2001 to 2004

As I promised last month, here is Dad’s replica of an Alaskan Igloo. This month’s front cover photo shows us children playing in our new house. I loved the part where we got to crawl through the doorway and then inside, look through the ice towards the sun. I remember him explaining the technique to friends and his brothers. I listened for as long as I could and then I would go and play, checking in every so often to see how they were doing. Building the igloo reminds me that technique was just as important as having the right environmental conditions. Their structure was much simpler than our modern houses but the function was the same; to give protection against the elements. North American’s have evolved to the point that technology is at our fingertips but in doing so we have lost touch with the elements and what it […Read More]

Spring is coming, so that means that my birthday has just passed. This month’s front cover photo is of me in my birthday suit. My two brothers are also having fun playing with the water bottles. I don’t remember much about me playing in the water but I do remember how much my sons loved to have a bath and splash around. They even threw hockey pucks into the toilet to get a splash, which caused a bit of distress till we learned to check first, before flushing. When I asked my Mom about this picture of me, it took her a long time to think about it, for it was taken forty-eight years ago. Finally, she said … “It was taken in Michigan in our basement, down in the furnace room. We had no bathtub upstairs, as Clarence preferred a shower.” Mom insisted we have a bathtub so he […Read More]

On the cover is a photo of my brother Michael sharing breakfast with Target, our dog. The sharing reminded me of all the people who have taken the time to help me during the past several weeks and of Dad’s frustration, for he had named the dog Target because of the brown spot on his rump. He said it was the perfect place for booting him. Target was fast on his feet and escaped easily most times but once in a while, he went flying through the air. It was better that Target got booted than one of us kids, which Dad sometimes liked to do just for the fun of it. Mostly, he was a good Dad considering he was never given any parenting classes. He liked having kids and spent lots of time playing with us, but when life became frustrating, he needed to release energy in the […Read More]

This was taken at the Wise Women’s Festival and features a belly dance woekshop. Many of the facilitators go to great lengths to add special touches so that the experience is deepened for each participant. This delightful weekend happens again soon and the details are in the back section. I am looking forward to this event with double the anticipation, as I missed the Spring Festival of Awareness at the end of April. I trust that the universe knows what it is doing, for I sure felt very unaware for someone who is so in touch with her guides and feelings. Hindsight is always one hundred percent and though the writing was on the wall, it never entered my consciousness that the fall I wrote about in the last Musings could have broken a bone. Not me, it was not possible, and on top of that, I had too much […Read More]

Another recent photo, taken by me on Main Street in Penticton, one sunny Saturday at the Farmers’ Market. In the foreground is one of the original organic farmers in the area, Catherine McDougal with her son, Sunny. They drive in regularly from Darke Lake to sell their produce and returned again on Sunday for the Canada Day Celebrations. Catherine and her husband choose to live in the country, so they can raise their children outside of the normal social conditioning. Her husband delivered all five of their children. In 1989 when they moved to the Okanagan, they tried to start an Intentional Community on the land they had purchased. They advertised in Common Ground and Catherine spent much of her time replying to the various applicants. Nothing came of it, so they let the idea pass. When my friend Dean Goddard and I went out to visit her farm she […Read More]

The front cover shows the new The Yoga House in Kelowna. It was built under the stewardship of Margaret Lunam, my yoga teacher of many years. Her students who are now yoga instructors have created a non-profit society to look after this precious resource. Margaret turns 80 this November and looks younger now than when I met her ten or eleven years ago. Yoga changed her life as it did mine and our response to this life-giving ancient art of breath and movement is to give back to our fellow seekers what we have received. The Yoga House was built with Margarets cash and hundreds of hours by volunteers who also wanted to give back some labour of love. The people on the front cover are Doug Bauer and Lynne Bowsher with the shovels, Phofi MCCullogh is cleaning the windows, and Margaret in the hard-hat. They choose to cover the […Read More]

I know time has passed since I last typed but it sure doesn’t feel like two months. Still, there are so many trims that need to painted or varnished, so much cleaning and scrubbing and still I need to find new places to keep all the things I own. The move feels good but with the store being bigger it means I have more shelves and more inventory. The issues office is almost complete but my desk may take months to get organized. Extra time is being spent on gluing peacock feathers, that my mother gave me years ago, to a piece of plywood, so that it can be hung instead of sitting in the box so the mice can chew on it, and now that I have the space to hang it — it feels right to spend the time doing it. This year I decided to do some […Read More]

Spring.. it always feels like a magic time to me. The sun’s rays gets stronger, birds return and plants push through the soil to greet the sun. Each moment, each day, each year allows me to be more thankful to be alive. I have given much thought to the message that many people keep repeating to me, that my injury was a message to “slow down.” That bit of advice doesn’t resonate with me, for it is much more complex than that. I have always made time for me, not a lot, but enough. Somedays I would prefer not to have such a long ‘to do list’ but I have created it because I see so much that needs doing and I get impatient waiting for someone else to make it happen. With that kind of attitude, the help of my angels and trusting that the moment is always perfect […Read More]

April hints that spring has arrived and soon it will be summer. I started my spring cleaning early because I didn’t do any last year. It feels so good to be back to ‘normal’ or as normal as I will ever be. Catching up from all the renovating means I get to sort through boxes, cupboards and hang up my pictures. This is the time of the year that people start to plan their holidays, and just in time to help you make some decisions, the Hollyhock and Johnson’s Landing Retreat brochures are out. Another great way to relax and meet lots of people is at the Spring Festival of Awareness, April 26, 27 & 28. With over forty workshops, you will have many opportunities to say hello to all kinds of folks on the same path. Registration starts early as many of the participants return year after year, bringing […Read More]