April 9 ~ May 18: Travels in Travels

I got to spend time with this adventurous nymph on an impromptu visit to Ontario in the middle of April, to celebrate my dad's 70th birthday.

When my brother and I discovered that my dad would be setting up for a gig on his birthday, we arranged to be his surprise road crew, a job we'd done all through our teens and on and off since.

On stage with the 60's-themed band, "Happy Together". 400 people attended the matinee put on by my dad (centre) and stepmom (his right), who is holding my nephew Hayden right after my brother Drew (his left) presented the birthday cupcake. I'm running the spotlight.

We had a great time spending a few days all together in Kitchener, ON where the matinee was. Some highlights include:

This cutey!

Free tickets to FunWorx! at Bingeman's, where the matinee was held. We spent hours running around that apparatus in the background, emerging covered in sweat, with a trail of children we'd just met, wanting us to keep throwing balls at them!

Drew and I are bonding over a round of Virtual Reality zombie killing. This was way cooler than I ever could have imagined. We were shouting and kicking the air and dropping to the ground and laughing like crazy at the realness of the world, that only existed in our goggles.

The birthday boy and his grandson.

From Kitchener I went back to Peterborough for 5 or 6 days of high-quality family visits and a couple nights out at Jyotir, the property I've known since I was born. I have walked and slept and driven in those fields my whole life but this was the first time I had driven a Dodge Caravan in those fields... it did not fare well.

The old farmer next door excitedly came over with his four-wheeler and winch to try and get me out, but to no avail. I had to catch my flight later that day, so my dad, like only family would do, drove out to the property, traded me vehicles and waited for the tow truck to come. And he did it all with genuine good cheer. For this quality of his, and many others, I am so glad I flew across the country to celebrate my dad!

No matter how discombobulating it is to fly, I still get so excited by it.

Back in North Vancouver, I slowly returned to the earth with the help of lots of time in nature, connecting with each other and eating good food.

Including: Our favourite new tradition, Sunday morning cereal at the ocean!

Also lots of help from our neighbourhood canyon!

...and my occasional weekday meditation and breakfast spot

This is the type of restaurant experience one can expect in North Vancouver. At Buddha-full, eating our organic vegan bowls, with our boots strewn about on this platform, surrounded by plants. We weren't sure how we would get down if anyone else came and started using the table/stairs, but luckily everyone else was more drawn to sitting on the swings, hanging down where the barstools would be (in a lesser establishment).

The pinnacle of my culinary pride:

Freshly made cauliflower crust pizza with mangoes on it, and fiddleheads on the side.

After a bit of time settling back in and getting into the rhythm of our new jobs, me with ET Music Therapy, and Margo nannying and doing business boot camp for therapists, we set off for a small trip to Vancouver Island. We went to celebrate the life of Carol Fehr (nee Baun) who was struggling in the hospital the last time we visited her daughter Shelley and son-in-law Rick, Margo's aunt and uncle. It was beautiful experience to be back on the island and to offer a song I wrote for her at her celebration of life.