MSIA Travel Staff and John Morton were recently on the East Coast for MSIA events and Services. Angel Harper provides this city by city account of trip, with photos by Ezra Mack:

Our first day on the East Coast we’re in Virginia, but to me we’re somewhere between fairyland and southern Ireland. The grass and trees alone provide such a rich variety of green — lighter baby soft shoots to the strikingly deep hunter shades — I feel like we’re greeted  by healing embraces of nature’s bouquets. Here and there the soft pinks and whites of dogwood trees, or yellow, purple and orange tulips sing out “Hi! and Welcome back!” Wow! it’s hard to stay grounded and handle the very down-to-earthy part of checking-in logistics as we settle into our hotel here in Chrystal City, Virginia — our home for the first few days of our trip. Just a long stone’s throw away is the Pentagon and Pentagon City.

The next few days we see all variety of uniformed men walking in and out of the hotel, Starbucks, and the restaurants nearby. From our roof we see the dome of the nation’s Capitol, the Washington Monument and a sparkling Potomac River. It’s not lost on me that we’re setting up shop for the Traveler to work in the military and executive hub of our country. However, being in Virginia  is a little strange to this Washington, D.C. native. It’s a joke we native DCer’s have that once you cross over the Potomac it’s like being in a different country. So I’m very curious to get the lay of the land and what it’s like being on this side of D.C.

But, what isn’t different is the warmth and welcome we receive from our D.C. Metropolitan area MSIA family. Hugs, fellowshipping abound as we do quick catch-ups over the next few days. Linda Mathieu, the DC MSIA Rep, is on hand to kick start MSIA Services.  Alex Beau becomes Roger’s right hand sound man.  Margrett Gary, who seems virtually ageless, also helps out.

John Morton graces the community with an open seminar on Friday night and a Q&A for Ministers and Initiates on Saturday. On hand to prepare the space for the Traveler for the Open seminar are Judy Podlesney with her lovely poem and Alex Beau’s swinging stylings in his song and on the guitar. Renee Panagos leads her troop of ministerial drummers as a rhythmic setting for some divine poetry of Pearl Boyd to expand our hearts for the Q&A.  It’s hard to bid goodbye but all too soon we find ourselves heading north to Philadelphia.

PHILADELPHIA

Spring keeps right with us as we train and drive to the city of Brotherly Love. However, it’s a bit nippier here. Still the flowering trees and plants continue to have us praising the Creator. What loveliness! We have fun here doing Services in four different locations. First to Elizabeth Frumin’s and the hotel, then to Jeanne Andrew’s and finally at Faith Rudisill’s. Each location presents a beautiful peacefulness and temple-like atmosphere for the work of the Services through the Traveler.

We have the fundraiser dinner/Q&A at Tom Meyer’s home right off the bat. We love coming here for the elegance, coziness, and did I mention the feast that Lou Tenaglia and Tony Giuliani’s team prepare with the great assistance of Linnie Tenaglia, Loretta Degenova, Elizabeth Frumin, Lala Zeitlyn, Sheryl Manzella, Joyce Evans and Jon Jurkovsky, and Alice Fisher. My goodness, forgive me if I’ve missed someone. I’m still remembering the amazing eggplant parmigiana, the fresh strawberries and the truffles…oooh those truffles….and there was so much more… impeccably made, presented, served and cleaned up with love, caring, fun and joy! The piece de resistance was the Q&A with John and wouldn’t you know everyone who wanted to got to ask a question. I just love how that works out! It was a late night and a beauty-filled one on many levels.

Then the next two evenings John did an open seminar and a Q&A for Discourse subscribers. Peter Bort was the open event’s dashing MC and Elizabeth Frumin gently MC’d the Discourse subscriber event. The surprise this go around was Inez Hayes fun stand-up routine at the Q&A….ah, we see an adjunct career blossoming for Inez. Ezra Mack and David Tilli were a mighty duo assisting Roger with sound set up and pack up. And many many hands on our pack up night made for very quick and efficient packing. Our heartfelt love and thanks to each and every person who assisted along the way during our Philadelphia stay!

