Bless us all – it’s been a month since my last post.  No, this is not a confession.  It’s really a celebration.  What an amazing month it’s been. Although I thought about my blog a few times, I had no inclination to write, so I didn’t.  I didn’t judge it, but simply accepted it for the break that it was. Since many of you were used to almost daily postings, however, I’ve started getting emails asking how I am.  So here’s a summary – I wouldn’t say a short one…. I’m still me, but believe me, it’s much briefer than if I had been writing about each of these things all along.  I’m glad I’m finally taking the time to share.  If I haven’t answered your questions, feel free to post them in the comments and I’ll respond next time.

So here’s the gist of where I’m at – literally and figuratively.

• After leaving Vienna, I spent a week with my family in Ottawa. I hadn’t seen my parents and siblings since Christmas, so time with them was wonderful.  I’m glad I planned my travels this way.  Ottawa is also a great place to spend Canada Day, but at 40 degrees Celcius, I was quite happy to watch the celebrations on TV … I survived the heat of Bali, but don’t know if I could have handled the crowds on Parliament Hill in that sweltering heat & humidity.
• I moved back to St-John’s, Newfoundland on July 2nd.  My friend Ted picked me up at the airport and drove me to my new home, where my new housemate Orinda greeted us with a a big hug and a delicious cod dinner.  Ted and I then went over to my friends Kim & Darryl’s house, where I met their new baby and picked up the 9 boxes/suitcases I had in storage there.  Two days later, I had emptied all my boxes and had done 10 loads of laundry, which I hung out on the clothesline to dry – a novelty for someone who has lived in apartments most of her adult life.  After living with the contents of 2 suitcases for a year, however, I felt like I simply had too much stuff.  It’s led to my playing a dress-up game; I haven’t worn the same outfit once in 3 weeks… We’ll see how long I can keep that up.  Hard to imagine I gave, sold, or threw out a lot of my stuff before leaving for Europe… I’m not missing anything, but am open to a comfortable bike like the one I borrowed from my friends in the Czech Republic a few times.
  
  

  
• After having corresponded with my new housemate Orinda for a month or so by email before my return to NL, it was like we were old friends.  In fact, after only 2 days together, it felt like we had been living together for months (in a good way). I’ve already described how we were guided to each other (see point 3 in previous post). I can see why – this is wonderful for both of us.  I’m quite a loner/introvert and need a lot of time on my own – but I also love sharing time with like-minded friends.  Being here with Orinda is a very good thing. At first, I thought I was “taking” so much and not “giving” much- but she’s expressed how much my presence was adding to her life, so there you have it.  Our ways of being with each other are very complimentary. I’m so used to living alone (even with roommates), so this is quite different. I’m enjoying it. As some of you know, my creativity doesn’t extend to the kitchen. Organic healthy food is a priority in my budget, but I often cook the same thing and it’s not so exciting anymore. Anyhow, Orinda loves to cook, and I love to eat. Great combo! And when I cook, she also enjoys it.  Perfect! We’re keeping the lines of communication open though- not staying fixed in any role or way of being – it will evolve and change as we do. No expectations.  This is just so different than with my previous 3 sets of roommates here and in Vienna, where we had completely separate lives, and I could go days without even seeing them and then, when we did see each other, conversations would stay very superficial.  Orinda and I are so much alike – we definitely speak the same language and are both committed to learning to being more unconditionally loving. Indeed, our spiritual paths are quite similar.  You can imagine our conversations – deep, open, honest, and interesting. Love it!  Then, when I’ve had too much social time in a day and I need to recharge my introvert batteries, I simply retreat to my room for a movie, and all continues to be well.  By the time I meet the next man in my life, should that be meant to be, I’ll be much better equipped – i.e. better at loving unconditionally. Until then, I will continue to be single and happy, this time with a God-sent housemate in a beautiful home.
  
  

  

  

  

  

