May 20-26

The week began with preparations for the big Memorial Day work party and ended with a celebration of Leonie’s birthday. Despite the surprise collapse of a bridge section on I-5 in Mt. Vernon that deterred some from making their way to camp, over sixty people were here for the work party weekend, which included the annual meeting of the Friends of Indralaya.

Thirty six people attended the Friends meeting, which was the largest attendance in several years. The agenda included reports from Board chair Meg Sather, Treasurer Kelly Bachman, residents Minor Lile & Leonie Van Gelder. There was also discussion of the upcoming solar installation and opportunity for general questions and comments. A lot of work was completed over the weekend as well, and thanks go out to all who participated.

Thanks also to guest photographers Meg Sather, Jen Moffat, and Ted Johnson for the pictures in this week’s blog:

Carol, Leonie, Lars, Meg & Jen

Saturday night cards with Christopher & Steve

Brett, Irena & Helena

Gary Bachman, father of the garden drip system

Laurie & Sara bring refreshments to the garden

wood splitters Ruby, Lauren & Gabby

Rachel, Bella & Taylor catch some late afternoon sun on the meadow

Orcas Landing

May 13-20

The week began with my birthday (number 57!) and ended with a program that was based on the enneagram, a one-time esoteric method of human typology that is rooted in the teachings of G.I. Gurdjieff and the Sufi tradition, as a means for gaining a deeper awareness of meaning and purpose in our individual lives.

The program was led by N’Shama Sterling. On Saturday night, N’Shama and her husband Cedron performed a concert in the library, which we believe was the first time music has been performed in that space for an audience. It was an engaging weekend and participants expressed deep appreciation for the  open-hearted exploration.

Cedron & N’Shama

Over the weekend, we said good-bye to Emlyn and Tessa, who have been here on staff. Emlyn came to Indralaya as a wwoofer. He is now on neighboring Waldron Island for the next six weeks and then will be returning here for the month of July. Tessa arrived for the silent meditation retreat in April and stayed on as a fellowship staffer. There has been a lot of laughter and fun while they have been here and we look forward to seeing them both again in the future.

Emlyn & Tessa

Solar Project Update

The scheduled solar installation at the dining hall is now less than two weeks away. This program will begin on Thursday evening, May 30 and continue through the weekend. There is still plenty of room to attend. The weekend will feature mini-workshops and other informal opportunities to learn about solar energy use. 

34 photovoltaic solar panels will be installed, with an estimated annual yield of 8,800 KWH, which is roughly equivalent to two months of electrical consumption here at Indralaya. The energy generated will be fed back into the electrical grid and our projections suggest that the return on investment for the project will be approximately 12.5%-13% per year.

Fundraising for the project also continues. To date twenty six people have donated over $7,000 towards the project. This impressive level of support is a much appreciated investment in camp’s future. If you haven’t yet invested in a panel, we hope you will consider doing so. Suggested donation levels are $650 for a panel, $325 for a half panel, $167.50 for a quarter panel, or any other amount of support that feels right and fits your budget. Donations can be made through the Indralaya website. 

May 6-12

It was a lovely week at Indralaya, with a stretch of warm sunny weather that gradually turned to rain as the weekend arrived. The Wisteria was in full bloom, and the weight of the blossoms and the weekend rains brought down some of the framing that holds it up.

fallen wisteria

There are a couple of special fairy beings hiding among the blossoms. Can you see them both?

Mark & Marcy

Late in the week, Mark & Marcy Ray came up to the island for a visit. We hadn’t seen either of them in some time and it was good to share lunch and catch up with each other. Mark couldn’t help crawling under Kunz cabin to see all the foundation work that has been done in recent months.

Friday’s rabbit hole

Mysterious Rabbit Behavior

On Friday, we noticed that rabbits were digging a hole in the ground near the RMC. They were going at it quite steadily and by the end of the day there was a good sized mound of dirt piled up outside the hole. It was rather surprising to see that the hole was filled back in when we came out of the house on Saturday morning. Not only was it filled back in, it seemed as if the rabbits had made some effort to disguise the fact that the hole had ever been dug in the first place. 

the same hole, refilled

Earlier in the day, these two snakes were found under some black plastic in the garden.

soft green Sunday

April 22 - May 5

Back After a Short Break
There was no post last week as I was away attending the 35th reunion of the Whitman College class of ‘78. I left camp on Thursday evening just as the Five Willow retreat was getting underway. This was a return to Indralaya for the Five Willow group, who were last here in 2002.

The Five Willow tai chi retreat was one of the first non-summer programs to be offered at Indralaya as the program year began to expand into the spring & fall in the 1980’s. It was good to see many old friends of Indralaya returning for their “Year of the Snake” weekend retreat.

getting reacquainted with after-meal chores

Comings and Goings

In my absence, Leonie was grateful for the support of fellowship staffer Tessa Zeng and wwoofer Henry Kochanowski. Henry is a 20 year old student from Germany who is traveling during a gap year. He left last Thursday for the next stop on his odyssey. Tessa came to camp with Alia Stevens for the Silent Meditation Retreat and will be here on fellowship through the Enneagram program.

 Tessa

 Henry

This week also saw the return of Jacob Doty, who is back for another summer as kitchen manager. Here he is, getting ready to spray the fruit trees with BT, a fungicide that we are using to combat a significant infestation of tent caterpillars. This is the second year in a row that we have had a major problem with the caterpillars.

 armed and dangerous!

tent caterpillar nest