An affront to my soul!

In the sunny blue day that was, I practically hopped and skipped to Valentines Park in pursuit of my hometown's first ever Farmer's Market. Being totally prepared, I had a backpack with me to stuff all the locally-grown veggies I was going to buy into.

I should have known something was up when the park seemed a little quiet - no throbbing mass of shoppers .. instead I saw a paltry three stalls and none of them were selling fruit or veg! One was selling hot sausages (not very useful if you're not a pork sausage eater). One was selling bread that came from 30 miles away and the other stall was selling nuts and olives and the seller couldn't tell me anything about how they were grown/ were they organic etc. It was an affront to my soul!! Especially as I'd been in touch with the organisers asking if they wanted any voluntary help (my excuse for befriending local people in the green-foodie scene) and they said they had it all wrapped up. I was totally shellshocked!!! After the wonderful Farmer's Markets of California where street parties happen around the selling and the store holders can tell you all about their farm and their produce and there are veggies aplenty - this was insane !!!!!!!!!!!

I still feel very cut off from food here and am counting the days until I get my organic box delivery. Tomorrow, I may hit the forest in the quest for some local blackberries. Haven't picked them in my hometown area since I was a kid!

I want to find my tribe on my doorstep and I'm not quite sure where to look ...

Summer wrap up

So .. I'm sitting in London and wondering whether the impetus will be the same to write about everything in past tense. However, for the sake of chronicling the last few weeks of my trip, I'll type away ..

After I left the island, I spent a rainy two days in Vancouver and a sunnier weekend in Toronto catching up with friends I'd not seen in many years. Verdict: it felt like a few weeks since the last get-together, not 8-10 years and everyone was doing great.

Then, I had around 12 hours of overground travel to New Jersey and found myself in the coccooned walls of suburbia. It was a somewhat hard transition to make as my freewheeling, independent, crunchy-granola self had little room to stretch and breathe. Suddenly, I was living in a place where without a car there was not much to do apart from stroll around the hotel parking lot - and the waste I saw in the hotel was quite a shock: cleaning staff who'd run a dishwasher with one item in it, clean towels every day, disposable everything. It was also the first time all summer I was away from folks who grew the food I was eating or had a strong relationship to local/ organic food. So, there was a yearning to return to the wholesome life.

Anyway, my reason for being in NJ was a very nice one - my brother's wedding. I was totally excited in the morning - the waitress in the hotel caught me doing a barefooted twirl in the corridor! The party and ceremony were lovely and I look forward to reliving it all on dvd - the food was yummy-licious and the speeches were warm, funny, poignant and from the heart. What more can one ask for!

So, now I'm back and around 80 per cent unpacked. The final act of unpacking means it's over, finito. What can I put my teeth into now? Where do I want to focus my energies? Can I live life at the level I want to from this little spot of ground I'm at now? What shifted for me over the summer???

I've decided that I will carry on blogging when I have things of environmental interest to add. I want to be local (a big permaculture principle) and see what's on my turf while I'm geographically here. I want to get my hands in the earth again. I want my practical learning to continue. I want to take some time to be an activist about the things I care about, whether that's writing letters, signing petitions, sending charity money to the causes that whisper and shout to me. I want my own life to be sustainable. I want a relationship with the land, the weather, my community, my food. I want to grow herbs, to live consciously, to read the Omnivore's Dilemna, to go to the Hazon food conference in December, to learn.. learn .. learn ... to be a SLOW food groupie, to one day grow my own veggies. To have another amazing West Coast experience soon. I have faith it will all happen. Watch this space !

the nature of love ...

If you want to read a candid and conscious love story, do I have a recommendation for you !!! "The Unimagineable Life" is co-written by Kenny and Julia Loggins (you may have heard of Kenny as he's a famous musician). The book is a sharing of their journal entries, love letters, poems and reflections since they met as friends, then became lovers, partners and parents. They are both fabulous writers and are very naked with their souls and their truths. The book comes highly endorsed by the likes of Deepak Chopra, Julia Cameron, Marianne Williamson, Jack Canfield and Neale Donald Walsh. I mentioned this book as i wanted to share some quotes!!

"What is relationship? Isn't it something like two people sparking each other into their higher selves - or rather reminding each other of who they are - assisting each other on their path"
"What's a soulmate? the one you were born to love. The one person whose love is powerful enough to motivate you to meet your soul, to do the emotional work of self discovery, of awakening."

