Lewis arrived by motorcycle to Vilnius airport, well timed for Rob's arrival from London on the 10th July. Arriving at the Ranch with good light by midnight, we set about having some earlier prepared soup, exchanging stories, a beer, and working out what needed to be done before the rest of the group arrived the next day.
In the morning, Rob & Lewis set about making 4 beds from 2 unused bunk beds, Stasys continued to install the electrical supply and measure out the door frame to Barn_1. Sofia and Spyros were scheduled to arrive first on the 11th, followed by Hyunsuk, Georgina, Changda, Sylvia, Ami and Dayea. Rob having forgotten his driving documents, we worked out how we would collect 2 separate flights in the space of 5 hours. Stasys and I set off to the airport for the second time that day. Again with midnight light we arrived, the fire was burning, candles lit on Ken's table (aka the drunken table), a warm welcome for everyone.
The girls were sleeping upstairs in the barn, the men downstairs in the barn. 3 mosquito netted rooms upstairs, 3 netted beds below. Everyone made there spaces comfortable and the light in the barn went out after some time. The light penetrating the barn roof lit up for the first time in the darkness.
Morning was slow, breakfast in the front of house, and a briefing about the place, water source, measure of water, no. of showers, cooking, cleaning, the outhouse, available materials, storage and waste. Much information was fed back to make sure that there was a reasonable amount of comfort, but also to wander the landscape, acquaint everyone with there own reading of the various spaces, thoughts and processes that have been discussed before, dreams and actualities. Everyone had to have an idea of the projects they wished to work on by the afternoon. Korean resting house/bridge became a removable bridge with dry cement pads, Chinese waterfalls, additional benches for the fire/evenings and an outdoor shower began to take form. Sketches were passed around, materials were discussed, tools were pulled out, negotiations on the details. By Tuesday much had been started and there was a busy hum hovering above the Ranch. In the evening we drove to the nearby Ethnogeographic/cosmological museum and its late night telescope views of various constellations and galaxies.
By the next afternoon small objects began to appear in the landscape, viewers from old flue actuators, a flexible chess board with stone pieces, a shower tray, seating while the sauna warmed, and much signage. The bridge was remade. A chaise lounge re-cut and sanded, a swing, straw pillows, a robot appeared in the apple orchard.
By Friday the well had run out of water. It was a serious miscalculation on Nature's part. A run to Stasys's was made for help. Changda, Lewis, Tony, Stasys and I considered a range of ideas, from the fantastically impossible given the urgency to the most practical. Get the spare plastic tank, fill it from his well and drive it back, install the pump from the well into it and let it fill the now complete outdoor shower tank. Sorted.
Lunches throughout were provided by the local grocery/deli. It had only begun to prepare home-cooked food 3 months prior, but with our own pots in the boot, we had traditional and semi-traditional lithuanian food for lunch, whilst evenings were home-cooked international foods...and sausages.
In the evenings stories were exchanged, jokes told and punchlines received via text message from afar, card games (a carefully discussed hybrid of Palermo/Werewolf) and the ever insistant mosquito repellents-a ritual played out at 10:22 for 1/2 hour.
Projects were complete by Sunday morning, a single take film was discussed/ filmed the spaces were enjoyed for each of their qualities by their makers. A lake visit beckoned. Spyros stayed back to marinate the meat for the BBQ in the evening.