7/9/22

Wow, what a surreal past few days.

I’m still definitely experiencing COVID symptoms. Taking it a day—and a moment—at a time, as my body does what it needs to do on its own timeline.

I’ve received some wonderful feedback from some of you about my last post. (Even a few donations, and my first house-sitting offer! Thanks so much to all of you. All of your support means so much to me.)

Yesterday was rough. A large swath of Canada—including Ottawa—was nearly paralyzed by a telecom outage. Rogers Communications, which supplies mobile phone service and internet, was down for nearly 24 hours. This meant I had no WiFi here in the guesthouse, which was problematic on a few levels.

First, although mercifully I was able to use my own Verizon phone plan for both phone and data, I could not stream video since that would use too much bandwidth. So, although my health dictated that I needed to stay in all day and rest, watching videos was not an option.

Second, even just using Facebook and email apparently overtaxed my Verizon plan: by midmorning, I received a text saying that I needed to pay an extra $5 or else face drastically reduced speed. I paid the $5, but then got a similar message several hours later. I didn’t want to pay extra again, so my internet access was severely throttled for the late afternoon and evening. Argh, such bad timing! Even doing crosswords online became impossible because they wouldn’t load.

Third, the payment system at the guesthouse was down due to the outage, so I was required to pay cash for my room for the night. I have almost no cash on me, and definitely no Canadian cash. So this meant I had to drag my beleaguered body out at 9:30 am to walk to a gas station ATM ten blocks away, to be charged exorbitant fees to withdraw the cash for the night. (And even though internet was restored overnight, I ended up having to reprise the trek this morning because apparently the payment system here is still down.)

Meanwhile, the manager here was being kind of weird and cagey about whether I would be able to book another night here for today. So, on top of everything else, I was worried about finding another place. All other hotels in the area are about twice as expensive as this place (which isn’t all that cheap either) and of course I couldn’t stay in anyone’s home with them while contagious.

I guess when one sets out bold intentions, sometimes challenges and apparent obstacles are the first things to follow!

The good news?

I have been absolutely floored by the kindness of strangers. Truly, humbled almost to tears.

A woman who had initially offered to host me here (before I tested positive) offered to bring me vegan food every day, and she has been doing so. It has been plentiful, healthy, and delicious, and sometimes even homemade. She has also offered to bring me things like masks and sanitizer if I need them. And, she still wants to host me in her home as soon as it is safe to do so. I’m not sure if the timing of that will work out (I had already planned/hoped to leave for Toronto today, which obviously isn’t happening, but I do hope to maximize my time there) but regardless, her generosity and kindness have been invaluable.

Meanwhile, I put a post out on Facebook yesterday, thinking I might not be able to stay here tonight, and asking if anyone knew of an empty home, or maybe hosts who had recently recovered from COVID themselves, or possibly an empty dorm or something… I needed to brainstorm options, with the help of others. I haven’t ever known anyone in Ottawa (except one Facebook acquaintance, who happens to be in Montreal right now) so this seemed an especially tall order.

Shortly after I made the post, a Dallas, Texas friend of mine—whom I had met in person for the first time earlier on this journey—tagged an Ottawa friend of hers.

That Ottawa friend shared my post to her local network.

A friend of hers contacted me to say that her mother had just sold her house, and it was empty and available for me to use if needed. (Although it was completely empty, and no WiFi! I hated realizing how much the WiFi issue caused me to hesitate, but it happened to be right there in my face as all this communication was happening.)

The friend said they could set up a cot and linens for me, and that I could stay as long as I wanted.

Humbling doesn’t begin to cover it. I just cannot believe how kind and helpful people can be. (I’m also continually in awe of the power of networks, including social media.)

Wow.

As it turned out, I could indeed stay another night here, which I think is better for a few reasons, including the safety of whoever stays in this room after me, as well as my own self-care of not having to pack up and bike 30 or so minutes to the new place.

But I’m so grateful. (And still might go to that empty place tomorrow night, depending how I’m feeling/how I test.)

