Valentine’s Day Card
(Feb 2004)

What a glorious image to put on the front cover for the beginning of 2004… For me, it incorporates many feelings without using words. The artist, David Balcombe, also painted the Angel that was on the front cover December 2002. I had the Angel image enlarged to poster size, placked it and gave it to Richard for a Christmas present. It is great to see angel images making their way into people’s hearts and being accepted as real… for I believe we are all angels working on our wings. There is a beautiful quote that hangs in the lodge kitchen that says “We live in celebration of the awareness that the beauty of life that surrounds us is the same beauty that is within us.” I see the front cover image as a representation of us…the human race evolving into peace in our hearts supported by our loving hands. The white dove of freedom on route to its destination. David believes this image to be symbolic of the Universal Blessing process and said his wife Kate received the image which she calls Sacred Space during a meditation. David can be reached via email:balcombecards@netidea.com.

The Festival of Awareness program is complete and you will find it on the flip side of this magazine. I am always glad when that is done …along with income tax and the wintry weather. Don’t get me wrong: I like the winter wonderland I now live in. I would have enjoyed it more if I had been less busy playing on the computer. Richard and I can clip on our skis at our front door step and ski over to the neighbour’s field. We also have a treadmill on the front porch, so if we don’t have the time to ski, we run or walk while we listen to Caroline Myss’s latest CD. I prefer the 45-minute walk up and down the hill to get the mail every other day. I love watching the ever-changing view of the valley and Kootenay Lake as the weather patterns create magical images as the many blue jays peck at our bird feeder.

Richard and I each set up a table near the wood fireplace to do our computer work when it got really cold. Richard was working on the programming for the 2004 event calendar for the Johnson’s Landing Retreat Center and I on the Spring Festival of Awareness which happens April 23-25 at Naramata Center. The wood heat has kept me warmer than what I am used to and now that I am into the change of life, it also increases the warmth of my hot flashes.

I still feel like I am in chaos since the move. Often, I have to look in a few places before I find a file or anything. I bought a new laptop that will allow me to move around even more once the data base programming is complete. My plan is to have all my paper files transferred to my computer. I like the idea of being deskless and using less paper, and since it is only me doing the magazine, that should be easy. It may be many more months before I feel like I am organized and settled in. By then, the retreat season will start, and I will have to shift my office to a tent to make room for people in the lodge.

It has been two years since Richard and I had our first date and one year since I decided to sell in Penticton and focus on moving to Johnson’s Landing to help co-create a community with Richard. That was a hope of his when he bought the Retreat Center five years ago. We have a few more people joining us as staff this summer, and if you are interested in participating, give us a call. We have the ideal spot if you would like to help with the the gardening, building cabins, housekeeping and cooking, for many hands sharing the work will allow us to create more opportunities for growth with more time off to enjoy the beautiful setting.