December 20-26

It was both a quiet and busy week at Indralaya as we had a lot to get done before leaving on the 23rd to catch up with family for the Christmas weekend. A central focus was the 2011 program catalog, which we anticipate will be in your mailbox sometime towards the end of January.

It’s great to be working with Tina Rose again on the catalog. Tina is an Orcas resident and friend who has been involved in the design and production of the catalog for over a decade. This is the time when we are rounding up the last of the program descriptions and beginning the layout process. As in every year, there is a lot of effort put into finding just the right pictures to include, so if you have a good picture that you think should be considered send it soon! (indralaya (at) indralaya.com). Pictures need to have a minimum resolution of 300dpi to be usable.

Work is also underway on setting up the Indralaya web site for next year. We’ll be offering early registration for the March 3-6 Sea Temple Retreat with R.J. Stewart beginning January 3, and other 2011 programs will be available for on-line registration in mid-January.

On Wednesday, Leonie and I attended Susan Osborn’s concert at the chapel in Victorian Valley, an annual Christmas event that we’ve missed in our years away from Orcas. It was a lovely evening in the small candle-lit chapel. One of the traditions for Susan’s concert is to have everyone take different parts and join in the singing of The Twelve Days of Christmas. Leonie and I took on the part of the two turtle doves this year!

We caught an early boat off of Orcas on Thursday and headed for Twisp and the Methow Valley, located in north central Washington, where we have a family cabin. While we were there, we had a chance to visit with our friend (and Indralaya Yoga Week leader) Melanie Whittaker, who lives up the valley in the town of Winthrop. Thanks to Lars Erickson for taking care of the camp in our absence.

Outside the Rocking Horse Bakery

While we were in the Methow, we received news of the passing of Jenny Vonckx. Jenny was an artist and courageous woman and she will be missed by her many Indralaya friends. We met Jenny back in 1997, when she showed up on the right weekend for the wrong program (there’s a story there!). This was the beginning of Jenny’s relationship with Indralaya, which became a valued part of her life. At the time, she was struggling to come to terms with a brain tumor that was then threatening to and eventually did take her life.

Jenny at Indralaya - 1998

2011 Fall Programs

This week, the conclusion of our three week survey of next year’s program. Last week’s entry provides a summary of what’s in store for next Summer and the week of December 6-12 offers a glimpse at the Spring line-up.

The Fall Season will be begin with the Labor Day weekend work party, September 2-5. There will be two other fall work parties - the apple harvest weekend October 7-10 and the end of season work party November 11-13.

On September 9-11, we are going to offer Indralaya’s first Theosofest. The weekend will combine an open house with exploration of the theosophical ideas that lie behind the way of life that is found here. We’re planning to offer music, art, lectures, discussion, good food and companionship.

Tim Boyd will be visiting from Olcott, the headquarters of the Theosophical Society in America, on September 15-18. Tim is a candidate for the Presidency of the TSA and current head of the Theosophical Order of Service. Tim is an engaging speaker and he’ll be exploring the question of what the wisdom tradition can offer a world that is undergoing great stress and change.

Nawang Khechog, the world-renowned musician and former Tibetan monk, will return to Indralaya for a program on Awakening Kindness, September 22-25. The program will include a free public concert on Saturday evening.

The 2011 program season will conclude with a Silent Meditation Retreat, October 13-16, led by Linda Jo Pym and Leonie Van Gelder.

Santa & Stockings - HO HO HO

December 13-19

As this is being writing in the late afternoon at Indralaya, under a darkening sky at a northern latitude of 48.7°, somewhere beyond the light cloud cover the near full moon is beginning to rise in the Eastern sky. Tis the brink of the winter solstice and all is well.

Looking ahead one day beyond the current week, to December 21, there is an alignment of the full moon at 1:13 am, PST, and then the moment of winter solstice at 3:38 in the afternoon. The winter solstice marks the time when, from our earthbound perspective, the sun seems to stand still as it arrives at southernmost point of its journey, the line demarcated by the Tropic of Cancer, at 23.4° S.

This combination of a full moon and the winter solstice doesn’t happen all that often - throw in the total lunar eclipse that will also occur and one has to go back nearly 400 years - to 1638 - to find the last time such an alignment occurred. Interestingly, it will happen again relatively soon, 84 years from now, in 2094.