I also had a cool conversation last night with a fellow resident of this guesthouse, who checked in for a month (long-term stays are OK here too, in some cases I guess!) ten months ago. He shared his own challenges with living in such a small space—with no laundry or stove—for much longer than he had planned. He has a chance at a place of his own about a half-hour drive out of town, a month from now. I hope he gets it.

Meanwhile, the previous day—when my symptoms seemed mild and I foolishly imagined that my “COVID experience” would only last two or three days—I ventured out to the nearby arboretum. I hope the 20-minute bike ride in each direction didn’t set back my healing process, but it was absolutely lovely to walk among the trees, and sit on the shady benches, for a couple of hours in the evening.

This life is a trip, man. A day at a time, eh? It’s all an adventure.

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7/7/22

Well, it’s official. On the evening of July 4th, in Montreal, I began to feel a slight sore throat. I tested myself in the morning: negative. I boarded the bus to Ottawa, faithfully wearing my KN-95 mask.

The symptoms continued. When I tested again last night, on the 6th, it was confirmed: I did catch COVID, presumably at the Marillion weekend.

It’s been a bummer, for sure. I slept a lot yesterday, and I’m spending a lot more than I had planned on a hotel room; of course I couldn’t stay with my planned hosts in this condition.

BUT.

I do my best to see opportunity in every setback. This is giving me a needed rest.

And this time feels like a bit of a turning point in my journey. I am more than ¾ of the way through my loop. I have entered a new country. I have begun my journey westward, back toward Portland.

So I’ve taken some of this downtime to do some dreaming into the next year of my life. This past (current) year’s travels have been absolutely incredible. Everything I had wished for. And… I’d like to continue! I plan to arrive back in Portland by the end of September, but I am continually refining my dream for my “new” (post-Lippman Company) life, and so even though I’m technically still sick, I took the selfie here a few minutes ago, and it reflects my state of mind: kinda messy, imperfect, but absolutely loving life.

So here is my dream for my “new life.” Coincidentally, I drafted most of this on the 4th, in Montreal (before any symptoms) sitting next to a beautiful pond in a beautiful park. I’ve added a bit more just now. I invite you to take a look, and help me to hold the vision that this will come to pass:

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My dream is to live lightly in the world, as a blessing and inspiration to others, and a connector and supporter of visionaries and changemakers—especially those of marginalized identities—around the world. (These marginalized identities include women and people of color, but I’m also feeling especially inspired to support LGBTQIA+ folks, especially trans folks; neurodivergent, especially autistic, people; and/or trauma survivors) around the world. I connect these folks to each other, at times, for mutual support, and I also “broker” funding to them via Fairy Godfunders, whom I also encounter in my travels. These godfunders are people with abundant financial and/or material means, who wish to directly support the changemakers by “underwriting” their work for some period of time, such as a year. (My personal experience is that members of these marginalized communities often have brilliant ideas and skills to help the world, but because of discrimination, mental and/or physical exhaustion, Complex PTSD, and/or neurological challenges, it can be very difficult for them to “hold down a job,” much less one that actually uses their passion and skills for the best benefit of the collective. Our world is poorer as a result.)

Money flows joyfully and abundantly toward me to support this life mission, and also flows through me to support these visionaries and world changers.

Much of my time is spent in “magical meetings,” both virtual and in-person, and also bicycling, walking in nature, traveling by train, enjoying natural and artistic/architectural beauty, music, and conversation.

I also embody magic, sensuality, and eroticism, and I attract the right people and situations into my life for all of us to enjoy these things together. I also enjoy exploring psychonautics/psychedelics, and pondering questions of the human condition and the nature of the universe.

People are inspired by my energy and vision/mission, and they invite me to stay in their cities for anywhere between about a week to a month at a time. They help me to find lodging at little or no cost.

One example of this would be housesitting, as an example of godfunding. I may take care of plants or pets at times (or household physical issues) but mostly people offer me their abundant/unused space in good faith, as a form of godfunding toward my mission. (One friend of mine likened this idea to that of an “artist in residence,” though my most of my “art” takes a different form.)

Some of the lodging, though, may be staying in homes with residents, as I have been doing for the past year; I have loved all the connections I have enjoyed in this way, even though I now wish to mix in a bit more solitary time for the coming year.

