Thank you Joshua for my graphics & to you lovely peeps who’ve played with my button ❤
November 28, 2008
I sent out this email 2 days ago. It was a HUGE deal to me to reach out for support & a life/road changing experience. Just putting myself out there has excited & activated me immensely.
“Dear Friends, It’s time to ask for help (aka hustle). I am close to having enough footage to finish The Living Road Movie. I have covered 6000+ miles & got lots of great footage of amazing people (thank you so much to all who have encouraged, supported & housed me thus far). Next stop is LA, San Francisco, Hawaii, Mexico & New York.. To do that
I need asap:
cash funding & sponsorship $50,000 - every $ helps: film, batteries, toothpaste, seaweed, cacao & gas all add up! Please play wtih my cute paypal button to the right if you would love to Love Me Up!.
I need transport: a car/van
product funding & sponsorship - chocolate!!
an editor
marketing / PR
fundraising / planning people
website design; a camera person + team for the next part of the journey.
It’ll be no surprise to you that my next project is a dedicated Cacao film - from the source (Ecuador & Brazil) to the raw table. Including stories of heroin rehab using only cacao & herbs, the role cacao has played in the raw movement in the last 10 years, meeting chocolatiers around the world & much more.
Also, I’m working ideas for a weekly TV show - ‘Where Is Suki?’ This will involve visiting places of health, eco & environmental interest all round the world - retreats, conscious businesses, unusual spas - cancer clinics & radical fasting, hot springs, biodynamic permaculture gardens, yoga, meditation, alternative schools, green communities, inner-cities, dance clubs. I will meet the people who run the facilities, hear their stories & experience what they are offering…
If you have any interest in my projects, know anyone who would love to be involved, have money needing a tax break, or even just some sticky skinned cacao beans to donate - I will be smiling aplenty..”
Much Love
November 21, 2008
It’s taken being still and grounded in one place for over week, to have any mental clarity or spacial perspective to write. Posting photos ain’t the same as scratching the writing itch. When I wrote at my (much-missed) table at home, I felt cloistered and delusion-ally private. Being out here in the world, writing anything with depth is way more open and exposed.
What a journey. Covering so many miles (internal = external), meeting so many people, falling in love with I’ve lost-count-of how many views & places - experiencing such profound beauty & change during retreats & festivals - it’s about time I got quiet & integrated. Some things I’d anticipated. Others I overlooked - changing 1 thing at a time is an upheaval - leaving home, work/lifestyle, family/friends, community & country - that’s a whole lotta letting go. It’s 13 weeks since I handed over the keys to my last home. I’m told that the brain takes 90 days to fully detox from any situation = that day 90 is an armageddon, the precipice of my new reality. The words paradigm, abundance & manifestation are overused enough to be losing their freshness to me. My 13 weeks/90 day moment is here and now. And I literally feel old skins slipping away. Primarily new ways of creating beaneries/green tickets, learning to ask for what I want (despite the fear of laughter/rejection), not needing to feel anchored or tied anywhere, yet wanting a base.
So, how best to be clear about where I’m at? Being. I’ve stopped trying to make plans - they have a way of changing. The best thing I can do is to get out of the way and to stop should-ing myself. Something has been driving me, to keep going, keep moving, keep creating - pretty much all of my life I guess. I haven’t had to ‘work it’ as much as others around me, but the survival instinct for those without a ‘career path or pension plan’ is unique; the work ethic & tools we learn because we think we must. Allowing myself a little time for integration right now (and how long that will take?) took other people changing their plans so I ended up stuck/stranded here in Sedona. Or that’s how it felt until I breathed into it and looked around me. Grateful now to be embraced by this town which is known to either wrap you up or spit you out. Sleeping outside in the open air & waking up truly happy just to be me. This whole trip has happened through a strange chain of events - at each step I said YES because I couldn’t think of any reason to say no. I loved my life, my home, my work & community - so I wasn’t running away or burning bridges. So since day 1 I’ve trusted (or held that intention) that there was a reason I was here, a bigger plan and purpose & that it wasn’t my business to know what until it was obvious.
