Sorry For The Inconvenience

For several months now I've had a picture from the front page of one of our local newspapers posted on my fridge for inspiration.

It's of an Idle No More demonstration held in downtown Nanaimo on a cold day in January this year, attended by hundreds of people.

What inspires me about it is the look on the faces of the people - proud, defiant, resolute, and happy.

Central to the photo is a young woman with her son, holding a sign that says, "Sorry for The Inconvenience - We Are Trying To Change The World".

And to me, that says it all. It speaks to my values, and to those in our cohousing community of Pacific Gardens.

It is inconvenient living in cohousing sometimes, but that inconvenience changes you, and in doing so, changes the community, both here and in the larger world.

I've written here before about the rock-polisher effect of living in cohousing - how rubbing up against other people and their views wears down your sharp edges.

That can be uncomfortable, especially when it forces you to learn things about yourself that you didn't know before. But it makes you grow.

The biggest sharp-edged rock we keep bumping up against at Pacific Gardens is the difficulty of doing what's best for the common good.

We've all been brought up in a society that tells us we should have what we want when we want it, even if it's at the expense of the well-being of others.

So often conflicts arise because although we want to change the world, we don't want to change ourselves, because it's too inconvenient and uncomfortable.

And that's why I keep looking at that photo, so I'll be inspired to change my own world, even if it is inconvenient.

Kathryn

The impromptu-ness of friendships in co-housing.

I unabashedly love Pacific Gardens Cohousing.

I love that after I finish my shift of work I can walk out of my front door and find someone to corner for tea, or drinks, or a discussion.

I love that Roz made me a birthday breakfast this morning. Crepe Suzette and mimosas.

I love that I can be in my garden and get invited to supper on the back patio.

I love that Mia puts on these teas to help people network and to help Jane learn English.

I love that Kaj works so tirelessly to make this place beautiful. All while having a generous sense of humour about it all.

I love that I can skip out back and snack on some of the raspberries in the back patch.

Or that I can grab some green onions from the community herb garden.

Or that someone will leave a big bag of lettuce to share when their garden is over-producing.

I love that people have such a forgiving attitude.

My children recently swiped a cardboard box that they found in the atrium during pot luck last Thursday and turned it into a cat condo. An email the next morning revealed that that box had been set aside to sort out someone’s recycling. My boys learned that objects found in the atrium aren’t free for the taking. Even if it is something as “unimportant” as a cardboard box.

I don’t attend these really, but I love that someone starts a fire and that it acts as a beacon for others to come and congregate.

I love that the kids have randomly inspired dance parties.

I love that the kids LOVE to be in nature so much.

I love my new family here in Pacific Gardens.

-Myriam

Provincial Politics and Pacific Gardens

In case you hadn't noticed - there's a provincial election in B.C., and of course, being the social activists we are, several Pacific Gardeners are involved.

Some are supporting the NDP, others the Greens, and those political choices fit with our social justice and environmental values.

But it also means some of us are going to very busy, and that includes me.  In fact, that's why you haven't seen any blog posts from me for more than 10 days.

I will be focusing my attention on campaigning for my local Green Party candidate until after election day, May 14th, which means you won't be hearing from me as often.

It's not that I don't think writing about cohousing and the values it embodies are not important.  It's just that right now, the election is way more important.

I feel - as do others - that we are at a crossroads in our society.  We can choose to go one way or the other, and which way we choose will have enormous consequences.

It distresses me that so many seem to think that we continue on with an economy based on over-consumption, continual growth, and destruction of our environment.

I believe we must change the way we live our lives if there is to be any future for the next generation - that's why I live in cohousing.  I want a different way.

I won't preach or hector you about this.  But I am going to do my damnedest now to elect people who care about the environment, and have the courage to fight for it.

I hope you will, too.

Kathryn

Rock-Polisher IV - How a Broken Hot Water Tank Changed My Life

I've been thinking again about the rock-polisher effect in cohousing, and how our lives can be changed by something totally ordinary.

A few weeks ago our three-year-old hot water tank fractured, flooding our recycle room and leaving us with only one tank for the entire building.

So the word went out that we should use hot water sparingly until it was replaced, which, since it was custom-made and had to be re-built, took several weeks.

This caused me a certain amount of anxiety.  I am a big fan of hot water - long, hot showers, bedding washed on the longest cycle, dishwasher on power scrub - yes!!

