Tour Diary Blog Two Episode Five Golden trees – Snow – Taos Pueblo – The Symposium and Santa Fe Come Rain, shine, snow and Journeys end

Tour Diary Blog Two

Episode Five

Golden trees – Snow – Taos Pueblo – The Symposium and Santa Fe

Come Rain, shine, snow and Journeys end

It was so strange to have started the mammoth undertaking of the 6 months book tour in the snow in NYC and to end up with a snow-storm in Taos New Mexico to bow us out.

On our way through the Rockies we encountered the most exquisite golden trees,  a very welcome respite for  us two English people after the miles and miles of flat and  unchanging landscape of the prairies.  I just loved all the grasses and the lands history as so well narrated by both Candace and Tom and I loved the different hues in the grasses, but I am a ocean girl at heart and even better if it abuts the mountains.

So the Rockies looming in the distant were wonderful to behold.  We travelled through them and then over them, passing Angel Fire on the way, which was where the Symposium was originally going to be held, but it had to be changed to Taos down the road a-ways..  and then we went past the Rio Grande river.  All these wonderful names from films and books but here was the real thing. It was all beautiful and picturesque.  We came through the mountain path to a dam and could see for miles and miles.  We had stopped for a short break on route because the sides of the mountains had become so very interesting and compelled us to take a little while out from driving, just sheer rock surfaces absolutely perpendicular and we could hear a little stream.  The beautiful yellow trees cast a reflection on the stream and turned it pure gold. Candace and I were totally entranced by this vision of gold water.   Where we had chosen to stop, we could see on the banks opposite, a little shrine of some sort and a plaque obviously commemorating some person no longer with us, who too had delighted in the rock face, the water and the wonderful trees.  Long journeys are made up of these interludes of the breaks and what is encountered on them. 

It is these little episodes and what we encounter on them, which make up our wonderful memories of the U.S. of A.

We all walked around in silence and just breathed in the cathedral-like atmosphere.  I felt as if I could envision the young man who had once sat under the tree, (which was commemorated), growing into an old man… just quietly fishing and communing with nature in this magical space with the backdrop of sheer rock and the canopy of wonderful yellow-foliaged trees.

I was looking forward to getting to Taos as we had been told that New Mexico is particularly beautiful.  As already said, Tom found us a wonderful place to stay   called Hacienda Sol and its grounds were full of the biggest yellow trees yet.  I felt myself so lucky to have been around in this tiny autumn time gap where the trees had turned yellow.  It was strange to see in a way, as the trees have no variance in colours just different hues of yellow.  In England, in autumn, our trees are such a riot of all different shades of colours, but here in New Mexico it was an experience to see just the one shade.  The leaves were falling constantly and I stood under the biggest tree one morning (see Candace’s wonderful picture) waiting for everyone to come out and became transfixed by a snowstorm of yellow leaves falling around me.. so beautiful. 

The website features one of these trees and also the wonderful Taos mountain which was our backdrop.  To see all this splendour covered in snow after the snowstorm was just the icing on the cake!  The hotel is listed as one of the top romantic hotels in the U.S.

http://www.taoshaciendadelsol.com/

Our rooms at the Hacienda had fires and another big bed.. too high for me even to get onto, we so had to have a little step stool by the side for me to get up and down!

The Mexican colours are everywhere.. deep blue, yellow ochre, terracotta and gold.  This type of décor is so much in tune with our own desire always to have vibrant colours in our lives and especially in our home.  The breakfasts were fantastic every morning and the service sublime with the owners son-in-law hailing  from England! 

It is always so strange to hear an English accent apart from our own.

The conference in Taos went well.  Steve spoke twice.  One of the talks he slotted in at a later date because he had stated that he will no longer be basing his talks on his ET experiences but much more now, on the new science of DNA and the Source Energy and what it means for us all. 

But it was an audience who were looking forward to hearing about ET contact and so he slotted in a separate talk just about his lifelong ET contact and it was very well attended.

Our friend Janet who put on the symposium has been working so hard for the past year to get it all to come together and I am so full of admiration for people like Janet who are driven to create a place where people can meet up and share their experiences, learn new information and get a chance to connect with new researchers.  Being a conference organiser is really a bit of a thankless task as there are so many difficulties to face and overcome and yet these wonderful organisers do it without question.  My admiration for them all knows no bounds, especially as they don't even get a chance to go in and see the speakers as they are working so hard behind the scenes organising!

They are driven by a need to do their bit in this changing world and to bring out the truth of what is really going on out there.  Janet had decided to make this conference about Science meeting the Paranormal and Spirituality, quite a task to do as the two are usually diametrically opposed.  There were talks on Parallel Worlds, Preparing for ET contact, Crop Circles, and American Native/Choctaw teachings. This teacher said that the Choctaw just take ET contact as a fact of their lives and past history.  He called them ‘Company’ and kept saying that we need to get ready because ‘Company’ is definitely coming and very soon and then there was also Shamanism and a lovely Exorcist. Steve and Travis Walton were the ET-Experienc experts, supposedly, but so many of the audience that we got to speak with just take the contact as a fact, which is very uplifting for us. So in fact a huge percentage of the attendees were Experiencers. It was a very mixed bag.. and Janet is an amazing lady to be around and so funny and kind too.  Also she loves my Blog and puts it on her ASPE website which is great!! 

Steve did a short radio talk with Jerry Pippin a very famous radio personality and also another radio slot for The Taos radio. Now we are working hard on getting Steve onto the George Noorey show which airs every single Weekday night in the U.S. and has over 6,000,000 listeners.  Steve also did a radio interview with one of my Forum Members called Race – a lovely man whom we first met in the Ozarks.  We got to know Race after he approached Steve when Steve had spoken at the Ozarks. Race questioned Steve about a woman who appeared and then disappeared at Steve’s desk whilst he was signing books.  (Steve has been talking about the incident and Races part in it, in his presentations ever since).  Before we left for the tour Steve was ‘told’ by his ET contacts that at some talks the ET’s would appear and make themselves known to him.  As Steve signed books he became aware of some unusual energetic feeling behind the people at the table but couldn’t see anything.  He kept looking up and over the heads of the people at the desk and as Race was sitting watching Steve, he kept looking to see what it was that Steve was looking at … and then the woman just appeared.  Steve telepathically ‘heard’ her say that they were really pleased with his talk and that it was all going very well and that as promised, they were with him every step of the way.  Steve glanced down to sign another book and when he looked up again she had disappeared.  Race came up to him spoke about what he had seen and described the woman to Steve and their idea of what she looked like tallied exactly and then Race said ‘She just seemed to disappear!’ 

Race has said that he has enough material from his chat with Steve for his radio show, to put on a whole show on Thanksgiving night with just Steve so that will be quite a coup.  A shorter radio clip for Races show has already gone out and I think if they gave Steve full rein he could probably fill their radio shows for the next three months!!

Candace and I attended a few of the workshops and had a good time in a couple and a boring time in others… hey ho.. the law of averages I suppose. 

