About a week has passed since what would have been Charlie Russell’s 50th birthday.   We celebrated in our traditionally grand East Jesus fashion with a pig roast, pie, and of course, chocolate martinis.  Royce and Ed lit up the party (and the CarBQ) with fire spinning and a contraption Rube Goldberg would probably have enjoyed very much.  Old friends and new came from far and near for the momentous occasion, including Charlie’s mother and sister.  Songs were sung, art was made, and laughter rang loudly all night long.  Pyro, Phoenix, Minx, and Nugget built our newest accomodation (complete with fire pit, rock wall, and the foundation for a sauna.)  It still needs a two mattresses (queen and twin,) so if you’ve got those lying about we’d love to get our hands on them.  Girlbob and JP brought us a motorhome, freakishly the same model and year as Nathan’s.  Our golf cart (courtesy of Crunchy) got a full rewire and new batteries, installed expertly by Nathan and Jake.  Caddy and Jenn have the East Jesus Beauty Salon and Barber Shop up and running, thanks to a heaping pile of help from Anna, Tanya, and Ale.  Johnno’s moved into his Palais du Pallets, and Joe and Mirabelle continued the ever-increasing spiral of rooms of Xanadont.  The art tent has been successfully relocated, opening the zen garden for a bit more zen (and the eventual home of the East Jesus Ballroom.)  Kari has been preening and pruning the garden, which is producing a bounty of basil unlike we’ve ever had.  The compost system has expanded and is producing rich, fertile soil thanks to the efforts and expertise of Bob.  Tracy and Kari’s Treehouse steadily pushes skyward, while Jake and Anna’s Treehouse secretly grows (nearly completly camoflouged) into a peaceful retreat.  Phil has completed Christian Bales (his strawbale house) near Gary’s sunset patio.  Marty’s experimentation in breakfast pastries continues to wow us, while Frank runs as tight a ship as ever in the hospitality department.  We’re getting hundreds of visitors a day on weekends now, and tours run nearly non-stop.  We have two new resident cats, Little Baby Artemis and Little Baby Parvati.  Relocated from a feral foster in Los Angeles, they’ve made themselves quite at home and have already massacred the local rodent population in between demanding snuggles and pets.  Angelina Christina paid us a whirlwind visit, gracing the driver’s side of Walter the Buried Bus with a new mural to complement the passenger side mural she painted over the summer.

We’ve had a few days of wind and rain since then, which has forced us to slow down and rest a bit before this weekend’s talent show at The Range and the deluge of visitors that will come with it.  We ALMOST had our hands on some refurbished solar panels, but a larger bulk buyer snatched them out of our hands at the last minute so we’re pushing forward looking for a new source.  Mopar has departed for Vietnam for the next few months, and is deeply missed already.  Wordpress continues to vex me, but I grind away at it and slowly add more and newer content to this site.   A finch has spent the last month trying to teach itself to be a hummingbird to avail itself of the feeder- only to crash and burn dozens of times a day.

We’re increasing our internet presence, adding a twitter (@eastjesusart) and a patreon (patreon.com/eastjesus.)  If you’ve ever thought you’d like to give us a few bucks a month to keep this project going and growing, patreon is a great way to do that.  We’re also publishing a bunch of content through patreon that doesn’t really fit anywhere else on the web; a mish-mash of cooking tutorials, process shots, unreleased photos from photography projects, and more.  Jenn’s mom spruced up our youtube channel a bit, so we’re hoping to share more with you from there too.

Things move at a different pace out here; some things move at a whrilwind pace, others creep slowly on indeterminate timelines.  We grow and thrive, adapt and change.