"A thought, even a possibility, can shatter and transform us" - Nietzsche

Well, there are lots of thoughts on my mind this evening.
I've just about finished another "day-away" at L'Arche Cape Breton, and I've finally had the chance to sit down and read the news.
Things are not good my friends.
But they also haven't changed.
There are still people dying in Kenya and Niger.
People are still being killed in Iraq (a conflict that was supposed to end, what - 2 years ago?)
Natural disasters continue to strike, and governments still aren't prepared for them.
People continue to die on the Gaza strip.
The Roman Catholic church continues to forget its Christian ideals of inclusion and focus more on keeping the "immoral" people out.
There are fears of terrorism, worries about oil and famous people receiving more publicity because they've used drugs.

Some changes?
Well, the IRA finally seems to be serious about disarmament. That's a start at least.

Some incredibly great news for the week:
The newest addition to the Batchilder family has arrived : Abigail Juliette
Proud Parents: Chris and Chantal
Proud Brother: Oliver
And everyone else is just beaming. She's beautiful - of course, what did you expect from a Batchilder woman?


Life at L'Arche Cape Breton continues to be wonderful.
Hopefully (for at least a little while) Abby will only have to see the "L'Arche Cape Breton" side of the world.

Square Dancing, Mabou Style

Last Saturday night, several folks from L'Arche hit the boards at the West Mabou Square Dance.
That's right - the West Mabou Square Dance.
Now, I always thought that square dancing was something done in country dance halls with big skirts and cowboy boots. Turns out that they do it in Mabou as well, but the dress code isn't as strict.
I sat the first few sets out, taking everything in and attempting to figure out just what was going on. My first dance partner was a "senior" dancer from Whycocomagh who walked me through every step. Luckily, I was well trained in the "Melissa Batchilder School of Step Dancing" and I was thoroughly prepared to show off some of my fancy footwork.
My next partner was not as skilled in the fine art of the square dance however - Cathy, my house leader and I stepped into the circle hoping that we could figure things out on our own. Square dancing is much easier if you have a male partner as it's then much easier to know who to follow when you start splitting up. [For those of you not familiar with square dancing, the third set involves the couples splitting up and following a grandiose arc of people, forming lines of men and women and then meeting up with your partner.] Unfortunately, when the splitting up occured, I was put in charge of leading Cathy Brady (one of the core members - a very tiny woman with Downs Syndrome) and this lead to me grabbing her and pulling her to one side, then running to the other side, meeting up with my partner, and laughing so hysterically that I could barely breathe.
Some of the other dancers were not particularly impressed, but they slipped in to better humour as we gradually figured out how the formation thing worked!

And of course, the West Mabou Square Dance would not be complete without the classic pick-up line that I encountered as we were leaving; As I crossed the floor, one of the only gentlemen my age in the entire place (and a very good step dancer to boot) approached me, asked if we were leaving and then insisted that I looked familiar. "You're Erin McDougall from Iona - right?" I laughed, and shook my head... and he finished by telling me that I had a beautiful smile and that he hoped he'd see me back at the West Mabou Square Dance.

So, I may be the Woman from Mabou yet - we'll just have to wait and see!

"When the music changes, so does the dance"

Finally, a "day-away".
These happen once a week. I've been enjoying some down time, which included a run/walk (who am I kidding?) this morning and a bike ride into the village of Whycocomagh this afternoon.
My visit should only technically last until this Wednesday, and after that I'll be able to get into the full swing of things - learning routines and taking part in day programs!

Some things I've learned after being here for only 4 days...

- "Home" isn't a place that has to develop. Sometimes is just exists. Sometimes it just means that you're in the right place at the right time.
- 18 year old German boys are stubborn. This is not a generalization, this is fact.
- 18 year old German boys that are only children and grow up with their parents in an apartment in Berlin don't know how to do laundry, or cook, or clean.
- Love doesn't have a time limit.
- Love at first sight doesn't have to necessarily have anything to do with romance
- We all have a lot of things to learn.

For some lovely pictures from PEI - check out my sister's blog Keep the Faith on the side bar.

Love
Haley.

Starting to understand...

"My grandfather was a painter ... was looking at me and he said "Harry, there are two kinds of tired, there's good-tired, and there's bad-tired. Ironically enough, bad-tired can be a day that you won. But you won other people's battles, you lived other people's days, other peoples agendas, other people's dreams - and when it was all over there was very little "you" in there, and when you hit the hay at night, somehow you toss and turn, you don't settle easy. Good-tired, ironically enough, can be a day that you lost. But you don't have to tell yourself, because you knew you fought your battles, you chased your dreams, you lived your days, and when you hit the hay at night, you settle easy - you sleep the sleep of the just, and you can say "take me away". Now, Harry, all my life I've painted... God I would've loved to be more successful, but I have painted and I have painted, and I am good-tired, and they can take me away."
--from Harry Chapin's Gold Medal collection