Sparingly and hot water were not words I would use together.  But, I experimented.  I rinsed the dishes in cold water, then put them through the dishwasher's quick cycle.  They were fine.

I did the same for the laundry - my clothes and bedding came out of washing-machine clean as clean, and it took me a lot less time, as did shorter showers.  This was good.

And when we had our new hot water tank at last, I didn't go back to my old ways.  This made me realize how many new lifestyle habits I have acquired since I moved here.

I don't just read my daily newspaper and then throw it into the recycle bin.  I deliver it to David, who, after he reads it, passes it on to Ron, who then gives it to Bill.

If I have left-overs, I give them to somebody else.  I lend my car out to anyone who needs it.  I'm willing to try unfamiliar foods at our potlucks - nettle soup, gluten-free bread.

I don't buy as many clothes, and I give more to thrift shops or put them in our freecycle cupboard.  I feel comfortable not wearing makeup, and what makeup I do wear is organic.

I don't buy as much stuff.  I considered getting a new car (my little Echo is 10 years old this summer) but didn't.  I've kept my old printer and computer - ditto with my seldom-used cellphone.

So how did this all happen?  It wasn't because someone gave me a lecture, or passed a bylaw.  It was all slow and incremental, little changes made by following the example of other people here.

And that's how the rock-polisher effect works, living in this Pacific Gardens river where we all tumble up against each other and smooth out our rough edges.

Kathryn

Busy, Busy Bees at PGCC

I'm feeling really creaky and stiff today, but not because I went nude bungee jumping! :-) No, it's because I was one of the many busy, busy bees participating in a spring work party at PGCC yesterday.

In usual Pacific Gardens fashion, we started it off with a potluck brunch, featuring yummy pancakes and waffles, with all kinds of scrumptious toppings, including Mykl's tasty banana syrup, as well as raspberry preserves and organic maple syrup.

Add to that some good strong hot coffee, a fruit smoothie, Sharon's excellent scones, and we were well-fueled to tackle the spring cleaning inside and the gardening and landscaping outside.

And we did a lot in a few hours. Sharon and David steam-cleaned 52 dining-room and office chairs.  Bill and Norah cleaned out the bugs trapped in our dining-hall lights, and replaced bulbs.

Trey, Joel, Braeden and Soma leaped, tumbled and ran through the building, watering the many plants both upstairs and downstairs.  As Braeden said, looking at all the plants: "No wonder it's called Pacific Gardens!"

I vacuumed the floors in the music room, the office, and one of the guest bedrooms, and mopped the floors in the kitchen and the elevator, and cleaned the ovens.

Chad and Kari led a team of enthusiastic volunteers who did everything from filling in the potholes on our gravel driveway to shovelling several loads of topsoil donated by Dirk Becker.

Of course we finished off the day's work with another delicious meal, this time featuring a hearty vegetable lentil soup made by Sharon, and homemade bread baked by John using wheat grown on Vancouver Island.

When I went home to do my own housework, I found myself humming the lyrics of that old tune: "Oh, we ain't got a barrel of money/Maybe we're ragged and funny/But we'll travel along/Singin' a song/Side by side."

Kathryn

Our Cohousing Correspondent in Mexico

Pacific Gardens is spreading its influence far and wide - we now have a cohousing correspondent in Mexico, Roz, the authoress of our Officel Etiquetta and the hostess of our Elderberry dinner.

Roz is escaping the gloom of our rainy clime to soak up the scene on the beach in the approporiately-named La Playa.  She has been sending us regular reports of her days spent eating fabulous food, meeting wonderful people, and enjoying the sunshine.

I'm not saying I'm jealous or anything, but really, when you look at pictures like this (and it's one of many she's e-mailed us), I do get a bit green-eyed, even more than usual!

Roz has a wonderful idea, however. She writes: "I think we have it all wrong...we should live in a country where it is easy to grow food all year long, where we do not need as much electrical power, where musika abounds from early morning till into the evening, where one makes instant friends...and then holiday in the summer months of our winterland!

Let's sell and come here to build a Cohousing development!!! Mucho purchasers for sure!!!"

I think she's on to something, don't you?

Kathryn

Rock-polisher Resolutions for the New Year

I always make New Year's resolutions, even if some of them I don't get around to until September or even later.

Perhaps this is due to my innate optimism, which keeps bubbling up inside me despite all the concrete evidence that I should be pessimistic about the state of the world and myself.

