secret messages in Ontario

Ontario. I never knew how incredibly beautiful you are.

My two days driving through you were a constant delight consisting of lakes, rocks and stunning autumnal trees. I like to drive in general but Ontario made it an unforgettable experience.

Is there a reason why no one ever told me how great it was? Did I miss that information somehow? I am so glad I know about you now.

Also the picnic table signs on the highway that I finally realized meant "there's a rest stop up here" so charming I can hardly stand it. My new favorite restroom metaphor.

Once again Canada makes my heart sing.

Adventure report

I spent the long weekend with family in Virginia Beach. I visited the ocean daily and listened for hours. I cared not how cold it was on the shore

I took my god-daughter out and said "Let's go have an adventure" and we did. It involved huge bridges, underwater tunnels, many, many birds, lights, coloring and the ocean.

I woke up every morning to a three year beaming at me and asking "Did you sleep well?"

The disappearance of all my knitting tools meant that I could buy this and not feel guilty. Mine is hot pink and I have wonderful plans to enhance it to a color more to my liking.

No one will be surpassed to hear that shortly after I bought the above - This came back to me! Much knitting followed. My orange bag is being reticent about its adventures but I respect that. So happy it is back.

There were robins everywhere, flocks of robins. Trees full of robins. It was amazing. I am guessing VA Beach is on their migration path and that is why there were hundreds all together. It was surreal, like a robin dream. Their twittering en masse was delightful.

I am amazed at how much adventure was packed into 4 days and as soon as I recover a bit I will be ready for more active adventure seeking.

Wishing you all many happy adventures along with cozy time.

Where will you be the first week of August 2010?

The advanced sale ticket deadline for the Michigan womyn's music festival is rapidly approaching, June 10. It's not too late to call. Ticket information is here.

Going to the festival is a unique experience for every woman. I knew about it for years before I finally said to myself Enough dithering, this year I am going no matter what! I am so happy that I did.

Some of my favorite parts; showering under the stars. Watching some of the little girls run around in fairy wings feeling totally safe. Really unplugging from the electronic world and the clock. Taking time to listen to just me and feel sad or happy, lonely or contented. Chatting with womyn from all over. Exploring wild and weird workshops. Waking up to the sound of dozens of voices chanting. Just being in a culture that makes room for mothers and children and acknowledges their work. Being blown away by some of the music. Walking in the woods in the middle of the night feeling protected and cherished. Watching sisters move through lifelong issues.

That's just me though, it is different for every attendee with something for all. It works as long as you are aware you cannot possibly do it all. Maybe this year I'll finally take in a movie.

I hope each of you get some peace and time just for yourself this summer and maybe I'll see some of you in Michigan.

finishing up Austin and word count

I am so behind in my 'reports' and I feel sad about it. Between the whole have to work thing, having another fabulous weekend here at home and now a nasty draining head cold my days have just been slipping away.

Word count = 70,771. I know I look at that number and think 'who are you?' I have about 4/5 of the story down so the first draft is almost done. It's been great. Though not today when I tried to open my saved copy which had tons of new stuff that was not backed up anywhere else and my computer told me my document was corrupted. Things were pretty fraught for awhile there. All is well though.

So our last full day in Austin started with a lovely springtime thunderstorm The rest of the day was quite cool but nothing we hearty northerners can't handle. That was just full of fun again, more yummy mexican food, great people, then part of the showcase at Bookwoman. The store's new location is very nice and their southbysouthequinox show was charming. Chris Pureka wrapped up a showcase, it was great seeing her in such a relaxed setting and I appreciate her picking up my hat. I see she is coming into Minneapolis on Beltane.

Then we went back to Trophy's for the second GoGirls showcase. Another very interesting mix of music and I sure appreciate what Madalyn Sklar and her group is trying to do - getting women in music out there. No big stand outs like Melissa Ferrick was the night before though. I did find the earplugs for the taking by the sound guy, they really helped me appreciate some of the lyrics of the performers. My neck was so sore that night but new friends were so sweet about trying to rub that out.

