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.