June 24, 2001

A very busy day in Ottawa. Woke up. Great breakfast prepared by M.  In  M.’s car by 10:00. Camping store. Canadians have great camping equipment. Lunch at The Canadian National Art Gallery.

Ottawa is so beautiful.  The capital city presents everything so well and there is so much to see and do.  Do  local people take the time to really enjoy it? Do they take it for granted? I don’t. I love this urban option two hours from my rural home.

Do I live in the right spot?  A very conservative area with some but few cultural outlets.  But the people there are genuine and kind. Would I be able to travel if  I moved someplace else and got into debt? It will be interesting to read this journal entry when I finish my trip. Feeling a little anxious at this moment. I have a strong faith but it needs a little restoring at this moment.

Hmm, my faith. I believe in God.  I have witnessed too many coincidences that affirm this path.  But I am a freelance spiritual being, respecting all religious perspectives  even the choices of atheists.  Live and let live.  Some denounce those of us who say we believe in God as hypocrites because we are just as flawed as the rest of the world.  I am a self proclaimed selfish diest freely admitting that I have committed probably most of the sins out there. But having spent many moments in my life alone and very scared, I find courage and an ever present companionship with a loving God.  I wouldn’t be making this trip if it wasn’t for Him.

At the art museum we saw a Klimt exhibit. He believed in truth, a rebel in his time.  Art nouveau, symbolism.  Birth, youth, old age, death.  Hope I, Hope II, Hope III and so forth.  Was he trying to tell us that it is better to produce what we believe in even though others disagree? Be true to yourself? He stuck to his convictions and now he is appreciated and revered. Passion, color, life.  He set his own course. He died at the age 53 of a stroke and pneumonia due to the worldwide influenza epidemic of 1918.  Art for him was freedom, the way it should be.

We had snacks and wine in an open air cafe, the kind I love. We went to a French music concert. The temperature was perfect. The air came in contact with my skin touching it softly and lovingly, ending a perfect Ottawa day.

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