only around 2 miles from the house.

After lounging around the house for most of the day, running some errands, etc and missing, a hooping class, the trapeze workshop and some other “organized” events, finally was able to get the family up and out.  I had floated the idea of camping but Cindy was having none of it, Skye was game but after thinking about how tired I already was and given the generous in/out hours and policies of the event, I too opted for returning to our comfy bed.  I’m still not sure about that decision.

I had a brought a couple of growlers of beer(locally-brewed of course), a ½ gallon jug of water, a few cans of Red Bull, and a bag of juggling scarves and bean bags. Needless to say that made for one really heavy and cumbersome bag.

A quick aside, while I feel myself to be a convert, and consider myself a “burner”(it wasn’t that big of a leap), Cindy has not been as fully won-over. She appreciates and respects much of the principles in theory but in practice she is a bit skeptical, which I understand and agree to at times and in parts. So she is less enthusiastic than me and sometimes it takes time for her to leave the “real” world behind and well, for lack of a better word, decompress.

Our eyes and beings were drawn to the light and spectacle of people playing with fire, poi-spinning, hooping, fire staves and wands, breathing, eating and spitting fire, and so on and so on. The music was great and not ridiculously loud.

It was perfect. I could barely contain my excitement.

Skye immediately start taking pictures, eager to get some good photos for her class.

And she did. I can't post them all, but here are a few.

After a while Cindy started getting antsy and began to feel we were at more of a rave scene than a burn and was concerned about Skye being there. Things started getting tense. Remember what I had said about her needing to decompress.

So we started to wander around and made it to a stairway leading down to where tents and camping and such was happening.

On the first landing were people juggling.
We stopped.
We watched.

I joined them, started juggling and never made it any further down.

Overwhelmed with Decompressing

Cindy and Skye continued on down, eventually running into friends we made at the Thanksgiving potluck.

I juggled for a bit longer. Shared stories. Shared drinks. Shared experiences and philosophies. It is so much about sharing.

A passer-by admired our juggling and proceeded to do a back-flip like it was nothing. Again more sharing.

I went back up to groove along to the music and continue to be mesmerized by the fire play, appreciating their art.

Cindy minus Skye found me again. Skye had met another girl there exactly her age and they were off and about together, instant pals.

We hung out together, chilling out, enjoying the beautiful evening.

And it continued like this for a few hours, when Cindy and Skye had had their fill.

They took off and I stayed to continue to absorb the amazing energy and spirit.

I watched as a couple of people loaded log after log into the amazing fire sculpture that glowed and lite up and performed its own magical dance. I was lucky enough to be able to thank its creator and amazing artist, Charlie Smith. If you ever click on a link on my site, I highly suggest clicking on his name. I wish I had a picture but his website will give you an idea of the magic I got to enjoy.

I eventually went inside and the merriment and joyful celebration flowed.  I could continue to gush but you get the point.

After a while , I had to make a decision as to stay or make my way home.

I headed out and that is another story.

Yesterday, I finally was able to complete my turkey journey.

Less than a week before, I had started the trip and took a Thanksgiving Turkey Butcher class at Nature’s Harmony Farms. Since then I have been working ridiculous hours on a movie my wife is decorating, “Neighborhood Watch”. The set I was working on is supposed to be a Costco, but as it often goes it was “easier” to create our own Costco than film in a real one.  I have always had my issues with the massiveness and consumer-glut that is Costco and I have on more than one occasion left a full cart and retreated because the place freaks me out so. And yet it was my charge to help make this huge empty warehouse look like the real thing.

By the time I arrived the lion’s share had been done but I was up to my elbows in its madness, right up until late Saturday afternoon when I started preparing the turkey that had been sitting in our fridge for the previous week waiting…

Waiting for me to figure out what we were going to do with it.

What? What, say what?

I signed up for the class weeks before because we were planning to be with family on the turkey day. Because of aforementioned job, that plan got high jacked and we ended up going to a friend’s house for the day, a friend who already had a bird, and who, by the way made an incredible spread of food. But the point is/was my beloved turkey had no home.

As the days passed and I raced around Atlanta trying to help make a non-Costco warehouse into a Costco, I would try to think of what to do with this amazing corpse in my fridge, something that would suit its beauty and justify(at least in my mind) it’s death and evisceration at my hands.

Which is when I ran across/was forwarded or I don’t quite recall how I got wind of 7th Annual Atlanta Dirty Southern Burners Orphan Thanksgiving Potluck Dinner!  These were a group of folk who were part of the Alchemy Festival.
Now I didn’t know if I “knew” them or had ever met any of them before, but they were “burners” which means we would be more than welcomed. 
Big asterisk here, as in, there are several blog posts related and growing from this “burner” thing but not here and not now.

We are talking turkey.