Someone who lives in cohousing, though is pretty much guaranteed to be an optimist and a person with a rather irrational but firm belief in self-improvement - another aspect of the rock-polisher effect.

So, here goes, my New Year's resolutions for myself and my life at Pacific Gardens.

1.  I will try to be more patient. (Last year, I did manage to achieve this with my relatives; the big test this year is whether I will be able to do this with my Pacific Gardens family.)

2.  I will do more of what makes me happy. ( Singing does this, and this year I am going to join a third choir, one that sings for people in hospices.)

3.  I will try not to interrupt and spend more time listening to what others say instead of thinking about what brilliant comments I can make as soon as that other person stops talking!

4.  I will try to relax more and visit with friends and family more often. (This is an annual resolution that I am getting better at, but not enough.)

5.  I will try to let go of and stop obsessing about what I cannot change. (Argggghhhh!)

6.  I will try to be more accepting of the changes to my body and my physical limitations as I age. (This is definitely difficult for someone who believes in self-improvement - sometimes slowing the decline is the best you can do!)

7.  I will spend more time outdoors and less time hunched over a computer. (Oh no...does that mean I have to give up Facebook?)

8.  I will get to bed earlier.  (So much to read, so little time!)

9.  I will learn how to do something new. (Could this be the year I try my hand at gardening?!)

10.  I will stop doing activities out of a sense of duty and start doing them out of a sense of joy.

These 10 are a good start for someone dedicated to self-improvement. And since it's still fairly early in the evening - at least for me - I may even fulfil resolution #8 tonight.

Not a bad beginning to 2013 for this rock-polisher!

Kathryn

What do I want for Christmas?

I have always known that I shop to fill an emotional need.

Back in Alberta, I lived on an acreage in the middle of nowhere and I felt isolated. I had a few friends in town but they were always too busy to have coffee of whatever. So, when I felt stressed or bored or lonely and I needed something to distract me, I would often turn to shopping.

In the summers in Alberta, we went rafting or swimming in the Pembina River. Or we played croquet or badminton in the yard. But the  walks/hiking weren't great and there wasn't a whole lot else to do. Then, as soon as fall arrives it's often too cold to do anything (it's already snowing there!) and when toting three small kids, a lot of activities were just too frustrating to bother with. For example: If we go sledding, the kids slide down. Then they refuse to walk more than a meter up the hill. Then I have to haul them all up the hill. Needless to say, most sledding trips last about ten minutes and it takes my back a week to recover.

So, our go to fix was to head to the nearest shopping center and waste a day visiting stores and shops, picking up a new movie or board game or a new shirt or a new pair of jeans or even a Wii or Kinect video game.

But here, in cohousing, we have so many other distractions that we are too busy to shop. I get to chat with neighbours and my home is constantly buzzing with my kids and their friends running in and out. There are weekly yoga classes and weekly potlucks. There are Solstice celebrations, Thanksgiving diners, talent shows and unexpected  gifts and visits.

And when we have a day off, we are too tired to shop. And, while the weather has been so fabulous, we have been exploring. We are constantly looking for a new spot to find star fish and crabs and looking at Canada's biggest trees.

Once the rain comes in, we might revert back to the old ways a bit. We'll be depressed by rain and grey skies and need more outlets. We'll need to make sure those Tuesday night Game Nights get reinstated. :)

But, the point is that I feel my emotional needs are more fulfilled here. I am accumulating friends and love and that has reduced my desire to accumulate things.

The answer is to the questions, "What do I want for Christmas?" is:
I don't want anything.

Now,  the really question is, how do I get my husband, who loves to give gifts, to accept that? ;)

-Myriam

Kids, Cats and Birds

I am grateful that my cohousing community allows pets as I am and have always been a cat lover. My beautiful black cat is shy with strangers, especially ones bearing vacuum cleaners, but he is very warm and social with me and likes nothing more than sitting on my lap when I relax, and sitting on my keyboard when I try to type.

I placed another cat, this one molded out of plaster at my front door to greet visitors. The plaster cat used to have a plaster mouse partner to keep it company until a boy in our community who shall remain nameless, accidentally, in the throes of play, knocked the mouse off of a ledge causing it to fall and break. I was very impressed when the same young man showed up at my door to apologise and take full responsibility for his actions.