This book came my way at a very synchronistic time! I'd just seen the mystic on the boat (more about her in another entry) and the very first thing she told me was that my spiritual path is going to be through love ...

Victoria's Dirty Secret

Since my last blog post, I had the good fortune to listen to a lady called Tzeporah Berman who is an amazing activist on behalf of the trees and forests of the world. She founded her own organisation, Forest Ethics and has also worked for Amnesty on tree-related things and is on the board at Hollyhock. She is one of Cortes island's 900 residents. It's amazing how so many influential people are on one wee bit of land. Proof that you don't need to be in a big city to move and shake the world.

Her organisation has saved around 7 milion acres of ancient forest in Canada and Chile. Through finding out who the logging companies are selling to, she is able to then go in at the corporate level and persuade newspapers, stationery suppliers and other large consumers of wood to source more ethically. To date, she's had huge success with Staples and Home Depot among others. Forest Ethics is currently campaigning against Victoria's Secret www.victoriasdirtysecret.net, who are using ancient forest to make their catalogues - many of which arrive on people's doorsteps as unwanted direct marketing. I say, get incensed now and write Victoria's Secret a letter and pass this info on far and wide!! Activism can make a difference.

Tzeporah had some stark statistics for us .. by 2020, we'll have only 50 per cent of the amount of fresh drinking water available to us now. Time to get water conscious! I've started turning the shower off while I shampoo. What can you do to be more water resourceful?? And global warming is expected to create 150 million climatic refugees by 2020 - compared to 30 million or so at present. To get this into perspective, Hurricane Katrina created 1 million climatic refugees.

So please everyone, get savvy about sustainability and support groups like Forest Ethics, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace. Write letters, sign petitions, give charity money to organisations supporting green causes, hold corporations accountable for their actions, invest in alternative energy. There are all sorts of solutions. Complacency is not one of them. www.victoriasdirtysecret.net

Dr Andrew Weil

Yay!! I get to meet the author of "Eight Weeks To Optimum Health" twice in two days. This book is something of a bible to me. The principles of his programme are now ingrained in my lifestyle. What I love about the book is that the regimen is simple, holistic and anyone can do it. I truly believe that by adopting the habits in the book, lives can be improved and even saved.

Dr Andrew or "Andy" as he's known on the island gave a talk here on Fri eve. He came across wonderfully as a human being. Someone asked him how it feels to be "a brand" and he explained that he only did this as he needed an income stream for his university research into integrated health - as the state funding wasn't enough for everything he wanted to accomplish. All the profits from his vitamins, health bars etc go to the Intergrated Health centre at the Uni of Arizona. Last year, he brought in $4.5 million through his brand. For those unfamiliar with the term integrated health - it's about getting the best of complementary and western medicine to work side by side. Preventative medicine, mind-body connection, good bedside manner, making hospitals into nurturing/ wholesome environments, alternative therapies, healing by nutrition etc are all part of this. Dr Weil started his med career at Harvard (which I believe also has an integrated health dept). He is a total pioneer!

I asked him whether he got evangelical about his work - as I know that when I see people who are not looking after themselves physically or emotionally I want to bop them over the head with his book and wake them up. Yet, good manners prevents me from doing so! He said that his evangelism is directed in a different place. He wants society to make it easier for people to be healthy - by lowering prices of fruit and veg, raising prices of junk food, making exercise options more affordable and accessible with cycle paths/ walking trails/ cheap gyms and so forth and by pumping more money into preventative medicine programmes to educate more people about healthy diets and habits...

My second Andy encounter was today, when he was in front of me in the line for the ATM. We exchanged good morning pleasanteries. Swoon !!!!! Wish I'd bought my book to Canada for signing. Now, had I known ....

Very sad news ..

Sad news. The second death of the summer. This one unexpected and tragic. My brother's future brother-in-law (ie - his fiancee's brother) aged 24 died on Friday. I think the circumstances were similar to my uncle's death - in that the family heard a large thump, went to investigate and found Eric dead on the floor from a heart attack. The funeral was yesterday.

I met Eric last autumn when he came to the UK for the engagement party and his first trip to London. He loved being a tourist and went to the London Eye and goodness knows how many other touristy spots and was full of warmth, cheer and chat. Definitely a character! He was at medical school and wanted to be the kind of doctor or psychiatrist who really helped people.

