WOODRIDGE- AMAZON IN THE CATSKILLS

This time of year it's a constant battle between the ant and grasshopper sides of my brain. The wood pile is nothing but bark and splinters, the doors and windows all need work and hunting season is less than two months away. The ant side is taking baby steps towards a realitively warm winter inside the shack, while the grasshopper rubs his legs and knows there's plenty of partying still to be done. You can guess which one speaks the loudest to me.
A couple of weeks ago my buddy Slick had a gathering in his dome (yes he has a dome). The occasion was the arrival of a 26 year old (in this lifetime) French Shaman and her stash of ahayauasca- an Amazonian brew of various psychedelic plants. It was 80 degrees outside and they had the woodstove cranking inside the dome. I peeked in at the people laying around sweating, rubbing each other's feet and preparing for the evening's trip and quickly assessed that it wasn't for me. For the same reason I don't like Hooters- never mix food and strippers. I don't look to my drugs for spiritual enlightenment. Plus the prospect of a bunch of puking French hippies inside that hot tent...
Then, the the other day I recieved an email from Slick espousing the glorys of his drug induced spiritual adventure, with an invite to participate in the next gathering, scheduled for this evening. As most people know by now, I'm nothing if not contradictory in my hard and fast rules for existence. This time I'm in. So before I travel off to the Amazon (Woodridge) I figure I have to make one last blog post as my previous self. I had a little soup and bread last night and today will be nothing but holy water and tea. I'm ready to be eaten by the whale and crapped out by the tiger. Just in case I don't come back there's a will of sorts buried under papers on my desk, near the typewriter. Basically it all goes to Shewho. Don't worry she's very easy to deal with. The tea is brewing and the "Enchantress" awaits. See you on the enlightented side.