Here I am, living the in basement of an 80 year old log cabin with a sod roof, hand built by saw and axe by a man from Switzerland, who trained himself the building technique in Sweden and had a vision of simpler life and landed in Homer, Alaska. A story in and of itself, but then comes more. The Kilcher Homestead has a magnetism, maybe it’s Kachemak Bay, maybe it’s Alaska, maybe it’s something bigger, but the Homestead is my home for summer.

I’ve been lucky enough to have share my neighborhood with many already, but two strangers entered my life and soon filled mine, and many others, with joy. Chris and Darlene, strangers themselves once upon a time, who met on twitter tweeting about a tv show about Alaska homesteaders. Chris from Jersey and Darlene from Mississippi. They have visions of creating a homestead of their own in New York someday soon! And they came to the homestead with their own magnetism….. They were married here last week. Officiated by Shane, and accompanied by Kelly (his wife) in the wedding as other friends and family joined in a wonderful celebration. Again, a wonderful story….. But wait there is more. Soon thereafter, a spry young couple from Australia, Jay and Lia, whom are on their own adventure, arrived to help Shane and Kelly with Homestead projects. This band, and others, a merging of strangers, thus became Camp Darlene.

Strangers brought together through circumstance or coincidence gathered each day because Darlene and Chris invited us into their camp, their tribe. Other family members of the Homestead would join as available. We had some words we each had to learn. Taters, crikey, and puns of all colors. Laughter and stories and engaging days. I never thought I could get so tired from ‘visiting’ all day, but it was a good tired. A fulfilled tired, meaning days were complete and I bet we all slept good having experienced Camp Darlene each day.

I know I’m missing a million other quotes or stories, and for those reading this, and participated I would love to add comments below.

To Darlene and Chris: You warmed my soul with comfort (and food) and company I will never forget. Thank you my friends!

And to all, I’ll leave you with a line I wrote on their wedding log. And ‘by the by’ they had a literal log to write on…… but I digress. And I believe this line can relate to a new couple, a long-lasting couple and even oneself, my message was simply, “Blaze your trail, to your new frontier together.”