blog 17: Remembering the Y2K Scare- Celebrations and Fears as the New Millennium Began

The eve of 2000 was exciting! There were major celebrations all around the world, ringing in the new century. Many people were anxious that there would be a worldwide breakdown due to Y2K, the millennium bug. It was predicted this would cause global chaos and financial disaster as computer systems wouldn’t know if it was the year 1900 or 2000. I spent a blissful evening on our Point No Point beach in Hansville with friends, and the glitch never happened!

I left to join Geddy and our little dog, Starr, on Yacht Opportunity in Isla Mujeres on February 2nd, and I didn’t return until May 5th. I told you a lot about Isla Mujeres in my last blog. Jay was still staying in the house Geddy had rented while we stayed on the boat with Starr and the kittens. We had many visitors that year, including a dear friend, Ben from Indianola, WA.

I had fun making sea creature designs on old cardboard boxes. These we brought to local welders who constructed them in metal, then painted and installed them on Opportunity as bunk dividers. We loved the light they allowed to be filtered through our cabins. Because money was scarce this year, we went to a local market in Cancun each Saturday to sell goods we collected from the boat. We would open our Subaru tailgate in Cancun and sell our items on a tarp. We became good friends with our electrician, Juan, and his family. Since the market started at 6 AM, we would sleep in hammocks at their bungalow on Friday nights. It was cozy and very native. But we would make enough money to eat that week!

We loved visiting the fish markets. As you can see, sharks were a theme!

When I returned to Hansville, I threw myself into promoting sales of my imported inventory. I vended at festivals and supplied my wholesale clients all over the Northwest. I have always believed that the more you put into something, the more you get out. I was able to impact the financial situation with my hard work and diligence.

Gerry and Jay sailed off to the tiny Colombian islands of San Andres and Providencia off the coast of Nicaragua. But they ran out of money for fuel, requiring them to make an emergency landing in the tiny port of Puerto Castilla, Honduras. They were lucky that the locals, rural farmers, helped them out. They were able to continue to Providencia….I didn’t see them for ten months.

Our relationship was strained, and separation was in the air, but not yet.

I pursued my fascination with my Spiritual Path in between fostering the growth of 4Creature Comforts. In celebration of the Summer Solstice, I went for a full moon horseback ride with friends wearing a coyote skin… following the practice of skin walking, to promote healing of my land. I hiked daily with my neighbor, Leeanna Whispering Horse, in silent meditation, which cleansed and focused my mind. I studied wild crafting with an herbalist from Issaquah, creating healing tinctures.

We hiked in Stevens Pass collecting Valarian roots and later in Red Pass, Issaquah. Here I was woken up by a rare toad at 3 AM. His appearance allowed me to view a magnificent lunar eclipse. I honored him with gratitude.

Honey, a master teacher

In the last blog, I mentioned that the white horse, Honey, a master teacher, was declining. She had recently fallen several times, unable to stand up by herself. It would take a team of four people to accomplish this. On July 6th, we had a ceremony to release her Spirit, and she was put down with all the Love in the world. Leeanna Whispering Horse, Hansville Heather, her Spirit mate horse, Jesse, Dr Jan, and I comprised her farewell party. My Dad was too sad to join us. Concerned about her survivor, Jesse, Leeanna, and I slept outside that night in his pasture for his comfort and ours.

Life has a way of taking care of us, however...it’s humorous to recognize the gifts of the Universe. It wasn’t long after Honey’s passing that Jesse went missing. Leeanna Whispering Horse and I went off to our friend Robbi’s house to collect her and several horses to go find him on our extensive trail system between our homes. After searching for what seemed like eternity, we discovered him in our neighbor’s pasture, just hanging out, amused by our efforts. Robbi’s Lady horse, a beautiful chestnut Morgan mare, conspired with Jesse to become my horse this late afternoon. Robbi and I came to an agreement, and Lady was now mine, to live here in my pasture with Jesse.

This changed my life in such an extraordinary way. I had been around horses all my life, but I had never come to be owned by a horse before. She was not an easy horse. She took advantage of my inexperience to the point of exasperation. I could write a book about our journey together, but she was a teacher in my path to becoming whole. I would tell her how safe she was with me, and she would tell me back that only time would prove my sincerity, not words. And time is what brought us together as a combined soul. Her first lessons were about boundaries. I came to understand that most of my life, I functioned like an amoeba, with no solid boundaries, always adjusting myself to others’ needs and requirements. Case in point, my relationship to Geddy. I learned that having boundaries creates respect.

