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.
