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Seagoing. 🐠💚🐠 I’ve had a sore little

Seagoing.
🐠💚🐠

I’ve had a sore little heart lately. We’ve had some loss in our family, some friends are dealing with some really hard stuff, and I had a recent surgery (you can see my little scar here).

I had a couple of weeks where I couldn’t swim, and some travel to the mainland to connect and share love and tears, and endless cups of tea.

Home, on the island, I was so grateful to reconnect with my friend and swimming buddy, fellow writer and amazing sunrise photographer @wakeupwithgratitudephoto (@julieboyercoach) 🐠💚🐠

She is nearly always up for a swimming date, and full of comforting wisdom. Plus she is energetic and fun!

The sea never fails to nourish me, nor the gift of one good person 💚💚💚

The water was cold, really cold, but our hearts were warm. Really warm. Happy little fish.
🐠💚🐠

#writersofinstagram #writerslife #salishsea #winterswimming #outdoorswimming #departurebay #nanaimobc #islandlife #vancouverisland #wildswimming #canada

Burrrrrata ❤️🇮🇹❤️ What’s a littl

Burrrrrata
❤️🇮🇹❤️

What’s a little burrata among friends?

HEAVEN! That’s what.

Felt so treasured this week when I gathered with some soul sea sisters to catch up, share travel stories, and talk about our mutual love of island life.
❤️
If you don’t know burrata, here’s the Wikipedia description: “Burrata is an Italian cow milk cheese made from mozzarella and cream. The outer casing is solid cheese, while the inside contains stracciatella and cream, giving it an unusual, soft texture. It is typical of Apulia.”
🇮🇹
If you don’t know island life, you’ll have to visit some time.
😊
I first tried burrata in Florence, sitting in a piazza at sunset. The cheese was as big as my head, ordered as an appetizer, and garnered raised eyebrows from the waiter as he set it down. I won’t say how much I ate, but you can probably guess.
😎
Kathy served a slightly smaller version with roasted tomatoes, shallots and olive oil. A little Québécois smoked duck alongside. Bliss.

I’m finding my way home here on the island, navigating by the bright goodness of bighearted cheese-loving mermaids. ❤️❤️

#vancouverisland #burrata #cheeselover #soulmates #friendship #newkidontheblock #foodstagram #foodporn #cheeseporn #foodie #nanaimobc #nanaimolife #sharedloveoffood #vanisle

Shortlisted. 🙏🏻💙🙏🏻 Filled with gra

Shortlisted.
🙏🏻💙🙏🏻
Filled with gratitude finding myself in such fine company with these shortlisted writers.

At the beach today with my friend @thealidavies I was reminded that we get messages about our direction from many different sources. I’m working in new territory with my writing and I made a commitment to myself to submit my work. In part, this is to validate my work for its own sake, and it is a way to become more comfortable with rejection. Mainly it is an act of faith. To trust my writing, my stories, the unfolding of craft.
💙

I’m sending my words out into the world and then listening for ripples.

My creative nonfiction journey takes me to tender places. I am exploring the themes of mental illness and addictions, sexism and classism, and multigenerational epigenetic impacts. Hard stuff. Worthy. Learning to be worthy.
💙

Many thanks to @prisminternational for providing this opportunity for CNF writers, and to @ivancoyote for judging — no easy task I am sure. And to @teresebrasen @carlicutchin @alexandra.trnka @nycterosea and Maryam Raffiee — I am honoured to be in your company.

💙💻💙

#writersofinstagram #writer #cnf #creativenonfiction #literarymagazine #amwriting #booklover #writing #staytender 💙

Sunrise on the Salish Sea. ❤️🐠❤️ It’s

Sunrise on the Salish Sea. ❤️🐠❤️ It’s a special day for lots of reasons, not the least of which is that I got to have a sunrise swim. Minor surgery kept me out of the water for the past week and I missed it. The Salish Sea feels like home to me. It’s good to be back in my body, back in my home. 🐠 Some good news on the writing front as well, and that is always encouraging. ❤️ Staying with the craft, staying in the story, not always easy. Reminded today that I have a story to tell and it has value. Even the ones that are close to the bone. Especially those. ❤️

#writer #writerlife #outdoorswimmer #wildswimmer #vancouverisland #islandlife #salishsea #beachlife #vitaminsea #nanaimobc ❤️

Travel. It’s about perspective. ✈️💕✈️

Travel. It’s about perspective.
✈️💕✈️

flying home from the mainland recently and was so enamored by the shadow of the plane on the clouds and the way a rainbow circle appeared around it and seemed to follow us across the Salish Sea. So much to see, so much to observe, so much fleeting beauty, every day. Life seems like a dream sometimes.

