#19…”Quiet” day at Home and Changes in the Weather

Again, I have not felt the need to “report” all that has been unfolding the last couple of days, and although the days were fairly quiet, they flow by with alarmingly swift speed and without realizing it, another full week has gone by since we were up on the roof singing and dancing! (I am now sitting in bed with the computer on my lap, transcribing what I wrote a few minutes ago, as I am still not tired, even though the hour is now 3:30 AM. I am quite disturbed that my hip is still “talking” to me…not loudly, but a soft, persistent whisper..but even that I haven’t heard in more than a year!). So, back to transcribing…

It is now 2:30 AM and for the first time here,
I am unable to sleep. It is hard for me to comprehend that this is all ending next week. It has been so intense, and for the first time the thought of extending my stay here begins to plague me. So. Let’s just recoup the rest of yesterday following late lunch with Dudi and then today.

I had gone to sleep the nite before, if you remember, a very hot day where I had gone out with Dudi after my lovely massage with him. I figured I’d have an early night when I got back to the room. But my “muse” was waiting for me when I returned and in just 15 minutes I had Ben’s proposal written up. The other day he had given me all his input about how he views his farm and reforestation project and left it to me to put it into a workable proposal, in the event that the words came to me. I had just left everything to rest in the computer when all of a sudden I knew exactly what I needed to write.

I then had a snack with Tasha and Yael. Tasha was again after a difficult phone conversation with her boyfriend, so I offered her Reiki to calm her down. She had never had Reiki before (she is now sold on it and will learn when she gets home), and then asked Yael to go down and tell Ben his proposal was ready if he felt like coming up in 45 minutes to see it. End of early night. It was already 8:30 when Tasha and I began her Reiki session. When I finished the Reiki session, Ben was patiently waiting outside, as he also wanted to apologize to me as he was cancelling our hitchhiking date in favor of a better offer…someone was taking his motorbike to the local game reserve for the day and offered to take him along. I was actually relieved as I knew I would need a day to just rest with my hip making noises. (The hip will be shortly explained…)

Anyway, he was thrilled and quite impressed with the proposal and with my writing “expertise” and with the fact that I had said everything he had thought of saying but never could have put into written form himself. (You can see the proposal at the end of the post).We decided to add a picture of him which he will come and pose for and perhaps even short video if we manage it in the short time left.

Later in the evening my hip began to bother me (was feeling it even while out with Dudi earlier but trying to ignore it for as long as possible) for the first time in a very long time. It actually disturbed my sleep at the beginning of the night. I began , of course, to blame myself for not eating properly and being hard on myself while still putting part of the “blame” on the hot dry weather of the past couple of days. When I really couldn’t sleep, I remembered I had Tara Brach’s book with me with her lovely meditations for all situations based on her background as clinical psychologist as well as Buddhist practitioner and teacher. One of them was to help us use the concept of Radical Acceptance to gracefully accept pain without blaming ourselves. After doing this difficult but lovely meditation, I easily fell asleep and slept very soundly until morning, when I had this early morning dream of Ben sitting outside my room, in winter clothing, waiting for me. And when I opened my eyes, quite late for me-almost 9 AM – there he was, outside my room, patiently waiting for me to wake up, dressed in WINTER CLOTHES. The weather had turned colder, very cloudy, and very windy, and looked like a storm was on its way. And that, together with the accumulation of wrong foods I’ve been eating for the past 2 weeks, and the swift change from very hot and dry to cold and wet weather, certainly would explain my hip.

Planning an easy day for myself and my hip, I didn’t understand why he was here, as he was supposed to have left at 6 for his outing. Apparently both him and this other fellow had eaten something bad and neither was up to a day trip. So I gave him my ginger oil and sent him home. I needed time alone in peace and quiet…at least that was what I had in mind.

