2009: A Time to Reflect and Reconnect

To my beloveds,

I hope that this time of year has found each and every one of you happy, healthy and energized to begin your journey into 2010. Please know that you are all in my thoughts this holiday season and have once again supported me in my life's decisions, and for that, I am eternally grateful. Whether you have provided me with an encouraging word, been along during a time of celebration or shared a living space with me for a short or longer period of time, you have all been vital to my evolution in 2009.

This year has been a very sentimental one for me. I have been fortunate enough to spend the year of 2009 reconnecting with myself and all of the wonderful people whom have helped shape my adult life. As we continue on our own personal path, it is easy to loose touch with those whose paths you may have crossed or even merged with along the way. This year, I was lucky enough to retrace my steps a bit and see what directions my dear friends and family have chosen. I've even walked alongside many of you for a bit. I have also been given the opportunity to share life with some beautiful new friends. This time was invaluable to me. I feel so fortunate to have such unconditional love in my life and to have been able to share time with people who mean the most to me. In order to further illustrate this, I must take a moment to reflect on the numerous experiences that have composed my 2009.

The new year started in Montana where I was reunited with a few of the members of "Team Fun" including Sarah, Sherm and of course Canyon, Poncho the dog and Carlos. A back country cabin in the Montana wilderness to ring in 2009 seemed to set the tone perfectly for times to come in wonderfully wild "Montuckybama!"

Spending time with Canyon and Carlos in Eureka, Montana was incredibly introspective for me. Being somewhat isolated near the Canadian border in a home built with love and spirit during the coldest months of the winter taught me solitude and humility. Canyon and I collaborated on a few projects and even got a couple of articles published...much to my delight. Canyon is an incredibly talented person and to share a creative space with him was simply glorious. Montana in the winter is a memory that will live on in my mind for eternity. Thanks for your graciousness my dear friend.

From Montana, Canyon and I drove down to Arizona to embark on the journey of a lifetime...white water rafting on the Grand Canyon. How I got included in that still boggles my mind. To this very day, the entire experience feels like a dream. There we were aboard a 16 ft inflatable raft for 23 days and 200 miles floating and "teeing up" to rapids on the great Colorado River. 14 others joined us on our journey and words cannot possibly express how indebted I am to them for all of the life lessons I learned on that trip. Completely letting go of all social norms and inhibitions was the name of the game, and we got on famously!

From the Grand, I picked up Mick at the airport in LA and we began our cross country journey in what would be my newest vehicle, Blue Bonnet: a 1993 Subaru Legacy wagon. She had 160,000 miles on her when I got her, and she's still hangin' in like a champ! Mick and I began in Southern California staying with friends in San Diego, my old stomping grounds. Marty and Mike put us up in their wonderful apartment right across from world class surf (which Mick fell in love with!) and I was able to introduce Mick to all of my So-Cal homies. Dersu, Mel, Sam, Sarah, Sherm, Jordan, Jena, Morgan, the whole crew! What a blast! I even got to "guest star" in the Billabong XXL award night with Jordan! How's that for timing? Southern California, so dear to my heart. I'll be back soon!

From southern California, we headed north up Route 1 along the beautiful California coastline stopping all along the way for camping and surfing. No matter how many times I've done that drive from southern California to San Francisco, it never ceases to amaze me. So wonderful and scenic. Once in SF, I was able to contact my dear friend Rachel whom I haven't seen in nearly 5 years. We always had an amazing connection, and the spark was still there. Rachel is one of those friends that no matter how much time has passed, it's like none has passed at all. We spent a wonderful few days in SF and then headed over to Santa Cruz where she hooked us up with a friend named Kelly who let us stay with her for a bit. We were very, very close to staying in Santa Cruz for an undefined amount of time, when I though, dang, I gotta get this guy over to the east coast so he can meet my family! And off we went.

We stopped at all my favorite spots along the way including Tahoe where the magical Michelle (also part of Team Fun!) made us feel more than welcome. Another one of those friends you can always count on for a good time! From there, we stopped in central California farmland where my dear Zachary was working on a berry farm. Every time I spend any amount of time with Zach, my energy level is raised at least 20%...maybe even more. He's an incredible spirit, and I was so delighted to have he and Mick meet. Love you to bits Zach. And then of course to none other than Yosemite National Park. Need I say more?

