Catching Up

The remainder of last week paled in comparison to the sound healing of Tuesday so there has not been much going on in the blogfront.

I got to clean a 40 year old refrigerator that had been sitting in a garage for about 10 years.  Sounds like fun, doesn't it!  There is some satisfaction in making something white(ish) again though.

We did help Susun set up, run and strike two booths at the Farmington Summer Festival on Friday.  Farmington is a town of about 7,000 people so there wasn't a ton of action at the booths.  I did have fun selling stuff and talking to people though.  I think Susun made about $400 on her Minikins (www.minikins.org) stuff.

I met two ladies that had vacationed in PEI or Nova Scotia (can't remember now) and had seen Tim Hus (our neighbor in Calgary).  It's a small world!

I think Karen and Ada may have been a little bored - just not their thing. Although they did have some fun making a video for everyone.

And Karen loves mascots and there were about 3 or 4 of them at the festival so I managed to get a picture of her with one.

I got a henna tattoo and Karen was nice enough to wait in line with me and while I had it done.

(please note that the funny coloring on my feet is my tan line! It's amazing!)

This past weekend, Michel and I went to Monhegan Island (http://www.monheganwelcome.com/) which is a one hour ferry ride from Port Clyde (close to Rockland).  I got the impression it was suppose to kinda be like Gabriola Island in Canada (lots of artists, etc) but Michel was quite disappointed.  Many of the artist's studios were only open on Tuesdays and Thursdays and he found the people not that hospitable.  I was probably too worn out from our hike around a portion of the island to notice grumpy people.  I got way too much sun (see tan in above picture) and was in bed that night before 9pm.  I also found out that I get seasick. The hike would have been gorgeous if the day had not been quite so warm.

Monique would be proud of me as there is only a 160 foot elevation gain on the island but the path led us from sea level to the top of the cliffs about 4 or 5 times so in reality, I did a hike that covered about a 600 foot elevation gain!

Next weekend is the Rockland Lobster Festival (http://www.mainelobsterfestival.com/) - 20,000 lbs of lobster is consumed at this event and I will be consuming at least 2 of those myself!

We may also see Alain, Isabelle and the kids.  Turns out they are in Wells, ME (see my post of July 20) this week camping and will try to stop by on their way back to Montreal next weekend.

Michel is enjoying his courses immensely and I will try to get him to do a video about it.  His first week was lofting (planning and making molds for making the boat), last week was planking (putting planks of wood over the mold to make the boat) and this week is about interior finishing (seats, etc).  They have several boats in several states of being finished so Michel will not have a boat to take home with us (thank god, where would we fit it!) but he has talked about the fact that there may be just enough room in our back yard to make a small boat.  Ack!

Well, for someone who didn't think she had much to say, this has turned into quite a long post.  Sorry!

Life in an Alternate Universe

Spent the evening expanding my horizons!

Nancy, one of Susun's friends, holds a monthly event that usually is a potluck dinner and a moving viewing wherein the movie has a spiritual theme to it. But tonight was just a wee bit different.

It turned out that one of Nancy's friends brought some of their friends (Cynthia & Henrik) that were visiting and they do sound healing (www.wavesofillumination.com).  Sooooooooo.....instead of the movie, we had a sound healing session.

The group had to come up with a phrase stating their "intention".  Our phrase was....."I am fun, at peace, honest, trusting, awake, curious, safe and joyful.  Yes, I am."  The group then had to say the statement about 5 times while we were being recorded.  This recording was then "processed" and the Sacred Scaler converted it into "frequencies" that were played back to us over about 35 minutes.  During the first 3 frequencies, we were required to replicate the tone using our voice.  Each frequency would go on for several minutes before stopping.  It would then take about 20-30 seconds for the next frequency to play.

At some point about half way through, the frequencies changed from mostly consistent sounds to "popcorn" or "drumming" sounds.  Once this was done, Cynthia (one of the two people performing the healing) used a crystal bowl to make a sound that was meant to bring everyone back to the present.

I don't want to say that the evening was outside my comfort zone because I was comfortable.  However, it was not something I would actively seek on my own. And although my logical side says it is a bunch of hogwash, several things happened during/after the session that were very interesting.

1) In between the more constant frequencies, I heard sounds that I can only describe as computer sounds - think of old movies when computers were working, they had these techo sounds so you would know that the computer was working.  Turns out that the Scaler system was not generating these sounds and no one else heard what I heard.  Other people heard water sounds though.  A little freaky.

2) During the first 3 frequencies when everyone was "chanting" to match the frequencies, there was some sort of resonance inside my body with the sounds.  I am sure the science of harmonics can explain this but it did feel really good.

3) After the session, there continued to be what I can only describe as reverberations inside my body.  Like my body was continuing to hum to the frequencies. I should clarify that the frequencies were played back to the group through speakers and were quite loud so once again, probably very explainable through the science of sound.

No need to worry, I won't be converted to the Cult of Sacred Scaler anytime soon but it sure was fun to have an alternative experience!