My brother said that Eric was busy planning the bachelor party for him and was really looking forward to the wedding. Very, very sad news. I can't quite believe it and it seems so unfair, both for Eric who had so much to look forward to and for his poor family. In my mind he is still so alive .. I can't quite believe he won't be physically with us at future family gatherings.

One of the other volunteers here said "Death reminds you to live." Tragedy certainly puts everything into perspective and lets the pettiness and the unimportant things in life fall away to insignificance.

If you would like to do something kind or lovely in Eric's memory, that will be very sweet. Thank you.

permaculture - using water rsourcefully and respectfully

I've been meaning and meaning and meaning since June 25 or so to write up the last bit of my permaculture course. And here we are .. WATER .. as we, as humans, are 70 per cent water - taking care of the limited water on our planet and ensuring that we use our resources well is so important..

The average American uses 100 gallons of water per day - of which only 2 gallons is used for drinking. Half of all water used in suburban areas goes into watering gardens. Where I am now, on Cortes Island, there are signs up saying that every flush uses 6 gallons of water. Baths, washing machines, dishwashers etc also take a lot of water.

There are three ways we can be more mindful. The first is to recycle our used water, so that it becomes a resource, rather than a waste product.

RECYCLING WATER

Have you heard of the term greywater before? This is used water that's not too dirty to re-use - such as the water from bathroom sinks, showers, baths, washing machine and so on - with some rechannelling this can be used for washing cars, watering plants and so on. This changes it from being waste water to a resource. In Australia, which has been in a drought for several years, it is illegal NOT to have a grey water system in your home.

Black water refers to the water from kitchen sinks and dishwashers (which would contain foodscraps) and toilet water. Through innovative systems such as the Living Machine at Esalen this water can go through some fairly natural filter processes, to zap the bacteria, so it is good enough for irrigation.

The second way is to capture rainwater, which would otherwise run into drains and end up as a lost resource in the sewer system.

RAINWATER HARVESTING

Another great way to conserve resources is to catch the rainwater that falls onto the roof and channel it into a tank. If you're interested in rainwater harvesting, here are some factors to take into account:

RAINWATER - what's the max of rainwater that falls in a day? What sort of seasonal rainfall patterns are there? Is the water drinkable? Is acid rain a problem where you live?

ROOF - is the material something you would want to drink from? Asphalt and tar roofs will contain petroleum. PVC, vinyl and plastic are also toxic, especially when hit by the sun. Commercially bought woods or canvases with fire retardant are also toxic as is concrete that contains fly ash. If the roof has old paint containing lead, that's also toxic. You'll be wanting a roof made from these materials to rainwater harvest:
1 - Slate (if it's local to your region)
2 - Tile (although some algae will form in it)
3 - Baked enamel
4 - Painted steel
Although they are non-toxic, living roofs are not good for rain harvesting as the plants will soak up too much of the rain.

You'll also want to have mesh over the gutters to filtrate the water and keep leaves and debris out of it.

A house with a 1000ft square area will capture 600 gallons of water on its roof for every inch of rain. California has 30 inches per year which would provide 18,000 gallons.

The average suburban American uses 36,500 gallons per year (100 gallons per day). When rainwater harvesting, we become more respectful and resourceful about how we use our water.

The third way to conserve water (and this may seem radical to some) is to minimise the amount of water needed to carry our pee and poop into the sewage system.

Urine in the morning is 18% nitrogen, which is wonderful for plants. There is also the "mellow yellow" practise of letting the toilet bowl fill with urine and only flushing when it gets stinky or when there's a number two coming in. Six gallons for every flush is a waste of a lot of precious water - especially when our pee could be making the plants happy!! For advanced practitioners of sewage consciousness, there is the humanure system for poop - whereby you dig yourself a hole in the ground - put earth/ seaweed/ sawdust etc on top of your doings and when the hole becomes full, you seal it up and move your toilet elsewhere. After 2 years, the material has composted sufficiently for use on non-edible plants.

MISCELLANEOUS WATER THINGS ..

1 - Plastic paddling pools are also toxic, unless made out of HDPE plastic.
2 - If you want to minimise mosquitos in your garden pond, put a fountain in - as this will keep the water moving, rather than stagnant

Dreamy day off

Yesterday morning I woke up and thought it would be really nice to befriend a local with a boat who'd take me sailing. Nothing like the power of intention as it actually happened!!