On and out of CaCalifornia for a quick stop in Vegas, and into the Utah desert to my favorite parks in America, Bryce Arches and Zion. Ahhh, breathtaking. Mick was so inspired he did some painting of the magnificent landscapes so different to his native land of Australia.
A few more stops and parks along the way and POOF! We were back in good old Boston eating Pizza Regina with Mom, Auntie and Beaner!

Bringing Mick to meet my tight knit family was a treat in and of itself. My "rock" Auntie Maryann allowed us to stay in my cousin Matt's room for the summer (Matty, I can't thank you enough!) and needless to say, Auntie and I got very close...sharing a bathroom and a love seat on a daily basis will do that to people..especially relatives! I got my old job back at the Fairview Inn and Restaurant for the summer and got to make great money and reconnect with some friends I had made before my first journey to California nearly 5 years earlier! What's more, I got to hang with some of my fabulous friends from Highschool whom I hadn't seen in nearly 10 years! Sarah Ferullee and Kristen Rainville among others including JoJo, Stoosh, Danielle, Pegs and so many more. It was so great to spend time with the beautiful women who were among my marvelous group of friends and teammates during the MHS days...and then there's Alison.

Ali has been my friend for 12 years. Being away from here for the last 6 has been tough on both of us, especially since she had two beautiful girls in the last 3 years. Spending time with precious Anna and Hazel was like a dream come true this summer. To see their mother's face in those beautiful little girls was a gift from the heavens. To see how happy she is to be a mother is beyond explanation. There really is something about seeing your best friend grow into a beautiful mother and wife that is priceless. I miss you girls so much, and you know I do.

Family is a whole other chapter. My dear sister Jilly has become an incredible woman. She has excelled terrifically in her social life and is doing increasingly well in school studying to be a Music Therapist. She and I had some wonderful intimate times this summer. She is truly the wind beneath my wings, and I can't being to explain how proud I am of her. Reliving childhood moments with my mother and father whom have been so supportive of me over the years gave me such great joy this summer. As I am getting older, I am finding how similar we all are and am starting to really recognize traits and characteristics that I have inherited from them. I am so thankful to them every day for bringing me into this world.

My brother and his daughter Scarlett spent a few weekends with us as well. I was lucky enough to take Scarlett tent camping for her first time down on Cape Cod. She reveled in the fun of camping and boogie boarding in the waters of the Cape. Speaking of the Cape, Uncle Roy and Auntie Liz were wonderful to me this summer as the treated Mick and I to a few wonderful events chock full of food, wine and laughs! We had a wonderful time at Uncle Roy's 70th birthday where I got to see rellies I haven't seen in years. I even was able to trace back some of my history with Frances and Michael and spend some wonderful quality time with my dear Auntie Fran. Probably the cutest thing on the earth. I love you Auntie Fran! Hang in there I'll be home soon!

Towards the end of the summer my thoughtful father splurged and bought us plane tickets to Florida to visit my sick Grandma and my aunts, uncles and cousins whom I hadn't seen in years as well. I thoroughly enjoyed the company of Aunt Beth, Uncle and cousin Steve and Aunt Laurie and Hanah and Lauren. Again, invaluable experiences that will forever stick in my mind. I was also able to do a bit of investigating into my father's side of the family which proved to be very interesting.

I was also lucky enough to spend time with 2 people incredibly dear to my heart. Nancy and Larry O'Toole. Although the relationship between them has changed, these "surrogate parents" to me have never let our relationship slip. Nancy is very much a spiritual guide to me. Plain and simple, if it were not for her, I would not be on the path I am today. The same goes for Larry, but in a very different way. I got to spend time with each of these marvelous people this summer and reconnecting with them was so good for my soul.

On my way back to Australia, I decided that another week or so would be good to say hi to my west coast friends. I stopped again in San Diego and LA and had one hell of a Halloween in LA with Jena. Such a beautiful and creative soul that Jena. I love her dearly for she always makes me special, bad-ass and just a little bit fancy.

Since I've been in Australia, I've made new friends. I've been introduced to some of Mick's best friends and had a glimpse of what his childhood was like. Getting to know someone means getting to know their friends and family, and I feel much closer to Mick having done so. Oh, I also spent my first Christmas on the beach! Swimming in the ocean on Christmas Day!

