memoir

What I do for a Living

Earlier this month, I reduced my essential possessions to 23 kg plus carry-on and resumed a pandemic-friendly version of my old nomadic way of life. I'm cat sitting in a neighbourhood of Toronto I've never seen before. Just walking the block around my building, I'm feeling the lights come back on in corners of my… Continue reading What I do for a Living

travel

A Dubious Guide to Europe’s Beachknitting Venues

Having spent a fair share of time knitting on a beach in Nerja this week, I've been reflecting on the many beaches I've knit on over the past few years, and the unique features of each. Here's my unscientific and not-very-extensive roundup of the standout beach-knitting venues I have encountered. Ramsgate, England: Good people, gangster… Continue reading A Dubious Guide to Europe’s Beachknitting Venues

travel

Finding Stillness in the Bla Bla

You have to suspend your need to understand everything or, really, anything. You need to treat the spoken word like music and simply lean back into the soundtrack of chatter and laughter. I’m spending my mornings at a piece of the waterfront aptly called Bla Bla Beach. Language is a tricky thing here. I'm in… Continue reading Finding Stillness in the Bla Bla

mindfulness, travel

Alone in the World

Here’s a question I get from time to time: Do you get lonely? The straight answer is: Yes, of course, don’t you? But it’s a Tardis question, right? The inside is bigger than the outside. When people talk about loneliness, they’re expressing a concern around social connection, which is a basic human need. But I… Continue reading Alone in the World

mindfulness, travel

How long do you plan to keep doing this?

How long do you plan to keep doing this? That’s the question I’m having trouble answering these days. When I think about the prospect of my itinerant lifestyle coming to an end, I imagine only sad imperatives. An illness forcing me to remain under a doctor’s care. Some formless situation compelling me to take a… Continue reading How long do you plan to keep doing this?

memoir, mindfulness, Motivation

How Hard Did Aging Hit?

The challenge is to post your first Facebook profile image with your most recent. I joined Facebook in 2007, but the most recent image of myself I could find at the time was from about 2004. I didn't have a machine that could take a selfie and post it online. Also, my vocabulary didn't yet… Continue reading How Hard Did Aging Hit?

memoir, mindfulness

Good Enough for a Girl Like Me

“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language and next year’s words await a new voice.” —TS Eliot Remember when Queen Elizabeth II characterized 1992 as an annus horribilis for the Royal Family and we giggled because it made us think of something like horrible asshole? The year 2018 had some stupid bad luck.… Continue reading Good Enough for a Girl Like Me

behind the instagram, memoir, travel

Behind the Instagram #2

I posted this image on Instagram on the evening of June 24, 2018 while in Newtonhill, Scotland. The next morning I accidentally dated my journal September 25, 2018. With a few edits for clarity, here's what I wrote: The North Sea, the great expanse of water horizon. On days when the break between water and… Continue reading Behind the Instagram #2

behind the instagram, memoir, travel

Behind the Instagram #1

A little experiment. I generally use social media for sharing the happy stuff. Some things that are too difficult or too personal or too meaningful to share with the world in a two-dimensional picture. Let's see if I can find the courage to share some of what's happening in the other dimensions. This photo was taken on the beach in… Continue reading Behind the Instagram #1

travel

Lime Honey and First Day Jitters

I wish I could become a travel writer who writes dispatches full of observations and perceptions of the place where she's landed. Like that scene in Under the Tuscan Sun where she ghostwrites postcards for her tour bus neighbour and waxes so poetically observant that her bus pal decides they'll never pass to the folks back… Continue reading Lime Honey and First Day Jitters

travel

Another Kind of Homecoming

And I'm off again after being in Newfoundland for just shy of four weeks. Got myself topped up on hugs and live music and greasy takeout and now I'm in Wales, hanging out with a pair of cats in a forest village. It's called a forest village for real. There's a bus that goes into Swansea… Continue reading Another Kind of Homecoming