Back from the Dark Side of the Moon

Sometimes this happens, I disappear into the big waves of change, and then resurface some ways off. So my whirlwind of BC lovin is done and I’ve landed on a strange, hot new planet called North Carolina. My dreams of farm wife–writing-meditation sabbatical were almost crushed at the border. “Ma’am it looks like you are moving. YOU need to prove to ME that you intend to return to Canada.” 

In the end I was given conditional entry, but I have to re-cross the border by Dec 20^th.

Highlights along the way in the last month - I was honored to officiate Dave & Lise’s wedding in Montreal, while being hosted at Julia's gourmet B&B in mile-end, and she took us on an epic bike adventure to see some whirling dervishes.

Then we got to hang with Sophie and stashed my remaining boxes in her in-laws barn in Ormstown.

Once across the border, we visited with the Picone-Louro’s home-schooling base station in Granby, MA, where we were dazzled by Bella-Sky’s circus show! And delighted to have a rowdy piece of cake with LB.

Next we saw Frankie’s family in Philly, and my beloved Auntie Linda, who was on the east coast for work. The sweet finish on my 7 weeks of travel was the spectacular vista from the Appalachian Sky-Line Drive, with Frankie & Mishkami. Unfortunately we realized the tent poles were missing around midnight on our first night in the mountains. So we had to sleep in the truck, but that meant a grumbly, road-weary, task - being attacked by mosquitos while trying to repack all of my boxes that barely fit into the bed of the truck, into the cab of the truck!

Last week we had our first NC picnic (homemade falafels & hummus with organic veggies, and red wine with orange dark chocolates) in an old stone amphitheatre with trees towering above for a filtered light ceiling. There we watched an epic puppet spectacle Invisible Earth by Paper Hands. Giant-sized puppets (aided by graceful, masterful puppeteer-dancer-stiltwalking-gymnasts) showed us the evolution of life on the planet and cautioned against the use of fossil fuels. The giant ice age ostriches were my favourite.

At the play we met up with Alyzza, a playful-n-wise woman I met on the other side of the continent earlier in August. We were both participants in the Theatre of the Oppressed(TO) training. I had trouble remembering all the participants names and yet felt like I ‘knew’ each of my them intimately by the end of the week… one of those experiences of embodied communication, sensing the energy of the space & connecting beyond talking, 

Alyzza invited me to co-lead a TO workshop later this month at a local conference called ReWeaving NC (about New Economy). I love how one thing leads to the next and across great distances the stepping stones ahead appear.

Now that I’m settling in to a home and a routine again my intention is to put more reflections out in this blog. But for tonight I’ll leave you with my top ten favourite things about North Carolina so far 

(besides Frankie and our new dog pack of course!):

1. Epic skies with clouds that tower vertically like skyscrapers that suddenly invade and shoot lightening out.
2. Lightening bugs, aka fireflies. At night if you look at the trees it’s like little meteor showers are happening all around.
3. Eating tomatoes still warm from the sun.
4. Big sweaty men rider-mowing their fields half naked, just kidding… it’s a little gross but entertaining to spot them during country drives.
5. The Wild Food & Herb market, among several other awesome open air markets in the small towns all around the area, this one was the best.
6. Green herons.
7. Cooking food picked from the garden, even though 200 tomatoes is a lot to manage as a first time farm wife!
8. Listening to Carolina Chocolate Drops while I cook.
9. The nighttime cacophony of the woods… rowdy nature compared to the quiet BC forests.
10. Paper Hands puppet theatre.