Sarah and I have never lived anywhere for seventeen years, in the same house that is, together or apart, before the house in which we’ve lived in Nanaimo.

Now we’re on the move to another home in Nanaimo, about fifteen minutes south of downtown,  and I’m thinking of all I’m appreciating about our current home – for just one more day.

We arrived in Nanaimo, B.C. from Guelph, Ontario with our four cats in May of 2005. We had a few suitcases with us but that was it until our furniture and other belongings arrived about a week later. Life was very simple with so few belongings. Our landlord Peter loaned us laundry baskets full of linens, a mattress, a lamp, dishes and cutlery. I can’t imagine now being without my computer for a week! Sarah painted the bedrooms and we’d take little jaunts out to get to know our new city. Neck Point, just seven minutes from our home, was a favourite spot where we looked towards the Sunshine Coast of the mainland.

Our rental was to be temporary as we looked for a house to buy. I don’t remember ever looking for a house once we landed here. Or perhaps, we did occasionally. We got very comfortable and were treated very well in our rental home.

Our rent was affordable. Buying a house with its upkeep would mean “jobs” and why spend time elsewhere to buy a house that you can’t spend much time in? We stayed with our art making and graphic design, in Sarah’s case, and freelance writing, poetry and writing circles, in mine. Besides, Peter has been a landlord extraordinaire. He continued to work in his wonderful garden that is terraced with three ponds and a waterfall. The vista from our living room is of the Grandmother of All Surrounding Mountains, Te’tuxwtun to the Snuneymuxw people, and the mountains south of Nanaimo. We could watch the phases of the moon and the many aspects of the sky throughout the day and evening. In our front courtyard, we could sit under the mulberry tree and hazelnut, chatting with friends perhaps.

Peter liked to dry herbs from his garden, make tomato juice, salsa, and strawberry jam and share his prime rib roast with us. We were never without surprise treats of dinner or lunch. Oh, and there was Christmas with spiced nuts and bolts, shortbread cookies, butter tarts and a turkey dinner if he happened not to be in Mexico. (We had our last Christmas dinner in December 2021.)

If ever we ran out of anything, the stores were close but Peter’s pantry was closer!

The four cats we brought with us have all died: Miss Pooh, Kadi, Simon and Qwinn. We’re leaving their ashes here, in the Zen garden at the top of the driveway, and their spirits are always with us so they’ll be coming along to our new home in the country. And we’ll be taking Squeaker and Izzy with us, both very much alive. And so far, weathering the transition very well.

I wrote Writing Home: A Whole Life Practice  here and Writing to Map Your Spiritual Journey was made into a digital format. I published poetry in various publications including chapbook anthologies edited by Patrick Lane, my own chapbooks, and a full length book of poems (Fishing for Mermaids, Leaf Press, 2014).

Other writing was in the form of advertorials for the Nanaimo Daily News, articles for More Living magazine and Synergy, book reviews for the Vancouver Sun and other publications.

I mention all these things as I’ve been going through files of clippings going back to the eighties. I do have some folios of articles I’ve written but those ancient files have been recycled. So many journals have been shredded as I ready myself to carry the memories although not in physical form. It’s time for a fresh new chapter for both Sarah and me.

It’s been wonderful to be part of a writing community on Vancouver Island. I started meeting writers right away when I attended the Victoria School of Writing and began going to poetry retreats with the late Patrick Lane. Connections made there with other poets have continued.

I appreciated WordStorm monthly poetry events in Nanaimo co-founded by David Fraser and Cindy Shantz. I joined a group with them and other writers, calling ourselves the Easy Writers. We had such fun going to Poetry Gabriola as a group meeting the likes of Robert Priest, Richard Van Camp, Ivan Coyote and Sheri-D Wilson.

At home, I started offering women’s writing circles called Writing Life (a continuation of the Flying Mermaids circles I had offered in Ontario) and I held salons for friends who had new books: Laura Apol from Michigan, Arleen Pare from Victoria, Alison Watt from Protection Island, Diana Hayes from Salt Spring Island, and Leanne McIntosh from Nanaimo. I think I had a salon way back when for Tina Biello and we did other readings together as our poetry books had come out at the same time.

I made flower essences in the garden here starting with Rhododendron, the definition of which is Self-Trust. Spirit of the Island is the name of the flower essence series, a name Sarah and I came up with together. Another of the Spirit of the Island flower essences is Camellia: Be Here Now. It is a photo of the camellia that attracted our new landlord to read Sarah’s post re looking for a place to live.

Since the house was sold in December (we’ve been renting the main level suite), we’ve been letting things go.  We’ve made several trips to the Haven Society thrift store and to Well Read Books, Literacy Central’s bookstore. And I’ve given many books away to women in the circle circle. Still, there are many books to pack. We’re at a stage now that we want to take with us what will support our new phase. We’re not sure what that will look like but we’re grateful we have found a beautiful rental home in the country. Our new home will have lots of room including studio and office space, a garage and five acres on which to roam. The owners also have a house on the property. Annemarie is an avid gardener which is what attracted her to the camellia.

Thinking ahead to our new home has kept us going during these final days of packing as well as appreciating all we’ve enjoyed here.

A faded garden flag
empty flower pots
a tiny temple under the ferns