I’ve been reluctant to write the inner struggles of staying sane on the road, lest I seem ungrateful for this extraordinary experience. I thrive best on plenty of time to myself, quiet and space. This I underestimated & didn’t carve out enough time to myself since leaving New York. Feeling pressures of finance or visa restrictions meant I kept moving. Being around other people continually means being ON and not giving myself the silence I need to regroup and ground. Which gets me thinking, which ‘me‘ has been showing up? Since getting vortexed this time around in Sedona I’ve rested, slept and sat with time - me is back.
I miss my Top Five back home, who get me - in a way I’m familiar with. I miss the way they know and see me, understand me & laugh at me. Raw family here are witnessing me in a very different context & whilst that gives me space to recreate if needs be, I’m conscious of the roles I played in my old daily life - as therapist, expert, professional, earner, partner, sister etc. If all of that is truly left behind (the threads of joyous contact of facebook notwithstanding) including our social capital (thank you Seoul) what and who do we recreate? More recently I’ve met a person or two who bring out something in me I’ve never seen before. A mix of the old and the new - I’m really really enjoying the discovery.
Living amidst lightbeings whose daily experience of human experience is so vastly different than my citified survival techniques, is slowly cracking open this flower. We truly learn from the children. I filmed Jennifer Warr of Cafe Bliss yesterday. She is one of many extraordinary people I’ve met on this journey - she exemplifies a purity and connectedness which is hard for me to fathom. She spoke of the time she did a 9 day water fast & how pivotal it was in changing her life. Sitting behind the camera, this White World Bridger is always questioning how “Tammy in Ohio” (excuse me all Tammys in Ohio) will receive words which are seem foreign. I pointed out to Jen how few people take the time to hang out alone by a river and drink water; how few people would schedule 9 days into their annual alloted vacation time, or even how rare is to have 9 days stretching ahead with no place to be, or no one expecting them. She giggled. She’s the smart one. Today I am such a person. How will I spend the next 9 days? At this point I have no idea what happens next. I’m not attached to any delicious possibilities which may actualize. I’m know that all I have to do is show up & the rest writes itself. I have no flights booked, no dates arranged. I am open…
Jasmine Jivaraw Scalesciani’s new book does like it says on the tin. Accessible to newcomers to raw and veterans alike, with fresh info and wise advice she’s pretty much got it covered. Hmm methinks it’s gift buying season sometime soon? Claire Maguire’s new site The Raw Bombshell kicks some rawsome ass!
November 14, 2008
Join the raw family fun on the Big Island for New Year’s Eve with Journey’s for the Soul and Sunfood. A full packed week in paradise setting goals for 2009, frolicking in the sun & eating as much durian as is humanely possible.. I’ve been invited as staff photographer - what a blessing!! Please mention my name if you’d love to join us ✘
Also not to be missed:
November 9, 2008
Kerrie Dancing Butterfly and Journey’s for the Soul created an exquisite retreat over Halloween at Eden Hot Springs. Much love and appreciation to Eden staff, team, family for all their hard play. So much was packed into such a short space of time - it’s hard to describe the transformations we all experienced.
So, I guess my pictures can tell the tale! I’m beginning to sell my photographs - some of the collection can been seen on Flickr in small definition. HD shots can be purchased via the PayPal button below for $22. Let me know if you’d love the whole kit and kaboodle..
“I love you all so much. If you knew how much I loved you, you’d be dancing“
✘
October 28, 2008
Richard ‘Synergy Chef’ Hemsley is easily one of my top 5 favourite chefs. My palette remains ruined for ‘mortal’ food for a few days yet.. His is the only raw cafe in Sacramento - located in a government building - the majority of his local clientele are new to super living foods. This is just the start - he is about to explode in his neighborhood - we await with baited hunger.. ❤
Pure Joy Cafe
(916) 370-6100
450 N Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
October 28, 2008
70 days with no home/kitchen to call my own. That’s how long it’s taken to desire some stillness. 4888 of road and 5222 of air - making many U-turns before I get to where I’m going.