The solstice has been a moment of significance to humanity since time immemorial and its arrival continues to be celebrated in festivals and gatherings all over the world.

In her booklet, The Christmas of the Angels, Indralaya elder Dora Van Gelder Kunz writes,

We must remember that the whole earth is thronged with host of super-physical beings, angels and archangels and all the Company of Heaven, who … are responsible for the guidance and control of the manifold processes of Nature. It is their thoughts and feelings and activities which play so important a part in the creation of that peculiar atmosphere of good will so noticeable at Christmas; and at this time of the year the whole earth thrills with the wonderful forces outpoured by the angels….
(T)he angels see Christmas from the life side, as a turning-point of all the forces of Nature on every plane and at every level, and as a time in which (there is) a direct and mighty outpouring of creative power and spiritual energy…It marks a point of deep significance in the hidden life of Nature.

And so we note this moment in the passing of the year.

Yew Tree #3

The story continues to unfold. As discussed in earlier entries (see Nov. 1 and Nov. 15 below) there are Yew trees located above the steps to both Near East and Far East beaches. Now a third yew has revealed itself, near Madrona point. These trees certainly know how to pick a prominent spot to reside. This particular Yew provides a good representation of the aerial roots that are a distinctive aspect of the species.

Comings and Goings

Our friends Jeremy Berg and Freya Secrest came up for an overnight visit last Tuesday. They both work closely with David Spangler and are instrumental in the activities of the Lorian Association. Jeremy is the publisher for the Lorian Press, while Freya is a spiritual director and on the faculty of the Lorian Center for Incarnational Spirituality.

Freya & Jeremy

Herlwyn Lutz is an Orcas Island resident and arborist who has taken a prominent role in tending to Indralaya’s trees for many years. This past week he did a beautiful job cutting back a cedar tree that was growing into the side of Cedar cabin down on the waterfront.

Herlwyn

On Wednesday, Phoebe Bee hosted the annual study group potluck and gift exchange. This was the last meeting of the Study group until the new year.

Phoebe

Summer Program Preview

Last week’s entry provided a look at our 2011 Spring programs. As promised, here’s a quick look at next summer’s line-up.

As has been the practice for many years, there will be two Therapeutic Touch camps in the latter half of June. The mentorship week will begin on Saturday, June 11 and continue until Friday, June 17. The second healer’s camp: Continuing Explorations into TT Theory and Practice, is scheduled for June 19-25.

The summer season ‘officially’ begins with Family Week One, June 30th to July 5, followed by Family Week Two from July 8-14. Family Week One will again be coordinated by Elliot and Ondine Toler-Scott, Viola Marx, and Victoria Bennett. Coordinator’s for Family Week Two will be Michael Sky, Penny Sharp-Sky, Hugh O’Neill and Annie McManus.

Deep Singing comes next, led by Barbara Bellamy and Helen Bee. The dates are July 16-21. All voices welcome!

Yoga Week, with Melanie Whittaker, will be July 23-28. All body types welcome!

A new incarnation of Indralaya’s traditional Creativity Week will begin on July 30 and continue to August 4. David Spangler and Deborah Koff-Chapin, will collaborate on an exploration of “Creativity, Manifestation and the Subtle Worlds”. David is a teacher, mystic, and author of numerous books. Deborah is the founder of The Center for Touch Drawing. She is a teacher and practitioner of what she has recently been calling “Sacred Expressive Arts”, incorporating sound, movement, drawing, and other creative modalities to help call forth that which is within us and wanting to be expressed.

Connections is next, from August 6-14. Ed Abdill, a well known and well regarded teacher in theosophical circles, will be participating and leading morning discussions.

From August 16-19, Arun Gandhi, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, will lead a three day program on ahimsa and the practice of peace, including elements involving stories of his grandfather. This special program has been arranged with the help of Chris Farmer, a friend of Arun’s who attended many t.t. programs at Indralaya in the 1980’s and early 90’s. Learn more about Arun and his work at www.arungandhi.org.

Joel and Michelle Levey will return on July 20-25 for the final program of the 2011 summer season. The theme for their program will be “The Dance of Change: Wisdom Teachings for Turbulent Times”.

It is going to be a busy and wonderful summer at Indralaya. We look forward to seeing many of you here. Next week, a glimpse at what is scheduled for Fall 2011.

