Here's a link to a neat story about urban gardening in Philadelphia:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/20/us/20philadelphia.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=philadelphia+garden&st=nyt&oref=slogin

Thom

As I write I am "proctoring" a standardized test for a roomful of 75 9th graders.  Fun.  This is the one independent schools use by choice, and it has no bearing on the students' success/failure, so it's not quite as onerous as the public school kind.

I second Thom's endorsement of Mary's wisdom.  It's good to have layered goals.  I don't think we should give up on Pattesonville, though.  But let's keep all of the options in mind.

Is there a line of greeting cards that carries the sentiment "congratulations on your shitcannery" ?  There should be.

Edie seems to be doing better.  Less pain in her leg, but she's still not nearly 100%.  Gets tired very easily, etc.  She has a big check-up this Friday and hopefully it will be good news.

I got a summer job teaching photo at a residential summer school/camp in the mountains of New Hampshire.  We're hoping to figure out a way for both of us to go; she may be able to do some work there too... and maybe we can sublet our apartment for a while (Mormons like to come here it turns out).  The unfortunate side of it is that my (our?) time at the wedding festivities will be very brief.

We miss and love you all.

-A & E

Current Location: deseret
Current Mood: thunderheads on my brow

I agree with everything Mary said.  The most realistic goal is probably for most or all of us to be within driving distance, as satellites around a decent-sized city (probably Asheville), ideally with someone owning a big house on land for family events, squatting, etc.

Last week I officially shit-canned grad school.  It feels pretty great, though I still have to finish the semester.  It's kind of exciting not to know what I'm doing with my life.  I'm getting back into making music and freelance writing, and would like to either make those part of my career or keep them active alongside it.  Also, my friend Steve Scott is moving to Philly to enter the grad program in urban planning at Penn, which is really exciting for me (and Audrey).  Steve's great and we've been talking about writing a book and starting a band together.

Wedding planning is coming along slowly.  It's too bad that we couldn't make it a week-long thing, but it was just too expensive and complicated.  (Like life itself.)  So it will be on the short side but glorious, hopefully with many hilarious inter-familial interactions.  (I doubt he'll come, but Audrey and I laughed really hard when we imagined Randy talking to "Grumpy" Bob Johnson.)  We're leaving for a honeymoon cruise on Sunday, and then flying home a week later.

Love you all,
Thom (+ Aud)

Current Mood: determined

 i'm all for Patteson Utopia, obviously.


i do think, though, that we should have both an Ideal and a Minimum in mind.


for example, the Ideal might be: all of us in our own houses on land large enough to provide privacy from neighbors and each other, yet close enough for Optimal Patteson Vibe, working the land and near a rad city, helping with each other's kids and projects, etc.

however, i think we should also have a minimum in mind. if we can't get together on a lot of land, we should not then give up the plan entirely. whether the minimum goal is for us all to find ourselves satellite positions around a major city, or just to end up in the same Region, a semi-reasonable minimum should be kept in mind to prevent us from losing sight of our true goal: to Somehow Be Much Closer to Each Other.

i wish i was much closer to you all now. i love you guys so much.

tonight ashley came over and i showed her the slideshow from the link andy left of last Christmas. she loved all of the pictures but laughed very hard for about 3 1/2 minutes when we got to the shots of the Mike-in-the-Box explosion.

she then laughed heartily every time another, more mundane photo of mike would come around, and squeak "mike!!" through her convulsions of laughter.

ashley once coined a term which she uses to describe me: a frientegrater, one who brings friends together.
i really wish you could all meet and hang out with my wonderful friends.

Current Location: my dorm room, Shores 102
Current Mood: pleased
Current Music: jon brion: knock yourself out

It sounds like such a happy place.  Pattesonville, North Carolina.  I wish we were there now.

-A

Thoughts on the Patteson family whatever

 

I think we should come up with a name, other than the military sounding “Patteson Compound.” We could call it the Patteson estate, the Patteson community, Pattesonville, Patteson City or just Patteson, as in Patteson, N.C., (or wherever it is). Or something completely different. Any thoughts?