Another super late night, we snacked on tacos and went home again. Only 12 more hours before we left Austin. They were spent hanging out, packing, walking around on the trails in the brisk morning sunshine, talking and shopping. It really was a great break. The company was so wonderful and the music, city, weather, everything else so enjoyable. Except the leaving.

Here's my wish for you; that you have a great vacation this year as well!

first day kinda

So my 'first day' in India. The jet lag is really something. So hard to feel like it is day when your body is screaming at you that it is night time. Sunday morning, after a safe arrival in the hotel I felt like I had been beaten with a stick. It was so intense and unreal. I showered [which was bliss] and ate then feel into a weird intense sleep for a good 5 hours.

Why is it that I always feel so incredibly dirty after travel? I am not really doing much at all, just sitting around for the most part. But I get so incredibly grubby, or at least I feel that way.

Anyway I woke up at 1:30, determined to stay awake until evening. It was not easy but I did it. A coworker and I decided to get a driver and go out into the city. We at first thought to use a hotel driver but they wanted to charge us 2000-4000 rupees for a few hours which I knew was way too much. I have read that you can hire a driver and AC car for Rs 100 [or less] for a whole day. I'm not sure if the hotel always charges high because it is a very expensive hotel, or is they thought we were suckers. We lucked out though, one of the drivers assigned to our group was available and showed up speaking excellent English and we were off.
Hyderabad is a large city with a lot of traffic. He took us around. He took us to his friends' lovely shop even though we assured him we would not be purchasing today. It was nice to have our first peek at Indian crafts. It was also odd to be in a store where 4 people are hovering around anxious to be of service. I, not surprisingly, fell in love with an all silk rug.

My in-laws brought back 2 of these gorgeous rugs from their trip. But they are expensive even in India, and I cannot help but think what happens the first time one of the animals throws up on it? Or has another kind of 'accident'? That is what would happen in my house [probably]. So we'll see if I succumb in the month I am here.

Then we drove to visit the Birla Mandir temple. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birla_Mandir,_Hyderabad
They do not allow cameras [or phones or shoes] there which seems reasonable since it is an active temple and people are at their devotions there. Cell phones are legion in India and the ringing is probably not very conducive to meditation. There are a legion of pictures to be found online though. Not only is the temple itself beautiful but the views from the top over the lake and city are stunning. We saw 2 men cleaning a wall with water and pumice, certainly a full time job since the entire thing is made of marble. Since no one wears shoes, even the security guards, your feet don't get too dirty.

I can't even describe everything that we saw on that drive. The Muslim graveyard with it's brightly colored markers. The cows all over. The amazing way they drive. Surely Indians are the leaders at merging while driving. The incredible way 4+ people fit on one scooter. The dogs I saw all seemed large and long legged. The incredible amounts of new construction, the boulders and ruins and shacks of people right next to new office buildings.

India is so large. In fact this is the first time this week I have thought about missing Mich Fest. India really fills your senses.

Exhaustion and drinking fountains

It will be interesting to see how many mistakes I make in this post. I am getting slammed with some serious jet lag. It's making things seem harder than they are, making me feel crowded and overwhelmed. Like my comfort zone is nowhere to be found.

The leg from Amsterdam to Mumbai was not as nice. It was a much older, less comfortable plane. The airplane food was occasionally edible. The attendants very nice, and I got about 3-4 hours of real sleep which was certainly needed when we got to India.

I wish I could really describe what happened at the Mumbai airport but I can't because I don't understand it. We needed the check in ticket counter for our next leg so that we could get our boarding pass. But there was no signage like 'airline ticket counters', I can't even think about how many mistakes we probably made. But in the end we made it onto the proper plane full of attendants in saris. In fact we found out later the entire crew for that flight including the captain and pilots were females. They announced this at the end of the trip and everyone applauded.

