72\u00a0 bar rises 29.73\u00a0 0mph WNW dew-point 62 \u00a0\u00a0 Summer, pleasant<\/p>\n
Waxing Crescent of the Thunder Moon<\/p>\n
“It is not how old you are, but how you are old.” – Jules Renard<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Odegard has West Nile virus.\u00a0 She’s lethargic, stays in bed.\u00a0 Not much to do, but support your body and wait it out.\u00a0 Mark thinks she may have gotten it in Thailand when they stayed on a houseboat.\u00a0 Mark has the most unusual current lifestyle among the Woollies.\u00a0 He and Elizabeth, then real estate agents, sold his house in Marine of St. Croix, pooled their retirement funds and began living a houseless life.<\/p>\n
He often refers to himself as homeless, but what he actually is houseless. \u00a0 His home is the Twin Cities and he’s rooted here.\u00a0 He and Elizabeth went to Hawai’i three years ago and got the Cambridge certification in teaching English as a second language.\u00a0 With that credential and a cash flow generated from investments (managed by Scott Simpson) they have moved from spot to spot:\u00a0 Buenos Aires, Peru, Shanghai, Bangkok sprinkled with returns home.\u00a0 Here they housesit for folks they know.<\/p>\n
They leave for France later on this summer, where they will spend time with Mark’s brother and his family before heading off Morocco or Turkey or Chile.\u00a0 Sometimes they work, sometimes one does and the other doesn’t.\u00a0 It’s been all ESL.\u00a0 Mark worked on a healthy sexuality exhibit in Thailand, for example.\u00a0 They ponder a commitment in Japan, where the English language jobs require a year contract.\u00a0 Most of their stints have been four months or less.<\/p>\n
We talk about travel often at the Woollies.\u00a0 We are a well-traveled group.\u00a0 Paul and Sarah made a round the world trip early in their marriage.\u00a0 Paul jets off to Africa, Syria and Cuba now and then.\u00a0 Frank is in Ireland right now for the eight or ninth time.\u00a0 Bill spent over a year in Japan building a nuclear power plant.\u00a0 Tom travels the US every week.\u00a0 Charlie Haislet and Barbara cruise in Europe, go to Africa now and again.\u00a0 Stefan has been many places.<\/p>\n
Last night Stefan talked about a childhood trip to Egypt.\u00a0 “It made me want to be an architect.\u00a0 Karnak.\u00a0 With those great pillars shaved back and sloping upward.\u00a0 And the details on the gate.”<\/p>\n
We are atypical as a group in so many ways:\u00a0 level of education, diversity of employment, life paths dominated by values, intimacy among men that has lasted over two decades.\u00a0 Our level of income is high.\u00a0 We lead lives of privilege in the most powerful country the world has ever seen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
72\u00a0 bar rises 29.73\u00a0 0mph WNW dew-point 62 \u00a0\u00a0 Summer, pleasant Waxing Crescent of the Thunder Moon “It is not how old you are, but how you are old.” – Jules Renard Elizabeth Odegard has West Nile virus.\u00a0 She’s lethargic, stays in bed.\u00a0 Not much to do, but support your body and wait it out.\u00a0 … Continue reading A Houseless Life<\/span>