💕✈️💕

Thanks to @seairseaplanes for this moment.

#travel #seaplane #crossing #perspective #theviewfromhere #homewardbound #islandlife #vanisle #vancouverisland #nanaimobc #homesweethome 💕💕💕

Life is beautiful. 💛⛵️💛 Sometimes I need

Life is beautiful.
💛⛵️💛
Sometimes I need to remind myself that life is indeed beautiful. Each of us sailing through our lives, riding the winds and currents. I try not to get too blown about, anchoring myself in my heart, my own truth. Reminding myself to breathe, knowing I will not be perfectly understood, nor perfectly understanding.

Making room for my humanness. Filling my sails with air, setting a new course. Letting go of the shore. 💛

#everydayhappiness #gratitude #eachdayanewpromise #onedayatatime #selfcompassion #mondfulness #100%human #letgo #lettinggowithlove ⛵️💛⛵️#nanaimobc #salishsea #islandlife #vancouverisland #beachbum

Seahabilitated 🐠 Finding my bliss in the summe

Seahabilitated 🐠

Finding my bliss in the summer Salish Sea. Salt, swell, and satisfaction. Simple contentment. Nature gives us everything. So much enoughness. ❤️🐠❤️

#salishsea #vitaminsea #islandlife #vancouverisland #nanaimobc #snuyneymuxw #outdoorswimming #wildswimming #beachlife #beachbum #insidejob #natureismychurch #neckpoint 🐠❤️🐠

Beach Art 🐠☀️🐠 The summer mornings are

Beach Art
🐠☀️🐠

The summer mornings are glorious, and I am spending them at the beach. Swimming, pondering, writing in my journal, and making a little land art.

Playing around in the centre of things.

🐠🪶🐠

#foragedart #islandlife #wildswimming #outdoorswimming #nanaimobc #vancouverisland #salishsea #beachcomber #contemplation #mindfulness #natureismychurch 🐠☀️🐠

Wading Into It 💻❤️💻 I’m delighted (an

Wading Into It
💻❤️💻

I’m delighted (and happily stunned) to announce that my 5000-word essay All My Love, Alex received second prize in the 2021 @eventmags Creative Non-Fiction contest. Award-winning Canadian poet and writer, Lorna Crozier, called Event Magazine, “Simply one of the finest literary magazines in the country,” so I am beyond honoured to find my work published there and in the fine, fine company of first-prize winner @cayennebradley and third-prize winner Nicole Boyce

The literary competition was judged by author @davidrobertsonwriter, the 2021 recipient of the Writers’ Union of Canada Freedom to Read Award (and so much more).

A collage essay, this work is a glimpse into the story of my father’s institutionalization in a mental hospital in 1961. The narrative is based on letters he wrote to my mother at the time, and verbatim notes from Riverview Hospital records obtained through the British Columbia Royal Museum Archives. It includes personal reflections of a daughter trying to make sense of a significant part of tangled family history and the ongoing impacts of mental illness and addiction.

Yes, there is definitely more to come. This particular piece is part of a larger body of work.

The form is a little out-of-the-box and I am so pleased to see it in print.
I am also so very grateful to the TWS2018 nonfiction cohort and mentors JJ Lee and Aislinn Hunter. I also received a great deal of encouragement and validation from Christina Myers and Rob Taylor -- such fine teachers and inspiring writers. A special shout-out to @kakwinokanasum, Ann and Marian. You all rock!

You can read more about the work, and find a link to the published essay in my bio.
❤️

#writer #writersofinstagram #creativenonfiction #CNF #personalessay #collageessay #mentalhealth #addiction #familyhistory #epigenetics #recovery #sfucreativewriting #nanaimo #vancouverisland #writersofvanisle

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