(Me, Karen, Ada, Susun, Gary, Don and Sita after the session - do we look relaxed?) 

(Missing from photo is Shannon, Esphabad, Cynthia and Henrik)

What We do for Beauty!

After a relaxing weekend with Veve doing next to nothing (lots of sleep, some laundry, walking around Camden, ME and a visit to Owl's Head beach and lighthouse) it was back to Susun's for the week.

Today we cleaned out Eila's (Susun's daughter) basement. Eila made us dinner and then we went to Farmington's central park to hear a band play in the gazebo.

Tonight, Karen shared a paper mask with me.  Apparently, in Taiwan, many women use facial masks made of paper.  The one I am wearing is Rose Ice Cream and it feels very refreshing.  Hope it does something for my skin!

Luck is on our side

Michel worked his good looks and French accent and got the campground owner to agree to let us stay for 3 weeks!!!! So, Michel has a home.

He also has had his first week of school (I did not send him off with new school supplies or lunch bag - bad me).  He is having a great time and loving it.  There are only 2 other people in his class so the teacher to student ratio is excellent.  I will try to get him to write something about it.

On Sunday, he dropped me off at Susun Terese's house where I am doing a help exchange.  Susun is incredibly nice and has me working like a dog (NOT!!).  On Monday, I cleaned out and rearranged her pantry.  On Tuesday, I cleaned out and organized her tupperware cupboard and below her kitchen sink. So, you get a sense of the grueling work schedule I have. I am beat man!

There are two other girls staying with Susun, Ada and Karen, and they are from Taiwan.  Ada speaks amazing English and Karen's is not bad either.  They are fun to talk with.

(Susan, Karen, Ada and Mitzi in the gazebo in the park in Farmington)

On my first night with Susun, I got to participate in a Spiritual Circle that she puts on.  There is a little meditation and then some talking.......very easy going.  I was not shy but then this would not come as a surprise to many of my friends and family.

Niagara
I forgot to tell you about our time in the Niagara region.

Of course, we went to see the Falls and they are absolutely amazing!  Spidey got a little confused as he didn't realize that the Maid of the Mist was suppose to be heading for the base of the Falls so he was about to swing down and try to save everyone when Michel caught him and managed to save Spidey from some mighty big embarrassment.


We didn't hang out in Niagara as it was far too touristy.  We had been told there was a Shaw Festival on in Niagara on the Lake so we headed up there to see if we could get tickets for a show.  Turned out that we showed up 20 minutes before the matinee of My Fair Lady (
http://www.shawfest.com/playbill/my-fair-lady/story/) so we grabbed tickets and saw a fabulous play.

I couldn't get some of the songs out of my mind for days.  I was amazed at how many of them I knew but hadn't known where they were from.  For your listening and viewing pleasure, I have provided my favorite........

We also had time to visit the Butterfly Conservatory.  I am giving it a 10 out of 10.  There were thousands of butterflies and they were all beautiful.  Michel had one land on his forehead and on the back of his leg.  I had one briefly in my hair.  You can't help but get some good pictures so I am going to share some of them with you.

(From tip to tip of wing, this butterfly was bigger than my outstretched hand)

Seafood - Yummy!

I love Maine! They have an ocean!

I need to send a huge thank you to Uncle Butch!  Cause when we stopped by his house in Regina, we got to see this great show called "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives".  Later in Winnipeg, we were talking with someone and came up with the idea of seeing if there were any places in Maine that had been featured in the show.  Guess what.....there are like 5 of them!  So we chose one to try out.

Maine Diner was absolutely awesome!  It is located in Wells, ME - Alaine and Isa - you need to go to this place when you come camping in Maine in August!

Check out the episode on the Maine Diner below!

To boot, we sat at the counter right by the cash register and got to see the action up close. This place serves more than 1,000 people a day in the summer months.  The waitresses were unbelievable!

My Michel, who always says he is not a people person, had a 20 minute discussion with Dick, one of the owners.  Turns our Dick used to play hockey and met the likes of Bobby Orr and.......some other guy who's name I can't remember.  All I can remember is that he became a lawyer and then was a member of Parliment - that should be enough for PapaLou and Steve to figure out who it is.

Anyway, I had what was called the Triple D - a sampling of the 3 items they highlight in the episode. Oh, my god, OMG, OMG and just in case I didn't say it enough, OMG!  Michel was a paragon of willpower and had a crab salad that was good for his heart!  Michel did sample my plate several times though so he did get to taste the best of what they had to offer.

The Cod Cake was incredibly light and fluffy in the middle and nice and crisp on the outside.  The lobster pie was good because, imagine this, it was full of lobster and butter - how can you go wrong.  The chowder was yummy too.

Almost a Berverly Hillbilly!!!!!

Today, we arrived in what we had hoped would be Michel's home for the next 3 weeks (a lovely little campground called Saltwater Farm in Thomaston, ME - just a few miles from Rockland), and found out that we may not be able to stay for the entire 3 weeks.  We just need to talk to the owners when they get back tomorrow.

