6/3/25
Wow. Wow, wow, wow.
Disclaimer: From the outside, yes, the world still appears to be heading to Hell in a handbasket, at a breakneck pace. I continue contacting my elected representatives regularly (are y’all also using Resistbot?) and attending in-person protest events; I hope you are too.
That said… below the surface, so much magic is bubbling. And I continue sinking more and more into what I believe is my role in this life: to practice radical self-care to strengthen myself; then, to give from that strength and abundance by strengthening others who care deeply about the larger world; and to facilitate connections amongst those folks. I continue playing my role, to the best of my ability, to strengthen the rainbow network.
My California trip was a big part of this, and after returning to Oregon, it has continued. I’ll share some highlights here, and then illustrate the post with some photos from my time in Sequoia National Park, with my wonderful new friend Carole, a Servas member who hosted me in her home overnight and then took me, along with her other friend, to Sequoia, on my way out of town to Bakersfield. Dream come true to visit this national park! (The General Sherman tree, pictured below, is the largest tree in the world, by volume.)
First, Carole and I had a wonderful in-person magical meeting over dinner at her home in Fresno. One of the highlights of our talk was when she told me about a new friend of hers, a woman in her 70s in San Antonio named Caterina Arends. When Carole showed me the website of the organization this woman founded, The Vision Holders, my jaw nearly hit the floor—the graphic is so similar to my vision of the rainbow network from back in 2019. Geodesic domes have also been on my mind for years, in relation to such—and I was soon to see another of them at The Shimmering Void in Bakersfield. (More on that magical place in an upcoming post.) And so much of the wording on her site mirrored the wording that has been coming to me these past few years. There is a lot on the site—I haven’t explored it all yet—but this one video of hers really resonated with me, although I hadn’t been aware of any of the books she references in it.
I plan to write more about the rest of my California trip in upcoming posts, but the theme that is up for me right now feels like magical connections, so I’ll skip ahead to just a few of the ones I’ve had since returning to Oregon.
The other day, I got a text out of the blue the other day from my friend Rose, the force of nature who—along with her husband and young son and the cat they had just brought home from the shelter hours before my arrival—hosted me for a night in Palo Alto during my year of travels. You may recall that Rose had interviewed me for her podcast, Rose Pedals, at that time—take a listen if you’d like to hear what we discussed about bicycling, traveling, and living car-free.
She texted me the other day to ask if I’d be interested in cat sitting for them in Palo Alto for the month of June. Doh! That would have been so cool if the timing had lined up. But, I’m back in the Northwest for the summer, so I had to decline for now. But out of curiosity, I asked her where they would be traveling.
The answer floored me: Rose had just discovered Culdesac Tempe, and was entirely enamored of the concept. (Me too!) Her family would be spending the month of June down there, living in the complex! I told her about my time meeting with Culdesac staff during my year of travels, and the fact that one of my goals is to do a cat sit in that complex someday! (She said we might be able to work something out, in the cooler months. How cool would that be??)
Since Rose is a fellow Bromptoneer, I asked if she had been in touch with Ryan Guzy, an extreme Brompton enthusiast (he has founded at least two Brompton-related groups, including the Brompton Mafia, and he and his family own at least a half-dozen Bromptons among them.) They had hosted me when I first arrived in Tempe. She said she wasn’t aware of him, so I introduced them! I’m excited for them to connect this month; I’m sure they will dream up cool things. I also connected Rose with my friend RoniSue, who had also hosted me in Tempe, and is very connected with Culdesac, her local neighborhood association, and her local Buy Nothing group. Rose’s enthusiasm about Culdesac and Tempe was inspiring and infectious. I hope she finds exactly what she is hoping for during their stay.
Meanwhile, closer to home, I reconnected with my new friend Johnnie, with whom I have now had several powerful magical meetings. She is a former prison volunteer, a writing teacher and coach who has even led writing workshops on Amtrak trains(!!) and now, for the first time after decades of writing, an author of a novel. I want to amplify her work by sharing the Kickstarter here; take a look if you feel inspired. I also have had several magical meetings with another new local friend, and felt called to introduce those two to each other. It sounds like they had a wonderful magical meeting, too, which inspires me so deeply to continue connecting people if I have an inkling that they would resonate with each other.
These particular magical meetings have had many sparkly ripples in various other directions, too numerous to list here. I am feeling so vibrant in the thick of it all!
Finally, my British friend Steev—who is taking ten years of his life to travel all around the world, also car free—recently reached out to ask my permission to link to my blog on his blog! Of course I happily accepted, and now I’d like to link to his blog as well, if you’d like to follow the travels of someone who is going much farther afield than I am at the moment!
So, so many amazing and inspiring people in my life right now. (If you happen to be reading this and I’ve had a recent magical meeting with you and haven’t mentioned it here, please don’t take it personally! I appreciate you all so much!)
The only downside in my personal life these days is that cat sits have been few and far between since last fall, so my finances are even closer to the wire than usual, and I often don’t know where I’ll be sleeping a few days out. I admit that I find both of these circumstances stressful at times, but I also embrace them as part of the amazing adventure that is my life these days. Having said that, though, if you know of anyone who could use a caring and experienced cat sitter, please feel free to send my link their way! I would like to be in the Northwest (ideally the Portland area) in the summer. In the fall I will be open to warmer and drier locales. (More details on some upcoming possibilities/travel dreams in a future post!)
Sending you all love, joy, inspiration, and transformation during these surreal times! Thank you, as always, for following along on my journey.
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