August and September brought several groups of people to Hansville for visits. My Dad and I traveled with them to Victoria, Friday Harbor, Orcas Island, and Vancouver, B.C. I met Susan Pilot in October, an Indonesian importer. Her Port Townsend warehouse was filled with charming animal carvings in crocodile wood. These pieces had a different flair than mine from Thailand, making them a great addition to my inventory.

While beach walking here in Hansville, I found that beach objects, often driftwood, would inspire me. I would see creatures in them, or they just spoke to me. I wrote poems about these photos, framed them with handmade saa paper from Thailand, braided raffia for hangers, and finally embellished them with feathers and beads.

A trip to visit niece Sharon in El Dorado Hills, CA, resulted in my collecting gourds and wild turkey feathers. I had fun turning these gourds into art pieces.

Both the framed photos and gourds became part of my I Am Collection. I mentioned in an earlier blog that this collection consisted of my candles, essential oil blends, and shirt designs. Since imported goods were not allowed at craft fairs, the I Am Collection is what I would display.

At the Seattle Gift Show, I met Nepalese importers, Sanjay and Elizabeth. This was the beginning of a lovely relationship that I still enjoy after all these years. I fell in love with thangkas when I started importing from Nepal in the late 1980s. Their collection was exquisite. Traditionally, Thangkas or Scroll paintings were painted by monks. On market days and at celebrations, in villages and pilgrimage sites, traveling monks and lamas unrolled Thangkas and told stories about saints and deities as they pointed out elements in the painted oilcloth. Their collection of thangkas included ones from both Tibet and Nepal.

Singing bowls, bells, and gongs had a special place in my heart. I had dabbled in sound therapy, and these were the tools I needed to escalate my skills and sales. In fact, sound therapy was a major part of my booth goods, especially when exhibiting at Spiritual fairs. Along with Tibetan prayer flags, handwoven Nepalese jackets and shirts.

Geddy returned late Fall only to discover he had advanced prostate cancer. He underwent treatment, and we started him on a regimen of herbs. He responded well, allowing him to return to the island, Providencia, before the end of the year.

2001 flew by quickly. Geddy left Providencia solo in January as Jay had moved on with his life. Geddy planned to sail to Bocas del Toro, Panama, a tropical paradise with a diverse archipelago of islands, reefs, and rain forest north of Panama City, but engine trouble and a boom fracture stranded him. A Colombian navy ship towed him into San Andres, not far from Providencia. I joined him there in mid-January.

We had a charter scheduled in February with a family of 4 from Eglon, WA, but we were forced to cancel this due to a long wait for necessary parts to arrive from Florida.

We enjoyed the island and the people, but those pesky financial issues continued to take a toll on our union. I left Geddy, Starr, and Opportunity at the end of March, taking all my possessions on the yacht with me.

I flew to Costa Rica, where I spent a few weeks before returning home. I had always loved Costa Rica. I found it a great place to put my thoughts and life back in order.

I lost contact with Geddy for over a month. We needed time apart to heal our wounds. Back at the ranch, Leeanna Whispering Horse and my dad had been caring for my Lady horse, whom I nicknamed Lady Bug. It was a grand reunion, reconnecting with her. I rode her daily on the trails behind our property, mostly solo but often with Leeanna or Robbi. She was the Love of my Life. She restored me as she continued to teach me about myself. She was a source of inspiration for my dad as well.

I rented the house beside the barn to Gary and Mariah, both psychics, whom I had met while vending at Spiritual fairs. They both helped me deal with the confusion and chaos of my life with Geddy, but truly, the main reason they came to stay here for a few years was to heal the land.

People who come to visit either The Barn to shop or to visit with me often comment on how peaceful it is here. I believe this is due to the efforts put into tending and loving this property. There were several visitors who came to spend time here in 2001. My neighbor, Linda, who grew up in Norwell, MA, and her partner visited in July. Judy and Ken from Montana, as well as Audrey and Wolf from Nevada, came to spend time here; both couples were new friends from selling my wares at Spiritual shows. I continued to set up booths at festivals inside until the end of June, then outside until mid-September. This year, I vended at the Seattle Hemp Fest held at a waterfront park. This was quite an experience! One I didn’t repeat. It turns out the attendees of this event were not buyers, but they loved to look at everything. I was even asked if I took mushroom spores as payment...I declined.

Geddy returned late in the fall. He gave up the idea of sailing to Bocas del Toro and sailed on to a tiny village, Jose Pobre, east of the Panama Canal near Colon on the Caribbean side. Many years of adventures continue in the next blog!