 

I don’t think it’s too soon to start conceptualizing a Patteson operation. I think that the possible advent of universal health care and the economic benefits of communal living will make it possible for some families to support themselves with one or more part-time jobs. It is the elusive full-time job with benefits in our field of choice that causes us to have to move so far away from each other.

 

Part-time work and self-employment, family businesses and work on the family compound premises itself, such as farming, building, harvesting trees for firewood, accounting, cooking, teaching children, etc. can be patched together in such a way as to provide a living.

 

For example, family A wants to move to the land, and are able to get  part-time jobs in a town nearby. That doesn’t generate enough income for all their needs, so one of them does organic farming on the land which then reduces or eliminates the cost of their food (depending on how much farming they do). Another one bakes bread for the whole community and trades it for vegetables or other necessities.  Etc., etc.

 

Some will be fortunate enough to get full-time work in the field they love, and will be able to generate enough and buy the organic food and other things they need (from family A, for example).

 

Some families will be able to put in a big chunk of money, from the sale of a house, or from savings, for example, and if there is a remaining mortgage on the property, such a family would be in effect paid up for x amount of years, whereas other families, not making an initial investment, would have a mortgage.

 

Working it out like this, plus the considerable savings to each family when much of the food is grown on the premises, or bought wholesale, along with tools, lumber, gardening, kitchen and bathroom supplies, etc., should enable any family to join in, if they wish.

 

As for housing, I think we would have to set up shop where the zoning laws would allow RVs, school buses, and a wide variety of buildings, since some families will need to start  small and build up to a full-sized house.

 

 

These are only initial thoughts, and of course I haven’t even mentioned the emotional and spiritual benefits of all of us marrying our fortunes together, but I hope this will start a conversation and encourage all of us to lay the conceptual ground work for this glorious future, which is much more likely to come to pass if we do so.

 

 

Hey Family! It was fabulous to see you all! Here are a few of the pictures we took. I just loved the boys in their dueling christmas duds.

Love, Leah


  

    



I just looked at your photos Andrew, so many terrific ones. In fact, I want so many of them I have to come back and spend another chunk of time choosing. I'm so glad somebody documented something besides just the babies. It seems like I can't photograph anything else these days ;0)

Well family, that was great fun.  Here is the link to an album of my pictures from the trip.

http://picasaweb.google.com/a.w.patteson/VeroHoliday200708?authkey=KAxd4GsMHws

Some of the best ones were taken by Mom, Mary, or Michelle.  These files should be big enough to get okay prints from, but they've not been edited (color corrected, etc.) in any way.  If you want to make good and/or larger prints of any of these, let me know and i can send you a larger file.

For all of you political discussers i would like to put forth my own prediction.  A democrat will probably win this election.  But then the economy will (as the philosophers say) "take a shit" and in 4 years this lovely country will yet again be clamoring for change.  A new fascist will be swept into office just in time to ride the recovery, giving us 8 more years of glorious constitution-destroying rule.  It will probably be Jeb Bush.

Here's one picture as a teaser:

Current Mood: devious

Hey all,

Not much to say here-- we're busy as ever, Audrey's finishing up her program and I'm finding a way out of mine. This is old news now, but I visited Mary in Our Can Saw last month.  We had a rad time and missed you all together.  Pictures below-- in classic Patteson fashion we forgot to take pictures until the trip to the airport the day I left.  Sorry Mom!  Last week our friend Jeff from New College visited from Michigan-- we hadn't seen him in about two years but it was just like old times.  Pictures from Halloween also below, I'm a generic French fop, Audrey's an elegant proof (it's a math thing), and the guy with the box is a friend referencing a classic SNL skit which shall remain nameless.

Can't wait to see y'all in December!  Audrey sends her love too.

Love,
Thombat

Current Mood: nerdy

Grover riding a pony at the nature center


Thursday night we went to The Opera
I got free tickets to see Don Giovanni
Al I can say is that I might go again if I was given another ticket, but I doubt I would ever pay to go.