  
• The photos my friend Cheryl sent me of the house while I was still in Vienna didn’t lie. I had asked her to be my eyes and energy-meter. The first line of her report was “This is perfect for you!”. She was right.  Orinda’s home is absolutely lovely – inside and out. I really like my room upstairs with the slanted ceilings and lots of natural light (see the photo of my desk with mementos of Vienna, Bali, and Italy as well as treasures from my life before that). I’m thrilled about having a private little shower room in the finished basement (next to my spacious studio). The kitchen (with dishwasher!) is spacious and has everything I could possibly need. There are also lots of comfortable couches to lie and read on, surrounded by lots of beautiful things. I do get some exercise from going up and down stairs a lot… That’s the inside.  Outside, the house is surrounded by nature, including a small river in the back yard. I love spending time on the deck or lying on cushions in the grass and taking it all in (correcting essays or reading a Byron Katie book).  After 3 weeks, the Queen Anne’s lace and rhododendron are no longer in bloom, but sweet smelling honeysuckle vines embrace the deck and fence and the day lilies are coming out too. I look out the back window and all I see is green.  There’s a highway hidden in the trees nearer to the Southside Hills, the equivalent of several blocks away, but I’m slowly getting used to the sound of traffic.  I was oversensitive to it on both sides of the house when I first moved in.  I now understand that any suffering around that is a result of my resistance to the idea of noise.  Now, I sleep with the windows closed and  I keep remembering my favourite movie, August Rush, and how everything can be music if I choose to perceive it that way. So that’s the house.  Basically, I love living here!  Every day, I walk around and find a new place to be and breathe in with gratitude.  What a great space with such lovely energy.  Yesterday, Orinda and I gave the whole house a smudge (spiritual cleansing) with sacred palo santo smoke. It releases stale energies in the corners and anything else that doesn’t serve this new chapter in our lives and our Highest Good.  Basically, it’s about consciously loving the space and putting our intentions and attention into that. The house and property feel even more nourishing because of it.  I usually do it right after I move into a new place, but that felt like perfect timing.
  
  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  
• Although a bad chest cold slowed me down considerably for a bit over a week, I still managed to say hello to a few friends and to the ocean. I went hiking up Signal Hill with Chery & Ted and their 2 dogs. There were still icebergs around at that time.  I also went to sit on the pebble beach at Beachy Cove with Eva, a friend of Orinda’s who went swimming in the cold water while I sat and soaked in the view and some healthy vitamins for a while.  Last weekend, Kim and I went hiking near Flatrock, where we saw some whales, old war bunkers and radar station, and I breathed in the sweet smells of Newfoundland forests.  My friend Janice came over a couple of times with her son Alex and we went for a long walk to Bowring Park, a huge park near where I’m living.  There’s a trail close by that leads to it and the park is filled with trails.  Next, my friend Leslie and I went to MoMondays together, and I got to hear her speak during the pre-show to this monthly North American-wide motivational/inspirational event. She’s being strongly guided to spread love and beauty through various projects – it’s truly inspiring.  yet about it, but stay tuned.  I also got to say hello to some of my other friends at MoMondays, including fellow artist Lori Reddy, but we’ll be spending more time together Monday. I look forward to catching up.  I haven’t seen all my buddies yet, but my days have been rather full – lots of doing, but also lots of simply being in the moment, grateful for all that is.
  
  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  
• Part of why I’ve been busy is that I started full-time work at Memorial University 2 days after I got back. I’m now finished 3 weeks of a 5-week English as a Second Language teaching contract with a delightful group of 19 students, mostly from Quebec.  I teach the most advanced group, and they’ve been both motivated and cooperative – a teacher’s dream.  I spent a lot of time back in Vienna and here in Canada adjusting my curriculum and materials to improve on what I offered during the previous 3 summers that I taught in this government-subsidized program. I’m very happy with what we’re accomplishing together this year.  After being a full time student myself for a year, I’ve gained a new perspective on both teaching and being a student.  Thankfully, my partial loss of voice after 2 days in class (due to the chest cold) didn’t slow us down much.  The teaching has been great and as an added bonus, this contract will help cover a part of the costs of stocking up my studio again.
• Ah yes, the studio! In addition to Orinda’s wonderful company and the ways we’re sharing the space, I’m really enjoying setting up my studio. In preparation for my arrival, Orinda was inspired to go through a major de-cluttering of the house, and the huge room in the walk-in basement that used to be her storage room has now become my studio. She used to have 15 people gather in that room for Course of Miracles meetings – that gives you an idea of the size… and the energy.   In the past week, I filled my “canvas closet” with 52 of my favourite Apollon canvases that I bought at Art Cansel.  As a bonus for shopping local, the owner let me choose any canvas for free. Nice!  My friend Leslie helped me get them home – can you believe they all fit in her Honda Fit hatchback? Appropriately named… I also just got the bulk of my Golden Artist Colors paint & medium order from Urchin Art Materials and Papery. I had had such a good experience in the past placing a special order with Shannon at that shop as compared to a very disappointing experience shopping online via a big Toronto store, so I was glad to shop local again. She gave me an extra discount on top of the regular quantity discount for the repeat investment.  She’s even doing some detective work to find a few things on my wish list and will be throwing those in at no extra cost. Wow!  Now that’s service! Although Shannon offered to deliver my order, Orinda drove me right there and my organizer self spent a couple of happy hours that night placing everything on the shelving that had been waiting for me in my new studio. I also took a bus trip to Michael’s Arts & Craft Store to pick up a bunch of my regular 3-D paints there… fun!  They had a 50% off canvas sale on and so I couldn’t resist bringing a 4′ x 4′ canvas home on the bus – just to see if I could do it…  it would have never fit in Orinda’s car.  It took a while with the regular delays and transfer, but I got it home with no problem.   I’ll be painting soon! Very soon.
  