Visiting David & Katrina Rainoshek on Salt Spring Island was a bigger treat than I could have imagined! The ferry ride from Salt Spring to Pender Island has to be one of the most beautiful I’ve ever experienced & my time there with Sarah & Kimberly - priceless..
Then back South to USA, via amazing Ashland, Oregon - their Health Co-Op is awesome. It felt so good to cross into the golden light of California (I’d woken @ 5am with ice on my car in Salem, Oregon - by afternoon my socks were off & the crocs were back) to see Mount Shasta & hit up Richard in Sacramento (next blog). Driving through miles upon miles of nut, flower & cotton farms was unique - there is ZERO fresh food to find along the route (memo to self - again!), and from the little I’ve picked up about permaculture, the mono-culture farming seemed crazy & begging for plague infestations. The smells of chicken shit, flowers & nuts changed with the wind. I’m living a dream.. x
October 16, 2008
I have few cultural references for Canada. It’s kinda weird being somewhere that’s so similar to the States (where I always feel like I’m in a movie & things feel familiar) but so not the States. Victoria BC is stunning and raw family here are extraordinary. They still don’t seem to realize quite how lucky they are - ThanksGiving here was abundant, with 29 rawbies making merry and tucking into salad and pie. Firedance Chocolates (made by Sarah’s mom Maureen) are really bloody good. Cafe Bliss in Victoria & Gorilla Food in Vancouver are heaven! I am blessed - living, loving, learning - tucked in a tiny corner of this vast country..
I’m staying with Sarah Maria, who befriended me on Facebook on February 12th. I never accept friend requests from ‘strangers‘ on FB, but something urged me to tap the Accept button. Until that day I knew of no one in Vancouver & knew nothing of the ’scene’ up here. The next day - my birthday I met her bestest friends Adam & Ollie of Outlaw Social in London - I recognized Adam from Sarah’s profile page. They said “You must come visit us in Canada”. I’m sure I smiled and “Yes that would be delightful” whilst thinking, “It’s too far and too cold, so that’s never gonna happen” The rest is co-creative history.
A week ago I reached the Northern most part of my intended journey & hit a wall. Stalled. Stuck. Cold weather has a way of snapping you out of that sunshine bubble. There is a reason the West is the ‘West’ & the 3rd World is the ‘3rd World’ - siestas & beaches = a mañana pace versus the inevitable speedier brain activity in chillier climes. So. My creative plans are changing. Here I am incubating. Preparing for an explosive hatching: more soon…
I Love Us
October 16, 2008
Recently our lovely Angela Stokes was featured on CNN with her raw transformation story, resulting in the largest number of hits on CNN’s health channel EVER, and her own site crashing several times! Now, Angela and The Raw Divas, Tera Warner and Amy De Wolfe are bringing you The Body Enlightenment System - a 30 day weight loss program - just read the testimonials at the bottom of their page!!
“If you’re anything like most people we encounter, you’re already in over your head with information about health, nutrition, weight loss and fitness. We see it all the time. Countless people buy the latest fitness & nutrition books, subscribe to health magazines, follow blogs about optimum health and wellness, spend thousands of dollars on the latest miracle supplements, consultations, and dreamy retreats, but STILL STRUGGLE TO FIND THE MOTIVATION to stick to it, and then roller coaster while another bag of potato chips bites the dust!
If you really want to make this work, you need an easy, step-by-step SYSTEM, backed bya lifetime membership, money-back guarantee and more support than you ever imagined was possible. With a program like that, YOU ABSOLUTELY CANNOT LOSE!”
