Seeking inspiration through living in my VW Westfalia van
Riley is always up for an adventure Several weeks ago Wanda, Riley, and I went wandering again, three years after I moved to Darwin and almost two years since the pandemic began and I quit writing. Oh, I’ve begun several blogs in my head, even started to type a couple on my MacBook Pro, and … Continue reading The Gift of Wandering
For the past year and three months I have been trying to buy a house in Darwin, a small community in the mountains near Death Valley National Park, but that is not an easy endeavor. Many lots have old mining shacks that appear to be abandoned, with holes in the roofs, broken or missing windows, … Continue reading Landing
Normally we would be eating together, Kathy sitting on Wanda’s bench seat while I cook dinner, Bonnie Raitt singing through my Bluetooth speaker, with Riley curled up on the front passenger seat keeping an eye out for potential danger or excitement, and his canine buddy, Viva, snuggled up next to Kathy. I always love cooking … Continue reading Daughtering a Wayward Mother
Having just arrived in San Francisco to visit my daughter in her new apartment, I take Riley for a walk around the block. I watch him sniffing around, looking for a place to relieve himself--no dirt, no plants or trees on the whole block, just concrete sidewalk and paved road, with rows of 2-3 story … Continue reading A Taste of Big City Life
Well, this doesn't have much to do with wandering or Wanda, but it is what's up for me and my knee issues have given me second thoughts about making certain trips with Wanda. Also, when my knee began hurting several years ago I started thinking it might be time to retire from teaching so that … Continue reading The Road to Recovery
Last summer was a blast of adventures of all kinds that I wanted to experience: trekking for gorillas in Uganda with my daughter, Kira; touring around Rwanda--land of 1000 hills and the cleanest country in Africa; attending a 10 day Hendricks training; canoe camping with old friends and Kira on a Sierra lake; housesitting at … Continue reading Coming Home
Traversing the granite dome above the lake After paddling a mile across a lake in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, we climbed over a large granite dome. Some sections were so steep we held our breath as we inched across what looked like a slightly faded path on the stone and avoided looking toward the sharp … Continue reading That Sinking Feeling
My alarm sounded at 6 am. I had been awake off and on through the night, worrying I would oversleep, but this time I was startled out of a dream in which I was a preschool teacher trying to create a lesson plan on the spot. It seemed like I had been plopped down into … Continue reading Gorilla Dream
Camping with Kathy in the desert, searching for California wildflowers on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada Writer's Block? I'm wondering why I haven't written much lately. It's been over 2 months since my last post. Many stories started in my imagination, but after the first paragraph I didn't know where else to go. … Continue reading Back On The Road
My New (Temporary) Home "Shit Tamara! This is really f___d up!" Abe (not his real name) seems to be avoiding eye contact as he scans the scene, pushing at a piece of worn wood here and there, as if by some miracle it will fall aside to reveal the source of water bubbling up beneath … Continue reading Settling In, For Now
Wandering With Wanda 