December 6-12

Wetness

There were a couple of heavy rainfalls on Orcas this past week, with close to an inch of rain on Wednesday and another downpour of just over an inch on Saturday night. A blocked drain line at the dining room resulted in a 2” flood of water in the basement. With the help of Crystal Mossman and Chappy’s Septic Service, we were able to get the water flowing again on Sunday. It turned out that the blocked line was caused by tree roots that had broken through the drain tile and grown to the point where the water could no longer flow around them.

The following videos will give some idea of what things looked like both in the basement and in the meadow, where there was a large pool of standing water on Sunday. Please excuse the amateur production values - I’m still learning how to use my new Flip video camera - editing is next!

Comings and Goings

Pia Van Gelder, our niece from Sydney, Australia, was on the island for several days just after Thanksgiving and stayed over at camp for a couple nights at the beginning of the week. It had been over four years since Pia’s last visit to camp. In our previous stint at Indralaya, her visits to see her dad (Arthur Van Gelder) had been more frequent and she was able to visit camp almost every year.

Pia, Leonie & Minor

On Wednesday we headed to Seattle for a couple nights. I returned to Orcas on Friday, while Leonie headed to Bainbridge Island for another Sound and Healing workshop with Pat Moffit-Cook. Pat developed a close following at Indralaya through the six Fall workshops she led here from 2000-2005.

Many Indralaya folk continue to participate in Pat’s Open Ear Center workshops, including Lin Bauer, Liba Stafl, Greg and Janie Reboulet, Frances Krygier, Bev Forster, Rifaat and David Fay, Jeannie Chamberlain, Kathy Wilmering, Cordy Anderson, Linda Shockey, Robert Glasner, Nancy Frey, Dianna Blom, Anna Thelen, Carol Krasel, Janet McCully, Marsha McEwan, Claire Van Bloem, Tim Hulley, Deb Seidel, and Anne Walker - apologies to anyone I missed.

While we were gone, Brian Davies, a chief volunteer in the library, arrived and spent several days both by himself and with Phoebe Bee working on their current project to re-label the book collection.

On Sunday, I took another niece, Ian and Kari Van Gelder’s daughter Margot, to the annual Christmas concert of the Orcas Choral Society. It was a wonderful performance. Margot told me afterwards that the hours flew by like minutes. Two highlights were a performance of “The Lamb”, a Sir John Taverner piece with lyrics by William Blake, and “Lux Aurumque”, words by Edward Esch and music by Eric Whitacre. Indralaya friends Helen Bee, Antoinette Botsford, Herlwyn Lutz, Penny Sharp Sky, and Tina Rose all performed with the 58 member choir.

2011 Program Preview

Over the next few weeks, check back for a sneak preview of next year’s programs. It’s looking like a great line-up and we are really excited about the way things have come together. This week, a quick look at programs for the Spring.

The program season will begin early with a Sea Temple Retreat with R.J. Stewart, March 3-6. R.J. is a fairly well known teacher of western esoteric traditions. The Sea Temple is the hidden temple of the West. It is said to be rooted in love and compassion and to hold the gateways for planetary change from within the deepest heart of our world.

Enrollment for this program is limited to 35 participants and there is already a great deal of interest. Early registration will be available through the Indralaya website in the next couple weeks. Please notify us if you are interested and we will let you know when registration opens up.

April 28-May 1 will see the return of Grace Crowley, leading her fifth mindfulness meditation retreat at Indralaya. Past program participants have often expressed appreciation for Grace’s insight, clarity and capacity to set an appropriate tone for the meditation weekend.

Carl Calleman will lead a program on “2012 and the Tree of Life” on the weekend of May 5-8. Carl has authored several books on the Mayan Calendar and 2012. He was a good friend of John Roberts and initially became interested in these themes, which have become very much his life work, when he attended a 1991 workshop at Indralaya that was led by Peter Balin.

May 19-22 will offer Basic and Intermediate Therapeutic Touch with Jane Cornman, Cathy Fanslow-Brunjes, and Cedrun Sterling.

On June 2-5, Robyn Finseth will offer an invitational workshop on self-healing. Robyn is a chiropractor and healer in the Portland area. Robyn is married to Gary Finseth, and is the daughter of Ken and Bea Lawrence. She worked closely with Harry Van Gelder and has been coming to Indralaya for her entire life.

