April 23-29

Events at camp this last week were overshadowed by the passing of Linda Jo Pym at age 68. Linda Jo was involved with Indralaya for her entire life and served in every capacity from presenter to resident to head cook to registrar to Board chair to bathroom cleaner. In 2011 she was honored as an Indralaya Elder in recognition of her many contributions to the camp. There are many in the camp community who came to Indralaya for the first time at her invitation.

Linda Jo was a strong advocate of theosophy and the theosophical tradition. Although she was born into a theosophical family, Linda Jo didn’t just fall into membership in the Theosophical Society. She questioned and searched, and these attributes were always a part of how she moved through the world.

Linda Jo & Willamay Pym

For the last years of her life, Linda Jo struggled with significant health issues, but with an amazing strength of spirit she continued contributing to the Theosophical Society, Indralaya and the world around her. Her courage was a source of inspiration to many.

From the theosophical perspective, our passing from this physical realm is simply another step in a long evolutionary journey that unfolds over many lifetimes. In a conversation near the end of her life, she described how her heart always brought her home to the meadow and beaches of Indralaya and promised that after her death she would continue to be present and supportive. The three of us looked forward to the time when we would meet again and continue our work together. Her presence was significant and will always be with those who knew her.

Linda Jo with family and friends on her last visit to Indralaya, September 2011

April 15-22

Spring came on in abundance this last week. It is unusual in our experience here to have so many of the fruit trees blossoming at the same time. Plum, crabapple, cherry, pear and apple trees all were blossoming and the bumble & mason bees were busy in the ‘bee-loud’ meadow.

Although the Deep Singing afternoon that had been scheduled for Sunday was cancelled because leader Helen Bee was suffering a bout of laryngitis, there were a number of visitors coming and going over the course of the week.

On Tuesday it was quite a nice surprise to be visited by Sally Blumenthal-McGannon, up from the redwoods in Los Altos, CA for a visit with camp elder Phoebe Bee. Sally will be back in June for therapeutic touch. On Wednesday, Leonie’s sister Melanie dropped by. Helen Palisin was here on personal retreat for the week. Penny Sharp came by for tea on Friday. Sandora Hedrich and Regent Pellerin joined us for lunch on Sunday, and later in the afternoon Karen Sterling-Goens stopped by for a visit.

friend Sally

sister Melanie

cherry blossoms

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings. W.B. Yeats, The Lake Isle of Innisfree

April 9-15

Much of the week just finished had something of topsy-turvy quality to it. The week began with an email from program leader Grace Crowley advising that she was ill and wasn't sure that she would be better in time to lead the program that was to begin on Thursday. After some conversation back and forth with Grace and Board chair Jeannie Chamberlain, we decided that the best course of action was to cancel the program. This made for a busy day contacting everyone registered for the program and advising them of the situation.

As it turned out Jeannie was also not well and by Wednesday she was not sure if she was going to be sufficiently recovered to be present for the Indralaya Board meeting that had also been planned for the weekend. After a round of emails with all of the Board to see if we could find an alternative meeting date, the decision was made to proceed with the Board meeting as scheduled.

newly built cold-frame

In addition to this somewhat fitful approach to the weekend, there was a great deal going on as follow-up to the work party and in preparation for the Board meeting. This included looking into alternatives for rebuilding a stage in the grove, meeting with an electrician to talk about the possibility of relocating electrical service at Kunz cabin, developing a plan for implementing a change to the CiviCRM software that was the subject of my visit to San Francisco a couple weeks ago, following through on several decisions that the Indralaya investment committee had made at a meeting on Friday night of the work party, continuing with the work on Wisteria cabin, and so forth. All this and completing the meadow’s first full mowing of the Spring!

Eventually, the weekend came. The Board met, four of the people who had registered for the cancelled program came up for personal retreats, and the weather was splendid. On Sunday, Bil, Jake, Jesse, Leonie and me went to the Bullock farm potluck, then dropped Jesse at the ferry landing as his time as an Indralaya wwoofer came to an end.

leaf green crabapple

April 2-8

Morning circle at the work party

A lot of energy this past week was aimed at preparing for the weekend work party, which began on Friday and continued until Sunday. Attendance was near 50, and a lot of good work was done. We also enjoyed the arrival of kitchen manager Jake Doty, wwoofer Jesse Ring, and fellowship staffer Bil Bassel.

Jake, Jesse & Bil

the karmic chain of cause and effect

working in the grove

What’s missing?

putting the dock in

John & Mark Levey

Easter Eggs

Buddha Field #9

March 26 - April 1

Special San Francisco Edition
This past week I've been in San Francisco attending a workshop and conference exploring CiviCRM, an Open Source software system that is especially intended for non-profit organizations and brings together donation, membership and program registration into a single package. We currently use six different software products or online services to manage these operational areas. At this point, it is clear that there are both pluses and minuses to moving from our current system to CiviCRM. Over the next few weeks I'll be working with a test version of the program to more fully assess its potential for Indralaya.

Edifico de las Mujures

(site of the CiviCRM workshop)

Sunday allowed time for a break from the training. It was a beautiful day and I made the most of the opportunity by renting a bicycle and cycling over the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausilito, then rode a ferry back across San Francisco Bay to the city.

San Francisco from the middle of the Golden Gate Bridge

Along Embarcadero Avenue

Palace of Fine Arts

SF Row House

Tomorrow (Tuesday) I'll be heading back to Indralaya where we'll be preparing for the Easter/Passover work party coming up this weekend. On my way through Seattle, I'll be picking up Jake Doty. Jake will be starting his stay as the Indralaya kitchen manager.