I connect in person with these various folks when I am in their cities, and all of us consider it a win-win blessing to do so. We then part ways energized and inspired when I move on to a new locale.

The cities are geographically linked such that I encounter optimal weather in each one as I visit (highs in the 70s F/20s C, lows no lower than about 50 F/10 C, minimal rain, low humidity). I have learned enough about myself at this point in my life to know that an important part of my self-care includes this kind of optimal weather.

These cities are also geographically situated in such a way that I can access them in eco-optimal ways, such as cycling or trains, with occasional coaches or carpools. Minimal flying. I am initially inclined toward another loop of the US and Canada, such as I have been doing this past year, though I would also like to spend time in Europe, and perhaps also Central and/or South America.

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I aim for an average of one or two magical meetings per day, and I distill the contents into my blog/newsletter. People read and subscribe because they want to be inspired by the people I meet with, and/or connect with them, and/or offer them support of various kinds.

In these magical meetings, I feel out who people are, what their dreams and projects are, the status of the projects, what their obstacles are, and what kinds of support they would like to receive from others:

*Funding (small and/or godfunding, but especially godfunding)

*In-kind material contributions such as housing/lodging, transportation, food, etc

*Volunteer mentoring and/or skill-sharing from those who have expertise to share

*Other?

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This is my dream for the coming year, starting in October of 2022. I have fears that this may not be possible. But I also have hope and excitement that it will be! I am publishing this to make my dream “official,” and to begin to put out feelers for anyone you think I might wish to talk to, as a changemaker, godfunder, potential host, or anything else.

I am excited to imagine my—and all of your—dreams coming to fruition!

—

Do you have your own dream or project, and would like some support or collaborative brainstorming about it? Use the green “contact” button above to schedule a free one-hour phone or video call with me!

Want to be notified of future blog posts? Use the green “sign up” button to subscribe!

Want to support my vision financially? I am in the process of manifesting $50,000 in lieu of a “salary” for the year of this journey. You can make a one-time or monthly contribution, or even become a Fairy Godfunder! (Heartfelt thanks to all my patrons and supporters!)

7/4/22

Wow. My time here is wrapping up. It is so hard to condense the past two days into just 15 photographs. I’ll do my best.

The Marillion Weekend wrapped up last night, after three nights of absolutely wonderful concerts. I’m so grateful that this event happened to coincide with my timing here in Montreal—what are the odds? Talk about magic!

Yesterday, my Servas host Gabrielle took me on a wonderful walking tour of Montreal, including the Old Port area I had been wishing to see.

First we got on the metro, which was my first time on it for this trip. (Last time here, I was staying farther from the concert venue, so I took the metro home each night.) Although I didn’t have my bike with me, I was pleased to see that they had good bike access in the subway station, and a dedicated car on each train for cyclists. Wow!

I posted a photo the other day of the outside of the Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral. Well, yesterday we went inside! It is a 1/7 size replica of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Just gorgeous. I tried to be very respectful as I photographed it, because there was a mass in progress. (And the chanting was incredible!) But the interior was breathtaking.

Afterward we went to the Bonaventure Hotel, and a few other downtown buildings. The Bonaventure (no photos here, sorry) has a heated outdoor pool that guests can swim in during the winter! The water is warm, but there is often snow around the pool.

We went into a few other buildings, including one containing an amazing water feature that you can barely tell is water (see photo) and also a large chunk of the Berlin Wall.

After that, we made our way to the cobblestone streets of Old Montreal, which was crowded at times, but very beautiful. The architecture is very European.

In one modern building there, we were able to take the elevator up to a very small but cool outdoor observation area, with scale models and plaques about many of the city’s attractions you could see from there, including the Jacques-Cartier Bridge and the Habitat 67 structure. (The plaque for that one indicated that, indeed, the average selling price for one of the apartments is a million dollars, Canadian.)

It got to be a pretty hot day, so after three or four hours of walking, Gabrielle (who is 80) took the metro back home, while I stayed to walk around a bit more. I saw a few more beautiful sights on the walk back home.

