Our time in Vancouver has come to an end, and a new phase of our journey has begun – a nomadic dance that has us roaming the world on a more or less continuous basis.

We knew intuitively before we left Australia last May to come back to Vancouver, that we needed to spend the whole summer in Vancouver. We didn’t know why. We thought we needed doctor’s visits to check up on various ailments, and dental checkups, and to see our financial planner and accountant – the kind of “housekeeping” that could probably have been done in a couple of weeks along with some quick visits with friends. Don also had some looming business matters that needed attention, but in the beginning we had no idea that this “housekeeping” was going to take the whole summer.

Although he’s retired, Don still has cases that have not yet settled, and he actually had to go to court in June to give expert witness testimony shortly after we got back. Cases usually settle, but now and then one lands in court and this was one of those times. When we were in India it looked like he’d have to give testimony via video conferencing at one point but fortunately that case settled. As well as the June case, he had to do a video deposition for a case coming up in December, which may or may not settle before that time. All this takes endless visits with lawyers and prep time. He tries really hard to not let opposing council make him look like an idiot.

On top of that we had to deal with pensions and travel medical insurance and renewing our drivers licenses and International Driving Permits. You can’t even begin to imagine the time it takes to get to talk to people in government departments, let alone get accurate information, get together all the documents you need, wait for replies, etc. I need proof of my original work permit in Canada, from 1985, and my certificate of permanent residence from 1987 – even though I’ve been a citizen for years. I applied for these in June. In August they put the payment through on Visa. I still don’t have the documents. I’ve also spent hours planning our next journey in India – booking trains, planes and automobiles, and hotels – hours on the internet, and phone, and skypeing with my sister Julie and our travel agent in India. Sometimes it was like pulling teeth: some lessons there in letting go, and relaxing.

The great blessing in all this is it has meant we also have had time to reconnect with our friends, and see our granddaughter, and spend some time with Don’s son Jason when he came to visit for two weeks in August.

Play days with Jason and Amanda at:

Queen Elizabeth Park






Jason hiding




Don got these great shots of Amanda and me playing in the fountain






Inside Bloedel Conservatory












The beach at Ambleside








Another great shot from Don




Stanley Park














Our life feels full of miracles. A friend lent us his BMW for the summer; a booking for accommodation was not recorded, and with no place to stay we suddenly remembered a friend who was going on vacation, and who was happy to have us stay at her place, and take care of her cat – for exactly the dates we needed; we mentioned in the blog that we’ll probably go to Mexico and South America next March and friends offered their Mexican casita – at half price. We are up to our ears in horseshoes, and feel endlessly blessed by the universe. We take nothing for granted. Life is lived moment by moment, and the longer we are on this journey the deeper becomes our trust. It’s not trust in God, or the Mystery or the universe; it’s not trust that everything will be okay, or the way we want it to be necessarily, but just trust. Trust in the fitness of things. Trust in Life itself. Trust in Presence. Trust in just being, and in the flow of life. We feel very very lucky.

We are in Australia now. More about that in the next post.

I’m still spending many lost hours exploring photoshop and creating digital art. Here are some of my latest creations.

All words and images by Alison Louise Armstrong unless otherwise noted.
© Alison Louise Armstrong and Adventures in Wonderland – a pilgrimage of the heart, 2010-2015.