6/28 Winding the Line (A Jump to the Present)

Knowing that much has to be posted still about the remainder of this Australian adventure, I'd like to return to real time here because the immediacy of what I'm feeling is important. 

The line is winding back into a coil. We wound back our line from Calperum to Canberra and now from Canberra to Sydney. In a matter of hours, the winding will take me back across the Pacific to LA and then to San Francisco. There's something about this that makes me sad because what has transpired here can now only exist as memory. Its forefront is no longer in the present moment.

We are in the process of saying goodbye, though in many cases, it is very likely to be an "until we meet again" rather than a goodbye. It still, however, feels like goodbye. We've said our goodbyes to the Field Studies artists from Jigamy and Calperum. Yoshi was called away earlier in the trip, even though his spirit of levity and generosity stayed with us throughout. And as for John Reid, who is pure, unadulterated class, our inevitable goodbyes somehow still managed to feel premature. It would have felt premature regardless of how or when it was done.

Of the remainder of us who came from the States to embark on this amazing journey together — Bill, Cedra, Joseph and me — we say our goodbyes tomorrow at varying times. It is a testament to Bill and John that these goodbyes resonate with me as strongly as they do and especially to Bill for bringing all of us together.

Blake, Yoshi, Cedra, Joseph and Bill at Sublime Point, photo by John Reid