What a great teacher this brave, principled young man was, quickly reminding me that we live closely together, we are likely to bump into one another or into one another's things, sometime causing harm and breakage, but that times like these can be opportunities to deepen friendships, grow, and build trust. His act of courage and doing the right thing instead of the easy thing allowed me to remember that one of the reasons we choose to live in communities is that we can learn and be inspired by small actions of others.

This incident happened at least a year ago and I had all but forgotten about it until the other day when I found a small bag at my door with a card that read:

Dear Sharon,

I'm sorry for breaking your mouse such a long time ago but here is a replacement. It's a bird that I painted.

It is delightful when your children perform acts like this, it is even more delightful when your neighbour's children do. Luckily, my cat likes birds even more than mice!

Sharon

The bird that landed on Sharon's doorstep

The Story of Us

We're busy folks here at Pacific Gardens.  Every week is filled with meetings, gardening, maintenance and cleaning chores, proposals to be developed, agendas to be crafted, and forms to be filled out. The list never grows shorter. It's easy for us to get overwhelmed with our responsibilities, so much so that sometimes we forget what it is that we have achieved in creating this community.

This week we got a wonderful reminder from a new resident, Glenn, who told us he knew immediately that he wanted to live here when he saw the word "cohousing" in our ad for rentals.  He had been interested in intentional communities for a long time, and had followed the progress of several groups that wanted to build cohousing developments.

What impressed him most was that we had actually done it!  He knew of at least five or six proposed cohousing projects that never got off the drawing board, and yet, our little band of dreamers and idealists and activists had managed to create this beautiful building, after many years of effort.

We invested the money from our savings, pension funds, and sales of homes and property, hired architects, construction managers, code consultants, marketing assistants, arranged for construction loans, researched energy-efficient heating systems and environmentally-friendly building materials, and spent hundreds of hours in meetings.

And then three years ago, we got our occupancy permit, and here we are!  As I sit here in my office, I can hear the children in the atrium.  Outside my patio window the dew glistens on the flowers in Susana's garden and on late-ripening tomatoes in the veggie plots of our other enthusiastic gardeners.

The story of us is pretty amazing, as Glenn reminded us. On Saturday we'll be setting out our stall at the annual Harvest Festival held on Wesley Street in Nanaimo from 10:30 am to 3:30 pm.  If you're in town, come on by and we'll tell you more!

Kathryn

Faith and Move-Ins

My apologies for not posting to the blog more often this week.  I know with blogs that in order to make them effective you're supposed to write in them every other day - sort of like flossing!

My excuse is house guests and a move-in.  I had another set of friends from Scotland come for a visit (and they, too, were surprised by the amount of traffic and car use in a small city like Nanaimo), and some new tenants move in to Pacific Gardens.

This was no ordinary move-in.  What made it really special was the faith and determination of the young family who have come to live here, because they did it sight unseen.

They had been wanting to move to a warmer climate than the one in the rural community outside Edmonton where they were living, and if possible, to a life in cohousing.

So they started with the web, first going to the Intentional Communities Directory where we've been listed for several years, and found Pacific Gardens.
When they went to our website, they saw that we had some units for rent, including a three-bedroom-and-den.

They e-mailed, we answered, they read our newsletter The Bloomin' News, they telephoned. And then they made a decision to move themselves and their three children to our community, trusting that they would find a better life here, and this without ever meeting any of us or seeing where they would be living.

I find their faith in us and the potential of life in cohousing amazing and heartening and wonderful, and I'm excited about what they will bring to Pacific Gardens.

Faith may or may not move mountains, but it can rev up moving vans to travel over them!

Kathryn

Killer Whales and Potlucks

A few days ago I saw a news item on the CBC news about the decline in killer whale pods off the coast of British Columbia.  Scientists were seeing a far smaller number of whales in the pods, as well as less vocalizing, and were trying to figure out why.

One possible factor was the lack of chinook salmon this year, which is the preferred dinner dish for killer whales. Perhaps the whales were eating in smaller groups because there wasn't as much to go around, and vocalizing less because they didn't want to signal to other killer whales that there was food available.

The scientist interviewed on the CBC noted that killer whales always eat together - "perhaps because they consider it rude to eat alone", he said, somewhat in jest. That got me thinking about the connection between their behaviour and ours.

Maybe they're eating together just to be polite - who knows? - but more likely for the maintenance of their own health and well-being.  There is a considerable amount of research out there that shows families that eat together are happier and healthier, and if it's true for us, it most likely is for them.