Now here I sit, back in Australia reflecting on the wonderful memories of 2009. I know that this past year was a time for reflection for me. Time to reflect and reconnect is so vital to our growth, and as a result, I feel renewed and rejuvenated. I wonder what 2010 will be like? What comes after reflection? I think it's time to make some new memories!

In love and grattitude ...

Merry Aussie Christmas!

It's 85 degrees here. The weather is beautiful. Tropical cockatoos are feeding right outside the window, the warm smell of the ocean wafts in the front door from time to time, the occasional mozzy (or skeeter as we call em back home) nips at your ankle. It's summer in Australia...and it's also Christmas in Australia. I know, I know, I should be used to it because I'm on the other side of the world, but it's just not quite like the Christmases I've experienced in the past.

New England getting a 2 foot snowstorm securing their hopes for a "white Christmas" makes me incredibly nostaligic. I'm sure many of you in New England wish that you were somewhere tropical while trying to avoid the hustle and bustle and bitter cold of the holiday season, but there is really something to having Christmas in winter. A big pine Christmas tree, an open hearth fire, wool sweaters, mittens and hats. Egg nogg and hot chocolate. Er, not so fun in the heat. Can you tell I'm a little homesick? You expected it didn't you?! The holidays are always the hardest time for me to be away. I think I'm just a seasons girl. That's it plain and simple. I like change. Tropical Christmas however...not the kind of change I'm crazy about.

We've been doing a pretty good job of trying to adhere to my usual Christmas standards here. I make Mick and his mom Sue bake Christmas cookies (from scratch thank you very much!) here. They enjoyed it very much. Mick played the token boy role and made a hermaphrodite gingerbread man! We all got into the spirit with music, hats and the whole bit. What I failed to remember was that it's summer time, and turning the oven on for an hour in the middle of the day might not have been the best idea. Oh well! You live you learn! Maybe we should go for an ice cream cake next time! Regardless, we all got pretty creative with the cookies and they got gobbled up pretty quickly! Sue is really sweet and she's already made a big effort to make sure that the holiday is special for me. She loves getting creative and festive as well, so that's good. She bought me a cute little "Merry Australian Christmas" hat and even made me some Christmas PJ's and angel earrings!! She also got a bunch of the supplies for the cookies! She's too cute.

Today there is a Christmas farmer's market down the street so we'll be checking that out and seeing if we can't locate some festive lights (more likely to be blues, pinks and purples rather than the traditional red, green and yellow!) this evening.

I was thinking the other day how funny the Christmas cycles of life are. As a child, you can hardly sleep awaiting the arrival of Santa and his precious gifts. As a teenager, you can't wait for it to be over so you can go hang out with your friends. As a young adult, you appreciate the true meaning of Christmas and enjoy giving more than getting. And then as a 20-something, you just want to be with the ones you love, no matter what the circumstances, get a bit tipsy and have laughs about how bratty you were as kids opening gifts! I suppose when you have children, the Christmas cycle happens all over again. I must say, I'm looking forward to the next cycle. For now, I'll live vicariously through young mothers and their small children.

Merry Christmas to all from Down Undah!

Adelaide!

Hey all!
Well, we are currently in Adelaide, South Australia, getting ready to head to the Flinders Ranges. Adelaide is my favorite Australian city so far. Very clean, quiet and fairly small for a city. Just my size! We've been living it up with daily showers and a beautiful kitchen to cook in since we've been staying with a couple of Mick's friends. Mick was born here and lived here until he was 5. His grandma lives here and we spent all day yesterday with her and her husband. We had a really nice time with them. It's been nice to chill and hang in a metropolitan area for a few days to recoup and clean up a bit. All that is about to chance as we head into the arid desert like landscape of the Flinders Ranges.

Mick and his family used to visit the Flinders Ranges when the boys were young. He has very fond memories of his dad painting up there, so we are going to do some artwork. I'm really looking forward to seeing a bit of Australian Outback since we haven't seen much of that yet. We should run into (hopefully not literally!) a few red kangaroos which are much larger than the eastern greys that we've seen so far. I really hope we see a few.