I asked someone who I knew liked boats where would be a good place to put a sign up requesting a ride on a boat. He said, "Hey, I'm going sailing in 5 mins with another friend - come with!!" So, I did!

We hitched to the dock, took a speedboat out to the real boat and three of us had an enchanted afternoon. The sun was bright, the sky was blue, the sea was glassy and the boat was white (sorry about the postcard cliches). We sailed around some of the Gulf Islands and the scenery was so pristine. We anchored by a bay with clear, emerald water and whiled away many hours skinnydipping on our secluded beach and sunning ourselves on the rocks of our deserted island.

Quote of the day:

Me: "I've never been naked in a speedboat before"
Reply: "Then you've not been having enough fun!!"

Free Store

On the island, there is a store with the following sign "shoplifting is encouraged". It's the Cortes Island Free Store, located next to the recycle centre. It runs like a thrift store, in that you take your unwanted goodies there for others. However, as a customer - you don't pay for anything - you just take!!

I donated one of my sweaters on Saturday and on Monday spotted another islander wearing it. Delighted it has a good, new home! I came out of there with one cardie, one basket and one book. Very excited about dumping my unwanted goodies there at the end of the summer.

getting buff

Yikes! I'm gonna be buff by the time I'm done here! The day began with a 90 min fairly hardcore yoga/ pilates class in the sun and then 8 hours of clearing brush/ growth/ weeds from trails. Am exhausted in a pleasant way! Was chatting permaculture while pulling out weeds with someone else who's also done a course - was good to be able to band around sentences like "unknown good benefit" and have someone who understands the lingo.

Am reading such a cool book "Superbia" - all about how to make the suburbs superb by making them sustainable and community-oriented - in short how to change an anonynous/ isolated/ car-dominated landscape into an eco-village. Am loving this book! As I was saying to my weed-pulling buddy - there are so many amazing tools to make this world a better place - it's just a case of getting out there and spreading them.

Island life is pretty good - went for my first swim in the ocean yesterday after an 8 hour shift in the kitchen. The shifts may be long, but it is only a 4-day week. Have my first day off tomorrow. Am super-excited! Will be kicking off with a pre-breakfast kayak trip at 6.45am (told you this is get-fit boot camp!!). Lie-ins don't seem to happen as I'm either working at 7am or doing yoga .. Was very sleep-deprived my first 5 days here because of a snoring room-mate. We tried multiple brands of earplugs, but to no avail - and have now opted for seperate sleeping spots. I've since had two great nights of sleep in a row and am feeling far more human.

Have I told you that baby deer are all over the place (like chomping the grass outside our house) and the beach is littered with beautiful oyster shells and large pink starfish. The water is totally clear and still and it's easy to see little sand crabs scuttling around on the sandy bottom of the ocean. I enjoy chilling out here on the deck and enjoying the great view of ocean, mountains and fir-tree covered islands. If my eyes stay open, I am going star-spotting on the beach at 10pm (and there may be a meteor shower...)

namesdropping

Life continues to be very sweet! The food here is amazing - mainly veggies, grains, cheese and eggs (mainly local and organic) and the flavours are so good as the vegetables just speak for themselves. I'm on a firm diet of two portions of dessert a night - last night we had the most amazing baklava with baked strawberries and peaches. Every food offering put infront of me gets greeted with exclamations of "wow - yum" etc..

This week's programme is a party for people who are highly influential in their field - with the aim of weaving great connections between visionaries who want to co-create a better planet. There are 103 amazing invitees - all very sweet, humble and down to earth people, with great intentions. I was chatting on my first day in the tubs to a guy who I mistook for the cleaner (I found out later, he was the co-founder of Greenpeace). I just found out that one of my rideshare buddies who greets me with daily hugs and shoulder massages was the founder of the first ever Earth Day (he never ventured this information!) and during my last stint in the computer room a lady said to her companion "oh - I've just got an e-mail from Michelle Obama" (Obama's wife).

I think I'm gonna like it here (Canada!)

So, at 6.45am yesterday morning,I was standing outside Maxine's home in the drizzle waiting for my ride. I was sharing my journey with 2 Hollyhock old-timers who were going back for a week of reunion-celebration etc as they are friends with staff and a lady called Nancy who lives on the island.