Sharing a meal is something that unites communities. It's hard to stay angry at someone you've had supper with. Breaking bread with another person establishes an emotional bond.

That's why potlucks and communal meals are so important in cohousing communities. Like the killer whales, we know it's better to eat together, and not just because we think it's rude to eat alone.

Kathryn

The rock-polisher effect

Sometimes it's hard to explain to people why I chose to live in cohousing.  It isn't always easy; in fact, sometimes it's downright challenging. I guess the best answer I can give is that I like living here because it makes me a better person.

Diana Leafe Christian, cohousing guru and author, has described it as the rock-polisher effect. By tumbling up against each other as we struggle to live in community, we round off our sharp edges, become brighter, more beautiful.

For me, I've learned how to be more patient with myself and others, more accepting of differences. Understanding others takes time, and that's good. It's also given me the courage to live according to my beliefs, knowing that there are others who will join me along the way. And that is a great gift, worth all the challenges.

Kathryn

Where neighbours become friends

There are times when I think that living in cohousing is too much - too many meetings, too many tasks, too much argy-bargy.

And then I experience what I did in the last two days.  I had to go to hospital for a diagnostic test today, and sent out an e-mail for someone to drive me there and back. I immediately had offers of help from two people.

Then, I had problems with a lock, sent out another e-mail asking for help, and within five minutes one of my neighbours showed up and fixed it in a nanosecond.

And finally, this afternoon, when I came back from the hospital, a neighbour showed up at my door with a gift of a scrumptious cinnamon bun - apologizing that it didn't have any icing!

Now, I don't want to give the impression that cohousing is all about what you can get from others.  It's also about what you can give. And this culture of giving is contagious - when you see your neighbours helping each other out, you feel motivated to do the same.  And that builds connections and trust.

So, despite having to endure a rather unpleasant medical test, I am feeling really good this afternoon, thanks to my wonderful, caring neighbours here at Pacific Gardens!

Kathryn

My first cohousing blog ever!

I admit I am not always au courant with the latest in online developments. I only got into Facebook and Twitter when I was (briefly) a Green Party candidate.  I have to say, though, that I am finding them a wonderful tool for connecting like-minded people, and, with Twitter, making pithy comments.

Blogging is different, however.  I've kept a journal for many years, recording my innermost thoughts and dreams, but this is much more public, a cross between a newspaper story and a personal account. Blogging about cohousing, and particularly, life at Pacific Gardens Cohousing Community, will be interesting, so watch this space!

Kathryn

The adventure continues

Pacific Gardens Cohousing Community has come a long way since I started this blog. Back then we weren't yet living our dream. Our complex still was under construction.

I called my blog, My Cohousing Adventure. I shared my experience of moving from Calgary, Alberta to Nanaimo, British Columbia. That involved integrating into communities within communities.

The most closely knit circle was Pacific Gardens Cohousing Community. But there were other groups of people with common interests in Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island, and further afield along the British Columbia coast.

It's interesting to look up my first blog post and see what I wrote. It was on November 25, 2008, and I titled it Pigs Will Fly.

Fast forward to June 25, 2012. Believe it or not, I think it's fair to say that pigs are flying!

The residents of Pacific Gardens Cohousing Community are a wide cross section of people. There are elders, middle aged baby boomers, university students, and families with young children. Pacific Gardens seems to be a mini United Nations, with people of many nationalities and religions.

One of the characteristics of Pacific Gardens Cohousing Community from the very beginning was a fondness of potluck suppers. At 6:00 pm every Thursday there's a potluck that's open to the public. This often attracts repeat visits by friends and family members as well as one-off visits on the part of people who are curious about cohousing.

But there also are many spontaneous potluck suppers on other occasions. When a new person or family moves in, a potluck is held to ease their evening meal on their busy moving day. Potlucks are held for many other reasons too. Pacific Gardeners love them, and will hold one at the drop of a hat.

I like the fact that the community's name includes Gardens. It's an apt metaphor for the reality on the ground.

If you take the word literally, several community members are keen gardeners, even to the extent of hosting permaculture courses at Pacific Gardens.

But many other kinds of "gardening" are happening too. Cohousing is a way of life that grows people.

Learning how to cooperate with neighbours is an ongoing journey. During conflicts, I've thought of this or that person as a weed. But then, on other occasions, one of those very "weeds" has turned out to be a person of great sensitivity. He or she has noticed an unmet need in our community, and has rallied us to support a person who could use a shoulder to lean on. My idea of what a "weed" is has been challenged again and again.