Then today, I decided to make the effort to scale Mt. Royal, right in the middle of the city, on my bike. I was intimidated, since the mountain is 764’ tall (233m). But the particular pathway I chose was long and extremely gradual, so I never had to walk the bike, nor even to pause and rest. In fact, I was able to avoid even using my lowest gear, except for a very short portion near the top. When I arrived at the lookout, I wasn’t even winded!

That park is another incredible one. The views at the top are amazing (see the Jacques-Cartier Bridge again, in the cover photo?) but the way up and down is a forested wonderland, with many hiking trails, and even a small lake. I spent a bit of time lounging on shady benches on the way down, but it would be so easy to spend a whole day or more exploring that park.

When I reached the bottom, I headed back to Resto Vego for my fourth(!) meal there. I love their buffet! On the way, I passed more picturesque alleyways.

I also stopped again in Parc La Fontaine, right near Gaby’s place. It is another very large and beautiful park, with a wonderful reflecting pond in it.

I will miss this city. Many friends have asked me, after these last nine months of travel, if I have a favorite place so far. I have always said no, that I have enjoyed almost every place I have visited, and thoroughly loved many of them. That is true. But now I have a new answer: my favorite place is Montreal. If you haven’t visited here yet, I highly recommend it. (Not outside of summer, of course, unless you really like cold weather and winter sports. But if you do, it’s apparently wonderful for skating and sledding and other fun winter activities as well.) But it’s really a special city.

Tomorrow: the Canadian capital city of Ottawa!

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Do you have your own dream or project, and would like some support or collaborative brainstorming about it? Use the green “contact” button above to schedule a one-hour phone or video call with me!

Want to be notified of future blog posts? Use the green “sign up” button to subscribe!

Want to support my vision financially? I am in the process of manifesting $50,000 in lieu of a “salary” for the year of this journey. You can make a one-time or monthly contribution, or even become a Fairy Godfunder! (Heartfelt thanks to all my patrons and supporters!)

7/2/22

This post is a bit different.

I don’t have much time these few coming days; I’m seeing the concerts at night, while still sightseeing and seeing people during the day.

I’ll share here a smattering of photographic scenes from my lovely day yesterday.

But I was hit by something at the first (of three) Marillion concerts last night.

I condensed my thoughts into a Facebook post.

It feels appropriate for here too, so I’m sharing it.

I’ll probably get back to traditional “travelogue” blogging in the next day or two. But it feels important to me to share these deeper, travel-inspired thoughts here on this blog as well.

Thank you all for joining me on this journey. (I always make an effort to refer to this year’s travels as a journey, rather than just a “trip,” because it is definitely deeper than that.)

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Some thoughts on the state of things, and one part of what we may need:

Last night was the first night of the Marillion weekend here in Montreal. Great concert.

Marillion are definitely not a dance band. Although last night’s show was focused on their “uptempo” tracks, I only saw the merest of swaying from a few in the crowd.

There is one song of theirs, though, that always makes me want to dance. (“The Damage,” for those of you who know.)

It felt so good to get into it and move my body! I felt the music and its power flowing through me.

My ecstatic-dance days of yore feel so far away from me now. A different time, a different world…

But as I danced, and felt the power of the music, and the crowd, Alice Walker‘s quote “Hard times require furious dancing” came into my mind.

And I thought… YES. We need this kind of energy–more than ever–in times like this. (Emma Goldman‘s “If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution” comes to mind as well.)

It is so easy to feel POWERLESS RAGE at times like these. Those of us in/from the US are living through a very dark time these past few weeks especially.

As I danced, I thought, We need to be dancing our ANGER. Our JOY. Our SEXUALITY. Our POWER.

These things all go together. They don’t have to be compartmentalized. There is energy, and momentum, in them.

I know I’m in no place (physically or mentally) to organize such things, but I’m putting this out into the collective, in case others may feel motivated. I feel like we need to muster our collective energy here–our anger and joy and sexuality and power (and hope, and faith, and strength to make a difference) and it can all come together with dance.