There were some really good talks and I thoroughly enjoyed them, not really learning anything new just different angles on the same things.  For me, it is about enjoying being in the atmosphere of  talking freely with people about our subject matter and to explore Metaphysics in general.  I am still always surprised at the depth of commitment Researchers in our field put into their subject.  Years and years of continual seeking and sharing but combined often with loss of family and friends on the way, as they refuse to honour the very real experience people go through with ET contact.

Candace Tom and I, took some time out to do some sightseeing without Steve as he had his Book table to man and people to speak to.. 

We firstly visited the ancient Taos Pueblo, which was just behind our Hacienda and is considered to be the oldest continuously inhabited community in the United States.  The Native legends, language and oral history claim to be able to trace the Pueblo Indian roots back to the beginning of time!  Because of the horrendous oppression of the invading Catholics and their religious fervour the Natives guard their history, culture and values and do not divulge to outsiders.  Therefore their religion is passed down by word of mouth from generation to generation.  In the early 16oo’s the people were forced into ‘Civilisation’ by the Catholic invaders.  This meant they were enslaved, killed and forcibly made to forgo their own culture and adopt the Catholic dogma.  It is amazing that their own culture still survives today.  I so admire the tenacity of the original habitants of the USA.

The houses/adobes are made of very thick walls, which are made of earth, straw and water mixed and poured into brick forms.  The little square houses create the bigger houses by joining up but by being many individual homes built side-to-side and connecting, however there are no connecting inner doorways.  Each home has just one front door entrance but the main dwelling is on the upper level with a ladder to climb up and so this way it was easier to keep our marauders… unfortunately not the Catholics.   The ladders were just pulled up from the ground levels to the rooftops, a bit like the portcullises in our castles I suppose.  A one-door entrance is so much easier to guard.

The Pueblo maintains an enclosed community and a restriction of no electricity or running water through the Adobe houses and so the river – The Red Willow Creek - running through the middle of the village supplies all.  There is over 100,000 acres of land, which has been designated for the exclusive use of the tribe, which is brilliant and trees wildlife and fish etc are all protected. Womderful stuff.

However, we could only stay a short time in the Pueblo as all three of us started to feel very low in spirits and energy and also very depressed.  There were a few natives in the little shops selling art works and artifacts and some doing building work on the rivers bridge, and they were all very polite and friendly but overall the atmosphere inside the compound was very heavy.  We concluded that because of the extreme poverty and hardships the Indians had experienced in the past, and probably still do in these difficult times, coupled with the desire to keep their way of life secret from outsiders, the energy was very compressed and depressing.

I was disappointed but glad that we had visited.  We also later made a trip to an Art Gallery and that lifted out spirits.  Not by the art-work but by the really spectacular building and furniture which was the work of the one man owner. It was very uplifting for us all, and each one of us said we would be happy to move in immediately to live among his superb wood craftsmanship as long as we could discard the art-work!!

Tom did a fantastic job of taking care of Steve and being his ‘Roadie.’ Tom has such an organised mind and way of handling details that made it all so smooth for us all, especially for me who thinks and works the same way as Tom.  Steve said how bereft he will be when we get home and does more talks and Tom will not be there to oversee, as there was a huge part of him that loved being taken care of in this way.  Once Tom has left us at the airport finally and we had to make out own way to catch our flight home.. Steve was calling out loudly.. 'Tom, where are you?  Which way do we go?'  It was obviously going to take him a while to get back in the driving seat...

The week went by really quickly and we then were moving on to Santa Fe just a couple of hours away.  The journey was lovely and picturesque and when we arrived in Santa Fe.. Tom had once again done some intensive research for the best hotels and had booked us into an incredibly luxurious and unusual Plaza hotel called La Fonda.

www.lafondasantafe.com

I think for our short trip this time, we were lucky enough to be able to stay in what were probably three of the most interesting and diverse hotels in the USA.  Our time in Las Vegas was pretty spectacular but really I love quirky and ethnic the best and all three of our stays were up there in my top ten favourites of all time... anywhere in the world.  Bali still being up there at number one...

We were shown up to our rooms in a separate exclusive wing of the hotel, which we were told is usually used by visiting Film and Pop stars and the like and we were amazed at how beautiful it all was.  I’m sure that if our dear friend Toni Russell (our self-appointed executive marketing woman) who was so sorely missed on our trip, if she’d have been with us, she would have been telling everyone we met up with, from busboys onwards, that it was appropriate to be in the separate annex as they had a world class author in their midst!  I’m not sure that Steve ever really got used to that wonderful way Toni had of engaging every one we met with the story of Steve’s amazing book.  Maybe over time, he will acclimatize to that thought.

Our bed was in the middle of the room, the first time I have ever seen that and the décor was typically Mexican and dynamic.  We just walked around going.. 'OMG!! this is so amazing!'  We had a massive balcony area and a hot tub up on the roof – unfortunately too cold to take advantage of..  One of the really unusual churches was just opposite and we all just stood together on the balcony taking in the sights, smells and feel of Santa Fe.  In essence it reminded us of Eureka Springs and the art-work and clothes reflected that intense artistic community but it had its own energy and we just loved it.  Steve was speaking at our friend Lynda Stars studio for the evening and as it was Halloween, she had dressed up accordingly as did some of the members of her weekly group. The group meets to watch movies to do with the ET and related subject matter and they were a really nice bunch of people, albeit a very small group.  It was a lovely cosy venue for the last talk of the trip.

We did a little bit of sightseeing in Santa Fe as we had been told to go visit the church with the “magic staircase”.  After a false start but nonetheless a nice visit to another church, we finally found the church in question.  Tom overheard the story about the staircase and it went like this:-

When the church was built, it was built without an inner staircase to the upper level.  The Nuns used to have to climb up ladders.  (We all know how nuns feel about people looking up their skirts!!.. the very famous levitating Nun in the middle ages was told off.. not for levitating but because people could see her knickers. And who knows, in those days maybe knickers were a luxury so even more reason why Mother Superior was always calling her down from the ceiling!)

As there was no money to build a staircase, the Nuns constantly prayed for a solution to the problem. One day a man just turned up and said he wanted to build them a staircase and over a short period of time – 11 days in all, he built an exquisite spiral wooden staircase with no nails and no support to a wall.  Everything was jointed in.. A true carpentry work of art.  After the staircase was built the man just disappeared.  So the staircase just hung in space but after a while they decided to add a balustrade to facilitate safety but I would have loved to have seen it in the original form.  We did an afternoon of window-shopping although Steve did indulge in a lovely Russian style hat to wear back home when he goes on his daily walk to feed his horses…and then it was time for Steve’s last talk.

It was a lovely one to do and the venue was great being Lynda’s own private space with every single wall lined with pictures of ET contact, ships and all sorts of strange metaphysical occurrences.  As always Steve made himself available for quite a while to answer questions.

