To sum up my stay at Elsewhere in a single blog post is nearly impossible, a short novel would be more appropriate. I arrived Oct 2021 with the intent of only staying 2 months, as I type this I am now on month 5 and hired as the Interim Executive Director of the program. Needless to say, my story is long and complicated but I will stick to the highlights.
My medium is wood and I have only ever shared work space with other woodworkers. Being at Elsewhere gave me an opportunity to work and converse with painters, musicians, writers, poets, builders, fiber artists, filmmakers, culinary artists, and more. It was lovely and beneficial to hear what cohorts from a different medium had to share.
A review of hikes I went on: Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park was one of the coolest and underrated national parks, definitely go! Dark Canyon was fine and cold, make sure it’s sunny when you go. Jumbo Mountain is lovely but every single time I hiked it was extremely muddy ha! Grand Mesa was beautiful and a completely different ecosystem than the valley, dress warm. Colorado National Monument was so beautiful, it is not a hiking park, more of a drive, stop, walk a loop, take pictures, repeat but it is worth the trip.
I saved a stray kitten! Paonia is lovely but has a problem with stray cats. One night before a family dinner, we noticed a little white puff ball bouncing around. We named him Rissotto because that’s what was on the menu that evening. I spent 5 days sitting outside and waiting for him to trust me. Eventually I was able to get him to Bark and Bargain, the local thrift shop that is also an animal shelter. This organization is truly amazing! They took care of Rissotto, got him healthy, and then helped find him his forever home. I miss that fluff.
I’m a city person that lives alone so needless to say I was nervous for a lot of reasons. I embraced being out of my comfort zone and went with the flow. Overall the experience was so fun and I made friends that will be in my life forever.