How about joyful revolution? Power, anger, yes! And also… joy, and hope, and excitement about what we DO want in the world, not just what we don’t want? How about political demonstrations that include huge helpings of joy and aliveness in addition to the anger? (They did some things like this in the ’60s, yes?)

My time in Montreal, and especially seeing the biosphere, has reignited my delight with the visionary Buckminster Fuller quote, “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

So. There are three quotes for you, and some dance-inspired feelings and ideas. Not fully formed, but on the “dance floor” last night they came to me powerfully, and I wanted to share.

We need ALL the feelings, and ALL the energy they can generate, and re-generate, to live the lives we DO WANT to live.

(Thanks, Marillion.)

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Do you have your own dream or project, and would like some support or collaborative brainstorming about it? Use the green “contact” button above to schedule a one-hour phone or video call with me!

Want to be notified of future blog posts? Use the green “sign up” button to subscribe!

Want to support my vision financially? I am in the process of manifesting $50,000 in lieu of a “salary” for the year of this journey. You can make a one-time or monthly contribution, or even become a Fairy Godfunder! (Heartfelt thanks to all my patrons and supporters!)

6/30/22

Wow, what a cool day!

Linda took me on a bike ride out to St. Helen’s Island, in the St. Lawrence River on the eastern edge of town. I got to see the Biosphere and Habitat 67, both built for Expo 67 in Montreal. (I recently learned that my parents attended Expo 67 here—their first and only time in Montreal—two years before they were married. Cool!)

On the way over there, we passed neat buildings, a Ferris wheel, and the Cirque du Soleil tents. (This is their home city! Apparently they swapped out the blue-and-yellow tents for gray-and-white ones during COVID; not sure if that change was specifically related to the pandemic.)

We passed a cool boat, some colorful stacked shipping containers, and a nice view of the Jacques Cartier Bridge again.

Once we reached the island, Linda returned home and left me to explore the area. I enjoyed the open plazas and green parks there. What a cool place!

On my way back, I got to ride on that iconic Jacques Cartier bridge again. Then I stopped for a late lunch at Copper Branch in the Gay Village area again. I love the blocks-long pedestrian plaza in that business district, with all its colorful accoutrements.

This evening I met up with two of the Marillion friends I had dinner with back in Durham, North Carolina. (Sadly, the third of these friends brought a passport card, rather than her full passport, onto her flight here, and ended up having to fly back to Raleigh/Durham, so she will miss the Marillion weekend. Fortunately, as a hardcore fan, she had seen them perform recently, but still this is a very unfortunate turn of events.)

On the way to meeting up with Tamara and Lawrence—and many other Marillion fans who have now descended upon the city from around the world—I spent some time in a nearby park with a great view of the Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral. (More amazing church architecture!)

Tomorrow I will meet my new Servas host, Gabrielle, and I’ll attend the first of three Marillion concerts this weekend!

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Do you have your own dream or project, and would like some support or collaborative brainstorming about it? Use the green “contact” button above to schedule a one-hour phone or video call with me!

Want to be notified of future blog posts? Use the green “sign up” button to subscribe!

Want to support my vision financially? I am in the process of manifesting $50,000 in lieu of a “salary” for the year of this journey. You can make a one-time or monthly contribution, or even become a Fairy Godfunder! (Heartfelt thanks to all my patrons and supporters!)

6/29/22

Today was a leafy day!

I said goodbye to my wonderful Terrebonne Warmshowers hosts, Mathilde and Ben, and set out on my bike on a beautiful sunny morning. I knew I had to get to my new host before 3:00, because rain and thunderstorms were forecast for the whole afternoon and evening, beginning at 3:00. (The rain did start around 4:00, just after I arrived, although I didn’t end up seeing any lightning, and the rain wasn’t particularly consistent after an hour or so. Still, I didn’t know that this morning!)

I took Mathilde’s suggestion for a longer (at least 20 miles/32 km) but much more green and pleasant/safe route back to Montreal.

I will admit, though, I wasn’t expecting all those hills—oof! I had to walk up at least three of them, huffing and puffing with my 72-lb/33-kg trailer load (and ride the brakes on the way down; I get nervous zooming down hills with that heavy trailer behind me.)