But the early rise for Candace was calling.  She was going to have to get up at 5 a.m. and start on her incredible 12 hours non-stop drive back to the farm and all her beloved animals.  Tom however, was coming with us to the airport.  He was on our flight to Dallas and then he was flying on to Austin for work. But firstly he was going to put us in the super-dooper airport lounge again, as his final task of giving us sublime love and care right up to the last minute.  What a difference in  the 5-hour wait in an airport when you are in the special area for the wealthy .. or maybe that’s unfair to say, it’s the special area for people who think they deserve to be treated like humans instead of like cattle.  The time passed in a flash and we were soon on our plane to Heathrow and our return to England.

It had been so difficult to say goodbye to Candace at our bedroom door and not know when we would be able to be in this wonderful woman’s company again but then to see Tom walk away in the lounge and disappear from sight made me very tearful. We have had such a magical time with them both and made such incredibly strong bonds.  Steve and Tom are like brothers together and that is a total new experience for each of them as they have never felt a need in the past for male friendships as such.  Their time together in Austin cemented that friendship and also our time on the farm cemented our joint friendships even further.

So it is back to England for us and a new path ahead for Steve to continue to get the message of his book ‘out there.’  Steve knows he now has to really focus on the Radio talk shows both here and in the U.S.A and will start to look at conferences in Europe and further afield.  The ET subject is very big in China, Japan, Turkey, Mexico, Italy and Russia.  Hopefully my Blogs in the future will be from those countries.  So many people have asked me to continue on with my Blog when I am home to let everyone know how Steve is doing and what we are both up to so I might well do some blogs of life with the Joneses in England.. Just this last night after I had completed the blog, Steve turned to me in the evening and said that he had just 'been told' that he needed to talk more about where he went when he was taken by the Light Beings in his Rhode Island experience.  So I said I would look forward to hearing much more about that and then as he dropped off to sleep it was apparent to me that there was a very unusual energy in the room.  Just as I was trying to work out what it was, there was a kind of 'bang' noise and then all the alarms in the street went off.  I went to the window and we had a total blackout which had caused the alarms to trigger.  Steve groggily woke and asked what was happening.. when I told him he said he was in the middle of an intense 'download' of information.. As he got up to look out of the window the lights came back on in the street.  So more goodies to look forward to..

Watch this space..

I finish up by saying thankyou to all those people we met in the US who made our journey and Steve’s tour so memorable and to those people who put us up and put up with us.. a huge thankyou..  Especially Mary, Ann, Paulette and Gary and Michael for his kindness and chauffeuring.  And to all the organisers of the talks Steve gave, especially Janet who took a huge chance on asking Steve to come to Taos,  thankyou for giving him this opportunity to speak about his life and his understanding of what it all means…

I think that if you do have a bucket list of things to do before you 'go home', then doing a road trip of the United States of America would probably fulfill the majority of those things to do and see on that bucket list.  I have been continually overwhelmed by the incredible innate kindness, care, curiosity and generosity of the American people.  Everywhere we went we were met by unfailing politeness and interest in us as people.  Unlike the English with their inherent reserve, which borders on rudeness, American people are open like a book and I so loved that about them.  The country itself is so incredibly diverse that it always answers the question we get asked over and over again, by people who know no better.. ”Why don’t American people even have passports?” to which I reply.. “Why should they bother to go abroad when they have every possible vista and climate within their own shores?”  You could spend your entire life just travelling in the United States and yet never see or witness all it has to offer.  We are so grateful for what we were able to see and share in, on our tour.

And to Candace and Tom who encapsulated every single aspect of all that is so fine in America and it’s people.... words are just not enough… Thankyou….

Love

Annie

Pictures are from the Multi-talented farmer, Past-life-regressionist extraordinaire, Artist, Sublime cook and wonderful Mum, Carer of all creatures great and small  and oh, yes, totally superb photographer..

Mrs Candace Craw-Goldman… 

Thankyou once again for capturing such wonderful images for us to treasure.

1.     The magical trees outside our door at the Hacienda Sol

2.     The last word on loos.  The toilet holder in the restaurant/ex-church in Santa Fe.  I kid you not.. toilet paper sitting in the cooking pans!

And the last definitive pictures on Orbs.

Johny Two Hawks at the Ozarks and Steve also at the Ozarks just when he he had told people that the Light Beings said they would be with him on the Tour.  Note that the massive singular Orb is between Steve and the dias making it impossible to be a 'speck of dust in the camera lens'..

A

 

Tour Diary Blog two Episode Four Stargazing with wild horses.. we say goodbye to the farm.. on the road to Taos and attacked by a rattlesnake!

Tour Diary Blog two

Episode Four

Stargazing with wild horses.. we say goodbye to the farm.. on the road to Taos and attacked by a rattlesnake!

As promised on the night before we were going to leave the farm Tom took us out to star watch.  This meant him loading up the back of the truck with every soft piece of bedding and blankets and pillows in the house and then call us to come out for the adventure.  We drove way out to the back of the land to a clearing, which they have specifically made their own for stargazing.  It seemed strange going out at night and driving through fields.  Once we had parked up we switched off the engine and just waited to experience the stillness and the amazingly clear night sky.  The Milky way was so prominent and clear and the silence was staggering.. that is until the herd of buffalo, no sorry, deer surrounded us and rustled the trees.  Tom shone his flashlight into the trees to see if we could see them, but we could only hear them and I found that very strange as we were talking and I wouldn’t have thought Deer bold enough to still move forwards towards us…  Tantalizingly we continued to hear them but there was no sight of them.  The next morning we discovered that the land abutting Tom and Candace’s had a fence down and their horses had got onto Tom’s land and so it was a number of horses we could hear and that was the reason they were not afraid of us.  We saw shooting stars and just took in the sublime ambiance of a clear night sky., impossible to find if you are a city dweller. Even under all the blankets, which made it so sumptuous, after a while we started to get cold so we headed on back to the house., to get packed up for the next stage of the journey, a two day drive to Taos New Mexico for Steve to do his talks.

The animals were all taken to their relevant carers which is a days work in itself getting them all delivered and I am sure they all knew we were going as Elvis and Steve had to have more than one goodbye and Rio laid his head on Steve’s shoulder as if to say.. “I’m sorry to see you go, strange shaven headed one, as you bring me good spare vittles”  The girls, Mama and Luna Belle said a quick hello/goodbye, but they only have eyes  for one woman and that is Candace.  However, Cowboy and Finn seemed sad to see everyone go and with their innate animal intuition they knew that the suitcase packing and clearing up of the premises meant some people were going on a holiday and it wouldn’t be them. 