There will also be at least three work parties: President’s Day Feb 18-21, Easter April 22-24, and Memorial Day, May 27-30. In addition to these traditional gatherings, we are considering a Spring Cleaning work party as well as the possibility of a work party to finish up work on Pear cabin.

Next week a glimpse at what’s in store for next summer.

November 29-December 5

They Came, They Met, They Concurred

The Indralaya (Orcas Island Foundation) Board of Directors met in the camp library on Saturday and Sunday. This was the initial meeting of the new Board. Meg Sather and Lin Bauer were welcomed to their first meeting (see the week of Oct. 25-31 for some background on Meg and Lin), and in the wake of her six months as kitchen manager, Crystal Mossman was welcomed back and reappointed to the Board.

Laurie, Kim, Lin, Meg, Jeannie, Crystal, John

After these and other formalities, the meeting continued with a morning retreat. The retreat was intended as a time for Board members, along with Leonie and me, to establish a foundation for working together in the coming year by setting aside the usual business of a board meeting to spend some time collectively attuning to the deeper rhythms of camp.

The first order of business after the retreat was the election of officers. For the coming year, Jeannie Chamberlain will serve as Chair, Kim Erickson was elected to be Vice Chair, Laurie Rotecki, Secretary, and John Levey, Treasurer.

A key agenda item for this meeting was the adoption of an operating budget for 2011. The approved budget estimates operating income of $226,000 for next year. Operating income is composed of program income (estimated at $151,000 for 2011), donations ($35,000), member dues ($8,500), bookstore sales ($5,500), and investment income ($26,000).

There are six operating expense categories: program, outreach, hospitality, facilities, management, and administration. The 2011 budget estimates operating expenses of $254,222, which would result in a projected net operating deficit for the year of $28,222. Major expense line items are food (budgeted at $30,000), building, grounds and equipment maintenance ($26,500), part-time maintenance staff ($22,500), depreciation ($33,200), manager stipends ($28,800), and insurance ($17,000). $5,000 has also been allocated for the acquisition of new bed mattresses, as we begin to establish a regular schedule for mattress rotation.

Going once, going twice ...

Friends of Indralaya member dues will be increasing in 2011. The dues for membership were last changed in 2004. Dues for an annual membership will be $40, a family membership will be $80, and life memberships will be $400. These changes will become effective on January 1, so now is the time to consider renewing your annual membership or becoming a life member at the current level.

Kitchen Manager & Garden Coordinator

If you or someone you know is interested in living and working at Indralaya for several months as either the kitchen manager or garden coordinator, please contact us for more information about these core staff positions.

It’s back!

The blue dinghy that washed up at Near East Beach several weeks ago (see Oct. 25-31), and was last seen heading north, has returned to Indralaya’s shores. It is now set upon the rocks south of Near East, perhaps on its way back to wherever its journey began.

Two roads diverged ...

In the aftermath of last week’s winter weather, we’ve learned that driving over snow on the Indralaya meadow leaves tell-tale evidence of the Gator's presence ... and as Robert Frost might have added, ‘though as for that the passing there had worn them both about the same...’

November 22-28

The snow has melted and temperatures have lifted, but memories linger ...

madrona point

john a's bench at madrona point

steps to near east beach

icicles at the beach

Leonie and a big icicle

looking NE towards Madrona Point

ahimsa

volleyball anyone?

November 15-21

The Orcas Island Study Group has been meeting in the camp library on Wednesday evenings during the fall, winter and spring since the early 1970’s. The group’s meeting this last Wednesday, November 17, coincided with the anniversary of the founding of the Theosophical Society 135 years ago in New York City. To note the occasion, some excerpts from Henry Steele Olcott’s Old Diary Leaves were read, describing the events leading up to the founding of the Society. Olcott and H.P. Blavatsky are generally considered to be the two key founders of the Society.

