Visiting Friends

East Coast Midlands- October 18 - 25

The east coast holds a lot of treasures for me: people who have been part of my life for decades, know me, know the people I know, have a sense of my trajectory. These are the people we sing about as ‘gold’. For two months I have been wined and dined, bed and boarded by my family and by my friends. It’s like a wonderful sloppy stew of loved ones with different textures and nourishing qualities.

Although it’s a dangerous thing to stay too long as a visitor, I came to experience the sweetness of staying long enough, longer than usual, long enough to break through to the next level. One trick I worked on was to be helpful and be independent- no burden, no expectations, no have-tos, just flexible and amenable. But in the moments of togetherness, my relaxed schedule gave me space to be very present, just there with each person- really satisfying for me.

So the southern part of my east coast visit took me to Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina, before I hit the road on my own again. 

Andy's store- The Green Phoenix

 Maryland is the home of my oldest friend, Andi, living in a wonderful wooded home with her husband Rik. She has her own local and fair trade artists’ emporium, The Green Phoenix. It’s a beautiful array of well-chosen art and craftwork mostly created by local artists on Maryland’s Eastern Peninsula. We have known each other for 55 years, but hadn’t seen each other in over 15. Lots of catching up to do.

Andi and Rik at their unique home (with solar panels!)

Jenny Sioux and Jef in the garden.

In Virginia I visited Jenny Sioux and Jef, good friends from Canterbury, in North Garden, south of Charlottesville. Once again I had preconceived notions of central Virginia- boil it down to ‘hicks’. What I found was an alcohol-producing Mecca of high-end wineries, breweries, distilleries and cideries. Bootlegging still keepers would either be rolling in their graves or proud of a legacy of distinctive brews. 

Jenny Sioux with her flowers at a fancy dance winery.

Fancy people in fancy clothes flock to this area, bringing a whole other type cast- ‘posh’- (hard to say which I might prefer). But the farmers market where JS and J sell Jenny’s flowers and vegetables showed a savvy neighborhood presently fighting hard against a pipeline threatening their rural landscape. Another assumption about an area smashed- I gotta love it!

Jef 'collapsing' their canopy that was damaged in the wind.
He has his own special style.

Ferdouz at the large and imposing EPA building where
she's telling it like it is.

And lastly, Durham/Raleigh/Cary, North Carolina, where a new friend from Maui, recently transplanted, lives with her family, Wallace and Hazel. Ferdouz is working at the EPA, bringing her sustainability knowledge to bear, having left Maui College as I did last May. That is one bustling hub of an area with multiple universities and industry. I’m told it’s one of the fastest growing areas in the country. Hazel is in 3^rd grade and reading like a fiend, reminding me of my daughters.

And thus ends my stew-dwelling days. I’m on to camping, wandering, wending my way vaguely west. The South is such an unknown. I’m ready to have assumptions shattered again.