I also took a few wrong turns, so I ended up doing a few extra miles, and also getting onto some segments that were higher-traffic/less pleasant.

Overall, though, it was a beautiful ride. I did feel surprisingly tired when I arrived (just ahead of those clouds!) at my new host Linda’s second-floor apartment; after a bit of conversation, I ended up taking a nap for almost two hours! (We’ll see how I sleep tonight.)

Linda is amazing: she is mathematical, musical, visually artistic (she has published a book of stunning photography from her bike travels in Canada and Europe, and she also draws and paints beautifully); she speaks four languages; she has bicycled all across Canada over five months, camping most of the way… I’m probably forgetting some more things, but these are some of the highlights. She even made me some vegan tofu miso soup, which was warm and ready upon my arrival, which was a perfect snack; and then also made a vegan dinner for the two of us. Then she logged onto her online Japanese class, which will help her with her upcoming travels to Japan in September!

The people I have met on this journey absolutely blow me away. It is such an honor to meet all of them. (Thank you again to anyone reading this who has hosted me thus far, or even just met up with me on my travels. You are all amazing, and I’m so grateful!)

I’m not sure of my plans yet for tomorrow. Maybe listening more to my new Marillion album, so that I can be prepared for their live musical brilliance on the 1st!

—

Do you have your own dream or project, and would like some support or collaborative brainstorming about it? Use the green “contact” button above to schedule a one-hour phone or video call with me!

Want to be notified of future blog posts? Use the green “sign up” button to subscribe!

Want to support my vision financially? I am in the process of manifesting $50,000 in lieu of a “salary” for the year of this journey. You can make a one-time or monthly contribution, or even become a Fairy Godfunder! (Heartfelt thanks to all my patrons and supporters!)

6/28/22

Today was a beautiful day! Perfect temperatures, and lots of time in parks.

I started out at the park just a few blocks away from my hosts: Parc Ecologique de la Coulee. (I just learned that Coulee—as in “Grand Coulee Dam”—is a French Canadian word meaning “ravine.” Sure enough, there was a beautiful ravine in this park.) The park was a wonderful sanctuary: basically just lots of woods, but with wide bikeable gravel paths throughout.

On one edge of the park, it opened up into a sunny green field. From the sign there, I learned another new word: “dameuse” = snowplow.

After sitting on various benches in this park for more than an hour (heavenly!) I decided to head out to the adjoining suburb of Mascouche to try a vegan restaurant called Le Maskwa. (I didn’t think that looked like a French word. I looked it up, and sure enough, “maskwa” is a Cree word, for bear.)

There was a wonderful car-free bike path for much of the distance to the restaurant, which I am finding a lot around Montreal. Unfortunately, as in so many other metro areas, this wonderful infrastructure is often juxtaposed with roads that feel much less safe and welcoming for bikes. I appreciate the pathways whenever I do find them.

The food at this restaurant was superb! Wow. I got the “Le Sicilien” sandwich, which was full of perfectly marinated vegetables. For dessert, I tried a cookie unlike any I’ve ever had: a large, pillowy chocolate-chocolate chip cookie with Speculoos crème inside, and topped with a half Speculoos cookie. After this meal, I was full for many hours afterward. I wish I were here longer, so I could go back and try more things!

Thus fortified, I made my way to another beautiful park in Mascouche, which contained several ponds. On the way, though, I stopped at a supermarket for a few items. One such item was a candy bar for later.

When I arrived at the park and sat on a shady bench to enjoy the pond view, pretty soon I saw one of this area’s beautiful black squirrels. I was enchanted… but before long, this squirrel proved to be another aggressive one. It hopped up onto my bike, somehow sensing that within the bag that hung from the handlebars, there was a sweet treat to be found.

With a gust of wind, the bike tipped over! The squirrel (and a nearby duck) initially scurried away… but not for long. The squirrel returned and ventured into the bag, quickly grabbing the candy (still in its sealed plastic wrapper) and beginning to carry it away in its arms!