To sum up why and what I have been babbling about for the last few paragraphs,( I sadly make light of my writing and not getting to the point because of how we look at words, writing, etc. these days. After reviewing “Oliver Twist” as part of Skye’s home school adventure, I remember how lovely words and lengthy exposition can be, not that I am in anyway comparing myself to Dickens, except perhaps using a lot of words to get from point A to point B, and remembering that the journey truly is the more important than the destination)

Go On

I got home racing and started the turkey too late and with not all the necessary stuff, all I was missing really was parchment paper which was not something I got.
So I’m looking at my time, which if I were to believe Tim (from Nature’s Harmony) is more than sufficient, but I am a skeptic, a non-believer as my default setting and I can’t believe that this big friggin’ beast taking up half of my fridge can cook in a tad more than 2 hours.
People spend a week figuring out time, the brining and cooking, so that 3 days out might be sufficient and here I am 4 hours from wanting to be somewhere, 30 minutes away with a 15-lb hulk of poultry not in the oven.

I was f---ked for lack of a better term.

So I would go along with Tim’s nonsense and be “right” about my misgivings and show up around mid-night with a properly cooked bird.

Cindy got home with the meat thermometer, one of the “non-essentials” I forwent and I grabbed it from her and jammed it in the thigh of the obviously undercooked bird.  It was done. I mean, in theory, I mean according to this new-fangled meat thermometer. It looked done.  It smelled done, but it couldn’t be done, not in the short time I cooked it.

Or it could be done and because I cooked it at such a high heat, it would be dry and inedible. Screw it, I didn’t even know these people. If it was unfit, well let’s just say you get what you pay for.

It was amazing. Never had I had such a succulent turkey. I am not saying this to be boastful or anything of that ilk. It just was. How it was, was a mystery, until I started cutting up the left-overs the morning after.

And now out of laziness and an ode to/nod to/respect for, really….back to the lazy truth of it I will just quote verbatim, “ If you’ve only ever eaten the plumped-up grocery store version of ‘turkey’, switching to heritage breeds, might surprise you in more ways than one. ….(OK not verbatim completely but..) Lastly, taste. Believe it or not, turkeys do have flavor! At least heritage breeds do. All the way through to their bones. We found it largely a waste of time to make stock from grocery birds, but with heritage turkeys, one turkey carcass seems to equal two chicken carcasses when it comes to flavoring stock”

Which brings me around to concluding/not concluding this blog post. I came upon the Beekman connection because I “inherited” their cookbook, The Beekman, 1802 Heirloom Cookbook, and when I grabbed it because maybe, just maybe they might be able to point me in the right direction as to what to do with aforementioned (yes, I do like that word and may overuse it) carcass, I got the perfect answer and a wonderful explanation about heirloom turkeys to boot.


No end in sight

I promised/threatened to end this post before I was ready, so….

As I was tearing the bird apart this morning, Tim’s words were rattling in my head, rattle is a good word given what is going on in the orb. I thought about him saying the bird was fattier. What? How could that be? …Oh you mean the bird has more fat in normal places, not that the thing is “fatter” as we would think of it.

Oh and "dark" meat, I have never encounter more flavorful dark meat and....
 
So much more to say and so much more on my mind.........

I have to end, I would not be OK with not acknowledging the burners, the farmers, the regular folk who don't ask for or want the spotlight, so forgive my indulgences to acknowledge them...

Eating Out

We have been relatively good recently at not dining out so much. It is the one indulgence all three members of the family share a passion for. But lately we've curtailed it fairly well. We certainly made up for it this weekend.
It actually started last week with the opening of Barcelona, a wonderful Tapas/Wine bar literally steps from our new pad. We'd already been there a few times before this weekend rolled around. We were going to go out for sushi Friday after Cindy got home. I knew that she would be late and that I would start getting hungry and grouchy, so as a preventive measure, Skye and I went for just a little tapas prior to sushi. It worked out well. We had two lovely family outings in one evening, although somehow the "small bites" didn't do much to reduce our sushi feasting.

Saturday Night Fever

I blame it on the mundane nature of household tasks and errands. By the day's end, after puttering around the house, and filing and organizing and blah, blah, blah, I needed some fun. Which was perfect because we already had plans to go out with friends. When I was getting ready around 6 and already getting hungry Cindy informed me we weren't meeting them until 9. That used to be normal, but I've become quite the early bird, so I knew this wasn't going to work. What to do?
Back to Barcelona. By the time we met up with our friends, we were practically ready to call it a night. But we rose to the occasion and were able to be social for several more hours.

Daylight Savings? Not So Much

Earlier in the week I signed up for the first Inman Park Beer Chase 5K and Beer Fest 2011.  I also bought Cindy a ticket for the Festival and beer-sampling after the 5k.

Oops.

The Beer Chase 5K or 3 mile stumble

I haven't been running at all lately. I honestly can't remember the last time I went for a jog. Still a 5k is not so hard for me, it's just a little over 3 miles. But running with little sleep and fairly hungover and with the Vibram 5 fingers, well, let's just say I was very glad it was as short as it was and that I didn't care about my finish time.
It was fun in spite of that, although I was surprised how quiet and serious everyone seemed. I couldn't figure out whether the people around me were there more for the run or the beer. Usually that's a pretty easy one to call but not on this Sunday.