I am so very excited about the incredible momentum growing in the raw world!.. ✘
October 16, 2008
Philip rocked it on ‘The Doctors’:
✖
October 15, 2008
Rawtographer Jeff Skeirik has uploaded his incredible collection of Raw Spirit photographs. They have got me lusting after a better (bigger) lens & camera. Since first seeing his shoot of Vanessa, I’ve been inspired to stretch myself behind the lens. He & Joe Best are my guiding lights…
Philip McCluskey, Shea Lynn Baird, Gabrielle Brick & Eye ✖
October 11, 2008
Before I crossed in Washington (a new state!) I stopped in Portland for dinner with beautiful Nashima - who has emailed me the day before asking if I was passing through & had any talks planned. I replied ‘I’m passing through tomorrow - no talks, but I would love to drink tea with you’. We met at a packed & gorgeous Blossoming Lotus & shared a delicious meal. Portland is great. A really nice balance of size and culture (ie bookstores, music and food) & meeting Nashima was a wonderful treat.
Seattle. Wow! I didn’t make it to Tacoma to visit the school from ‘10 Things I Hate About You’ (the only place on my geeky film junkie tourist map) because the visibility was zero (next time) - stunning water rich Washington feels like Germany or England in some places. Amazing the difference that crossing a man-made line on the earth (state line) has upon the landscape & mentality of the people. I visited Brian Lumb for some most excellent NSA & stayed in the House of the Sun = Paul & Poteet Douglas. Poteet was un-raw when first we met @ a Gate in Como - so cool to see her since her change in lifestyle. And to spend time with another Network/Raw peep - when our worlds collide wonderful things happen! I’ve been meaning to blog about their transformation for ages now. Paul has moved from hotel catering (he was chef for a porn conference in Phoenix the weekend I met Poteet!) to working as a raw chef - he is making really exciting foods with Adam @ House of The Sun. It’s the first time in ages I’ve been tickled pink, wowed & surprised by raw food. They are supplying Nature’s Pantry in Bellevue & their friends Tom & Susan @ Raw Vegan Source - USA’s largest dedicated raw supplies. Tom & Susan are extraordinary (I was lucky enough to film them) from Susan’s cancer recovery, to Tom’s biodynamic garden (see the Goji berries below - in just 5 months) & mountain climbing + a healthy passion for chocolate - we had much to discuss..
From Seattle to Bellingham, to stay with RSF Exec Chef Bruce ‘Spruce’ Horowitz & his son Jadyn. Bruce and Tom have collaborated in the planting of many things tasty, so the visits tied in nicely for me. Bruce lives in the kind of place I’ve dreamt of and seen in photos, but I’ve never known anyone who actually lives in such beauty, with incredible light, land, quiet & lots of cool farm animals. He also makes fairly fab food & perfect chocolate. Did I say perfect? I am one lucky duck.. ❤
October 11, 2008
This is interesting time to be traveling on an unplanned, free-scheduled documentary-making road trip around North America, when finances are hectic, politics more so & my main awareness of fear & panic is via the increasing number of radio advertisements using the economic crisis to sell their economy products - snuck in there between rockin tunes. Without TV, newspapers and radio for a long time now, having even this input is challenging my belief in abundance, trust and the law of attraction. Real-life shit is hitting the fan & the only keys in my pocket are those to a PT Cruiser (which for some reason unbeknownst to this car-clueless gal is a much disliked vehicle).
Route 199 from North California to Oregon is the most gorgeous road of all!! After driving in heavy rain yesterday (umbrellas are considered a social faux pas here), I stopped to rest awhile, pulling into Canyonville & parked up in front of Peace Organics - that magnet is working it’s magic again. An old style health store with bulks goods and an extensive herb collection. Next to the bead shop (there are bead shops everywhere) I met Bruce in B&C Antiques, who is related to Rob Roy & has a fine old collection of Mason Jars.