I put a stop to this, retrieving the item from the squirrel’s hands, but not surprisingly, the squirrel was not happy with this, and proceeded to jump up onto the park bench next to me over and over again, approaching with a determined look in its eye.

Sorry, squirrel. That marzipan Ritter Sport is mine.

I felt it was time to move on after that, so I set a course back to the house, but not before stopping in the old-town area of Terrebonne, with the beautiful parks I had seen on my way in last night. I got a picture of the dam with the water rushing through it.

When I arrived back at the house, Mathilde was making a vegan dinner of homemade falafel, rice, and salad with lettuce from their garden. We all had a lovely dinner, talking about our various travels.

Tomorrow I’ll go back to Montreal to meet my new host, Linda, and also hopefully meet up with another acquaintance I first met years ago, on another continent.

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Do you have your own dream or project, and would like some support or collaborative brainstorming about it? Use the green “contact” button above to schedule a one-hour phone or video call with me!

Want to be notified of future blog posts? Use the green “sign up” button to subscribe!

Want to support my vision financially? I am in the process of manifesting $50,000 in lieu of a “salary” for the year of this journey. You can make a one-time or monthly contribution, or even become a Fairy Godfunder! (Heartfelt thanks to all my patrons and supporters!)

6/27/22

What another full day!

I said a fond farewell to Aurelie last night (although we plan to see each other at least once more before I leave town!) and woke up this morning shortly after she left for work. I had some breakfast and took a shower, and then headed out to meet a former Portland dance-community acquaintance, Roxanne, to visit the Montreal Botanical Garden. (On the way I passed another breathtaking church, and had to capture it.)

I had visited the garden once before, in 2019, and was looking forward to seeing it again. Its lush beauty today did not disappoint, and we visited the Alpine garden, Japanese garden, Classical Chinese Garden, and arboretum, among other beautiful natural pathways through the place.

Meanwhile, we talked travel! Roxanne and her husband Johnny left Portland in 2017 to become full-time travelers, mostly in Europe. She shared some great stories and travel tips about Europe, health insurance, overseas medical and dental “tourism” (she strongly suggested I consider getting my next dental surgery in either Hungary or Romania… hmmm…) It sounds like she and Johnny have been having a wonderful time in places like Croatia, Spain, Portugal, and other countries. I do want to get to Europe at some point. It was fun to talk about it.

After the garden, I made my way back to Aurelie’s place to pack up my things and head out to my new Warmshowers hosts for tonight and tomorrow, Mathilde and Ben, who coincidentally are also French citizens, and also aim to live a zero-waste lifestyle, like Aurelie. They live in the northern suburb of Terrebonne, and when you factor in my dinner stop along the way, I ended up cycling 20 miles (32 km) to get there! I was ready for a rest and chat with a tall glass of water when I arrived. (They use a stick of charcoal in a glass jar of refrigerated tap water to filter it! I had never heard of this low-waste alternative to a Brita-type water filter.)

The ride over here was very beautiful in parts, crossing bridges and cycling along waterways, right during golden hour.

Tomorrow I plan to check out the forested park across the street from their house, as well as the “old town” that I rode through briefly on my way here. It looked very scenic, including a small island.

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6/26/22

The city of Montreal has a really cool “Ruelle Verte” program. The term means “green alleyway,” and neighbors can get together and choose to turn their alleyways into works of art, with murals and other cool decorations, and this is officially supported by the city. There are signs encouraging motorists to slow down for the sake of the “enfants” living near the alleys, and sometimes plantings out on the main streets next to the alleyways, with signage indicating that those neighbors are responsible for these beautification plants (some of which are edible vegetables!)

It was another very hot day today (high of 93F/34C) until the rain started this evening and cooled things down considerably. Aurelie took me out on foot in the early hot sun for a walking tour of some of these alleyway murals in her neighborhood.

Aurelie is a devoted minimalist, who sews many of her own household items to avoid using disposables. I have been so impressed to see all of these items, including the pillowcases on my bed, many tablecloths and cloth napkins, wall decorations (and even a chalkboard she made herself!) and, perhaps most impressively, a “paper towel roll” made up of cloth towels—smooth on one side and terrycloth on the other—that all snap together. (See photo.) Truly impressive!