Cindy and Skye did accompany me to the race start. It was probably only 200 yards from our condo. They didn't bother taking any pictures though and were on their way home probably before I was out of sight. I wouldn't fault them for that give how long I probably took to get out of sight.

I have participated in some kind of physical event in most places I've been in for any amount of time. It's a different way to connect to a place and the people. Amazingly we are rapidly approaching what may be the end of our Southern stay. It's impossible for us to know but I figured I better get my Atlanta event t-shirt. And this seemed like best of many worlds. Really, really local, a short run requiring just the slightest commitment and of course there's the beer element.



I realized later that I was standing on a hill when I took this picture so it came out a little uneven. I know what you're thinking, it being a beer festival and all, but that wasn't the case this time around.

Another tiltly pic.

Most of the Sponsors are local businesses, most of which we've gone to at one point or another. Doing a pretty good shop lately of supporting local economies and being a localvore.
I'm not absolute with either endeavor but I figure if everyone changed a little bit, then no one would have to go to the extremes of say "No Impact Man" or the Amish or well, you get the idea.

I've had Magic Hat before and always like their designs and their beer is quite nice as well. On this particular occasion, I was drawn to the Circus tent feel of their set-up.

 I don't know what it says about me that I had heard of and tried a majority of what the 80+ vendors had out to sample,other than I  obviously I like beer.
They were all micro-breweries, many of them local. Other than when I'm purchasing a case or more, when I'm entertaining I almost never buy mass produced beer. And of course, if I can actually talk to the person brewing the beer, it makes it taste all the better. The same kind of thing that happens for me at the farmer's market. All in all this living local thing is very satisfying to me.

A week ago at this time we were in the midst of packing up our campsite and getting ready to go home after a long and very full weekend at Alchemy, the Georgia Burn, a regional burn patterned after the Burning Man event in Nevada.

We had an incredible experience. It has taken me several days to recover, decompress and process all that happened there. And of course daily life goes on with all sorts of new adventures, ideas and what-have-yous to blog about.  But I have much to say in regards to the Alchemy, so it will be on the main website with links from the blog. Honestly I am still figuring out the mechanics of blogging and websites so forgive the clunkiness of the delivery. 

From the comfort of our campsite we watched an incredible display of fireworks, culminating in the burning of the effigy. That night we saw amazing  performances, fire dancing, fire-spitting, fire poi, pretty much every you could play with fire was represented.

More pics and many more stories to follow.

IThe Metro Dash is a race that is a series of 30 obstacles laid out in a parking lot. It is a sprint, around 600 meters in total.
I was a bit nervous about this race, nervous in the way that I am about 5k's and 10k's and stairclimbs. I have no doubt about finishing. It's more about how fast to go. In most of the races I do, finishing in one piece makes for a success, the time is almost irrelevant. They don't even keep time in the Tough Mudder. But for shorter events, it is very much about the time, so pacing isn't geared at just finishing, it is about finishing with a good time.

I did not pace this well.
I have not been training much as of late and have been in a weird emotional state. My confidence has been lagging. I started out and did 90 percent of the course at what could be seen as a jog or warm-up. When I rounded the corner and realized I had 3 obstacles left, I turned it up, but by then it was far too late. I  crossed the finish line at 10 minutes and 13 seconds, which sounds fast because most of my races take over two hours, but the winning times were in just over 6 minutes. More importantly, I did not feel like I gave it my all. So rather than feeling really good about finishing a race, I left the event pissed off at myself, which is kind of lame and unfortunate. But it did strengthen my resolve to get back to serious training. It did throw off my day though.

To try to get back on track I decided to go to an outdoor festival in downtown Atlanta, Atlanta Streets Alive.

"Imagine a street full of people of all ages and backgrounds, walking, biking, creating and laughing, together. A street temporarily closed to cars, but open to people. Imagine residents safely enjoying their city, socializing with neighbors, and engaging in healthy activities. Imagine if all of this were free, with absolutely no barriers to participation. By the people, for the people. Sound good yet?"

That's how the website read. I was ready for that. What I got after bicycling in the 90+ degree heat with a ton of humidity was was something else though, particularly the "street full of people"

The streets were all blocked off, although one of the police helping to manage the event had no idea what was going on, when asked if there was a festival she answered, "No, it's something for bikes and scooters"  There wasn't much in the way of entertainment or activities. The few booths and such that were there, were spread out over mile or so and in spite of their good intentions were lack luster at best.  I stopped by to offer support and engage.

One booth GreenPlate was aimed at using less plastic which I'm all for. I was the only one visiting the stand so it was like preaching to the choir. There was a booth for ZipCar, a car-sharing service that I had read about and was interested in, so I picked their brains a bit which I think was good for all parties involved. I think I will be joining up at some point. I have a goal to have only one car for our family, which is what we have right now. ZipCar could be a cost-effective way of maintaining this goal/lifestyle without much sacrifice.  I avoided the fixie bike booth because I didn't want the temptation. And somehow I missed the stilt-walkers which was one of the main reasons I biked on over. All in all it was good to get out on my bike and it changed my mood so....