Take a Virtual Vacation: El Camino 2023

I woke up at 5 AM to a sharp pain in my throat and the urge to pee. I knocked back a Tylenol, some vitamin C and D, went to the bathroom, and crawled back in bed. It was cozy and I soon drifted back to sleep. I didn’t wake up for four hours and […]

After a taxi ride and a four hour bus ride to Porto and a rendezvous with Michaela and our very cute little rental car with its six speeds, 45 minutes on a highway, multiple roundabouts, and half an hour wondering if we were lost on a very, curvy, windy mountain drive, we have arrived at

When Brenda Porter and I were talking the other day about running another Creative Camino trip next year, I was clear about my position—it was a definite yes! I wanted to do it again. But I hadn’t been the person who had organized all the logistics, who had sent those hundreds of emails to hoteliers

Michaela and I took a long, dreamy local train ride along the Douro River from a small town station to the end of the line and back. Great way to spend the day.

This morning I am packing up to leave this beautiful oasis in Portugal for a few days at a Permaculture cooperative about two hours from Porto. It sounds like a really interesting place and we will be staying in little personal hobbit holes. At least that’s what these little one person shelters look like to

I have always been a huge fan of hot water: saunas, hot tubs, sweat lodges, steam rooms, steaming bathtubs filled with bath oil, scented Epsom salts or both. Relaxing in a hot bath at night is my top tier coping mechanism for just about every stress life has to offer. Twenty-three years ago, we had

I always feel so blessed to come home from a long trip to see my front door, Karyn’s garden, the house clean and welcoming, usually something warm cooked in honor of my homecoming, and all the familiar artwork and cozy places in our house. I feel blessed to have a home and a wonderful spouse

I am finally starting to get over my jetlag (which gets harder as I get older) and my post-Covid symptoms are subsiding. I am feeling more grounded and stronger day by day. Less than an hour from now, I will be welcoming new students to my Wednesday morning writing practice class for an orientation. And