Christmas 2011

Dear family and friends,

It is late November as we write this. Outside our window, it is snowing heavily. Last Tuesday, 20” of snow fell upon Holden Village, wrapping us in our white, winter blanket for the next five months. Tonight we expect another 10” to fall! We have adapted to life in the snow quite well. Last winter, Brennan skied nearly every day after work, and Tara took up snowshoeing. Cold weather is also conducive to hot cups of coffee, knitting, and long conversations with friends. As the days grow shorter, darker and colder, and as the church calendar begins anew with Advent, we look back on the light of 2011 with gratefulness.

Last February we decided to serve for another year at Holden Village, a Lutheran retreat center in the North Cascades of Washington State. Brennan is the Utilities Lead, overseeing the power, water, and heat functions in the village, and Tara is the Crafts Coordinator, teaching a variety of classes in weaving, paper crafts, sewing, and fiber arts. Each day brings a new adventure in these jobs! Our spare time is spent hiking, reading, and home brewing. We currently have three batches of homebrew in progress: Oatmeal Stout, mead (honey wine), and a doppelbock called “The Holdenator”. We have also enjoyed a few trips out of the village, including a road trip with friends to Arches, Bryce, Zion, and Grand Canyon National Parks. This spring, Brennan participated in the downhill ski leg of Ski to Sea, a relay from Mt. Baker to Bellingham Bay. Another important part of our year was our “daughter’s” graduation from Holden High School. Confused? Let us explain. For the 2011-2012 school year, we were host family to Alisha, a senior boarding student from Minnesota. She quickly became part of our family. Her graduation in June was a joyous time, but it was very difficult to say goodbye. Many of our friends and family have visited us at Holden this past year as well. It has been a blessing to share with them this place that has become such a part of us.

Now we are looking ahead to what’s after Holden when our term here ends in July. We are applying to teach internationally for the 2012-2013 school year. For those of our friends who share our faith, Advent is a time of waiting and listening. And so this December, as we wait and listen, update our resumes and apply, we trust that we will go out from Holden with good courage no matter where our next steps lead. Emmanuel has come: God is with us.

May peace be with you and yours this Christmas and into the year to come.

Love, Tara and Brennan

9/18/11

Brennan’s Holden Summer notes in reverse chronological order
This past weekend: Plan A; climb Copper Peak with Dale; he had to stay in the village as Medic. Plan B; Climb Mt. Fernow with Chris; we weren’t confident enough in the weather forecast. Plan C; Pack my float tube to Holden Lake and go fishing. So I went with Plan C, and decided to spend the night there so I could fish for two days. The fishing was pretty good, 28 fish in two days, mostly Cutthroats to 11” with a few rainbows, most of them taken on flies that I tied. I did find out that my waders have some small holes in the feet. But that was nowhere near as interesting as the porcupine that wanted to cuddle that night. After an hour of deep sleep I was jolted awake by an odd feeling, which turned out to be a 30lb porcupine at my knee looking for some salt to lick. I yelled at him and he ran off. He came back, I threw rocks at him, he ran off. He came back, I threw rocks at him and chased him up a tree by hitting him with my hiking pole. He didn’t come back, but I spent the rest of the night paranoid that he would come back, as well as thinking about what I would do if I accidently killed him, as I hear that porcupine is some of the best tasting meat there is.

A porcupine near Holden Lake from an earlier trip, possibly the quilled cuddle craver

The swimming has been great the last month, and I am keeping up my streak of swimming every month. I also decided to ski every month this year, which has brought the transcendent beauty and motion of winter to these warm summer months. However it will be nice to not have to pack skis 3,000’ to access this joy.

Mid August: Tara brewed her first batch of beer, a Classic American Pale Ale called “The Village Blonde.” I brewed a batch of Imperial Raspberry Stout, it is going to be good!

Early August: Climbed Cardinal Peak and Emerald Peak with my friend Kevin who was on staff for three weeks (it was utterly fantastic to spend this time with a great friend). These climbs brought some partial views of Lake Chelan, as well as providing a great context of the Railroad Creek Valley and Holden amidst the sea of peaks that is the Cascades.


A tight squeeze on Cardinal peak


Kevin on Cardinal

Even earlier August or maybe late July: Climbed Bonanza Peak with Kevin and Dale. At 9,511 feet, Bonanza is the highest non-volcanic peak in Washington. Having spent over a year gazing at it, longing to climb it, and generally being scared shitless by this thought, I finally had the right people to give it a try and feel confident in our abilities. We spent the night bivied 3,000’ below the peak, with a great view of the next day’s route, which did not aid in sleep. We topped out at 9:30 the next morning, and were soon enveloped by clouds, but we were able to get some nice looks at the valleys that surround this massif. After 7 or 8 rappels we picked up our camp and headed to the village for Friday night salmon dinner, which was delicious even with the aching feet (that were wishing I had changed to dry socks for the last 6 miles). The next day Kevin and I hiked to Domke Lake to do some fishing. We splurged and rented a motorboat instead of a rowboat based on our previous day’s accomplishments. The fishing was for 12-13” rainbows and cutthroats, and was very good, especially considering we could see the peak we climbed the previous day in the distance.

Heading Up Bonanaza


Dale and I on top

Rest of July/August: Various hikes to Copper Basin, and Holden Lake. Our friend Jen visited in the middle of July and we went up to Holden Lake with the Shultz family, and most of the lake was still surrounded by snow. One of the Copper Basin trips was with Tara (I packed up my skiis and got in my August ski up there). The bugs were so bad we took along our tent so we could spend some time enjoying the basin without going crazy. I napped in the tent while Tara painted Copper Peak in her watercolor journal. Watched two Barn Swallow chicks fledge on our porch railing as they were alternately fed by their attentive parents. Spent a night camping and fishing at Domke Lake with Tara, Scott, and Lori. Is there anything better than fresh fried trout and wine overlooking a lake at sunset?

Skiing in August!

June: Hiked 20 miles along the shore of Lake Chelan with Tara from Prince Creek to Stehekin. We forgot to pack dinner for the first night, lost the matches, and ran out of fuel, which left us with a Snickers bar each for breakfast, but we hiked to the Stehekin Bakery where we gorged ourselves on fresh cinnamon rolls.


Breakfast