Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Christmas & New Year's updates & some of Teresa's great train adventures

Teresa big rail adventure ... 1st stop, Jasper, Alberta

Happy New Year Dear Ones!

Well, I returned back to Canada long enough to get in about 12 days of reconnecting with family & friend before I "hit the trails/rails" a few days before Christmas ...

here's most of my Canadian family on my Dad's side

my younger sister Nadia, chillin' at Christmas

the "four musketeers" ... me, Brent, Nadia, Jamie

cousins close-up

our latest 4 musketeer picture ... belated b-day celebrations for all ... Nadia (21), Brent (18), Jamie (15), Teresa (30 something)

A. Evelyn & A. Carol Lynn

some of the Chilkowich clan at Christmas ... Dad, Jamie, Brent, Nadia, Cecilia, me, A. Evelyn (l-r)

my Baba & I enjoying catching up at her home in Vegreville, AB

my best bud Laurelie & I out at my Baba's

... that is, before I headed off with a North American Rail Pass, courtesy of VIA Rail & Amtrak to reconnect with other dear ones south of the border ...

Teresa waiting to board the VIA Rail train in Jasper

the Canadian Rockies east of Jasper ... what a winter wonderland!

splendid scenery we would not have seen in daylight, had we not been delayed 5 hours prior :)

... I've been enjoying my great train adventures & the splendid visits that have been coming along the way with family & friends in the west coast of the U.S. ... after a 5 hour delay arriving into Vancouver, then continuing on to Seattle to hang with my bro' for a couple of days before we met up at our oldest sister Xenia & my sister Nadia who was also visiting in Tacoma for the holidays

my bro' Andrew & his big cat "Mischief"

I then headed south with my good friend Antonia ... for a 2 day road trip from Tacoma to San Francisco ... where we met up briefly with our sweet friend Joan before Antonia carried on into San Fran (& then onto New Mexico) & I reconnected with Joan at her lovely home in Sebastopol north of SF. What a lovely time it was to get to know Joan's place, walk about the tall coastal redwood trees, visit the community farm up the hill ... made available to community residents by a local restaurant owner :)

Joan, Judith, & Lily the cat (in Sebastopol, CA)

I then hopped on the Amtrak train & a bus to get from Martinez in SF to San Jose & then on to Santa Cruz to reconnect with my dear sweet friends Kristin, Claudette, & their growing 9 year old girl Isabel & their lovely, ancient orange cat named Karly.

We experienced a big coastal rain storm a few days into my visit & ended up without electricity for ~10 hours ... how great to still be able to enjoy the warmth of the fire & food cooked on their gas stove :) We did go out during a respite in the storm to see the big waves out in the ocean from the Santa Cruz light house cliff side. Gabriel, Isabel's very good friend & "brother" joined us for this adventure. I did hope the monarch butterflies I saw the day I arrived up in the trees along West Cliff were able to hang on & stay protected amid the big storm!! Quite a few Coastal Cypress & Redwood trees were "downed" in the storm, causing the electrical challenges & a variety of roadway problems too.

All in all, the storm actually added to the coziness of our visit although I know for other folks, the challenges were longer lasting & more significantly felt. I also enjoyed a splendid visit over lunch with my dear friends Cheryl & Gleb (fr. our Edmonton Dharma group) and their sweet 5 year old boy Aidan. They hopped over for the afternoon from Palo Alto where they now live. I also managed to get out their way to spend a day & a night with them at their home near Stanford University before I hopped on the train going to the east coast. While in Santa Cruz, I also met up with my friend Margaret, who now lives on the east coast but was back "home" for the holidays ... we got in a beach walk & enjoyed a most splendid breakfast at/near Sea Bright Beach.

How truly blessed I am to have such a vast array of beautiful people in my life who are so welcoming and fun to reconnect with. To everyone here in North America, "Down Unda," & elsewhere in the world, I am totally grateful for all your warmth, hospitality, love, and caring & everything else you share with me during our visits. THANK YOU!!

... & now east coast ...

WELL, as is on par for rail travel in the winter, we had ~ 5 hour delay before getting into the winter wonderland of the Sierra Nevada Mountains of northern California + another 1 hour delay waiting for a track to be switched, I & the rest of my Amtrak compadres were traveling fairly well ... especially since I had upgraded to a sleeper car just before dinner on the first of what was supposed to be 3 nights to get across the U.S. (but only 2 on this first train). Since my rail pass was only good for 30 days & I was already in the second half of that timeframe, when we hit into another significant delay in Lincoln, Nebraska, I decided to jump track & hop on a plane to get to D.C.

I will be heading to "upstate" New York to reconnect with Seed Mates in Syracuse & Ithaca after enjoying reconnecting with my family ... Mom & Doug, ... Katrina & Ronnie and there 4 month young puppy "Bear" ... and Tammie, Jeff, Roo, Boo, & Loo, and their faithful furry friend Inky and their 4 month young puppy "Obie" ... and my good friend Margaret near Washington D.C.

Thanks Katrina & Ronnie for having me over for a couple of nights at your new home ... & Tammie & Jeff, for the lovely visit & heaps of fun with you & the girls & your two little furry boys ... & Mom & Doug ... what tasty treats I get to enjoy when my Mom & Tammie get cooking up some of my favourites, THANKS HEAPS!! What a treat also to see how much my nieces have grown & to hear & see them reading, writing, & enjoying learning as they are. WE also had great fun reading my Aussie book "The Cassowary's Egg" & playing games like Boggle & Yahtzee and running around being goofy :)

I will add a few more pictures to this posting now that I have been able to add more since I originally posted this but the additional pic's will come in a few days ... sigh!

I'll be back in Alberta on the 27th but arriving into Cow Town for a few days to sort out housing for my impending move to Calgary to work with an organization called Ghost River Rediscovery ... more on this in my next posting as well ... I'll be back in Edmonton hopefully ~ 29th January ...

Be well dear ones & keep breathing deeply as you continue forward in this new year of 2008!

Hugs 'n' Bugs, love,

Teresa

me & a gorgeous koala (fr. the tour of the Maru Wildlife Park near Melbourne :) ... the leaves & koala are real & alive, the tree the koala is on is a prop that swivels to help get the best angle of the koala!

Global Sunlight Map

Lunar Phase

"Awakening the Dreamer ... Changing the Dream"

Joanna Macy & David Korten Dialogue on the Great Turning ("For the Grandchildren" event)

Money as Debt video - Paul Grignon

The Story of Cap & Trade (Annie Leonard)

YouTube

How It All Ends - http://www.gregcraven.org/en/the-videos

Oh, the Places You'll Go! - Dr. Seuss