There were all kinds of dramas - Mark forgot his passport, we took the wrong turn in the road and missed our ferry - but somehow it all turned out magically! The sun came out and we still made it to Cortes Island (where Hollyhock is) by the end of the day. The fear was that with 3 ferries to take, we'd miss our last connection and get stranded on a dinky little island overnight. That would have been a different adventure!

When i hear the word "island" I'm used to thinking of the tropical kind with palm trees. Cortes Island is very different - it has thick forest and forest floor that is as spongy as carpet to walk on. Everything is pristine, the air is sweet and gentle and bugs are minimal : )

Originally, I was going to sleep in Bryce's car (as I was arriving a day early) but used some chutzpah and asked Nancy (our local passenger) if I could stay at her place. She was delighted to oblige and what an adventure!! I have to namesdrop here - her next-door neighbour is Dr Andrew Weil - who is one of my heroes! I told her to pass on the message that I love his book "8 Weeks To Optimum health." She said that I'm bound to see him around the island, so can pass on that message in person! How exciting!!

Nancy decided at the age of 60 to buy a piece of land and do it up very sustainably. She has a small wooden cabin on her land, a large tent on a platform, various hammocks, and a "humanure toilet" (ie - non flushing - you cover up your doings with beach sand and seaweed - and one day it will be compost). the water on her land is all from rain catchment. I was seeing the stuff I learnt on my permaculture course in action!

This is probably the most exciting bit - Nancy was eager to hear my thoughts on what to do with her property based on permaculture principles. I gave her some ideas about zones (putting the things that she needed the most - like her water - close to the house) and also "framing her view" - trimming some of the growth blocking her ocean view - and she loved both suggestions. I suddenly realised that "I am a permaculture designer" and i can give people valid info that makes a difference. Exciting !!! At times on my course, I was so overwhelmed with the info - not having a background in farming or engineering or architecture or environmentalism - that I never really saw myself being able to advise people - but the suggestions fell easily off my tongue. It was an empowering moment when I recognised all that I'd learnt.

I feel that my environmental education will be continuing at Hollyhock as sustainability and social vision is at the heart of what it does. Eager to learn more!!

In the middle of the night, I got up to pee in the bushes and the stars were amazing and the sea was glowing in the dark. I'd heard that the sea here has this special quality (bio-luminescent). It was very enchanting to see it! We combined breakfast foods and had raw oatmeal with granola. Delicious! Nancy gave me her bike to use for the month I'm here and off I went - feeling that I've gained a new friend.

My programme begins at 5pm - so I have 7 hours to explore and enjoy. I think I'm gonna like it here!!!!!

To Seattle

So! On with the adventures! I found someone on the Craigslist rideshare board who was driving up to Canada in a campervan and wanted a buddy for the road. We got on really well and it was a fun trip. I am now smitten with campervans.

I had a fab time in Seattle reconnecting with my friend Maxine who I'd not seen in about 5 years - she is 13 weeks pregnant, so i was present for her first purchase of maternity jeans! Got to meet most of her good friends (and her hubby). Ran into two people I knew at shabbat dinner on Fri night (olam katan - small world!) and we went for havdalah on the beach on Saturday night. Maxine is an educational consultant for an intentional Jewish community - so it was also very interesting to go along to their meeting and be exposed to some great minds and great questions as the parents are trying to figure out the curriculum for their kids and how to create a family educational environment. How to do it without dogma, what sort of values they want passed onto their kids, how to create community through their decisions and so on. It was such an interesting meeting! The community was set up by someone who worked for microsoft - made a fortune, retired and now in their 30s wants to community build. Maxine said that there are so many retired Microsoft millionaires around turning their hands to philanthropy and social action, that it is hard for regular social and community workers to find paying jobs as all these well-intentioned folk are doing it for free!

I realise that Seattle is home to two things that greatly impact millions of lives - microsoft and starbucks (the coffee shop phenomenon). I even saw the world's first ever Starbucks (full off Japanese tourists inside taking photos!!)

In short - a great and very liveable city! Leafy, conscious and lots of lovely neighbourhoods.

