Take a Trip Down Mackville Road

I met my friend Diane in college in that little rickety town called Plainfield, Vermont. I don't remember having any classes with her (or "group studies" as they called them), but I do remember being very intimidated by her presence. She was one of THOSE students, who was COOL and FEMINIST and seemed to have A LOT figured out. She lived in a dorm with a REAL kitchen and hung a banner outside her window that said GODDARD WOMYN TAKE BACK THE NIGHT. To someone who was grappling with such baffling equations like "can you be a feminist and still like Madonna?" Diane's banner made me QUAKE in my Doc Martin's.

Later on, when I actually TALKED to her, I discovered that she really was THAT COOL, but in a realer and better way than I had thought. For one thing, she could write and she let me read her writing. She also had a great laugh and a dry sense of humor that always helps. Not only that, but the woman bakes a mean pumpkin pie. As far as I am concerned, humor and pie are the world's currency.

Diane is funny and creative and totally lives a life that is the polar opposite of me in beautiful, green Vermont. Her partner Lucian is a blacksmith and plays the fiddle. She makes beautiful children's clothes, unschools her kids, and lives a very community oriented life. I sometimes wonder what the hell I am doing in Brooklyn when I visit them. Graham and I always feel nourished when we visit Diane and her family.

I told her once that she has the life that screams CRAFTY BLOG, and now you can see for yourself. She sews and bakes and raises kids and from this side of things, I STILL think she has a some things figured out. I am SO GLAD she decided to join the fold of bloggers. Go see for yourself!