An interesting historical footnote, given the many discussions that have taken place over the years on the distinction between ‘small t’ and ‘BIG T” theosophy, is that the name of the Society was chosen almost at random. According to Olcott,

The choice of a name for the Society was, of course, a question for grave discussion in Committee. Several were suggested, among them, if I recollect aright, the Egyptological, the Hermetic, the Rosicrucian, etc., but none seemed just the thing. At last, in turning over the leaves of the Dictionary, one of us came across the word “Theosophy,” whereupon, after discussion, we unanimously agreed that that was the best of all; since it both expressed the esoteric truth we wished to reach and covered the ground of Felt’s methods of occult scientific research. Some stupid story has gone about that, while the Committee were sitting, a strange Hindu walked into the room, threw a sealed packet upon the table and walked out again, or vanished, or something of the sort; the packet, when opened, being found to contain a complete draft of a Constitution and By-laws for the Society, which we at once adopted. This is sheer nonsense; nothing whatever of the sort occurred.
(Old Diary Leaves, Vol. 1, p. 132)

The rest of the study group’s evening was spent in discussion of the three objects of the Society. These objects are a succinct statement of the purposes of the TS and they have changed little since the early days of the Society. They are also prominent in helping to frame the vision, activities and programs for Indralaya. The three objects are:

1) To form a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or color;

2) To encourage the comparative study of religion, science and philosophy; and,

3) To explore the unexplained laws of nature and the powers latent in the human being.


The Chickens Have Crossed The Road



After a great deal of thought and consideration, a decision was made at the October Board meeting to find new homes for the Indralaya chickens. This wasn’t easy to come to, as in the year and a half that they have been a presence in the garden, the 26 hens that lived there have contributed to camp life in interesting ways.

There were several factors that supported this difficult decision. For one, there were a lot of issues that came to the surface this past summer around the appropriate cleaning and use of the fresh eggs in the Indralaya kitchen, which is a commercial kitchen that is required to comply with a fairly strict regulatory framework around the use and consumption of eggs.

Even more significantly, as we looked down the road a few years, the future lives of the hens arose as a matter of concern. The typical hen lives for 12-15 years, but only lays eggs for three. Most who tend to and work with laying hens establish systems in which new chicks are raised and the existing flock is culled (i.e. selectively slaughtered) as the bird’s egg laying capacity wanes. This did not seem like an appropriate option for the Indralaya hens, so part of our decision was based in finding good homes for them while they are still in their productive egg-laying years.

Another element of the decision is that there will only be two of us living at camp during the off-season. The daily requirements of caring for the flock - they need to be fed, let out of their coop every morning and closed back in every night, eggs need to be gathered, etc - meant it would be impossible to leave camp even for a single night without finding someone to care for the hens.

In the wake of the Board’s decision, Leonie went to work and made some phone calls and found some good new homes for these former denizens of the coop at the top of the garden. Shandra Augenstein took eight of the birds and they now have a new home in the Doe Bay garden, while Kari Van Gelder took the rest of the flock. Kari, Ian and Margot will be keeping a few of the birds and placing the rest with families around the island. Kari also promised that their chickens would be available for visits to Indralaya in coming years so we haven’t seen the last of the chicken tractor!

Blow winds, and crack your cheeks!

The later part of the week was dominated by the arrival of winter weather on Orcas Island. Early in the week, the National Weather Service forecasts were predicting high winds and a steep drop in temperatures for the weekend - a dreaded ‘arctic express’ was expected to come roaring down the Fraser River Valley, across the Salish Sea, and through the San Juan Islands.

This meant, among other things, that it was time for the annual ritual of draining the water from the plumbing cabins and dining hall because the plumbing was not built to withstand severe or extended cold weather.

On Wednesday the winds began blowing. On Friday, they shifted around to the Northeast and the temperature began to drop dramatically as evening approached. Not only that, but just as the last glimmerings of sunlight were draining from the sky a light snow began to fall. We woke up to just over an inch of snow on the ground on Saturday morning. Not so much snow by Orcas Island standards, but accompanied throughout camp by sheets of ground ice that made walking up and down the hills a little bit tricky. Though little more snow fell over the weekend, the winds have stayed constant and temperatures are expected to continue to drop for the coming week as we head into Thanksgiving.

November 7-14

The meadow map board has been taken in for the season and life at camp continues to flow on into the generally quieter rhythms of late Fall. Tiffany and Maia ended their fellowships last week, while Crystal is staying on through the end of the month.