I took my farewell of the beautiful and magical circle.  Every day when I was at the sink doing my share of the chores – washing up being one I was really good at,  I could look up and look straight out to the the circle and so every single time, I would tune into it and send it my energy.  It is glorious to look up from mundane chores and look straight out to a magical circle/portal on your own property. There is such a huge potential for healing from this little space on the Atira Moon farm and I look forward to seeing what is best made of it in the future.  Although I went out one day on my own to see what energies I could “pick up” from the circle and heard a quieter version of the unusual sound we all heard on our special full moon night, so far it had not returned in the startling way it did when we were all gathered there.  We have all speculated on what it could have been and maybe none of the explanations are the correct one.  Maybe it was just the energy of 13  psychic/intuitive people gathered at full moon which might have created an energy of sound. 

However, we have since talked to a land-dowser here at Taos and he states categorically that this particular sound is heard when a ‘wormhole’ is opened up over a portal, it has been documented before!!  Wow!!  Start booking tickets for the next Atira Moon Startrips to the Moon and beyond!

Steve and I drove away feeling very sad in our hearts to leave the farm and all the wonderful critters behind, it has been a truly magical 2 weeks with the most sublime company.  Steve left his work boots behind in the hopes that one day we might be asked back.  Elvis was last seen walking around with them on and doing his famous hip wiggle and singing  'Return to sender.. address unknown...'  Just kidding…

A long journey awaited us to Taos so we were going to take a break overnight so as to not be too tired.  We also  took a mid-day break in Dodge City.. I kid you not, there is a real Dodge City and I have stood in Boot Hill amongst the graves of the outlaws and lawmen and the one woman buried there.  As always things are never exactly what you expect and so we found it to be a small town and quickly driven through but we made a stop on Wyatt Earp drive at the towns museum and it was brilliant.  Instead of being in a big building there was a row of old town shops and saloons, which were just a façade with the museum being inside that façade in one long strip.  So you just walked through one door of one ‘shop’ into the next.  In the grounds was a real stagecoach and also an old outside loo – (Two bottom holes cut into a wood shelf) – which had once served the tiny church.  I tell you what, they had really small bottoms in those days.. The jail was also the size of a Restroom and I couldn’t see how the outlaw could actually lay down.  There were only two tiny rooms in it, and considering Dodge was reputed to be so lawless it must have been extremely cosy in there with more than one person incarcerated!  

The museum was full of amazing artifacts and just plain facts and I suppose I usually recount those facts, which really stick, in my mind.  Boot Hill used to look over the plains below, it’s not at all high really, but just the highest point in Dodge.  During the time of Wyatt Earp and Doc Halliday, the entire plains below were filled with Buffalo, deer, horses, cattle, I suppose, every kind of four legged animal, raccoons, possums, skunks, squirrels, and so many kinds of birds it was staggering.  Along came the hunters and the entire plains were wiped clean of all critters.  Millions and Millions of buffalo were just slaughtered.  Often for their skins with some of the meat just left to rot, but sometimes just for sport to see how many could be killed in one outing.  I would have to say that with a repeater rifle the odds were stacked against the Buffalo albeit that they are SO HUGE!  Standing next to the cabinet with the Buffalo exhibit I just couldn’t imagine what it must have been like for the Native American Indians to pitch themselves up against these hordes of stampeding mammoths, armed with only a bow and arrow or a spear – bareback riding their horses and not holding on.  Obtaining your food  source in this way is now  inconceivable to our modern way of life,  The thought of the queues at the local supermarket seemed must less stressful to me now and to think how we are  so picky about where our strawberries or beans might have come from!  Buffalo meat provided everything with no choice.  I found the exhibit room with all the Native American information, as always, so incredibly sad.  I think for a first time I could really get a sense of how confused and perplexed the indigenous people  must have been by the mentality of the white man, who came and just slaughtered and killed without any respect of any kind for the animals or especially the land.  It was so easy in a way, to take the lands, which the Indians lived on for centuries because they could not comprehend how a man could believe he could OWN land.  And of course they are right, no-one can own land we can only try to take care of it as best we can so that we can enjoy the fruits of that land.  Candace and Toms vision for their farm is that they want to protect it and keep it safe and unpolluted and as pristine as a Kansas farm could ever be.  The man who came to collect and round up his escaped horses asked if Tom and Candace allowed  hunting on their land or if they killed the coyotes and/or if they would renew the barbed wire fencing which had been knocked down and to all those questions they replied very simply “No”.  None of those things are in keeping with honouring the ground they intend to  live off.  They also add to that, their determination to grow and feed their animals only with organic products and to ensure that a genetically modified seed doesn’t come anywhere near their fences.. The strongest thing they feel is a determination to never ever use any pesticides or fertilisers.  Already this year the land has repaid such care by giving them a yield of hay which was 3 times the size of the neighbours with half the size of land..  Proof indeed that like the Native Americans if you respect your environment it will return that energy to you and take care of your needs in the process. So I was very sad to see how the Native Americans were forced off the land and moved into smaller and smaller areas until many died out through illness and starvation and also succumbing to alcohol, which their bodies cannot handle. 

We went into a properly decked out  saloon complete with saloon doors to push through to get in and you could really feel the energy of how the cowboys would come in and get their shot of whisky, which would be spun down the bar. Our actual bar keeper could also play the old piano and so whilst we had our drinks he gave us a tune, which was so lovely.  We were the only people there but I would imagine in the summer that Dodge City would get really busy.  We also got to climb up into the engine room of an old steam train and what a revelation that was.  Firstly the train was huge and the stream apparatus looked so complicated.  Coupled with how incredibly hot and smoky it must have been the whole engine was in front of the driver and the only place he could see ahead was by sitting on an outside chair and leaning well out and away from the train in order to peer ahead.  I couldn’t work out what happened when he came up to a bend, he definitely could not see.  Candace got very excited being in the drivers seat and kept making train noises.  So in the shop we bought her a train whistle and got a Sherriffs badge for Tom.

We got out of Dodge after a bite to eat.  Tom warned us that the vittles could be pretty difficult to obtain as we had been used to 2 weeks of sublime cooking with only pure organic produce.  Steve got to choose and as he made such a naff choice we all got to berate him soundly, but I got a Restroom story.

Steve had chosen a dreadful ‘Sports bar’ which ostensibly means that you cannot hear yourself think or especially talk as these massive TV’s are all over the place, I counted 6 in the one room, blaring out at 2 p.m. in the afternoon.  Once we had eaten, I popped into the ladies before we set off again.  To my appalled surprise.. to make sure I did not miss a single minute of whatever sport was being shown in the bar.. it was being relayed incredibly loudly through speakers in the loo.

Pleeeeassseee!! Give me a tiny break from the cacophony which is the American sports scene.  Watching the football or baseball game at home with Tom who patiently explained all the nuances of the game to us div brains… was something very pleasant, but having it assault your senses when you are trying to eat or do a tinkle is something else entirely.

We moved on with our journey heading towards a wonderful B & B which Tom had sourced which had every room with a different theme and it was exqusite as usual.  (The man can do no wrong in my eyes!)