I'm sure that other Pacific Gardeners could say the same of me -- that I have contributed to their personal growth.

I could rattle on about all the neat stuff that happens at Pacific Gardens -- the interesting forums on environmental topics, the movie nights, the musical evenings, the meditation circles, the yoga classes, the painting bee to decorate the dining tables ....... you name it.

I could try to give you a sense of the porous boundary between Pacific Gardens and the surrounding community -- how much interface there is between Pacific Gardens and external friends, family members and folks with common concerns.

But ....... other Pacific Gardeners have expressed a desire to post on this blog. I am thrilled about that. To me, it means that Pacific Gardens truly is showing itself up as the garden I always thought it would be. From here on in, there will be a variety of voices representing the community.

So ....... with that ....... drum roll ....... I hereby re-name this blog .......



OUR Cohousing Adventure!

Eureka

Yesterday we hosted a visitor from out of town. We had lunch with her and took her on a tour of our Pacific Gardens Cohousing Community construction site.

She told us how she had spent a considerable amount of time defining what she wanted. Once she'd gotten clear about that, she had no idea where she would find it or if it even existed. Then, during an Internet search, she stumbled on the concept of cohousing. In amazement she realized that was it.

I found it fun to speak with her. I got the impression that she started out feeling a little sceptical, as if this might be too good to be true. She asked us question after question. No matter what she asked, it turned out that we not only had addressed the issue, but also had done so in a way that aligned with her values.

I watched her almost pinching herself to check that she was awake. I am very familiar with that sensation. In fact that's how I feel right now.

The adventure expands

This is a short break during a three and a half day workshop in consensus decision making that I'm doing at Creekside Commons in Courtenay, BC.

For me the rewards of this experience are off the charts. I'm learning so much from observing the dynamics of our host community, and from accessing the combined wisdom of eight intentional communities in coastal British Columbia. Besides that, it's just plain fun.

I rather suspect I could get used to this cohousing gig. :-)

To a friend's house the way is never long.

To a friend's house the way is never long.

That was a poster that my friend, Mary, had in her kitchen in Calgary. Whenever I was in her house and saw the poster, I reflected on the truth of it. She and I lived at opposite ends of Calgary, but visiting her never felt like a chore. It didn't even feel onerous later, when a visit to her involved that protracted trans-Pacific flight from Melbourne.

I’ve just been wondering why I don't notice the "work" involved in visiting a beloved friend. The answer, for me, is that the reward far exceeds the effort.

In the world of financial investments, this is called ROI (return on investment). I have witnessed this principle again and again in the context of cohousing.

Last night, half a dozen or so members of my community had a difficult discussion. It took a long time for them to work through their issue, and it required tremendous patience. Each person listened, suspended judgement, and parked his/her ego off to one side. Tree Bressen, who facilitated a workshop for us last autumn, refers to this as being of service to the group.

After a lengthy and demanding conversation, my fellow cohos got through their dark tunnel and back into the light.

In one sense, it took a lot of effort for me even to witness this interaction. Yet, in another sense, I thought nothing of it. It doesn’t occur to me to count the cost, because the rewards of the entire enterprise so far outstrip any exertion that I put into it.

Community definitely is one of those phenomena of which it can be said that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The ROI that I have received from it is beyond measure.

I also happen to believe that, if anything will enable us humans to meet our challenges, it will be community, which I view as just another word for love.

Walkabout

When I lived in Melbourne, white people used the term "walkabout" quite frequently. For example, when I phoned my friend, Jean, her husband, Piet, answered and said, "She's gone walkabout." All he meant was that she was away on some unspecified errand, and he didn't know exactly when to expect her back.

But, while I was in Australia , I learned that Aboriginal people attached a more significant meaning to "walkabout." To them, dropping everything and "going walkabout" meant answering a call to go on a spiritual quest.

I don't know exactly what Aboriginal people do when they go walkabout. I gather they go into the bush for a while, re-establish their connection with nature, and feel spiritually replenished. I dare say the experience is unique to each person who undertakes it.

Today it occurred to me that the ultimate joy would be to feel as if I had gone walkabout (in the Aboriginal sense of the word), but without having to leave home to access that experience.

Then I reflected on the life that I had created in Nanaimo, with people in and out of my cohousing community, and realized that that was exactly what I had accomplished!

Oh ....... my ....... goodness .......