Meanwhile, it is quite busy on the building maintenance front, as Mike and Thea settle into their jobs. The interior work at the RMC also continues to move along as Gregory Reboulet prepares the walls for a coat of mud. Greg and his wife Janie live here on Orcas and have been involved with the camp for nearly fifteen years. They’ve attended family camps, Jamal’s gatherings, interfaith weeks, Sacred Sound and Deep Singing programs. Greg is an accomplished musician and producer. For several years now he has helped prepare recordings of the Deep Singing program. He is also adept at Feng Shui and is utilizing the insights of that practice in helping us choose appropriate colors for the RMC walls.

Signs and Portents

Earlier this year, Rick Crease prepared a yet to be published article for Meadow Musings (the next issue should be in your hands soon!) on Indralaya’s signs. In the following excerpt, he shares some of his insights about the “SOUND” sign that has been visible along the road into camp for a number of years:

The first sign you see after you arrive on the other side of the camp gate is the slightly eerie and mysterious “SOUND”. It is painted on a weathered and bowed old board that is attached to a large tree about fifteen feet above the road. The sign warns you of oncoming traffic yet seems also to speak of something less apparent and more layered in significance. The Sound of Silence? The Sound of God? Evidently, the driveway was once marked with three signs some fifteen yards apart. As you progressed towards camp, the signs read “SOUND MIND”, “SOUND BODY”, and then “SOUND HORN”. Weather and neglect have caused the disappearance of the original three signs, but somehow the first half of the “sound horn” sign managed to survive...

Until recently. For now the SOUND sign has mysteriously disappeared. The tree is still there, but the sign is gone.

Where's the sign?

Just below this bend in the road is a modern day midden deposited by past generations of Indralaya’ites, back in the day when it was commonplace to simply back the truck up to the edge of the road and dump refuse over the side. In looking for the missing sign we were drawn to the refuse piles and came across this ancient relic, probably left over from sometime in the 1950’s or 60’s.

In those days, Shasta soda drinks were very popular. This is a can of "True Fruit" Black Cherry Flavored Soda, with the well-known (to people of my generation anyway) 'it HASTA be SHASTA' tag line added just below.

Yew Too

In a previous entry (October 25-31) the demise of much of the yew tree overlooking the stairs to near east beach was discussed. The question was raised of whether this was the only lonely yew to be found at camp. In the interesting way that these questions sometimes answer themselves, a second yew has been found ... this one overlooking the stairs to far east beach! Coincidence or intelligent design? Yew be the judge.

November 1-7

It’s often amazing to look back at how much happens in a week at Indralaya. Here’s a day by day recap of some of last week’s highlights.

Monday: Shandra and River, with the help of River’s mother Marlene, completed their move out of the Resident Manager’s Cabin (RMC) and into their new home at Doe Bay Resort. Leonie and I were in Seattle for errands and some rest following the weekend’s Board meeting. Crystal, Tiffany and Maia, our kitchen coordinator and current fellowship staffers, stayed at camp while we were gone.

Tuesday: Tuesday is the designated day of rest for resident and fellowship staff this Fall. Leonie and I finished up our errands in town and caught the 3:30 boat back to Orcas. The weather turned sunny and warm, with high temperature records set throughout the northwest, including Eastsound, where the temperature hit 60º F.

Wednesday: The temperature rose even higher on Wednesday, setting a new record for the date of 64º. It was a very busy day at camp. Thea and Mike, our new maintenance staffers, arrived for their official first day of work and got right into the interior renovations of the RMC that are being done before Leonie and I move in. The plan is to remove the old wood veneer paneling that was installed when the cabin was built in the 1970’s and to ‘mud’ the drywall underlayment.


While they were working in the RMC kitchen, an old hand written recipe for Quesadilla Pie came to light from behind a cupboard that was being removed. Experts, including her son Steve (on Saturday) confirmed that the handwriting was Marjorie Toren’s. It’s likely that the card fell behind the cupboard sometime during the years from 1972-1985, when John and Dorothy Abbenhouse lived in the RMC and Marjorie was a frequent visitor.

Darrell Toland and his friend Jim came up from Seattle for an overnight stay. They are assessing the potential for installation of a solar energy system on the roof of the dining hall and kitchen. That’s Darrell on the left. Kathy Arquette and newly appointed Board member Lin Bauer also arrived on Wednesday. They came up from their home near Eugene, OR, in anticipation of the weekend work party. In the evening, the local Theosophical Study group met as usual in the library.

