Maine

I am in Maine, just outside of Winterport, staying with a friend from Pendle Hill and her partner. I have done a lot of travelling in the last few weeks...after I Left Pendle Hill I drove with two other people to River Falls, Wisconsin where we attended the Friends General Conference Summer Gathering (about 1450 Quakers predominantly from liberal unprogrammed North American meetings), then went on to Minneapolis. After 5 days there, we drove across to the Upper Penninsula of Michigan where we camped for two days in Fayette State Park, then down to Harrisville State Park in the Lower Penninsula for two nights. We had one night in Geneva Ohio (at one of the most stupid campsites I have ever seen), then two nights at Buttermilk Falls State Park in Ithaca New York. Next was a night in Brattleboro Vermont, where we woossed out from camping in the rain and stayed in a little motel for a night and then we came to Maine.

We have consumed a lot of sesame sticks, hummous, purple cabbage and nutritional yeast; visited co-ops in almost every place we have stayed or spent a chunk of a day in; cooked on Jane's great little white gas stove and slept in her awesome little tent; and walked and swum in some gorgeous places!

We are heading to New Hampshire next, for a quite week (she says hopefully). I am feeling very much in transition mode and between places and communities and in need of some time to re-ground and be still and listen and breathe and get ready for the next parts of my trip. It is less than three weeks until I leave the US and it feels really far away and scarily close. I am excited to see my sis and my parents, all of whom I will see in the next month, in Ireland and in Europe. I am feeling sad about leaving people here and I am missing Canberra and Australia and F/friends and family there.

I went to Meeting for Worship today for the first time since I was at the FGC Gathering, and I have definitely beeen missing that in my life. From the almost dailyness of worship at Pendle Hill, to very little away from there, I realise how important that is in keeping myself connected to me and to Spirit. Jane and I have been having silence before almost every meal, even when we are eating at a restaraunt, and it feels like a really important part of the meal and of my days.

As I am in this transition phase, I welcome communication from people, even if it's just a quick hello. It helps me remember that we are all connected and that conenctions don't cease just because we are not physically present with each other.