 But the journey has to be noted for the fact that on the way we were just passing mile after mile of flat plain vista which in itself has it own quiet beauty, but then what’s that..  A lone camel!!  I am not joking and why it was there we will never know, then a herd of antelope.. O.k. they are kept for meat but also apparently for sport.. (Shame).. then a lone coyote and signs of, but no actual sightings of our favourite friend.. "Alan.. Alan.. Alan.. no Steve".. the gopher.

But suddenly Tom did a wheelie 3 point turn in the road avoiding all the heavy traffic of the cars coming at us over 3 miles away in the distance!.  I thought Candace had said to him “It’s a Rat” and knowing how much she loves Rats I thought it must have been struck by a car and we would be having it in the back with us giving it healing to get it back up and running again… So we turned around and came back round again to have Tom place my car door alongside a Rattlesnake.

Wow, it was beautiful but I was very distressed to see that is was in the middle of the road.  I wanted to get out and move it off the road; much to Tom’s dismay and he told me firmly to stay in the car.  On our last stopover we had popped into a fascinating old post office and Candace had bought a harness for her horse.  So with my improvisational skills which are legendary, I asked if surely two of us got out and used the rope on the harness we could move it quickly out of harms way.  Tom again emphatically said No and that I was not to get out of the car and not to wind my window down too far to film it.  As he said this the rattlesnake took a couple of strikes at the wheels.  It moved so quick that I could see that trying to help it would have only made it think we meant it harm and it would in fact then attack us.  Sadly we had to drive away and I was pretty upset to think it might soon be run over, especially as Tom said people would deliberately try to run it over.  (WHY!!!?)..

Tom explained carefully to me, like the recalcitrant child I had become, that it was not up to us to interfere in the Karmic choice made by the rattlesnake as to how it might be choosing its demise, especially if it had ideas about being able to come back as a Boa Constrictor!  I was a tiny bit placated but not much.  We all envisaged that immediately we drove away it turned and got off the road back into the grass, it could become a Boa Constrictor another day.

So we finally arrived in Taos yesterday in the sunshine then it started to pour with rain, very heavily all night, that continued today and then tonight as we had our meal in this exquisite old church whose restroom I just have to write about, it began a blizzard of snow!!  Wow. We started this journey in snow in NYC in March and here it is again, however in Austin today it is 90 degrees.  What incredible contrasts this wonderful country offers at every single turn..

We are having a wonderful time and I attended two brilliant presentations today with an Exorcist and a Native American Seer and protector of ancient wisdoms.. Steve is on the radio tomorrow and talks at mid-day about his ET experiences and then gives his presentation on the new DNA stuff on Saturday.  Taos is just like Eureka Springs... So incredibly artistic and Mexican... lovely... so lots to write about tomorrow.  At the moment I am looking up at my wonderful skylight out to the stars in this fantastic little suite we have been booked into and it is totally covered in snow.  No stars for me tonight…

much love

Annie

xx

Tour diary two-Episode 3 - The cowgirl drives a tractor and plaits the horses high Haiirrr!! and Verne gets laid

Tour diary two.. The Aliens return abroad

Episode 3

The cowgirl drives a tractor and plaits the horses high Haiirrr!! and Verne gets laid

It’s just amazing how quickly the time is passing and how many other modalities I am adding to those of my Holistic Healthcare Practitioner skills.

Plaiting horses hair, driving a tractor, picking up the chicken eggs, removing paths and making a chicken house.. such highly called for skills in the world of the Healer and Metaphysician.  My admiration for Candace is limitless now that I see how many other things she can do, as well as being such a wonderful Therapist.  On the farm there is no job she won’t tackle and do well but also her photography, cooking and art skills are just amazing.  Yesterday Elvis came into the garden.. (the real donkey Elvis, not the long dead but uber cool singer Elvis)  As I had a carrot, he treated me with great fondness, laying his head on mine and nuzzling up to my chest.  Candace captured the moment so well.

As I continued on with my self appointed task of removing the horrible white stone path in the garden, which Candace hated, I stupidly asked Tom if there was any soil anywhere on the farm (only 80 acres worth) – because I needed to fill up the holes I had created.  Tom told me that indeed there was and I would need to drive the tractor to go pick it up.  Yeah right!.. The only car I have ever been comfortable with driving, was my tiny original Fiat 500 which was brilliant for parking as you just picked it up and turned it with front bumper in, facing the kerb, so it could get in a parking space as wide as itself.  I deal o.k. with our gorgeous  PT cruiser as I am used to it, but still sometimes I am not sure of its length when parking or backing in.  I do a lot of closing my eyes and silent prayers.

Not being one to show fear or extreme apprehension, I just lightly said.. “O.K.” and then proceeded to hide out in the house.

Tom however, called out for me to come and ride the tractor.  Somehow he had driven it into the back garden through a 6-foot wide fence and there it was waiting for me. However, as far as I could see the tractor was at least 9 foot wide and it had a trailer on the back!  Tom showed me the very simple instructions for driving and also instructions as to how we were going to pick up the soil once I had driven to the soil mountain.  These instructions were hand signals, which to me looked just like the signals given by Francoise Truffaut to the beautiful E.T. in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Of course this sent my brain off into a film reverie and I did not pay enough attention.  I casually asked if he would put the tractor outside for me to get on but Tom just said “No you drive it out” Oh No!!!!  I then asked Tom if he could take down the entire fence down first but he said “No, you can do it don’t worry” "Oh well, I told myself ..you can do this, don’t be such a wuss"  As I approached the gateway it seemed almost certain that I would crash the fence so I made the decision to line up as best I could, go forward and hope to slide through the tiny space.  Space – 6 foot… tractor 9 foot, at least.. not good.  So, this task I determined would be carried out easier, if I closed my eyes.  It works in my PT cruiser, ..so close my eyes I did.  But I tuned my ears in sharper, for sounds of falling timber.

The tractor moved forwards and I heard Tom say “Let me climb up and show you where the dirt is” and when I opened them up I had cleared the gate. Yippee!!   The fact that I hadn’t heard any horrendous splintering of the immaculate cedar fence was another clue! We chuntered on to the mountain of dirt pile and I had to drive at it and then stop and then using Toms hand signals I had to use the spoon-lift-thingy (technical farm terms) to impale the mountain of dirt at its base, turn the spoon inwards to secure the load and then lift it up in the air.  What an achievement.  Now to turn round- go back – through the tiny gate and do a 3-point turn in the garden to deposit the dirt where I needed it.  Phewee!!

Well, not only did I make the journey 4 times but I had such a great time, on the last trip I had turned into Louis Hamilton or (Stirling Moss for the old guys) and although I didn’t turn round to look I’m sure Tom was having to hold on for dear life.  I could have driven it all day.  Steve meanwhile was rolling around on the floor with the dogs holding his sides at even the thought of me driving a tractor, but ultimately had to come out and film me as I made such a good job of it.  I don’t want to know how to drive a combine harvester though.