Thursday: The morning began with the pumping of the dining hall septic tanks and kitchen grease trap. These tanks get a lot of use and are checked annually. Much of the rest of the day was taken up with preparing for the End of the Season work party. Lin and Kathy worked at sharpening saws, clippers and any other bladed object they could get their hands on.



Friday: It was surprisingly quiet for the first day of a work party weekend, but by dinner time at 6:30 over forty campers had arrived and the dining hall was in full swing. Crystal and her crew prepared an excellent meal of pumpkin chili, cornbread, green salad, ice cream and chocolate sauce.

Saturday: So many things are happening at a work party that it can be difficult to encapsulate everything. Highlights of the day included all the work that was done - removal of the interior paneling in the RMC, further progress at Pear Cabin, apple and plum tree pruning, putting much of the garden to bed for the winter, chopping of kindling and fire wood, preparation of good healthy food in the kitchen that helps sustain all the good hard work that is being done, and so on.

In a simple and mostly dignified ceremony at breakfast, David Toren, Leif Erickson and I (all three well-seasoned breakfast cooks) welcomed Lars Erickson (Leif and Donna’s son) to the newly formed “Order of the Breakfast Spatuliers”.

Those who were there tell me that the evening gathering in the lounge was especially pleasant, with people singing, telling stories, doing improvisations, dancing, sacred sound, and even some gymnastics (among the six and under crowd!). I’d left for Seattle in late morning to meet with some possible 2011 program presenters and attend a workshop with Joanna Macy at Nalandabodhi, the Tibetan Buddhist education center near the Fremont and Wallingford neighborhoods.

Sunday: Lars stepped into his new role as a breakfast head cook and, along with the usual full breakfast, also prepared some delicious blueberry muffins for the morning meal. By early afternoon, most of the work party participants were homeward bound and a measure of quiet had returned to the dining hall and meadow.

Later in the day, the program dates for next Summer’s Connections gathering were set for August 6-14. Connections will be followed by a special Tuesday to Friday (August 16-19) “Stories of Grandfather” program with Arun Gandhi, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and founder of the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Non-Violence (ahimsa). After a full afternoon at the "The Dharma that Reconnects" workshop on culture, ecology, whole systems and community with Joanna Macy, I returned to Indralaya on the last ferry of the day, ready for rest and the beginning of a new week.

October 25-31

This Old Yew

This story begins with a walk I took to Near East Beach on Friday morning. There was something a little bit mysterious in the air as I headed down the path toward the beach, so in a sense it wasn’t surprising to find a beat up old rowboat resting on the shore of the beach with the waves lapping gently against its side.

The boat must have been shaken loose from wherever its previous resting place was by the storm winds that blew through the islands last week. It was clear it had been neglected for some time, as there was sand, driftwood and shells sitting inside it. West Beach” was stenciled on the interior of the boat in a couple places and if that is where it originated it has been on a long journey because Orcas Island’s west beach is on the outside of the island almost due west of camp, so it would have to somehow migrate seven miles or so south along the shore, then east through the narrow channel that separates Orcas and Shaw islands, then all the way up East Sound to the camp shoreline.

However it got here, my eventual feeling was that it would be best to send it further on its way. So I coaxed it along the shoreline and around the point of rocks at the east end of the beach and back out into open water.

In doing so, I found myself tangled up in a cluster of yew tree that has its own story to be told. The Yew is a tough gnarly old tree. Both in medieval Europe and among the NW native people, the yew was often used for the making of long bows. In recent years, it has become endangered in places because of over harvesting. The yew above near east beach is perhaps the only one that can be found within the camp boundaries. (If you know of another, please advise in the comment section.)

Much of the tree has recently fallen to the rocks because the earth that held it for many many years finally eroded enough that the tree became un-rooted and fell to the rocks below.

This yew is the source of the beautiful tree branch that has sat proudly above the mantel in the dining hall for many a year. Susan Brady (Carol and Helen Bee’s mother) was responsible for the cutting and mounting of the this beautiful branch. The remainder of the branch that the cutting came from now rests solidly against the rocky shoreline.


Is the demise of the yew a further sign of the effects of rising sea levels? As the scientific community and media are generally careful to say, no single event can serve as proof of a much larger evolutionary trend, but it is sufficient, along with the deepening signs of erosion along other sections of camp shoreline to make one wonder how the rising waters of the world will affect this particular place.

