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!!"
Tuesday, 12 August 2008
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.
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.
Monday, 4 August 2008
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...)
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...)
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
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).
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).
Monday, 28 July 2008
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!!!!!
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 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.
Monday, 21 July 2008
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.
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.
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