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I searched for those keys at the crack of dawn, for as long as I could. It’s hard to intently scan the ground in a blooming desert, without falling under the spell of every wildflower and sparkling rock. You try focusing on the desert floor when every bird for a mile around is singing, and … Continue reading Day 5: When Lost isn’t All Lost
Woke up, put on coffee and ate a bag of peanuts on the east side of the van, where Pippa and I met up with Sunshine for breakfast. Sometimes she just stays like this for a minute or so. Nose up. Still. Soaking it all in. My in-house batteries (responsible for running my fridge, lights … Continue reading Day Four: Desert Attack
Desert News: The Sonoran Bird Collective is gathering this week near the Peralta Trailhead in Arizona to celebrate the desert bloom with traditional gospels. Performances begin at sunrise and go well into the evening. Everyone is invited. Admission is Free. It’s glorious here. I can’t leave yet. How can I leave half way through a … Continue reading Day Three: Free Birds
Human Beings appear to travel at least two great highways in life. One is a visible, external one. It’s the one usually described in our obituary. It sometimes includes actual highways and it moves us from place to place. Roadsigns along the way name our important relationships and life events; distances are measured in years. … Continue reading Day Two: Life is a Highway(s).
When the little goobers presented themselves again today in Louisiana, I had no excuses left. Plus I was hungry. I had to laugh, because as I was scooping them out of the vat, a woman came up and asked me what the heck they were, and I got to tell her ALL ABOUT THEM. And … Continue reading Edamame of the South
As soon as I knew I was moving to Cape Breton, I did the obvious and joined a week-long step-dancing program. OK, maybe it wasn’t the most obvious thing to do, but it felt like the most important. So much so, I didn’t even take time to consult my brain or hip, who both had … Continue reading Falling in Step
The Slow Food Road Trip had some health issues from the get-go. I had a hard time leaving family to hit the road again. I’d been away a year; I missed them and they seemed to miss me too. I had a garden insisting to be planted in Ottawa; it felt unusually urgent my son have kale. It … Continue reading Here Lies the Slow Food Road Trip
Here are some ways I’ve tackled fears about “letting go of things” that I wrote about in my last post: “Downsizing for Vanlife: Naked & Afraid.” 1. Our things represent “who we are.” This may be true, but we are not our things; we’re so much more. During downsizing, it helped to think in … Continue reading Thriving In Downsizing
Moving into a vehicle typically requires serious “trimming” of our belongings. Although it seems rather straight-forward, it is anything but, and the emotional struggle of the task is pretty much universal. But why is downsizing so hard? And why does it make us feel so.... vulnerable and uncomfortable? Here are 10 reasons it might hurt … Continue reading Downsizing for Vanlife: Naked & Afraid
If you’ve been following my Sedona “mini-series” you know I worked on “letting Sedona come to me” rather than curating the experience; letting go of expectations for that Sedona energy thing. I need to finish my story now. Because, although it took a bit of time, Sedona did arrive. For three days I stayed in … Continue reading This Vantastic Life: The Accidental Vortex