My next task that day was to plait Mama Belles hair, which is so long it gets in her way.  Candace bought her to the steps and I enticed her nearer to me with delectable carrot and apple.  It sounds like an easy task to do 4 plaits but the hair is very coarse and long and at any time she could skitter off.  I had to stand on the steps to be able to reach her and put on some heavier shoes in case she stepped on my toes.  I did a passable job I think, she did not gallop off and she looked very pretty when I had finished.  It just amazes me how many and how varied the tasks are to do on a Farm.

I felt by the end of the day I had earned my keep and vittles and my relaxation time with the critters in front of the wonderful log fire.  I love being outdoors and working hard, Tom paid me a huge compliment when he said I would pass as a Farm girl any day… praise indeed.

Verne, bless him is still here on Parole.  But although he did not crow too much whilst Tom and Steve were away as soon as Tom came back he let rip.  So far we had not seen any amorous action with the girlies, although they have stopped boxing his ears and seem content to follow him around while he struts like Mick Jagger.  I think he should be renamed MJ.  Steve is convinced he is gay and that’s why the girls are not getting any afternoon delight, or morning or evening come to that.  He bases that on his incredible plumage and strutting abilities and the fact that he backs off when the girlies say.. “Out of my way big boy, that centipede is mine”  I really hope he can stay, he is so pretty and so … cocksure… excuse my pun.. and he makes a lovely addition to all the little girl chickens.  Sometimes you can just have things around for adornment, not just to be useful surely?  Candace has two older chickens that no longer lay and they are loved and just as well cared for as the ones who lay.  One of them a lovely black and white feathered chicken called Sophie is so gorgeous and has plumage, which looks just like a lampshade over her head.  I have no idea how she sees where she is going.. Along with Raven the dog who had the operation and who now has an actual lampshade over her head to stop her trying to reach her stitches, there is a lot of ‘lampshade’ headwear going on in this farm.  Makes my cowboy two-step hat look pretty ordinary.

Anyway as Candace had her camera out to snap myself and Elvis and she also managed to capture the one single second when gay/parolee Verne did his splendid duty on an unsuspecting chicken.  As he was strutting Candace thought to capture him in all his glory, but suddenly he was up and at ‘em.  The chicken had no idea what was about to occur and from the way she shook her head and walked away I don’t think she had much idea about what had occurred afterwards either.  If you had blinked you would have missed it. But they then shared a worm together and seemed to be in a very intimate huddle, much to the chagrin of Gertrude.  Gertie is still boss as far as I can see. I would love to see him overcome her feisty attitude.

He is still crowing before the dawn even comes over the horizon, so unless they move the coop about a mile away each night, (which would really interest the coyote clan who still come to the house every night and serenade us all)..  it does not look good for the little guy.  I love him and hope he manages to win over Tom’s heart.

Building the new chicken house was quite a task too.  My job here was to bang nails in.  Tom asked me if I wanted to do the sawing on the gigantic circular saw and I gave it one go, but that really was beyond my remit as I was nervous about accidently destroying a good piece of wood.  So nail banging proved to be my success story of the day.  The finished product looked so good that it would make a nice little hobbit house for a small person such as myself. The two older chickens now have a new house and Verne might be put in with them at night to see if their lack of chicken hormones might keep him quiet.

We got to go out for the evening to attend a talk and ‘activation’ demonstration by Marcia who had conducted the evening in the Atira Moon circle for the full moon event.  It was lovely to be out at night and also to be able to attend a spiritual event as I rarely get to anything like this nowadays.  Marcia for 33 years went round the world building stone temples and circles in sacred places but then she suffered a brain aneurism.  She had a Near Death Experience and she then had what she describes as the most incredible experience, where she met up with the energy source of all life throughout the universe (s)..  She was told she could go back and continue to do her work and she agreed to this, but only if when she went back she was completely healed.  Meanwhile her body was in a coma for 5 days with all the scans showing devastating damage in her brain.  On the 5^th day she woke up - to the shock of the doctors - who quickly did a new brain scan, which Marcia knew would show up as completely healed and it did.  They of course could not make any sense out of this, as they knew she should have been brain damaged.  She was able to leave the hospital and just continue with her energy work.

Her talk was very interesting and she made a couple of good points, which I loved.  One was about someone she spoke with who kept saying (somewhat pompously, I thought) “I talk with God all the time” to which Marcia replied .. “Ah, but.. do you ever listen?”  The other one was that we all create pictures based on our sense of reality.  Then we argue with people that they have events wrong because they have created different pictures to ours in order to make their own sense of their reality.

Marcia said that she rarely gives images or information of anything she sees when she is doing energy work as this can lead to confusion and conflict as the other person might say that they did not actually see the same thing, but something different.  As she so rightly says, all the information is relevant.  We all have other pieces of the same jigsaw.  It was a lovely night out.  We have lots of treats still to come.  Tom has promised us a night out under the stars complete with blankets and mattresses on the back of the truck.. sounds like great fun especially as we can use the I Pad to point at the stars and get to actually know what we are looking at.  I just hope the coyotes don't want to come and take a look at us!

Lots of love

Annie

xx

This is Candace’s entry on her Blog.

Her Blog has been running for a while now and covers many different subjects which are dear to her heart, animals, Atira Moon and especially how to look after the land and food issues.

Steven Jones and Visitors to Atira Moon by newearthjourney

Steven Jones and his lovely wife Anne Ashley-Jones are in America once again in 2011 on Book Tour number 2.


Last night at the dinner table Steven was an invited guest on the Jerry Pippin Show Inceptionradio.com. Jerry had various ET Experiencers on his show including Travis Walton.  Notably, most of the guests focused upon fear and negative perceptions. The message Steven is here to give is the complete and utter opposite!

Its been interesting having Steven here. We've done lots of farm things and just visiting and enjoying the animals and we also had a small dinner party last week where we spent some time in the Sacred Site Circle with a group of friends on the full moon.

Something very strange happened that evening and I have been gathering individual descriptions of a very odd and rather unworldly noise all but one of the attendees heard appear right inside the circle.  I will write about that in my next blog article when time permits.

There have been other communications happening for Steven on other nights as well. I am waiting for him to process and share these when he is ready.

Steve is warming up to be the keynote speaker in the Paranormal Conference in Taos later on this month.

Pictures of me on the sawmill..
Candaces vision of the circle at Atira Moon
Marcias drawings of the temples and portals
And the gorgeous main man!!  Tom... pretending not to notice the crazy tractor driver lady zooming up large!

Life continues down on the funny farm.. deep in the heart of Kansas. Verne arrives.. Raven has an op and the gals do some serious farm work…

Blog two.. Tour two.. October 15^th – World occupy day…

Meanwhile..

Life continues down on the funny farm.. deep in the heart of Kansas.

Verne arrives.. Raven has an op and the gals do some serious farm work…

Before we came on our trip, Candace had written to us saying she was going to offer some work to a guy who had been on death row but had now been reprieved.  She also said he would be living on the premises as he needed a home now because whilst he has been on parole, he kept fighting with his room-mates.  She said she felt he could do some jobs around the farm and help out and she wanted to give him a chance.