Oh, good news, the article that Canyon and I wrote for Method Magazine got published! That is the first time I've ever had written media published! It's a really cool magazine as well. Check it out online at http://www.methodmagazine.com/ . I wish we could get it in the states, but unless you have a subscription, you can't get it. Hopefully they will be sending me a copy, so I'll let you know when and if I receive it!

No pics this time. It's really hard to find a computer down here that will let you load photos, so when we get to mick's mom's house I'll load a bunch of them. Hope you are all gearing up for Christmas!

Lots of Love and holiday cheer!
ss

Stuck in Heaven

Well, my dad always said that lobster is the food of the Gods...well if that's true, than I must be in Heaven!

Mick and I are now near Mount Gambier, South Australia, the rock lobster capital of the world! Mick grew up here, and has fished and dived these waters many a time, so needless to say, he is a master at catching crays (or lobsters as we know them!) and abalone...something I hadn't tried yet! Yummmm. They taste something like a cross between calamari and clams. They're basically big snails that suction on to the rocks (you have to dive for them). The inside of their shells are famed for their mother of pearl which many of you may be familiar with.

I hate to rub it in, but I simply must! The past 4 nights we have had Snapper, Abalone, Lobster, Lobster and tonight we are having Tasmanian Atlantic Salmon and then tomorrow night...you guessed it, Lobster! You wouldn't believe the size of some of these sea buggers! We did something really fun yesterday... we took a boat out to a rock wall and stuck a pole in the water with fishing line tied on the end baited with fish and netted crays hanging on to the bait! We got pretty good at it too! Pulled in 3 two pounders! Once again...I'm in heaven!

Besides gorging on seafood, we have had a very impressive week. Since my last post, we have slowly traveled down the Great Ocean Road which for anyone who's ever been here will agree looks a heck of a lot like the Big Sur Coastline with some very impressive rock formations, Koalas, world class surf, and coastal rain forest! Sooo beautiful! We saw tons of Koalas really close up which Mick tells me is pretty rare. He's only ever seen 2 in the wild previous to this trip, so I think we got pretty lucky! They are just the cutest darn things!

The beaches here in Australia have to be absolutely the most beautiful ones in the world. The rugged coastline provides a picturesque view in every direction, and because the country is so underpopulated, there is hardly ever another soul sharing the beach with you! We've spent a lot of time of the beach soaking in the sights and sounds of the powerful ocean, and we have, time and time again been blessed with an abundance of seafood. It's funny how when you need food it somehow comes to you. It really helps you to understand how the Aboriginal people here survived for so many thousands of years with virtually nothing. We've been very lucky thus far, and hope our luck continues!

We've been staying with one of Mick's best friends for the last 4 days. It's been really cool to see him with his friends that he grew up with. It's funny to hear stories about him growing up and to get a feel for what his childhood and teenage years must have been like. It's always interesting to step into someone else's world for a while. It really allows you to feel what they would have felt. This place is special to Mick too since it is where he learned how to surf and fish, his two favorite past times. I'm lucky that I get to see it all first hand.

Well, that's it for this one. Hope you enjoyed the photos and you all had a fabulous Turkey Day!

Fish, fish, and more fish...and mussells too!

Here is a"fish faces" photo for my "FishFacebook" And there's Mick with his Groper!

Well, as you can tell by my title and the above photos, we've been doing one heck of a lot of fishing! Twice and some times 3 times a day! Mick's a master crab and worm catcher, so we always have plenty of bait! We were at a spot a few days ago that Mick "recons" was one of the best rock fisihing spots he's ever been to. As a result, we've pulled in everything from tropical reef fish to Grouper to Snapper! 5 snapper to be exact! Oh, and a few dozen mussells straight off the rocks! We are almost to the border of Victoria, which will be a new Australian state for me, so I'm pretty excited. We are thinking that we'll head back up to the Gold Coast for Xmas and New Years to be with Mick's family and friends which I am happy about. You all know how I am with the holidays!

I think I came up with a good name for Wanda's her blog tell me what you think: "Wanda, Where are Ewe?". Here's the latest in her Thanksgiving Turkey costume! Gobble gobble!

Hope all is well in America! No proper Thanksgiving celebration here, but Mick's gonna try to get some Lobsters! YUM! I'll be thankful for that! Oh, and I'm thankful for my boyfriend who forces me to eat healthy and loose weight! No sweets and only 1 bag of Doritos so far makes a difference!