Along our walk, we stopped at one of at least six zero-waste stores in the city of Montreal. This city is amazing.

After the walk, we came back and rested for a while, and then went out to meet a friend of Aurelie’s who is also passionate about Nonviolent Communication (NVC) as Aurelie and I both are. This woman is also planning to try her first short bike tour in a few weeks, so we encouraged her on that.

On the way to meet her, we passed another beautiful church, so I snapped another pic.

Tomorrow I plan to meet up with a friend I know from Portland’s dance community, who moved to Europe a few years ago. She and her husband are staying in Montreal for a while, near the botanical garden. We will visit the garden together tomorrow!

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6/25/22

Today I got to experience some beautiful sights in this city, led by my fearless host Aurelie, and joined by new local friend Paulo… and all of us on our Bromptons!

First, Aurelie and I took a picnic lunch to nearby Parc Jarry. It is a beautiful big city park nearby with a lake, a swimming pool, and lots of greenspaces where families were hanging out, barbecuing, etc. We dined in a lovely gazebo, which happened to be uninhabited when we arrived.

After lunch, we went over to the ride meeting place of the Jean-Talon Market, an open-air market kind of similar to Seattle’s Pike Place. I saw some of the biggest rhubarb I had ever seen!

We met up with Paulo, and the three of us set out on our adventure.

First we visited St. Joseph’s Oratory of Montreal, a gorgeous cathedral which was unfortunately undergoing construction, but which still looked beautiful from the outside. (There are so many architecturally amazing churches here!)

Then we thought we would visit a large cemetery on Mount Royal, but after scaling a challenging hill (which appeared on the map to be a “shortcut”) we found ourselves at what seemed to be a dead end. But then Paulo went to investigate a bit, and found a narrow, leafy path into the woods. It was a very hot and sunny day, so although we weren’t sure what we would be getting into by following the path, we decided the shade and uncertainty would be a worthwhile adventure.

And it was! We ended up having to walk our bikes most of the way, since the path was narrow, steep, and/or full of roots at times, but before too long, we found ourselves at an incredible viewpoint, which amazingly neither of them had visited before.

We stood at the top and reveled for a while, enjoying the view, and then began a slow descent, also on a tricky path. Very shortly after the summit, we found another amazing view, just off to the left: we were now facing east rather than north.

The descent after that was pretty challenging. (See the photo of Aurelie carrying her bike with a full front pack.) But we all made it without injury, and reached the entrance to the cemetery. As it turned out, though, the cemetery was not really passable by bike, so we ended up turning around and heading instead for a lovely restaurant with a beautiful enclosed patio.

Some Americans who waited with us in line outside struck up a conversation about our “cool” bikes, which was fun.

Over the meal, we enjoyed some good conversation about traveling, and then Paulo had to say goodbye because he had to tend to his “ducklings”—the three 20-something American Warmshowers guests sleeping on his living room floor. They were planning to awaken at 4 am to bicycle all the way to Ottawa in one day(!!) so he wanted to have a chance to say goodbye before they went to bed.

Aurelie and I then meandered slowly back to her place, through perfectly golden-hour-lit streets. We have been relaxing on the balcony ever since.

I’m not sure yet what tomorrow will hold. I had been loosely planning to visit Quebec City, but between my concern about the cost and logistics of the train travel, the fact that English speakers are more scarce there than here, and not having been able to find a host, I’m thinking I may stay here in Montreal instead. I have several local friends I’m hoping to see, so perhaps I can meet up with one or more of them tomorrow.

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Do you have your own dream or project, and would like some support or collaborative brainstorming about it? Use the green “contact” button above to schedule a one-hour phone or video call with me!

Want to be notified of future blog posts? Use the green “sign up” button to subscribe!

Want to support my vision financially? I am in the process of manifesting $50,000 in lieu of a “salary” for the year of this journey. You can make a one-time or monthly contribution, or even become a Fairy Godfunder! (Heartfelt thanks to all my patrons and supporters!)