I see it's been two weeks since my last post -wow-wee! what have I been doing? I got to reconnect with an Esalen friend in Berkeley for a few days and much fun was had by all. On July 11, I joined a week long camping tour to rugged/ outdoorsy places with The Green Tortoise www.greentortoise.com . I was a little torn about going as I had so many good options here in the Bay Area as well that week, but off I went ..

We drove through the night and I woke up on July 12 in Lassen National Park (apparently California's least visited park - but what a treasure). As I was hiking through bubbling mud and butterfly dappled fields of flowers and waterfalls, I knew that I'd made a very special choice.

The week was a blur of amazing places - each day was scenically very different. On day 2, we were at Lava National Monument which is volcanic and out in the desert with sagebrush and bright orange sunsets.

Then came Crater lake - the 7th deepest lake in either the US or the world (I forget which!). the blue of the water was so deep and gem-like I could have sat and meditated on its colour and the clouds and mountains reflected in it, all day ..

next was an overnighter at hot springs in the Oregon rainforest along the Umpqua River. Hiking to the springs at night was an adventure in itself - steep inclines and having to balance on a log to cross a gushing stream. We got lost on the way back from our dip. Another bunch of people got lost SEVEN times!!! I made sure by daylight and darkness that every time I went, I was with company and we still succeeded in getting lost. I think I still bare the mozzie bite scars from my stay there. In the rainforest, the mosquito is king.

next came Ashland, a cutesie, artsie town nestled among hills - some golden and bare - others thick with Alpine trees. I fell in love with their co-op (health food store and restaurant). I was reading their annual report, their newsleter and even asked about job opps as that's how good the place felt!

Then came the Redwood forest full of trees 300m high - I took a 9 mile hike there and felt like I was at the ankles of tall, wise elephants.

Now, I'm back in San fran. The sky is grey and I am oh-so-itchy to move myself on. It wil be either today or tomorrow.

Esalen fire update

I've been going to the Esalen website every day www.esalen.org to get updates on the fire situation. Last night, some gallant people I know saved the water supply from going up in flames.

I came across a nice video on You Tube made by Alyce Faye Cleese (John Cleese's wife) which in a few mins gives a great visual intro to the place. I recommend a viewing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNrDSxJ6h7I

Please hold the safety and wellbeing of this beautiful place and community in your thoughts.

Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory aka Google HQ

Anyone who's read Roald Dahl's "Charlie and The Chocolate Factory" will know that Willie Wonka's factory was every kid's and chocaholic's dream. And Google HQ in Mountainview, California has to be every employee's dream.

I was there thanks to Monika - who I know from Esalen - who has the rather amazing job of being Google's coach and heading up their Personal Development University. I asked if I could come and workshadow her and she said "sure". So at 11.30am today I entered the Google "campus" and saw a beach volleyball court (with real sand) and jacuzzis with folks relaxing in them. And this was before even getting to reception!

I am going to list all the wonders I came upon. I'm sure they are every worker's fantasy. 18 state of the art gyms; 18 amazing cafes serving free organic food - all sorts of cuisines from sushi, to Indian, to salad bar; fridges all over the place to grab free soft drinks from; various points to grab homemade cookies and banana bread; ice cream dispensers; smoothie bars (and yes - it's all free!); places with wheatgrass shots; a massage centre that employs more therapists than any spa in the US (200 to be precise); massage chairs; sleeping pods (for naps!); beautiful outdoor areas to work and hold meetings; not a suit or tie in sight - plenty of shorts, jeans and skateboarders; heated toilet seats; beanbags and sofas around every other corner; places to leave clothes for dry-cleaning/ repairing etc; free bicycles and rickshaws to travel around the campus; free shuttle buses to Santa Cruz/ San Francisco and other locations; an organic garden; loads of amazing classes and lectures; ping pong tables and arcade games dotted around the office space; rooms for nursing mothers to express their milk; gourmet dog biscuits (because you're allowed to take your pet to work). I'm sure there's plenty more I could say. I felt like I was in office heaven !!! I wish every disgruntled employee in the world a taste of the Google good life.

Happy compost tale

Somebody I met at yesterday's Cuddle Party we held in the house was telling me that in San Leandro (a place in the Bay Area) the council gives everyone a composting bin as well as a recycling bin. Once a week, the trash people collect the scraps for compost and take them to a big composting centre. What a wonderful idea - I'm sure it encourages many people who wouldn't compost themselves (too much bother - got to deal with worms, etc etc) to put their waste to good use. Go San Leandro! I wish in time every municipality takes this on board.

