Tomorrow Chloe the cat and I will fly back to North America, to Vermont. It's hard to believe. Partly because the whole air travel thing is always surreal...both the experience and the fact of going so quickly from one place to another. It's also just amazing that 5 months has come and gone, my life continues to bring new awarenesses and surprises. Going back to NA I feel like a new chapter is starting, and I'm actually excited about it. I have ideas of things I'd like to do, projects, work, as well as getting to see many people I love.

Yesterday was the four year anniversary of the day my mother was attacked in her home, tomorrow it will be four years since her death. That's an interesting day to fly! Four years isn't so long, but it's a chunk of time. I find myself considering how the catalytic events of this week in 2004 has led me to this point, to a very different life than I was living. I wonder if and if so how my responses to the world, to my life and experiences, will change as that four years stretches into 5, 10, 15...

I have constructed a page to hold the archived episodes of my radio show "Stories from the Road" on wbkm.org. You can find a link to the archive on the right hand side of this page, or at wbkm.org. Enjoy!

Wow it's been two weeks since I blogged. Time flies. Still in Den Dolder. The last two weeks have been relaxing, some socializing, continuing my internal planning process. I gave a permaculture talk to 5 people in Amsterdam on Saturday night. That was fun and exciting, as they are all people who are interested in learning and in awareness.

Last summer I was interviewed by a guy named Luc Sala who has his own television station in Amsterdam where he runs whatever he likes, including his many interviews. You can seem them at http://www.mindlift.tv

My interview can be seen here. It's a 500 mb file, it's about 45 minutes long and it's an mpg file so you'll need Quicktime to play it. If you're on a Mac you already have Quicktime, but if you are running any other OS you'll need to install it if you haven't already.

Chloe and I are settled in at a friend's in Den Dolder, near Utrecht. The train ride from Italy was quite an adventure in small ways, and exhausting. It took a few days to really bounce back. Also I find that I sleep heavily here in Holland, not so much in the places south like Israel and Italy.

We're all set to get the veterinary certificate so the cat can re-enter the US, will be doing some visiting this week and some ritual and permie talk stuff on the weekend.

It's sunny, windy, 18C, a nice typical Dutch summer day.

It's been quite a week since I last blogged. I made my plans to depart from this beautiful place, which happens tomorrow when I head back to the Netherlands where I will be housesitting and rabbit sitting for friends, and visiting with friends, and offering a permaculture talk. Towards the end of August I will go back to North America with Chloe the cat, who is currently sensing impending change and complaining, as she may wonder if she is being left.

I had what I can only call a visitation from my mother yesterday morning. It occurred while my body was asleep, but it did not have the quality of a dream. It was palpable. She gave me the best hug and a smile and said "Life is for living." I said "Sometimes I'm afraid to live" and she responded with a smile and said something to the effect of "Those little dramas are not important." I woke up smiling and have been smiling since.

My plan is to be in the northeast for a few week, do some visiting, possibly offer a permaculture event in New Hampshire, and then head back to Montana with Chloe and Lasky.

I've been watching old movies; Vertigo, North by Northwest, Bell Book and Candle, Lifeboat, Rear Window...lots of fun.

I continue to read various news and information sources online and it really is interesting. There seems to be a trend of growing awareness, and at the same time plenty of "same old same old." As always, time will tell.