5 Retreats

So, so, so exciting to see my first cover feature in British Columbia Magazine! I was whisked away to the Kootenay Rockies to visit five retreats, write about it and snap a few photos. Here are a few of my favourites that didn't find their way into the pages.

Johnson's Landing Retreat Centres

Quantum Leaps Lodge and Retreats

Simply Delicious Lodge

I'm a bit behind on posting my photos. Let's just say I have spent more time writing articles and habituating to Facebook, which somewhat negates the creative need to express here. That being said, sometimes this safe haven is just what I need. It's more personal, more emotional. In that spirit, here are a few personal photos I had to share. This time, spring in Beacon Hill Park with friends.

Spring blossoms, green grass, bright flowers, golden hair, smile.

When she doesn't think I am looking, that's when I really see her.


This is what family looks like.

Pan Abode in Print

One of the highlights from my summer was learning and writing about Pan Abodes, a type of log cabin. Think Lincoln Logs, the toy cabin where you can stack the logs together one by one. I was fortunate enough to boat to Sidney Island just east of Vancouver Island and given a tour of the development and an inside glance into the Caza cottage as it was being finished. Sometimes being a writer gives you inside glances to beautiful worlds, and Sidney Island was one of those worlds I could live in for a while.

Well, the article just came out and I thought I would share a few shots. The first shot was featured in Cottage magazine along with the story.

British Columbia Magazine Byline

Look! Look! Look! It's my first byline in British Columbia Magazine. So exciting! I thought that now the fall issue is out, I should finally post my news from the summer issue. Keep reading the mag . . . this is the first of more to come.

Cover Girl

This really has been an amazing year for my photography. A big highlight: seeing my photo on the cover of the January/February issue of Cottage Magazine. Double the fun for me: in addition to the photography for the feature, I also wrote the story! Hopefully: (fingers crossed), there will be more cottages to shoot and write about in 2010. Maybe yours?

Crisp, clean fall

Just read this passage about fall on the British Columbia Magazine blog.

"It’s a season of enhanced sensory pleasures. The crisp air seems scrubbed clean and its gentle nip makes you appreciate a cozy scarf and gloves. In the coastal forest, the beauty of the evergreens is enhanced by the contrasting deciduous flares of yellow, orange, and red."

I took a float plane today from Victoria to Vancouver and dipped in and out of some of that crisp fog that makes fall what it is. I had on my biggest scarf, my winter coat (the one that makes me feel like I am wearing my mom's old warm winter coat - and that's a good thing) and my new fall kick-ass boots. The enhanced sensory pleasure came in the form of air sneaking into the cracks of the plane by my feet (all normal, I assure you).

Yellow, orange and red could be seen as I flew over Mayne and Galiano and James and Sidney and Saturna. Gulf Islands all a-glowing!

Yep, fall is here in full form. Beauty.

Absolut farewell

I heard a rumor. After 40 years, Absolut Vodka is stopping their famous bottle-shaped magazine ad campaigns. I may only buy vodka for visitors at Christmas time (and even then I don't think I buy Absolut), but I am a big fan of the ads, and will miss the clever compositions. Today, I found out they have a gallery of all their previous ads, sorted by campaign. Hours pass as I search through them all...

My favourite is based on places around the world.

Pass it Out... I mean On

Once, after drinking half a bottle of port behind a mechanics garage in Halifax, my advertising agency creative director took me to the bookstore to buy a copy of Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It was her favourite book and she felt compelled to give it to me, knowing that I would just love it, which I did, devouring it like, well, a bottle of port behind a mechanics garage in Halifax. I have never forgotten that (damn good port, damn good book, damn good deed).

So, I have taken to leaving behind books and magazines on purpose, hoping they will find their way to someone who just needs it. I often wonder if I have made a difference in the finders life somehow. Perhaps some tidbit of wisdom from page 213 compelled him to create a new life as a tattoo artist in Tahiti. Or an inspirational photo of yam fries with miso gravy from page 14 compelled her to finally ask Jo over for dinner, leading to a life happily ever after. I believe my leave-behinds only do good, spreading subliminal messages like that sweet angel whispering in your ear.