In other news, John & Shelagh Levey arrived on Thursday and stayed overnight in the Roundhouse, on their way to the Indralaya Board meeting, which met near Seattle over the weekend. John wanted to check on some financial information to help in preparing his Treasurer's report for the meeting.

The Board met on Saturday and Sunday. Among other actions taken, the votes of the Friends of Indralaya election were tabulated and Kim Erickson was elected by the voting members of the Friends of Indralaya to a three year term. Lin Bauer was appointed to a three year term on the Board and Meg Sather was appointed to complete the two years remaining in the term I was elected to last year. The by-laws for the Orcas Island Foundation provide that people cannot serve as both a board member and camp manager, so I resigned from the board on September 1.

Meg is a Senior Vice President for GMMB, an issue advocacy public affairs firm with offices in Seattle, Washington DC, and Los Angeles. She provides strategic counsel to global organizations working to improve health and provide opportunities to people living in poverty. Her work on a child nutrition project with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation takes her to Bangladesh on a regular basis.

Her first visit to Indralaya was in 2003. She has been on fellowship staff and attends family week and work parties regularly, where she can often be found doing something wonderful in the kitchen.

Lin first came to Indralaya through her friendship with Neila Campbell. Her first program was a Therapeutic Touch program in the 1990's. She also attended several of Pat Moffit Cook's Sacred Sound weekends and continues to study with Pat through the Open Ear Center. In the time since that first visit, she has attended many programs, including therapeutic touch camps, Deep Singing, and numerous work parties. She was head cook for this year's Advanced TT week. Lin will soon be retiring from a 32 year career in Special Education with Oregon Public Schools.

Lodging and meal fees were also set for the coming year. The overnight fee for plumbing cabins will be lowered by $2.00 to $68 per night, while unplumbed cabin fees will rise by $1.00 to $47 per person per night. Fees for the Roundhouse will remain unchanged at $70 per night.

More information about decisions made at the Board meeting will be provided in the weeks to come.

October 17-24

Highlights of the past week included hiring of two part-time maintenance staff people and a weekend visit from Gary and Robyn Finseth.

We are very excited about our new part-time maintenance staff. Thea Patten and Mike Schifsky are both long-time Orcas Islander’s who have a variety of talents and skills. Thea is a carpenter who has worked for several different companies on the island and also built her own home on Waldron Island. Mike was the manager of the Eastsound Water Users Association for several years and in addition to basic carpentry skills, he also is well versed at plumbing and electrical systems and equipment maintenance.

Mike has already been up working on the hood fan above the kitchen. Thea will start work in early November. We’re looking forward to their being around.

An interesting tidbit that came up in our conversations during the hiring process is that Thea first rode into camp on a horse at age 14, looking for her big sister, who had come for a summer at the invitation of John and Polly Verral. John and Polly were responsible for introducing many young people to Indralaya in the 1960’s and 70’s, among them being Ellie Lang and Rolf Eriksen.

Gary and Robyn Finseth arrived on Friday morning and were here for a couple of days. It has been several years since their last visit to camp. Robyn is planning to lead a program here next June on self-healing and we spent some time discussing that. Robyn also brought along a sourdough starter that she inherited from her mother, Bea Lawrence.

On Saturday night, we had the first big wind storm of the fall. The day began with an almost perfect calm. The first stirrings of the wind arose in mid-morning and by afternoon, it was quite gusty and the waters of East Sound were quite active. The wind howled overnight and then died down again to a near perfect calm as dawn was breaking.


In another glimpse at next year’s program offerings, we also made final arrangements for a Sea Temple retreat with RJ Stewart. RJ is a well known teacher and mage who divides his time between the U.S. and Britain. It has been nearly ten years since RJ last led a Sea Temple retreat, which is a work of relating to and working with the beings and energies of the oceanic realms that can be especially powerful in times of great change and global transformation.

This program comes about with the help of Peter Berry, who was here as a presenter at the Spiritual Landscapes program in September. Peter, RJ and I had a three way conversation on Thursday afternoon Orcas Island time. RJ was on the phone from Glastonbury, England, near Glastonbury Tor, the legendary site of King Arthur's Avalon. He said it was a cold night and our conversation closed as he was getting ready to go outside and chop some more wood for the fire.