Hyderabad was smoother, although we went down the international hallway which since we had entered the country in Mumbai was an error. They all just looked at our entry stamp and waved us through. Everyone was so patient and nice. Which was wonderful especially since I felt like crying there mostly just because I was so short on sleep and energy. A couple of people with 3 cars met us at work and we had a 45 minute trip to the hotel. Everything was a breeze at that point.

I saw a drinking water stand in Mumbai and I got so excited then I remembered I am not suppose to drink non bottled water in India. The exact same thing happened in the Hyderabad airport. I was proud of myself for managing to remember, then later on today I wet my toothbrush at the tap all on automatic. ah well.

I am following my doctor's regimen of one pepto and one probiotic a day. So far so good. But buffets full of food you don't recognize but try leads too much food. I may start ordering from the menu some times.

airport lounge

So the first leg of my journey is done and I am sitting in the lounge at the Amsterdam airport. We came in with a beautiful sunrise. The flight over the Atlantic was pretty sweet in business class. Of course when I am again traveling on my own dime it will be hard to get used to coach.

Everything is going well although I am so tired. I guess I have been so excited that I have not slept well.

Currently in the airline lounge where one of my mates pointed out that Ted Nugent was in the next group of seats. I didn't even notice. The woman with him looks like a blond starlet, glamorous even under these circumstances.

Although there is a waiting list for the showers it still nice to know the option exists. But I still have another 9 hour flight ahead of me so no shower yet.

India prep

Indirectly my upcoming trip to India is having a huge impact on this blog. If days go by and I haven't posted it's usually because my head is spinning from prepping for India.

Getting ready to go to India for business is a project all on it's own. There is a lot of paperwork to coordinate for the visa, there is a lot of work prep to be done and then it all has to be balanced with personal needs that a month long stay entails. Not to mention trying to schedule tourist trips on the weekends.

When I am in India this blog will be all about India at that time. I am hopeful that I can detail quite a bit about my experiences while they are fresh right here.

For now I will say that I am so excited and dreading it at the same time. The dread is not very serious, it comes from so many unknowns rushing at me in a short time. 'will I hate it? will I be homesick? will I get sick? will training be hard? will it be dangerous? will I have time to myself? how will I arrange my weekends? will there be time to have fun? will I bring the right stuff? will I have suitable clothes? will people realize I am gay? will there be lots of personal questions?' and on and on and on.

I am looking forward to it at the very same time. I believe it will be a mind blowing change in my life, and I cannot believe it is happening! I feel so lucky, and a teeny bit sad about missing mich fest this year. Oh well. August in India will be something all right.

I never really wanted to go there

If you have been counting you may be wondering 'what is the 4th big thing that came up this past week?' Soon you will wonder no more.

The company I work for uses many vendors overseas in various parts of Asia. We are in the middle of transferring yet another mass of work from the US. It's pretty depressing, even though I guess the one thing you can say about this bad economy is that it is world-wide. We are all hurting. Anyway nothing is definite but I was asked Thursday afternoon if I would be willing to go to India for 4 weeks on business. I am simply blown away

India is not anywhere near the top of my "10 places I want to travel" list in fact my response to others who have gone to India has been horrible heat, rain, and bugs, not for me. But here is a situation where not only would my expenses be paid but I would be making money at the same time. It's unreal, incredible.

I am petrified and overwhelmed and stunned But really, fear is crap on which to base my decisions. I am no fool. My view is only a fool would turn done a chance like this. [Though of course one could have excellent reasons for not going.] India. wow. I 'll miss my wife so much and I hate missing my wife. My friends and my family would be so far. I would be so far away if an emergency came up. 4 weeks plus is quite a long time, because I would do at least a little traveling once I was over there as well.

It sounds like I will go in July, just in time for the monsoon season and it will still be hot. wow again. My head is still kind of whirling when I think about it. One thing I will need to think about is how will I answer the common question 'are you married?' I don't want to lie, but it's probably not a safe idea to tell the truth. Certainly one thing that will have to get thought out, much more later I am sure.

Of course nothing is definite yet but if it happens it probably will be one of the life changing experiences of my life. Right now is just seems like a totally unreal part of a very stressful week.