Imagine my delight when I found a little leave-behind had been left behind for me. Imagine my intrigue when I realize this magazine was Out. As in Out of the closet.

Of course, I can't just leave it there. I have to read it. What page will my muse come from? What line of fate will be tempting me? I took the magazine on holiday and one evening I read it page by page while the kids were watching cartoons and my husband was reading about US Marine snipers.

Muse? Inspiration? The only thing that jumped out at me were the words- velvet, penis, pleasure, queer, erotic, artist, brave, change, spank. Hmmm. Not quite what I was looking for.

Until I found it. Page 91. Michael Musto to Gore Vidal: "Were you always out?" Vidal to Musto: "I was never in."

Now there is a strong statement that makes you think. What has always been an integral part of the public me? What is in my life that I have kept hidden, unexposed, or at least not presented in its fullest potential? Hmmmmm...damn good question. Pass the port and let's chat about it.

Personal Happiness

Tonight, at a magazine conference, I listened to Chatelaine editor-in-chief (all in small letters according to the masthead) Sara Angel speak about the history of Chatelaine. Really, it was a literary history of women in Canada, everything from war efforts and war brides to mastering the workforce and loving the life of being a single woman. Chatelaine has tried to write about issues that matter to women in Canada. Birth control, before it was acceptable. Abuse at home, when it wasn't spoken about. Breastfeeding sucks, but not speaking literally.

I asked her what she felt would be the one thing that matters most in the next 3-5 years. I kinda like her answer.

Personal Happiness. With all the choices out there for women, it is no longer about fighting for the right to vote, or the right to work, or the right to stay home, or take the pill, or be sexy (or even not sexy). It's about the internal fight of deciding what creates our individual personal happiness, and what the hell we women want to do about it.

I can relate to that. Men think a lot about sex, so I have been told. I think women think equally about what we want to do with our lives. At the same time, I want to be a stay-at-home-mom, a corporate leader, an independent traveller, a writer, a photographer, an exerciser, a thinker, a student, a supportive and sensual wife, a great friend, a philosopher, a poet, a 9-to-5er, an entrepreneur, a SCUBA diver, a nomadic wanderer, a global volunteer, and a community builder.

I want to care, and I want to throw all my cares away. I want to stay, and I want to never come back. I want to produce, and I want to relish in nothingness. I want to build, and I want to break down. Choices, choices, choices.

All I can do is remind myself of what is most important - my family, my community, my contribution as a citizen of this planet. As for the rest, I try to flexibly fit it into my life when I can, when that particular urge rises to the top. I change my choices every day.

For my personal happiness, that is the one right I cling to every day.

Geist Maps

Melissa Edwards is a cartographic genius. She has created the Caught Mapping series of maps of Canada, based on unexpected themes, with real geographical places. Maps for people with no place to go.

Take for example the Fairy Tale map, pointing out places like Sleeping Beauty Mountain, Shoemaker Lake, and Gingerbread Creek. Or the National Beer Map of Canada, where you can find Belcher Gulch, Brewer Bay, and Stout Lake. I like Stubby Lake.

I can relate to the Menstrual Map of Canada. Bitch Lake, New Moon Lake, Mount Bigger. Misery Mountain and Crying Girl Prairie.

What really got me hooked, was the Erotic Map of Canada. Who knew us Canadians would have the guts to name placed Lust Subdivision (what goes on in that neighbourhood?), Cumsack Mountain, Dick Burns Rock. And then there is Dildo and South Dildo. Suck Creek. Etang Slippery Stick. The Tits. And Swallow Lake, perfectly situated just a hot, skip and jump away from Hardman's Lake.

And of course, what True, North, Strong and Free Love map would be complete without Beaver Creek?

Maps are published in Geist Magazine and are compiled in book format too.