C-eh-N-eh-D-eh

I'm back in Virginia with mono and strep- it seems like every time I leave America I come back having to go to the hospital ASAP. Parasites, viruses and now this .... I think my next trip will be a cruise. A nice, relaxing cruise. That sounds wonderful. I'm so thankful for Beth taking care of me during our "vacation" together - what an amazing friend! Thanks Bethy and I owe you big time!! Anyways, I'm excited to be back where I don't have to sleep on the ground and I can take a real shower where I can adjust the water temperature and drink out of water fountains and wash my clothes in a washer and dryer ... but at the same time I'm amazed at how fast this summer went by - Is it really over???

Reflecting on my time spent in BC I think everything boils down to a hunger, a quest for perfection. Not an abstract idea of perfection, or an idea I hold in my mind of what is "perfect" to me. But the perfect thing in itself. Waking up to the smell of lavender on a summer’s morning, perfect in itself. Going on hour long bike rides without directions, climbing mountains in the rain, figuring out confusing ferry schedules, learning the differences between carrots and parsnips, appreciating traveling solo. As perfectly itself as it can be. Strangers becoming lifelong friends simply because we worked hard together, talked for hours, deeply listened and loved each others life story without judgment. Perfect.

The sounds, the sights, the food, the work, the experiences sang my heart alive. Sang my heart alive. The past two months have been a true gift, and with it I was reminded of how important it is for me, and for everyone, to remember that whatever we touch comes alive. Food. Music. Business. Conversation. Education. Technology. Relationships.

What we touch comes alive. We make each other and in turn we make the world.

It is an understatement to call this the best summer of my life.

Annnnnd now it's time for a nap.

B-Gun and Chuck do Victoria

B-Gun and I are having quite the trip. It's been cool for Beth to be able to meet my wwoofing buddy Jen who I've had so much fun with this summer. But, unfortunately Beth and I are both sick. Immune system - what gives??!! After an unsuccessful trip to the ER last night (where we arrived in style in the back of a security van) we went to a health clinic today where the doc, who dressed in flannel, told me not to take "bullshit medicine," steer clear of carbs, all dairy and processed foods and he suggested that I wrap my neck (he informed me that some use dirty socks).

Whateva docta. Thanks for nothing.

We're off to Vancouver!

"Amy. You are not a bad gardner. You are not a good gardner. You are just not a gardner." - Stefan

I'll admit it - my green thumb is going to be a work in progress, probably for the rest of my life. Stefan asked me how many plant murders I commited this summer and the number is astronomical ... but geeze, what a summer.

I completed my last day wwoofing yesterday and have met up with B-Gun, one of my dearest of dear friends since elementary school. We have a rough plan of not having a plan, which may include the cities of Victoria, Vancouver and Seattle and may have some guest appearances by fellow wwoofers, old college friends, random WHS grads and people I met for a week in the Dominican Republic years ago. What a way to end the perfect summer.

Reason # 19023478 why I love it here:

Update!

Before I tell you about my day I want you to take in the beauty of Mount Maxwell. The pictures is supposed to be of my holding the sun. Blame the photographer, not the model. I am adding this pretty, pleasant picture to balance out what I had in my hand later today.

Jen, one of the farmer owners, had a baby! It was a boy and weighed 10.5 lbs. All the women in the community have home births and typically their husbands birth the babies (...don't really smart people go to school for years to learn how to do this???). Jen had difficulties during her first pregnancy and she ended up having to be helicoptered to Victoria for a c-section because there is no hospital on the island. She didn't want to chance anything this go around so she went to Victoria a few days ago to wait until until she went into labor. She had the baby this morning which is very exciting and basically everyone on the farm minus the wwoofers got to go to Victoria to see her.

Liz, she a part of the "farm community" (AKA she lives on the farm) came home from Victoria a few hours ago. I helped her unload her car and carried this bag that had a heavy pan/container type thing inside. She told me to be careful because I was carrying the PLACENTA. I repeat, the PLACENTA! IN A BAG! Apparently she is going to freeze this and when Jen comes home tomorrow they are going to have a placenta blessing.

I'm speechless.

Me Be Lead Wwoofer

I am so happy to be back in Salt Spring and if they had outhouses I might not put up that big of a fight if I was asked to clean them out. That is saying a lot. I've been climbing the wwoofing ladder these days and have been selected "Lead Wwoofer" by the farmies. Basically the farmers tell me what to do and I have to (literally) translate it to two new wwoofers, Hey-Me-Toe (I might not be spelling - or for that matter saying - her name correctly) and Stefan. This has resulted in many mishaps on the farm - veggies being mistaken as weeds, birds getting caught int he blueberry nets and the wrong plants being thrown in the compost piles. I've been taking the constructive critism very well and although my position is in question I must say that I am pleased with the way the farm is looking. Hey-Me-Toe is from Japan and she does NOT want a tan or the swine flu so she has been farming in a very long rain jacket and she wears a mask. She sweats. A lot. A whole lot. Stefan is from Austria and is a gardener but doesn't know the English names for any plants. Although we don't understand each other very well, we have a great time together. The two of us try to put on a show for Hey-Me-Toe and have competitions to see who can make her laugh first which is difficult because we can't see facial expressions behind her mask. But, I finally have a lake buddy and after work we play at the lake for hours.

I have good joss.

My old man gave me solid advice before I left home: make sure to be within walking distance of a public transit station in case I ever needed to escape. How silly I thought. However, after 4 days of living in a treehouse on Quadra Island I realized I needed to leave and the only way to do it was by running away in the middle of the night. Although beautiful, Quadra is weird, the family I was staying at was horrible and my woofing duties were …. odd. I did 3 things at the farm and my only instruction I ever got was to "do my task mindfully.” I unsuccessfully used a jackhammer to try to dig a new well (photo to the right: Billy was headfirst down an old well. He should not have felt save with me un-mindfully doing my job of making sure he didn‘t die.), unsuccessfully tried to un-sink a sunken ship (it is now artificial seaweed at the bottom of the Pacific) and I was an unsuccessful midwife to a cow (the calf was a stillborn and the cow ended up getting shot in the head.). I like adventure but I was afraid, actually terrified, of what I would unsuccessfully be doing the rest of my stay with this family.
I didn’t know how to politely tell my host family that I deeply hated them so I decided to revert to my childhood days of packing all my stuff in a bag and leaving a note behind saying “Good riddance! I’m never coming back!” and then head off into the forest. Unlike my 9-year old self I didn’t just climb a tree for 20 minutes and return to a family that never even realized I ran off.
Looking back I know what I did today was very dangerous and I can‘t believe I actually did it and I plan on never doing anything like this again. Hitching a boat ride at a random harbor was really stupid and then having to lurk around the greyhound station with professional lurkers in the wee-hours of the morning was dodgy. I've never been more thankful for a flashlight and my iPod in my life. But, after 11 hours of traveling everything worked out - phew - and I’m back at Salt Spring where everyone is naked, every other one is a homosexual and every other other one is a multi-millionaire.