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Buen Camino: Learning to trust my abilities!
“It’s mostly flat,” he said. He lied. In September, my fiancé led a group of ten, including me, along the last 100-ish kilometres of the Camino de Santiago in Spain. I had a lot going on in my life (retiring and getting my house ready to sell among them) and had taken him at his word that no “training” was required for this six-day adventure. Then, on one of the group Zoom calls, I started hearing about personal trainers and practise walks of 20 km and started to get a little nervous, even though I like a good walk. No… Read more…
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Research makes the story come alive
I squeaked in some travel in the summer of 2021 that was really important. There’s a small part of Another Glass of Tea that’s set in the Turkish town of Datça on the Aegean coast. I’ve heard people talk about it, and seen photos of friends vacationing there. And for some reason I knew it had to be there. Another part takes place in the Istanbul neighbourhood of Kuzguncuk. Colourful houses of Kuzguncuk There was only one problem. I’d never actually been to either of those places. So when Canada’s COVID numbers were declining at the same time Turkey’s were, and second vaccines… Read more…
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Back to reality
And just like that, it’s over. I’m feeling a little like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz today, except when click my heels together three times tomorrow morning, it will be back to work for me. Six months has flown by and I can hardly remember the fear – and excitement – that accompanied the beginning of my sabbatical at the beginning of March when I closed down my laptop and work phone and left them on my desk in the office. For the first few weeks, I eschewed alarm clocks, routine and the newspaper. I slept (a lot!), read… Read more…
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The call of Istanbul
Istanbul’s “Old City”, at sunset, from the Asian side of the city. On the eve of municipal elections in Turkey, and after international media coverage of Twitter and YouTube bans, my mind is occupied with thoughts of this country. Years and years ago (we won’t count how many), I spent my last high school year in Istanbul, on an exchange program through Rotary International. I lived with three lovely Turkish families – one on the Asian side of the city and two on the European side. With my school on the Asian side, that meant for more than half of the… Read more…
