Facts from the longest business trip of my life Number of days on the road this trip: 20 Number of seperate projects worked on: 5 Total number of people hosted: 835 Customs officials spoken to: 4 Number of those officials who wished me a good flight: 1 Number who welcomed me to their country: 3 Number who have said “Welcome back to the United States, sir” to me in the past ten years: 0 Number who did on Sunday: 2 Aircraft flown on: 12 Airports landed at: 8 Number of these I visited on more than one separate occasion: 3 …
Anchored down in San Francisco awaiting a delayed hop to Eureka California, from where we will drive to the Hoopa Valley and work there for a couple of days. On leg five of the epic journey. So a little time to breathe and reflect on a couple of harvests. First from Geoff Selig who was at the Pembroke Art of Hosting, and who collected the tablecloths from a final day World Cafe on what we have learned about the power of conversation. Second, a harvest poem from the Open Space I ran yesterday in Kelowna. This was …
Yesterday was a day of travel. Coming off a fabulous Art of Hosting in Pembroke Ontario that was a deep personal exploration of source and the spirit of hosting for many who were there. Thursday evening we gathered at Alastair Haynes’ home in the east end of Ottawa for a curry dinner followed by hours of music and whiskey, all of which wrapped up at 1am. Friday morning my mate Kathy Jourdain and I left ofr the airport, she to fly to Halifax and me to set out on a milk run across the country. We left …
Happy May Day to all my labour movement friends! In Ottawa now, having helped host a lovely Art of Hosting workshop in Pembroke Ontario. This was my 20th Art of Hosting gathering as a participant or a teacher. It was a sweet one, with lots of work on personal hosting and what it takes to connect to source, individually and collectively. Rich threads emerging, but I wonder when I will have time to reflect on them. Off to Kelowna now to do a half day Open Space for my friends at the ASsembly of BC Arts Councils …
I was talking to my daughter tonight on the phone. I was walking out of The Forks in Winnipeg where I had just eaten a pickerel (that I learned was from Kazakhstan…W.T.F!) and my daughter requested that I get a GPS that could beep and show where I am on this epic trip. After being on the road for eight days already, with another 12 ahead of me, I don’t even know where I am sometimes. Yesterday I was wrapping up the 2009 Good Food Gathering in San Jose and I took a CalTrain up to SFO, hopped …