So…my day:

Got up slowly…did a facial for myself, a pedicure, beautiful hot shower and then down for breakfast. When I came back up, Tasha was up after Yoga and so I did her nails for fun also. And then, with the nasty weather as well as my needed to rest my hip, decided it was a perfect day for the movies. Tasha, Ben and Yael were all invited, but we couldn’t decide on what to see…in the end, Ben came up first while Tasha went shopping and Yael went to practice Reiki on Dudi. We had decided to see the Notebook, and beautiful poignant love story beautifully acted by Gena Rowlands and James Garner, but when he saw the long list of movies on my computer, asked if he could choose…and he did. The Simpsons!!! So stupid that it was actually funny!.

By the time that was over, I was starving…had Biryani for lunch and by then Tasha was back from shopping and asked when the movie begins! So, we went back into my room and we watched The Notebook together, sitting comfortably on my bed with our pillows…only popcorn was missing. We both enjoyed it, cried together and at the same moment that a storm begins in the movie, the rain began outside here as well. Things have cooled down considerably and hopefully the next few days will stay a little cooler. (It was up to 37 degrees for a couple of days).

We had a lite dinner together, just hung around…had an interesting conversation on reincarnation with Yael, Ben came up to play Bubbles and FINALLY won a game, which made it easier to kick him out, and then quickly drifted off to sleep, until now, when my thoughts began churning in my head.

So many things I still want to do here…so many people I don’t want to leave. I will wait a few more days and see if I get any definite answers in the form of signs or messages.

Tomorrow perhaps hitchhiking, but I would prefer doing my last minute shopping for some things I still haven’t gotten around to. It is Thursday and the market is closed but I should be able to get the stuff around here. I also need to stock up on some food as the next day is Holi and the place is shut down tight until the evening (you remember Holi from last year with all the colors thrown around…same day and same background story as Purim)

Friday another massage with Dudi. Perhaps tomorrow I will give him a Reiki treatment in advanced payment. I am also doing Reiki on Yael tomorrow as birthday present to her. She is turning all of 27 years old!!

Well, just writing has calmed me down somewhat. I will probably sleep better now and see what tomorrow brings. The air is really chilly as it blows in from the mountains, through the open window to my left and across my bed. Will bundle up in my extra quilt like blanket and hopefully drift back off to tranquil sleep until a new day dawns and patiently wait to see what it brings my way.


After many years of traveling around the world and being witness to the destruction caused by our greed and lack of respect for nature, I have repeatedly asked myself what I can do to make a difference. The word which consistently surfaces in my consciousness is TREES, TREES, TREES.

The idea of reclaiming a piece of land destroyed by ignorance and greed and having it shine again in all its natural glory, has become a repetitive mantra for me. People today are very aware of their carbon footprint and would favor companies who were perceived as doing something to reverse the situation. The idea of taking over a piece of land which has been destroyed by big business, in effect receiving the land from them, would allow me to achieve the goal of reforestation and at the same time generate good publicity for the company.

With my great love of nature and my ability to persevere even in difficult situations, I feel that I can wholeheartedly apply myself to this goal.

A project of this sort would include, in addition to the reforestation, any or all of the following: regeneration, carbon offset, oxygenation, sustainable farming, wildlife habitats, local employment, re-education, healing, education in reforestation and encouraging others to take on similar projects. A small farm on the same piece of land would also provide permaculture, annual produce from trees and plants, provide employment to local families, even allow for the possibility of one or two local families to live and work on the farm and benefit from a small income as well as a comfortable standard of living for the local area.

An example would be Mexico, where massive areas of land have been destabilized due to deforestation and the resulting land erosion. A large company that is aware of its carbon footprint might find this the perfect solution to contribute to change in a positive way and begin reversing the situation, slowly but steadily. At the same time, the publicity they receive would be invaluable to their public image and continued business success and growth. Sustainable forestry would be one option for such a company.

The resources I would need to initiate such a project would be both financial and human. At some point, volunteers could join the project, thus learning the methods for continuing this work in other places. I am offering you an opportunity to show the public that you are truly committed to reversing the carbon footprint. I guarantee you that whatever goal is mutually set, will be realized and even surpassed.

This is the true path of my heart and I put my feet firmly upon it.