Wanda and Frank...

Where's Wooly Wanda?

Oysters by candelight anyone? Romantic eh? Caught 'em ourselves too!

Well, it's been almost a week since I left the northern hemmisphere, and boy has it been fun so far! From Sydney, Mick picked me up and we headed inland to the Blue Mountains where we caught up with a friend that we met in Java, Indonesia. After that, we made a bee-line for the coast and have found some beautiful camp spots along the way.

Australia's South Coast (the area south of Sydney) has some of the most beautiful coastline in Australia. There are hundreds of miles of coastline that is virtually untouched, which means the fishing is amazing! Rock fishing in natural untouched habitats is some of the most exciting fishing around. We've only caught 2 feeds of fish so far including a beautiful purpley blue Leatherjacket and 4 or 5 small Whiting. Not so bad to start.

The Van is going great so far, we are thinking that we'll name him Frank after Sinatra (old blue eyes!) since he is a beautiful color blue. What a treat it is to travel in luxury with a sink, fridge, stove and bed! You can't imagine what a difference it makes to travel comfortably and be able to pull up and camp anywhere you want! Life is good so far! Next we're off to Victoria, the next state south and home to Melbourne. We'll follow the coast and continue fishing and surfing all the way to South Oz. Things get a bit more remote the further south we go, so I may not always be able to update, but will do as often as possible.

A new addition to my blog is the beautiful Wolly Wanda. I'm starting a new page soon called Where's Wooly Wanda. For now, just enjoy the pics! Thanks Rick and Pat for the gift!

ketchup

whew, it's been a while! since my last post, i have floated down the grand canyon for 23 days, reconnected with almost each and every one of my friends across the country and have spent 2 months driving across america in a 1993 subaru legacy. now here i reside in marshfield massachusetts where i was born and raised so spend some much needed time catching up with friends and family...and filling my wallet while i'm at it!

stay tuned for some outdated posts from my summertime endeavors!!

Split-Boarding in Glacier National Park

If anyone has ever been to Montana's illustrious Glacier National Park, imagine standing atop Apgar Lookout overlooking Lake MacDonald and the plethora of wondrous peaks stretching over 10,000 feet into the big crisp blue sky. Now imagine standing there with a snowboard, and having the pleasure of riding down engulfed in that incredible view. If you haven't been there, well just look to the left and you'll get an inkling of an idea of what it feels like.



The hike up (or "skin" as we call it in the back country snowboarding world) was actually more pleasurable than the ride down, although it's hard to determine which takes the cake...

It took us about 2 1/2 hours to reach the Apgar Lookout, and about 30 minutes into the hike, the magnificent view came into focus. Zig-zagging up steep pitches generously covered in spruce trees and perfect quality snow, I occasional verified with Canyon that we were on the right track. He had done this tour once or twice before and, as usual, was cruising at a much quicker pace than I. I huffed and puffed pushing my over sized skis (actually two halves of a snowboard) up and over fallen branches and around tight turns.

Once we entered the clearing finally out of the dense trees, I turned around and to my surprise, saw the most beautiful vista I'd ever seen. I was quick to deem this the best snowboarding hike I had ever done, and we weren't even at the top yet!

We rested at the lookout for a half hour, sipped in the 360 degree views and had some snacks to refuel for the ride down. We carelessly slashed turns throwing snow into our faces momentarily obstructing the breathtaking view.

Once at the bottom, we hooted and hollered, and switched back over to ski mode to get out of the woods. When we got to the car, we high-fived, and in all the excitement of a day well spent... accidentally locked the keys in the car. Figures.

It's a small world...

So it turns out that the world is an extremely small place...not that we didn't already know that.

Sarah put me in touch with one of her friends (who happens to have graduated from Quinnipiac) who is thinking about returning to SE Asia to do some volunteer work in Cambodia at an orphanage. I of course told her of my experience while I was there, and said I wished I could remember the name of the place so I could send here there. I looked it up, and couldn't seem to find the name in any of the lists online.

Turns out, the name of the orphanage has changed due to some corrupt businessmen, and her two girlfriends have financially taken over the orphanage...the same exact one that I went to. To give you an idea of how much of a coincidence (or not!) this is, there are thousands of orphaned children in Cambodia and a surprising number of them are infected with AIDS. There are also at least a dozen orphanages that cater to these types of children. Amazing how the world works.