I wasn't worried about this as what good business person would turn down a guaranteed 3 weeks of revenue when most campgrounds are not full during the weekdays?

Then we went to our campsite for the night and in the process of driving a peg into the ground, I hit crude, black gold, texas tea that is (http://www.evtv1.com/player.aspx?itemnum=7387).  Oh, noooooooooo..............yah, not that lucky.  It was the water line to our tap.  The nice host of the campground had to shut the water off to most of the campground to stop the leak and do a temporary fix until tomorrow when he could get the right parts to fix it properly.

Just look at the devastation that a small tent peg can wreak on a PVC water line.........

What are the chances that the owners will be predisposed to help us out by letting us stay now?  I think Michel and I will be looking for a new campground tomorrow.

Wish us luck!

On the Road Again...........

We hit the road again on Monday and my Mom and Dad say that your first day generally sets the tone of the trip.  If that is true, please pray for us.  We took the wrong turn at the lights in Carman (where my parents live and there is only one set of lights) and it took me about 15 minutes to realize the bad directions I had given Michel.  In Grand Forks, we missed our turnoff and in Minnesota, we once again took a wrong turn and to get back to where we were supposed to be (via a circular route) cost us an extra 50 miles (we are in the USA now so I have to use their system).  We laughed at ourselves and only ended the day about 100 miles short of where we wanted to be.

Today was much better!  We only got turned around once!  We are overnighting in Gaylord, Michigan and tomorrow we are off to Niagara Falls where we will spend 2 nights.

But now........it is catch up time though cause lots of stuff happened while we were in Manitoba.

The Hermetic Code Tour (A Canadian “Da Vinci Code”)

Back in the Fall, Michel discovered this strange thing about the Manitoba Legislative Building.  Frank Albo apparently spent 10 years of his life Leg and all its hidden Free Masonary code. He even went as far as to become a Free Mason so he could get inside the mind of the architect who built it! It turns out that they have developed his Masters Thesis into a book and he gives tours of the Leg during the summer. So, of course, we had to take the tour and it was absolutely fabulous.  To get a taste of what we experienced, see this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqO52erTdqk) and others on Youtube!

One of my favorite parts was the special room in the bottom of the Leg that has a star in the middle.  If you stand in the centre of the star and say something really loud, it can be heard everywhere in the building.  At the same time it reverberates inside your head. I gave it a try and it was very freaky. 

Afterwards, we had dinner with Sharon and Bruce.  It was a good time and I couldn’t stop talking about the tour.  I also couldn't stop bugging Bruce by asking "What are you up to tomorrow?  Oh, yah, you work....poor you....sucker".  Bruce got me back though as he is an early riser and he called me at 6:30am to ask what I was doing that day!

Winnipeg Folk Festival

We (Rob, Doug, Phil and I) introduced Michel to the joys of being a Folkie!  We spent 2 evenings and 1 full day soaking up great music and just hanging. We got to see some stellar acts including Blue Rodeo, Tegan & Sarah, Matt Anderson and K. D. Lang (her voice is phenomenal).  Michel survived the crowd of 14,000 and even my sister braved the masses (I didn't realize she didn't like crowds until now). My sister liked it so much, she went on Saturday as well but a bit of heat stroke - easy to understand considering how hot it was. 

We even had one night where Rob's friends, Karen and Julie, joined us with their two children, Elizabeth and Connor.  They both took a shining to us and we had a great time playing with them.  These kind of things are always welcome as it feeds any maternal instincts I have and then I am good for a while. 

Canada Day

Michel, me, Mama and PapaLou spent Canada Day in a little town near Carman called Roseisle.  It has a population of about 50 but they put on this huge CD celebration.  It amazes me how cohesive some of the small communities can be and what a few dedicated people are capable of pulling off.  Mom and I got henna tattoos.  11 days later, you can still see mine.......not what I was expecting!

As well, Spidey hung out with Mom and cooked up a storm.

We also saw this fantastic lawn chair that all my knitting friends will love!  Gotta get me one (sans the Grandma bit).

Happy Anniversary Rob & Phil!

On July 2nd, Rob and Phil celebrated their one year anniversary!  YAH!  To celebrate, they took a group of their friends out for dinner at Sydney's in the Forks.  It was very scrumptious and the dinner conversation was good.  Keep the good work up Rob and Phil.  Perhaps Michel and I will be in town for your second anniversary and this time, we can take you guys out.

Family BBQ

Last Sunday, Steve, Michel and I hosted a family BBQ.  Unfortunately, Scott could not make it but everyone else from Winnipeg and Carman was there.  Steve made pickerel appetizers that tasted so good that I will actually state that I definitely like fish (it has always been hit and miss with me). 
After most everyone left, I packed up my stuff with the help of Kaye and it was great to spend some one on one time with her (something I would like to do more of).

I really hope that this sabbatical ends with a visit with my family (Rob, you are lumped in the family section as we have known each other long enough that you definitely qualify) on the way home as the 2 weeks was not enough time.