NEW JERSEY

Thursday morning saw us packing up the vans and on our way to the beach, New Jersey style. We grabbed a quick lunch ocean side—sooo niiiiice– and then split up to do Services: two of us at the Landy’s home and two of us at the hotel. The warmth and loveliness of David Landy’s home was just equaled by the gentle sound of waves down below my window that day. We capped off the day with baptisms in the hotel pool…very very grateful that the water was bath-tub warm as the ocean air had fallen into the brisk low 50’s. The next morning we packed up our suitcases and this time it was Cleora and I that were picked up by our energetic and radiant NJ MSIA Rep, Karen Faherty, and driven to the Landy’s home while Vincent and Lesley worked at the hotel. I just enjoyed the view as we drove to Services, one lovely and quaint neighborhood after another ’til we ended in the tree lined Landy’s neighborhood. Just love the big ol’ homes! Karen seemed to be everywhere at once — driver/hostess/services coordinator — and did an excellent job of all of it! David was our easy-going host who kept the peace throughout. Though we would have loved another day to just be beachcombers, we would shortly be off after the morning’s Services for New York City.

NEW YORK CITY

If it’s Saturday night it must be New York City! This time we cruised into the Big Apple and got to our rooms pretty easily. Leigh Taylor-Young has joined us too and our merry crew is complete After the quiet gentle ocean and country-side, it did take a little adjusting time to get used to the buzz of this city that we do love visiting! Undaunted, Roger, Cleora and I head down the street to an ol’ Italian restaurant that did a super job of getting us some pasta and veal piccata without onion and garlic!  Turns out this little pizza place serves some amazing pizza and has been around forever! Oiy! I’ve forgotten the name but it’s between 8th and 9th on 44th! We had to walk around after dinner just to see Times Square and get into it all. What a festival of Lights Times Square is and being Saturday night–well, EVERYONE seemed to be out! Roger eventually peeled off as Cleora and I boldly decided to grab a movie — Ok, it was Thor! in 3-D. I shamelessly enjoyed it AND the audience who simply made the experience.

The next day we were full on into business doing Services at both Paula Beldengreen’s home –thank you so much, Paula — and at our hotel. Tom Ligon was game to be the host which takes an adventurous Spirit in a NY City hotel lobby, and Tara Bach-Martinez was our pretty and vivacious hostess at Paula’s plus a cook, par excellent.

We all met up at the Abigail Adams for the closed seminar that evening. And who should lead the most joyful way was our MC, Graham Holley. Graham had us falling out of our chairs with his improvised MCing, even John was outright laughing in the back. Interspersed were the contributions of ethereal violin music of Kathryn Kienke and lovely mixed choir voices of Jim John, Tom Eisele, Emily John and Ann Webre and the poetic offerings of Edi Holley and Walt Whitman’s expressiveness through Tom Ligon…what a start! The place had been definitely prepared and the Traveler John stepped in and then we really had lift off.

The next two days we split our time doing Services between the Lynch’s Central Park apartment and our hotel — both had expansive views. Jim Lynch is forever our spirited and jovial commandant — making sure none of us are slacking — in his most fun and outrageous way as guardian angel. Our hostesses each day looked after each of us effectively, groomed by Joan Beisel, our long-experienced Service coordinator, who had once again come out of retirement to serve in this way. In the meantime Karen Faherty had her hands full also being the Co-NY Rep with the newly christened other Co-NY Rep, Jeanne Edelen, as she oversaw all the logistics for both the NY closed seminar and the Norwalk, CT Q&A for Ministers and Initiates. Our hats are off and our hearts are full of thanks to Karen, Joan and Jeanne and all the wonderful Souls that came forward to assist them in seen and unseen ways!

NORWALK

It seemed like a blip of time elapsed and we were in the van, on our way to the country again. True deva and fairy country too, with trees that seem to almost reach out and touch to us as we walk along. We love, just love this area and the Dolce Retreat Center with large pond and fountain, geese and swan, flowering trees, bike and hiking paths, and a gym complete with lots of basketballs, racquetball, badminton, volley ball AND paddle tennis, not to mention the huge swimming pool and oh so tasty food…and we haven’t even gotten to the spiritual part yet!!

Leading up to the retreat we do Services for two days and it is heaven — no two ways about it! Leigh Hamel, our services coordinator, is beaming and also guardian-angelling Jeanne Edelen who also has stepped into the CT/Northern NY MSIA Repship that Leigh has held for years. Still Leigh assures us she will be right in there continuing to coordinate the Services for Connecticut — and we’re so happy to have her continue to play with us. Jeanne shines too, eagerly taking the reins and doing a wonderful job soloing.

