Another morning of farm chores, including milking the goats, this time with Rafael who lives with his partner, Valerie in the little cabin above the river. They just came back from a two week canoe trip on a river up north with their dog, Nori. They parked their truck at one end of the river,…

The farm I am staying at is called ‘Les Broussailles’ which means brushwood in French. It is just outside of Martinville, about 2.5 hours east and slightly north of Montréal, about 1/2 hour from the US border with Vermont and New Hampshire. It rained most of the night last night. I had my window open…

Last night and now again this morning one of the cats, Mignon un, came to hang out on my bed. It’s nice hearing that familiar purring which I haven’t had for a while. This morning I got up and did my regular morning routine, meditating and journaling, then headed out to do chores. I fed…

I’m getting to know everybody a little bit better as we chat while doing chores or meals. Jean-Francois owns the farm and runs it with his children. Among other talents he plays the accordion. I heard him playing when I was preparing salad for dinner last night and again today when I was doing some…

What a full and fun day. I am learning what it is like to be in an immersive language environment, actually, I would say it is semi-immersive. Everyone here speaks English to some extent (and a lot better than I speak French!), so when I am being taught how to do things around the farm…

Today was a very full day! I got up at 2:30am in order to make it to the airport by 3:50. I needn’t have worried about it as check-in was very fast, I was done in five minutes and then had to wait until 4:30 when TSA opened up. That was fine with me as…

I am realizing how much I like to know what is going to happen. I’m excited but feeling a bit stressed about going to Canada since I don’t know what it’s going to be like when I get there. I don’t know any of the people or a lot about what I’m going to do…

I spent the last few days in LA for a JNE meeting. Before I left I got in a long walk and went past a Rite-Aid that was originally a Thrifty drug store and still had a Thrifty ice cream sign out front. That brought back such memories of getting 10c square scooped ice cream.…

On Monday, I spent time with Javi at the beach, the last time I get to hang out with him until I get back in October. We had a blast and I was very grateful for how uncrowded the beach was. It was warmer than I expected, I was fine wearing shorts and being barefoot…

On Sunday I went for a hike with my hiking buddies. We decided not to do a ridge trail hike as we we getting a later start than usual. Instead we hiked the Cataract Falls – Potrero Meadow loop on Mount Tam. It’s a short 6 1/2 mile challenging hike that is beautiful, when on…