  

  

  

  

  
• Taking the bus to school has been the biggest change and challenge from the way I usually like to live.  Public transportation here isn’t like in Vienna, that’s for sure.  In the past few decades, I had chosen to live 30-60 minutes from school/work, so that I could get my exercise.  When I have a destination to walk to, I simply do it.  The university is now 1.5 hours away on foot on city streets, so I haven’t even tried it.  When I lived in the Battery (at the foot of Signal Hill), it used to take me about an hour, but most of it was along nature trails.  That isn’t the case now.  So I’m taking the bus.  Had I not felt so guided to living here, that may have been a deal breaker, but it’s really not such a big deal. I’m patient at bus stops, but I just have to motivate myself to go for a walk for the sake of walking, and I haven’t been too good at that so far.  Grant it, I was sick for over a week and chose to sleep instead.  I did choose to walk Rennie’s River Trail from school to my old grocery store (40 minutes) and take the bus from there a couple of times.  That was nice.  I wasn’t there though when a moose was using the trail last week. I also missed one on campus 2 days ago in the pond next to my students’ residence… I’m not totally sedentary though – at least I’m walking 10-15 minutes uphill to my bus stop every morning, but then I sometimes stand there 40 minutes if a bus doesn’t show up.  It hasn’t been earlier than 10 minutes late, even at 7am near the beginning of its run.  What will it be in the winter?… maybe I won’t teach for that term. We’ll see.
• Note: For the first time this morning, I decided to take the 8am bus to school instead of the 7 or 7:30 am bus, so I could work on this blog a bit. By that time though, the sky was pouring down in buckets. No worries. I have good rain boots, pants and a Gortex jacket – my first summer here, it was like this every day for the first 4 weeks, plus it was so cold I needed my hat and gloves for the hour’s walk to school.  Just as I was getting ready to go, however,I heard Orinda calling and she insisted on driving me to school with a delightful “How could I stay in bed sleeping knowing you’re out there in that. I have a car. That’s what it’s made for!”.  What a blessing!  After my independent self resisted for a couple of minutes, I just let go and accepted the generous gift – one of many life (and Orinda) has offered me. Nice!
• I’m definitely open to part-time teaching contracts to get my bank account back up to my comfort zone after a year overseas. Plus it gets me out of the house and around people.  Once I get my art business back on its feet, I’m sure finances will pick up.  I’m not worried.  I am curious though – every time I get an email inviting participation in a Christmas Craft Fair or other business opportunity, my intuitive guidance tells me to relax and not jump into anything. This is strange since I have an equally strong left brain that wants to push ahead and get going on the business / marketing, even if I haven’t started painting yet. Something is brewing. Months ago, I expressed my dream to be able to take a year to simply paint and see what evolves from integrating what I learned overseas with my own intuitive energy-based artistic style/voice – no pressure for sales, exhibitions, etc. Maybe that is what’s in store for me.  I did buy a lottery ticket, but didn’t win.  That same day, however, after my first bus ride home from school, I found a $20 bill among the stones next to the sidewalk.  Have you seen the film “The Grand Seduction”? It’s based in Newfoundland, and I saw it in the movie theater in Ottawa.  The main character, a doctor that the small out-port town is trying to seduce to stay so that they can fulfill the requirements to build a factory, keeps finding $5 bills that were planted there for him to find.  I keep looking, but I only found the one so far.  Still, I’m staying and very grateful to be here. I did take that as a sign that I am indeed abundant and have nothing to worry about – I may not have won the lottery (yet), but the Universe is supporting me in many other ways.  I’ll let my right brain/intuition lead as I’ve learned to trust; indeed, I’m keeping my antenna up to see what my next out-of-the-box miracle might be.  No expectations – just going with the flow and seeing where that takes me.

That’s what my life has been like in the past month.  My year overseas was amazing AND  I’m happy being home to embrace the mystery of what this new chapter will hold.  Fun!