I've noticed since my course, I'm definitely seeing the world through new eyes - and it makes my heart plummet when I see resources being put to waste and it makes my insides glow when I see facilities for recycling and composting.

I'm reading a fantastic book - "How To Make The World A Better Place" - Over 100 Quick And Easy Actions - by Jeffrey Hollender - it's the 1990 edition (2nd hand book) but still speaks loudly and clearly to our times.

When the phone goes at a strange time ..

When your mom calls you at around midnight UK time and you only spoke the day before - you know it's not going to be good news. So this is what happened .. my aunt in South Africa was in the kitchen getting the Friday night dinner ready. She heard a thump, but didn't think anything of it. Around 30 mins later she went to the dining room to put food on the table and found my uncle dead on the floor with the two challah breads he'd been carrying to the table on the floor next to him. He'd had a huge heart attack. It doesn't seem quite real - especially as as he was the youngest of the brother-in-laws - only 63.
Just the day before, my South African family had had the good news that my little cousin (I call her little because I was 8 when she was born) had passed her actuary exams after many years of slog. I'm so happy her dad got to share in her good news - but what a shock to go from celebrating one day to mourning the next. Proof again that life can change crazily from moment to moment.

Happy Bday America!!!

So, on July 4, I find myself in another great community of people - this time in Silicon Valley. I'm in "Cuddle Comm" as the house has been named. Home to two Cuddle Party facilitators and an avid gardener. As three of us bumped into each other in the kitchen in the morning there were big group hugs in jammies and dressing gowns - and we did our grocery shopping in "Free Hugs" t-shirts.

I was loving being in a place where everything gets composted and recycled, clothes get dried in the sun and the produce in the garden became our salad for dinner (and boy, did it taste good!)

With a car boot full of blankets and pillows, we set off for the local July 4 firework show - which interestingly was taking place next to a piece of land deemed unusable for building because of all the toxic waste dumped there. We set up our cushy, padding atop some plastic (so we didn't get too contaminated!) and all snuggled in under sleeping bags to watch the fireworks. I made the gang sing some patriotic songs as a musical backdrop. When the sky got lit with fireworks in the shape of smily faces - I oohed and aahed. Yvonne said: "If the government has to manufacture explosives, let them be for firework shows - not for killing people." Hear! Hear! After the fireworks ended, we were left with the stars and the cricket chirps - which for me was an equally spectacular night show.

Yo for SLO!

I had such a great week in SLO (pronounced "slow" and less of a mouthful to say than San Luis Obispo). I loved all the people I spent time with - there were 3 people I had really strong intentions about spending time with and I have lots of lovely memories of them all.
I'll give you some snapshot memories: I got to walk barefoot on the beach 4 times - one time I even got to see dolphins play! I felt really part of the lives of all the people I was with. It was so lovely to be there, that I couldn't quite tear myself - and I'm grateful to my hosts for making me feel so at home and saying "Yay! Stay another night!!"
The trauma of leaving Esalen abruptly transformed itself into a sense of deep gratitude and happiness, thanks to the wonderful community and hospitality of my friends. I loved the light purple of the Jacaranda trees and the clear blue skies and mountains I saw every morning. In many ways it felt like a soul home.
There were lots of food memories. Sipping wine as we cooked together, picking veggies straight out of my friend, Tiffany's back garden; buying lots of yummy farm produce, going to delectable restaurants. I love the tradition Karen has with her friend and neighbour, Carol. They eat together every night in Carol's back garden and share the cooking - with kids and guests coming to join. Lots of great conversation and support - which I think has helped these two amazing ladies endlessly while they are both going through difficult divorces.
Some conclusions from my time in SLO.
Conclusion one: True richness for me is about the quality of people around me, the natural environment I'm in, the ability to eat fresh, healthy food made with love and to be feeling joyful with every step because the scenery makes me so happy.
Conclusion two: There are moments in life that transcend time and all dimensions and leave my soul happy and soaring - and some connections which seem eternal. I was blessed to bathe in this kind of yumminess on Thursday.
Conclusion three: I thought an extra 7 or 10 days at Esalen after my course was the best plan for me - however life presented me with something different (my SLO week) which I wouldn't have swapped for the world!
My heart is definitely still sitting in SLO !