I kept remembering it wrong and kept saying that it was very kind of them to offer work to a serial killer, but she corrected me patiently and said ‘No, he had just been on death row, but now was free and looking for employment.’ She asked if we would meet Verne – (as he is called) - and give her a true intuitive response as to whether he would work out and would fit in with the Ethos of the farm and it’s wonderful serene energy.   Steve’s reaction as always, being so protective, said that he would never allow a serial killer… no…sorry .. death-row escapee anywhere near his beloved wife and I think he was quite worried.  So we spent a long time talking about the value of giving people a chance to prove themselves, and practicing non-judgementalism.  I said Verne might not have even done what he was accused of, if he was now released that mighten that  be because he had been innocent all along and deserved a chance?  Anyway, with Tom and Steve around I felt sure we would not be in any danger from this short-stocky-bow-legged–big-hatted-silent -Mexican. 

I am always amazed at my intuitive psychic abilities, and I felt I had conjured up a very accurate mental picture of Verne.

(I am going to create a new one of those little asides which we now all write on our e-mails.. Not LOL but TIC.. tongue-in-cheek as I am sure some people might read me literally!!)

So TIC to my image of Verne..

He was supposed to come with the workers who are putting in the new fences around the property, on Monday but didn’t make it.. not a good sign and then also not again on Tuesday.  Candace said if he didn’t turn up again on Wednesday then she might re-think the whole thing, as he obviously was not going to be the reliable little worker she was looking for.

Thursday morning with the boys well ensconced in Austin doing their fun boy things Verne arrived with the workers.

Being the very polite guy he is, he waited outside the yard gate while Candace came and got me, took me by the hand and said “Verne is here, come and meet him”

As I approached the gate I thought “My goodness this Mexican is even smaller than me as I cannot even see him through the gate, must be a midget”

She opened the gate and there in a cage was a magnificent specimen of Rooster, trying to strut his stuff in a little cage, not very successfully I might add.

What plumage.. oranges.. blacks and exquisite turquoise green feathers, a very cocky look in his eye topped by  a wonderful red headdress.

“Like what you see?”  I heard him say.. and yes, I had to reply I was very, very impressed, a magnificent specimen.

We bought him into the yard where the 7 young chicken fillies were doing their stuff, walking around gently clucking and giving hell to any tiny worm who dared to move the surface of the earth and chasing the poor crickets around.  They immediately gathered into a huddle and surrounded him.  Verne was very pleased at the attention and started to round them up like a herd of cattle or maybe a posse.   My sense of it was that he thought he might line them up in order of attractiveness and then give them his attentions from the prettiest down to the lowliest but being a reprieved character, I felt he would not miss anyone out.  Now, …..the leader of the girlie posse is Gertrude, who is my nemesis like little Paisley in North Carolina and it is her goal in life to eat my flip flops taking up the baton where Paisley left off.  She is big boss lady.  As I now cover my toes in work shoes, very sensibly, as I am doing a major chore in the yard of removing a stone path to pay for my keep, she shows how irked she is with me, by pecking my bum every time I bend down.  We are in constant dispute, she determines to peck my bum until I go in and put back on my flip-flops so she can eat them and I keep telling her that this is not going to happen.

So Verne saunters up to her,  with a “Like what you see baby?.. you want some of this don’t you” (Well, it worked so well with me he thought it would be a good modus operandi.. little did he know I am a push-over for a well turned out peacock of a male!)

Gertrude   responded to his charms by flying up in the air in order to facilitate a huge boxing of his ears!!!  The other ‘gals’ followed suit and in seconds the strutting peacock was running for his life.  They were chasing him yes.. but only to box his ears and make sure he understood the pecking order on this farm,  might not be what he expected and he needed to know that he was bottom of the ladder…

Poor Verne.  Released from jail and certain death, just for being a rooster in a world that only values egg-laying hens, this was not what he had in mind.  So many thrills to impart to so many ladies and not enough hours in the day to show them all his tricks and here it looked like they were not going to let him near them.  Not without first giving him a bit of foreplay which to me looked distinctly painful.

Candace decided to leave them all to it and see how it went, but I had visions of my stocky little Mexican, he of the wonderful ornate plumage hat ending up on his back, not from delightful carnal experiences but from sheer exhaustion of having his head re-arranged by 7 feisty ladies who wanted to be wooed in their own time.

However, when we came to finally take a look, with a flashlight, to see if they had accepted him into their fold, he was up on the roost with all 7 ladies, right in the middle, very squashed and very cosy.  His last words to me were, “I will be alright as long as I stay up here and they all stay up here with me, as there is absolutely no room for them to take off airborne and box my ears.. I might stay here forever!”

Now… if he is to stay off death row, we just have to convince him not to crow.  Tom is not enamoured of a rooster crowing… so every time he let rip to try to convince the ladies that if they let him have his way, he would sing them love songs all day.. Candace told him.. “Verne please don’t do that.. Tom will send you back to death row” Death row might be just putting him out to try to impress the coyotes and we all know who will win that confrontation.

I’m writing this at 5 a.m. as I can’t sleep and the sun is just coming up, so far no song from Verne.  Perhaps he is one clever Rooster who realises Nirvana when he sees it and maybe he will keep stumm until Tom can be won over by his lovely personality and charisma as Candace and I have been..

Now he just has to win over the ladies.

Little Raven had to go in for an operation, which just showed me how incredibly worrying and time consuming it is to take care of all these wonderful animals.  She is such a stoic being, quite an old gal now and Candace dropped her off early morning.  We worried about her all day, but the vet rang and said she did well and could be picked up early evening.

Another huge part of the responsibility of living with animals is vets bills.  I think they probably compare equally to the vets in England so that a small injection will set you back about £100.00.  (I presume it must be colloidal gold they are injecting).. so to have an operation, get your teeth cleaned and take some drugs cost the same as a small run around car in England or even in some very rural areas probably the same as a small holding and cottage.

The Vet was really nice though and did not look like a crook.  Candace was so relieved that Raven had pulled through and in fact Raven looked feisty and was trying to jump around which was very difficult with her Elizabethan collar on which restricted her view to about 1” past her nose.  Candace gave the Vet a huge hug to say thankyou and he started to regale us with animal stories about Rabies and Airports and quarantines procedures.

I was able to top that with my Zsa Zsa Gabor story.

When I worked at Playboy one of the Inspectors came into gaming to get away from his stressful job working in customs at Heathrow airport.  (This was over 40 years ago when people sailed through customs, but in England we were very strict on animal importation because of a fear of Rabies)

Zsa Zsa wafted through, complete with entourage, high heels and a  huge fur coat even though it was summer.

Tony, being very polite said..

“Good day Miss Gabor, welcome to England .. do you have anything to declare?”

Miss Gabor.. “Only that I am extremely beautiful dear boy, and haf already had 3 very rich husbands but I like the look of you and if you play your cards right, darlink, we could maybe tink of making you number 4”

Tony.. “Thank you Miss Gabor, but are you sure you have nothing to declare?”

