May 19-20, 2001 London

Arrived pretty well on time in Heathrow and started out on my now familiar path to the Piccadilly Line. It was rush hour and there were quite a few delays, but I made it and David White came racing in to pick me up at the tube station in his little British bomb. David and Sandy Hoover had gone all out for this shindig (a party for me and the whole Lunar Drive musical community) and were most gracious and generous hosts. Right away I came upon Phillip Obah and another Aboriginal fellow from near Alice Springs, Australia. They were both transiting through London on their way to Haifa. I asked Phillip if he could share a little with the largely non-Baha'i hip Londoners there. There were several excellent musical presentations, and then Sandy asked me to share. I did just a short song and then I introduced Phillip, and he shared his paintings depicting "Progressive Revelation" and "Carmel Projects. His perspective is so unique and so Aboriginal that the listeners were spellbound and didn't even mind his direct references to the Messengers of God, and that Baha'u'llah is the Messenger for this Day. Nor did they mind it when Phillip spoke of the new laws that are imperative for this day. He put these in context with the former laws - all of this is strictly taboo in polite European society - but Phillip totally got away with it. I told Phillip that I would double-check that his time will be fully utilized during his visit to South Dakota in a couple of weeks!I stayed that night with Phineas and Arlette, a couple we met at Landegg several years ago.The next morning we journeyed four stops on the Piccadilly line to Arnos Grove, just a short walk from the resting place of the Guardian. After prayers we visited with Mr.Alai the custodian. Standing outside of the small reception house in front of a dead tree he shared the story of how Ruhiyyih Khanum had visited 26 cemeteries before selecting this one. She had told the attendant that this was well-suited because of the magnificent trees and the surrounding symphony of birds, and that she trusted that he would strive to maintain these qualities! So when one of the trees close the Guardian's grave succumbed to Dutch Elm Disease, he remembered his trust, just cut the top for safety, and left the trunk as a bird habitat and planted another tree next to it so it could use the elder deceased tree for support! Mr.Alai then said, "Now that I've told you this story, it's your turn." So I told him that this visit was a blessed stop between two mountains, that the day before I had passed close to the highest mountain in the world and that in a few minutes I would be off to the holiest mountain in the world.