The fourth and final major ceremony. (Just as a side note: I wrote this entire piece yesterday and then lost it when it was uploaded, in spite of the fact that from bitter experience with dodgy internet connections I had copied the entire article — alas it did not copy! So this may be a little terse as a result.....

We arrived in London on the 16th of October. Spent a couple days there and then headed down to Hastings for a service on the following Saturday. Friday night consisted of much imbibing of a variety of alcohols.

Saturday afternoon we all headed down (well up and over, always going uphill in Hastings) to the beach we often took Braedwyn when we lived there and everyone collected rocks for a cairn we would build later behind Simon and Suzanne's (our next door neighbors) house up on the hill beneath the castle...

The Mont (or Vermont as you like) proved less than we hoped. Nicole and I arrived around 4 and began to prepare for the sweatlodge by gathering rocks to be heated and wood to heat them, and digging a pit for said rocks in the center of the lodge to be built. As the sun went down we had the fire started and the beginnings of the lodge built. We kept the fire going and our hazard lights flashing to alert the soon-to-be-arriving Dave Often and family to our whereabouts...

Nicole and I flew out of Long Beach on Saturday and arrived in Phoenix, which is apparently home of America's friendliest aiport. We had a laugh at that until we got to the Avis desk and Walter proved it by upgrading our car for free on him. It was a bit after 6 when we hit the road. We drove up to Sedona to spend the night...

Wednesday was hot, very hot. As people arrived they huddled along the back edge of the house where a two foot patch of shade extended along the length. At 3:12 we decided we would formally begin at half past three, leaving a little more time for others to arrive. As events unfolded we rearranged the order of the ceremony slightly...