By the time we get to the weekend and the retreat we’re already floating….but hey, what else is there to do?! John and Leigh facilitate/cheerlead us to keep on going higher and higher…John makes himself available for lots of sharing, there’s lots of SE’s, fellowshipping, or if you want to have it — quiet and nature!

Our weekend is capped by John doing a Q&A for Ministers and Initiates. Our dashing James Chew spiritedly dons the MC mantle for the Q&A as he introduces the totally out-there duo of Graham Holley and Stephen Flam for a little Mid-Spring/end of retreat Night’s Dream reverie followed by a showing of the spirit of this land in the photo slideshow by Leigh Hamel.  Then we welcome the Traveler. If it is possible to go even higher, we do and did! After all that, the only way to remotely get us grounded is to pull out the sound cases and pack up the equipment….ah it’s back to basics. ‘Course it’s always fun to me to watch us try to get grounded after events like this. Inevitably one or the other of us holds up a piece of equipment we’ve probably packed at least 10 times so far on the trip and asks “What is this for and where does it go?”  Such is the fun of road life!

That night we celebrate together completing our time in the country with a feast of crepes at a creperie in Greenwich that we’ve come to know and love. Then it’s back to our rooms to pack and prepare for our drive up to Boston the next morning. Well, we just get snuggled into our beds to be cocooned in peace and sleep when the harsh blat blat blat of an alarm, a piercing wail of a siren, and the broadcast of the announcement that there is some emergency requiring us to exit our safe haven for outdoors….definitely was a very funny picture when we all met in various sleepwear outfits on the road right out front of our building. We waited and waited as the sounds became a backdrop and the lights of the fire trucks a lightshow ’til the all clear was given. And back we went once again to settle back into our nests when….you guessed it…the blat, blat, balt, etc…began again. This time I just waited with pillow over my ears…Cleora came in to join me and we laughed and laughed and laughed…and then it really did stop for the evening. Well, that was definitely one way to get us grounded…at least for awhile.

BOSTON

Mists touch the treetops as we drive along through Connecticut towards Boston on this “soft” rainy day. The healing greens are stroking us as we go. Our destination is Waltham, more or less a suburb of Boston, and Waltham’s Whole Foods Store. Whole Foods often seems like the mothership to me as we travel along and always a basic self treat. We secure our snacks for the next few days and then it’s to our hotel. Evening is upon us and we’ve emails to catch up on and more events to prepare for too. Leslie Fabian, our earnest and loving Boston MSIA rep, has bent over backwards to make sure all the preparations are in place. She sends Jay Winston and Monica Simpson to bring us the water and Services supplies that will be used at our hotel.

We’re ready to go when the sun comes up. John and Leigh huddle with us at breakfast and then we’re off and running. Lesley and Vincent to Services at the hotel and Cleora and I will be at Charlie Verge’s idyllic home in Newton, not too far from Waltham. Somehow as we travel through Newton I expect any minute a carriage to trot by with a driver in a tri-cornered hat waving at me as he whips the reins, and lovely maidens in long flowy dresses to walk down the narrow sidewalks. Ghosts of the Revolutionary War just seem to come to life in my imagination. But I don’t have too long to tarry in my reflections as our days unfold and it’s wonderful to visit and catch up with our Boston MSIA family members.

Our first event is an open seminar and Charlie Verge is our classy and easy-going MC who dons a change of hat for his contribution of song and guitar — multi-talented he is. Ardythe Phillips shares her poems and the sweetness of her heart flows to us. Then John takes the stage and gently brings the newbies into the Traveler’s fold as he demonstrated with the lovely Leigh how to heal a hurt on many levels. The next evening is a Q&A for Discourse Subscribers. Our MC’s this evening are Jay and Monica (who will be wed this summer). They share their ease and love of each other and the Traveler with all of us creating such gentle and tender place as do Rick and Valerie Walsh whose melodious songs transport us right where the Traveler can pick us up and keep on going. The questions that are voiced seem to be perfect for each of us and it’s a magical night that brings completion to our magical, Mystical Traveler Spring tour.

Thank you, Randy Richards for assisting with logistics at the event venues, Leslie for your enduring caring and love, all who hostessed, assisted with sound set up and pack up, and all who held and sent Light throughout this whole trip. We are deeply grateful! Stay tuned as we take off soon for the Southwest! You are in our hearts.