October 24-30

Fall Colors

This last weekend Indralaya's Board of Directors gathered here for their annual meeting, which, according to the by-laws of the organization, is held in the Fall of any given year. This meeting is when results for the annual election process are tabulated, additional board members are named, and officers are elected for the coming year.

The activities of Indralaya are overseen and guided by the seven member Board of Directors of The Orcas Island Foundation. The Foundation is incorporated as a non-profit 501(c)(3). It was formed during Indralaya’s second year of operation, all the way back in 1928.

In order to serve on the Board, an individual is required to have been a member of the Theosophical Society for at least one year. Eligible voters must be members of the Theosophical Society and members of the Friends of Indralaya. In most years, the Board meets five or six times.

The election process began back in April with a call for nominations. It was an unusually interesting election cycle this year as six people were nominated and agreed to stand for election. In the second round of the process, which took place over the summer, the number of nominees was narrowed to two. And, finally, at the annual meeting, the results of the final round of the election were announced.

October Sky

The person elected to be the Voting Member Representative for the coming year is Crystal Mossman. Crystal was also elected as the Member’s representative three years ago and was running for her second term on the Board.

Two other board members were leaving the Board after completing their terms. John Levey has served as Treasurer for six years, and Laurie Rotecki has been on the board for the past three years. As a result, there were two additional open seats on the Board.

Kelly Bachman and Megan Barnes were named to these two seats. This will be Megan’s first time on the Board, while Kelly has served previously. Officers for the coming year were also elected at the meeting. They are Jeannie Chamberlain, Chair; Kim Erickson, Vice Chair; Crystal Mossman, Secretary; and Kelly Bachman, Treasurer.

Congratulations and THANK YOU, one and all.

October 17-23

Fall in the Methow Valley

A short entry this week as we were away at our family cabin in Twisp (located in the Methow Valley in North Central Washington). Leonie's brothers Michael, Ian and Arthur, along with their families, joined us for the weekend. Thanks to Carol Bee for staying at camp and keeping an eye on the place while we were gone!

October 10-16

Last night while I was sleeping

I dreamed–blessed illusion!–
a fountain flowed inside my heart.
Water: tell me by what hidden
channel you came to me
with a spring of new life
I never drank?

Last night while I was sleeping
I dreamed–blessed illusion!–
I had a beehive inside my heart,
and from my old bitterness
the gold bees
were contriving white combs
and sweet honey....

(Antonio Machado ~ Border of a Dream: Selected Poems)

from the evening program at the silent meditation retreat

retreat altar

It was the weekend of the Silent Meditation Retreat, the last program of the 2011 season (one work party remains in November). This annual retreat offers participants an opportunity to immerse themselves in the stillness and healing environment of Indralaya. As one participant put it, “Indralaya provides a safe, nourishing environment that feeds the soul and allows the natural flow of communion with people and nature”.

Though the retreat is largely unstructured to provide as much latitude as possible for the participants to follow their own path, it includes optional group meditations in the morning, afternoon, and evening; shared silent meals; and an evening program.

This weekend also saw the departure of fellowship staffer Caitlin McKinney and kitchen intern Jacob Doty. Caitlin had been here for six weeks, and Jake had been with us since early May.

We are especially appreciative of Jake’s contributions on many levels over the past 5 & ½ months. Now he is off to help his family move from one home to another. After that, he has plans to head to Hawaii to live and work at Joel & Michelle Levey’s Kohala Sanctuary on the Big Island for some of the winter. Thank you Caitlin & Jake!

Magical Jacob Doty

An Ill-fated Tree
The mystery around a troubling incident at the Fall Harvest work party deepened this past week. During the work party, we decided to transplant a Sequoia tree that has been in a pot in the garden to an open area between the water storage tanks on the hill above camp.

The volunteer planting the tree left the site for a few minutes to get a shovel and pick. When he returned, he noticed that some edible shaggy mane mushrooms near where the tree was being planted were no longer there. A few minutes later, after planting the tree, he realized that his fanny pack was also missing, along with a camera and two day old iphone. Our best guess was that there may have been someone out foraging mushrooms in the forest who came across the fanny pack and took it.

One consequence is that for the past week we’ve been spending a fair amount of time out along the trails and in the forest. And this past Saturday I was on my way up and over the hill when I detoured to take another look around the area where the tree had been planted. I was quite surprised to find that overnight the tree had been stripped of many of its branches and its bark. It looked like the work of an animal, perhaps driven into something of a frenzy by the sweet taste of the bark or the tree juices beneath.

Later Saturday night, three racoons were observed in trees down near Madrona Point - were they the culprits who tore the tree up? And might they have had something to do with the missing fanny pack? Perhaps more will be revealed with time.

“I don't feel so good”

Off the Map?
Some say that one of the tell tale signs of being in Tir Na Nog, the legendary island of Irish tales that is said to be far far to the west beyond the edge of any map, is that it is a place where the apple trees blossom and bear fruit at one and the same time. The picture below was taken during the fall harvest work party. What stories does this tree of the Indralaya meadow have to tell us about the true location of this place? A place that many say is so different and far from ‘the real world’ beyond?

Has my heart gone to sleep?
Beehives in my dreams,
have you stopped working?
Is the waterwheel of thought dry,
its buckets empty,
spinning and filled with shadow?

No, my heart is not asleep,
It is awake. Awake.
Not asleep or dreaming, it looks
with open bright eyes
at far signals and listens
on the shores of a great silence.

(Antonio Machado ~ Border of a Dream: Selected Poems)

October 2-9

This was the weekend of the annual fall harvest work party and over 80 people were here for some or all of the weekend. In addition to harvesting and processing apples (with 70 gallons of delicious cider put away for future use!), people worked all around the camp on various other projects.

apple pickers

apple washers

apple choppers

apple grinders

apple juicers

apple juice!

Adia & Axel

Victoria & Jen

Darla

Michael & Leif

the swing set set

who's feet?

September 26 - October 2

While I was away in the Seattle area for the week, helping with preparations for my mother's 80th birthday, Leonie, Jake and Caitlin were back home at Indralaya.

Linda Jo surveys the meadow

On Tuesday, Linda Jo Pym visited along with her brother Bruce, his wife Celia, nephews Darren and Andy, and friends Ellie Lang and Betsy Wada. They were on Orcas to see Linda Jo's new cabin, which was constructed by Rolf Eriksen and is located on property just south of Indralaya.

Ellie, Andy, Linda Jo, Celia, Bruce, Darren, Betsy

The Orcas Island Theosophical Study Group, which meets at the Indralaya library from October to May, came together for their annual fall potluck on Wednesday night.

Leonie headed to Seattle and joined me on Thursday. We returned to Orcas on Sunday and began preparing for the big fall harvest work party coming up this next weekend.