(Quick change of pace here from Miss Gabor being playful kittenish, “you can have me if you play your cards right” , to shrieking harridan!)

Miss Gabor..”Vat is ronk viv you, stupid boy, did I not say I did not?!”

Tony.. “Miss Gabor I think you have a small dog under your fur coat?”

Miss Gabor.. “Of course, stupid, stupid boy, ver else vould my beautiful little bunnykins liff, but under my coat, dat is ver all tiny little doggies off mine liff”

Tony.. “Well Miss Gabor, I am afraid we have very strict quarantine rules here and you will not be allowed to bring your dog through like that and he will have to go into quarantine”

Miss Gabor.. Shrieking now.. “ Are you crazy, you stupid, stupid, stupid boy, Vat are you sayink, touch my dog and I kill you” 

With that to emphasis how serious she meant what she said she took a huge swing with her very heavy handbag and whacked Tony right round the head and knocked him out!!

I think they arrested her for a while for that little escapade and I like to think that the Paris Hiltons who believe they set trends by carrying around these tiny little pooches have no idea that it has all been done before with such better panache and style.

You cannot beat the incredible egos and gall of those old American movie stars, although I have to say I don’t actually ever remember seeing her in any movie!

On our way to pick up Raven, Candace took me on a short ride downtown Augusta.  One of those wonderful American towns which still tries valiantly to hang on to it’s individuality and charm and not succumb to the pestilence which is the American Motorway line-up of the fast food eateries – all identical in nature and offerings and the mind numbing boring Motels…

There was a cute little blacksmiths shop about 6 foot square and a tiny little original house now kept as a museum and the most wonderful art deco film house complete with the glass booth ticket office at the front.  It was showing the original 30’s film of the Phantom of the Opera last night, what a treat.

Steve meanwhile was back in the fabulous Austin Movie house where we had enjoyed such a fantastic time with Tom and Candace when we were last here, with the recliner seats, blankets and waiter service to your seat and table.  We were sent little clips of their activities during the day and we saw that they had taken the segway mobile units for a jaunt around downtown Austin.  Steve did not however, look at all comfortable.  I thought it was because he is so comfortable driving any kind of vehicle, but one you stand on like a scooter did not seem to please him.  Then I thought it might be because he did not like wearing a helmet, although he doesn’t have to worry about it messing up his hair, but no, it was because he felt the clip of him driving downtown on his segway, made him look chubby and now he is fixated on trying to lose weight.  Which could be quite difficult with Tom determined to show him the very best restaurants.  He said that after lunch he and Tom were going to a lap-dancing club and I said I hoped they had a nice time.. He then added that the attraction was that these were Japanese Sumo wrestler lap dancers who had to be lifted down onto your lap in a harness as the weight might break the chair you sat on, so then I had to believe that this visit might have been one of Steve’s imaginary journeys!  I am not sure which of us has the more creative flair..

On the night of the ceremony in the circle, Tom told us he was going to put the alarm on in the house when we went to bed, just in case we thought we might to go and take a look outside if we got up in the night, it would trigger it off.

I immediately thought .. ”Ah, I expect the ET’s might be coming for a visit and Tom intuitively knows that.”  I said nothing.

In the morning Steve asked us all if we remembered anything happening in the night and we didn’t although we all realised we had slept particularly deeply.

He then said he was woken up by a “woman” who told him to come into the lounge to talk..  At some point Tom came out and said “Is everything O.K.?” and then Candace came out behind him and said “Come away Tom, this is not for you” and led him back into the bedroom.  We begged Steve to tell us all she told him, but he said he has to write it all down as that way all the information can pour through uninterrupted.  Then he went off to Austin, - the little b… - without telling us anything!.  So I am looking forward to his return on Sunday where hopefully he will fill us in on everything she shared with him.

Marcia who had conducted the ceremony on Tuesday was all in white, but one of the other people here said they saw/sensed a ‘woman all in white’ in the circle who was obviously not Marcia and I wondered if the ‘woman’ who turned up to speak with Steve could have been her, as I did not sense the usual ET presence.  My feeling was that she is someone linked here to the Farm and the wonderful energy of the circle.  I really hope he can remember all she shared with him. 

Candace’s dad is going to lend us his other car tomorrow.  A wonderful old 1960 red Chrysler convertible.  Us gals will be putting on our Thelma and Louise personas and doing some cruising.  Yesterday at the traffic lights a Sherriff’s car waved us out, I thought he was being courteous to us .. but then I realised he just wanted to feast his eyes on the fabulous old Cadillac we were in,  as we pulled out.  What a car…

Tom had sent me a book to read before I got here called the ‘Worst Hard Times’ about the tragedies of the Dust bowl era when terrible farming practices of the first-time settlers ruined this land.  Prairie grasses which have been here for thousands of years feeding the buffalo and keeping the Native Americans very happy, were systematically ploughed under and wheat, wheat and more wheat grown.  In a matter of a few years millions and millions of acres and the same numbers of buffalo were gone, destroyed.  This created a lack of topsoil holding foliage and so the dust storms were created which are unfathomable to our minds to try to even begin to contemplate.  They blinded people and were huge, black ferocious winds, thousands of feet high and wide and with particles so small that hundreds of particles could fit onto a full stop and so consequently they got into absolutely everything.  There was no way to keep it out.  The Homesteaders would come out to find the landscape completely changed, buildings buried and livestock killed. On top of all this there was no rain, as has been the case here in Kansas this year and the temperature in one test with a thermometer inserted into the sand read a staggering 153 degrees.  Above 100 degrees daily was the norm.

This went on for years and they held on until the banks kicked them off their lands for not paying taxes.  Yea right, that makes sense doesn’t it just like today, when people have lost their jobs and their businesses and can’t make payments, Banks and mortgage companies keep claiming taxes and interest on house mortgages until they are so broke they have to be put out of their houses.  (Nothing changes does it!)

In one of the bleakest of the years for these homesteaders one family had managed to finally grow a few meager crops and their fruit trees had some little sign of a crop and then just when they should have harvested, a plague of crickets descended and ate the lot!  It was a heartbreaking read.

When Candace and I drove around yesterday she showed me the different kinds of fields and grasses and we came across a field of Corn, which had not survived the extreme drought they have had here.  It was very sobering to see this blackened and blasted crop, which never came to fruition.  What a lot of hard work for no reward..  Very sobering and makes me realise we take so much for granted without thinking about what hard work someone carries out to supply our food on our tables.

Today we have been doing some farm chores and it is very physical which I like, but really hard work.  Candace has a photo shoot to do and I am going to be the dog/cat/horse/donkey/hen/Verne sitter to keep those coyotes and skunks at bay and to make sure Raven continues her great recovery.

Much love

Annie

The pictures are of Verne arriving

The ladies in pursuit

Verne doing the two – step with huge panache and

The farm hand doing the jobs…