On the Road

Now that I’m retired, before I return to San Francisco and sink my teeth into one project or another, I’m traveling for five weeks. First I went to Seattle to see how Brandon Faloona and his family are doing. The answer was: very well. Brandon likes his new job and his wife, Kristen, has done a marvelous job homeschooling their children. They study hard, have learned a lot, and are totally into baseball. While I was there, the elder co-chaired, with a peer, a global, kid-led Plant for the Planet meeting and refereed two girls soccer games (for money!). And the younger performed a piano solo that he composed at a recital with fellow students.

When I returned to San Francisco for three days, I stopped drinking coffee — partly because I knew I wouldn’t have access to good espresso on my East Coast visit, and partly because I prefer not to be addicted to anything and feel more grounded when I don’t drink coffee, Fortunately I had largely recovered from the withdrawal symptoms before I arrived at my older sister, Sara’s, house in northern Virginia to help her prepare for a sudden move to another residence.

After a few days with her, I headed south through the Blue Ridge Mountains to visit with old friends from San Francisco, Sara Colm and Andy Maxwell, who are homesteading a beautiful, sizable piece of land in southern Virginia.  A few days there helped me become more relaxed each day.

Now I’m in  Asheville, NC, where Rena Lindstrom, an old friend from Mexico, will give me a tour later today, after which I’m foot-loose before I go help my sister move on June 21 and fly back to SFO on June 24.

When I get back home, I’m still very optimistic about the Holistic Movement Building workshop and Thrive East Bay, both of which I discussed in Wade’s Journal. With Sara’s help, I’m learning how to make movies and hope to engage that medium once I’m settled.

Concerning the state of the world, it’s an open question for me whether we’re on a downward spiral of increasing selfishness (see “It’s All About Me (and My Family”) or will sustain humanity’s history of social progress. The hard time Trump is getting is cause for hope, but the warning signs are ominous, especially the growing use of social media, which may be causing serious harm.

Following are some photos and videos from my travels so far:

Seattle 2017
Ruby’s Place

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