She (Regina) sent me the link to the new website for the kids, and low and behold...there they all are looking healthy and beautiful. Some of the girls who were really sick while I was there last November look wonderful. They all have new clothes, school uniforms, and plenty of food in their bellies. Doesn't that make you feel good? It made me cry. You could imagine my surprise to see pictures of the kids over a year later.

You may remember the photo above of me with the kids. Check out the website of the new "Sunflower" orphanage:
http://s242740355.onlinehome.us/cambodia/wordpress/

See if you can notice the difference that a year makes in some of those beautiful faces.

Life is beautiful.

Road Trip!

Canyon and I decided that the best thing we could possibly do was drive to Salt Lake City Utah to get the work out about YONink and the documentary project that we are working on. We packed up the car, and drove for 10 hours to Salt Lake. We were greeted with a wonderful exclusive party in Park City that featured the film "My Own Two Feet" that we worked on last winter and all the free beer wine or champagne you can drink. Needless to say, it was a good night.

We stayed with out friend Forrest who treated us like gold. Forrest is one of those people that would just do anything for you despite his busy schedule as a pro-snowboarder. He really took good care of us.

The reason for the trip was the Outdoor Retailer show in SLC. Forrest got us passes (usually $400 each) and we snuck in with our project proposal in hand and our name tags covered by business cards. We talked to a lot of big outdoor companies that seem very interested in the project, so we'll see how it goes. I think we can seriously get some funding for it and make it happen. It's pretty much Canyon's baby, I'm just trying to rock it off the ground.

While we were in Utah, we got to snowboard a day at Solitude mountain. On the second run of the day, we followed a local up what he deemed "one of the scarier hikes in the Wasatch" where I almost peed my pants and cried at least twice. We were hiking along a ridge with exposed rock faces and certain death on either side. Not so fun. I guess the ride down was worth it after we got past the super steep drop-in. The trees were untouched and there was plenty of powder for all.
I guess it was worth it.

It was that experience that lent some eye opening realizations to me. I realized that I don't really have much desire to put myself in situations where I don't feel safe anymore...well, as far as adrenaline sports are concerned anyways. I don't really like being scared anymore. I always say that the reward is worth it, but I actually don't think it is. I must be getting old...

Anyways, from there, we decided that we should go visit my old friend Scott Smith in Jackson Hole where he works at the top of the tram selling waffles. This kid is pretty much a legend at Jackson Hole thanks to his stellar waffles. We had an amazing day of fresh snow, all the waffles we could eat and free drinks at the end to boot! Doesn't get much better than that. It was so good to spend some time with Scotty. I forgot how good of friends we were. He's hilarious.

A ten hour drive back, and here I am in Montana again. Back to work!

Montuckybama!

Well, as you can see, Montana has been treating me good so far! The dust has finally settled from the holiday tornado that swept us all up in a current of food, fun, and rock and roll.

Montana is a beautiful place, and my first week here was a blast. We started the New Year off proper-like with Sarah and Sherm pie in the face and a 15 person party at Zip's cabin out by Glacier National P
ark. We arrived after midnight having driven a total of 8 hours and had to snowmobile into the cabin. Everyone was asleep the first night we got there which was the night before NYE. The party the next night was a blast complete with a late-night jam and extreme sledding course!

From there, I moved into my new home here in Eureka Montana in Canyon's mom's super-cool house. It's shaped like an octagon and has huge windows all throughout overlooking the mountains and valley. Such an inspirational office space. The next couple of nights we bounced around from the Cake Walk party (we constructed a Flaming Castle Dinosaur Cupcake Cake which was a huge hit) and a kid's sledding party where we had to cross country ski to get into. The next night was the Folk Society Meeting at the neighbor's house, once again, a jam session, and then SHERM came up for band practice!

We had a little impromptu studio recording preceded by a really really good dinner of Elk Backstrap courtesy of the boys. What followed is only explicable by the following photos. Let's just say it started out with custom Bloody Marys and ended in a Garage band session. Oh, we also had some fun with freezer limbo and Trixie came to town. Thanks for the wig mom!


Now it's down to business time. Check out the YONink website: www.yonink.com