With Bethany, aka little girl BIG VOICE I explored Eugene’s Lane County Farmers Market and Sundance Natural Foods - I was telling her about the cool lyrics to a song I’d just heard for the 1st time. The guy behind me in line started singing. He sang me THE WHOLE SONG. Yup, he just kept going. Then the cashier joined in. I like it here. When I crossed the State Line into Oregon, I had choices other than country - music I really loved (DMB, Nelly Furtado, Counting Crows etc). When Georgous sent me a text saying “Everyone is asking where you are and what you’re doing - what do I tell them?” I replied “Tell them I’m getting an extensive education in hats, beards and country music” Songs such as “All My Exes Live In Texas” “Girl, you ain’t Much Fun Since I Quit Drinking” and “The Gambler”. I saw more men in wooly hats with beards that exist on the entire British Isles. Seriously.
Latest bestest musical discovery ‘You Ain’t Artsier Than Me’ by The Grouch (Thank you Bethany)! Franky G is selling his new recipe book RAW FOR ALL; Bruce Horowitz is holding a permaculture retreat ‘Pele Rising‘ in Hawaii in January. The more I’m roaming, the more I appreciate gardening; Philip McCluskey & Daniel Vitalis are holding a retreat in Costa Rica from December 16th & I am returning to Arizona for HallowEden Retreat & The All Souls Procession…✘
October 7, 2008
I’m frequently pulling off the road to take breaks, sleep & take pictures of fences, only to find myself in front of a health store, bead shop, organic paint company - or - best of all the beautiful Coast Inn and Spa. Driving up the coast below Fort Bragg, tired, late at night in the dark slashing rain, I stopped at the first Motel-looking, non-fancy-Inn that I saw. The sign belied what was within. The front office contained Q-Links, salt lamps, oriental herbs & a massage chair. I thought this was interesting…. I expressed my surprise at finding such things in a ‘motel’ to Chong Mejias, the owner. It turns out they have colonics, infrared saunas, red Korean earth under-floor heated room, power plates, live blood microscopy & much more. Chong is an avid seaweed forager, and raw chef with natural healing abilities. What a find! They have owned the motel (using eco cleaning products) for 5 years & are slowly adding more facilities (she has more gadgets than me!), expanding their organic gardens, hot tubs & detox programs, as well as opening a raw cafe & giving raw food classes. Chong, grandmother of 8 is attracting unwell people from all over the world who are enjoying miraculous recoveries. I stayed in a room with a special foam mattress & Egyptian cotton sheets, red earth walls and slept like a baby..
October 7, 2008
San Francisco didn’t want to let me go! Having Amy, Gina & Lora there (all 3 were last seen in very different places/circumstances) as well as Elaina’s Lighthouse (see Flickr) made staying too easy. I captured 4 YouTube moments with my very gifted friend Fun Yung Moon, Gina’s friends threw her the best birthday party EVER. But eventually I hit the road. I swung via Fairfax to pick up more Sacred Heart chocolates @ Good Earth Natural Foods, before the most stunning road {128} through wine country. I’ve never been to North California, or seen a redwood before - Navarro River Redwoods State Park - OMG!! I was literally exclaiming THANK YOU every other second. I bought apples and pears straight off the tree, fell in love with Yorkville & every dilapidated barn.
Back on the 101, In Garberville I saw men with beards and backpacks - straight down from the mountains/forests, fiddlers with dogs, a hemp store, a bead shop and eco paint store Organic Grace. It had a great feel. Northern California I ❤ Big time.
I was driving through Eureka (on the phone to Creamy) and said “I’m in Eureka, is there any reason to stop for or should I keep driving?”, when I spied Eureka Natural Foods - what a timely discovery. Find #2 was the Crescent Beach Motel. [When I'm driving I set myself time limits ie. I'll drive till 8pm then stop at the 1st motel I see..] If you want simple, ocean-crashing ion-rich air & a dramatic coastline, this is it. It’s a writers paradise & somewhere I will return to. Most motels are forgettable - I had 2 in a row which left strong impressions (see next entry!)..
Cards in my wallet: Milk Products Media; Parable Ink; Field Day Wearables; The Scarlet Sage Herb Co on Valencia, Five And Diamond, Get Lost: Travel Books, Maps and Gear; Seed in Santa Rosa; Livin Spoonful crackers; It’s Alive Food; Shaman Shack tea.. ✘
