I have a secret superpower. I can make the trees connect with the sky, make the greens merge into browns, soften the edges of things. I can make the fabric of things fuzz and blend into one tapestry, no one thing distinct. Even the birdsong and airplane engines and aromas and thoughts, I can blend …
Category: Life of Carmen
The tricky tides
I live high on a bluff at the mouth of an ocean lagoon. The lagoon is placid and deep blue at high tide, warm from the afternoon sun and perfect for paddling. At low tide the beach stretches out to rocky islands. A green finger points out from the lagoon’s mouth, emerging as a sandbar …
Waiting to set sail
I am stoked and nervous as an expectant mother, waiting for everything to align so I can sail my vessel home. So much could go wrong, and yet so much feels so right. The vessel has a wee brake malady that needs to be addressed before we take her up the steep hill to her …
I just bought a bus
I appealed to the Universe for a tiny house surrounded by big trees. Said the Universe: “Voilà ! Yours. On wheels.” My new house is a 1979 Chevy shortbus, remodelled by a shipwright. She is rat-proof, watertight, and fully seaworthy. The curved box behind the drivers’ seat is a built-in guitar case. She even drives. I …
Just say yes
“Leave the door open to the unknown, the door into the dark. That’s where the most important things come from, where you yourself came from, and where you will go.” –Rebecca Solnit (by way of Roshi Joan) I did not post a notice on the Lasqueti Island website. Even so, one day there arrived an …