Sitting in the waiting room, waiting for the skin cancer biopsy reports. Nice lounge, recliner chairs and beverages, big screen TV with Netflix. Another new experience. Hospital waiting rooms are better in some ways, though, despite being crowded and plain, because if you’re there it’s an emergency. I’ve been in them enough this year to … Continue reading Contemplation in the Cancer Clinic
I didn’t cry this week. Oh sure, I got misty at memories, and wept a bit, especially when people offered condolences or talked about my son. But I didn’t cry. None of the sobbing, gasping, choking, can’t speak, can barely breathe, crying. None of the uncontrollable waves that would send me back to bed for … Continue reading Riding the Waves of Grief
I glance in the mirror, and I look old. And haggard. My last birthday, friends were still joking that I was doing a Benjamin Button, getting younger every year. 2024 has not been easy. My ruptured appendix in January, compounded by a melanoma, put paid to my surfing season and led to cancelling of travel … Continue reading Sorrow
Seven years ago today, I was on my “trip of a lifetime,” my first solo overseas trip and (I thought) one last big adventure before settling down on my well planned path to a comfortable retirement. Kowloon harbour on a water taxi. Despite having no words in each other’s language besides “thanks!” We communicated quite … Continue reading Riding the Wheel
It was overwhelming at first, but now the sort moves smoothly. List on Marketplace. Pack for BC. Give to charity. Leave for next tenant. Paddle boards back to Mary. Give spices to Neil, so he can practice after the cooking lesson I gave him last week. Drop off memory foam, coffee grinder and drying rack … Continue reading Leaving Barbados
“Your fourth year in Barbados! You are living the dream!” Well, yes. It is pretty amazing. But I often feel that people are picturing us on vacation all the time, just multiplying their tropical holiday by 20. When you live here you experience a lot that someone visiting might not even notice. Storm is past … Continue reading Living in a Tropical Paradise: the Flip Side
I didn’t have a dance party on my 60th birthday. That had been the plan. Crosbie, whose standing joke was that I was his older friend (by one month!) was all for a joint party. We knew where (Moose Hall) although we hadn’t decided between the local band that did covers of 70s and 80s … Continue reading Keep on Dancing
We head north from Courtenay, on the way to meet Kymn, an old friend I haven’t seen for 4 years, what with life changes and Covid. We drive by the gas station another friend used to own. It’s the old fashioned type with a two bay garage. The paint is peeling, although the gas pumps … Continue reading Old, Old Friends
“Scott! Look at this! It was made in Barbados!” I’m holding up a leotard/unitard/one piece shorty exercise outfit. Exuberant tropical flowers, red, orange, pink, are splashed large across a white background. What’s surprising is not so much that it was made in the country we now live in, but that I’d bought it 25 years … Continue reading Beautiful Barbados Broad
We drive over the Malahat. They have added bright orange posts between the north and south bound lanes of this coastal mountain highway, to prevent turns on and off it in dangerous places. As we come to each of these, I remember the fatal accidents: here, two motorcyclists; there, three members of a family in … Continue reading Surrounded by My History
Brave Travels 