The RV Lifestyle – Part 2
Long thought of as a ‘hippies’ style mode of travel, more people are joining in the ranks of the recreational vehicle (RV) nomadic lifestyle, a lifestyle replete with all or none of the luxuries from home, making this travel trend one you craft yourself. This lifestyle became my reality as I embarked upon living full-time in a motorhome, travelling North America while researching and writing for a Master of Arts degree, and the submission of an ethnographic graduate paper on this subject. The second installment in this three-part series explores the affordability aspect of this way of...
Read MoreThe RV Lifestyle
The RV lifestyle … have you ever wondered what it’s really like? I am a new resident to Vancouver Island, having moved here following a 14-month journey in my RV (recreational vehicle) motorhome, touring North America and during which I completed my Master of Arts degree in Tourism Management. My graduate paper was an ethnographic research project and included participants of fulltime RVing and those simply enjoying its vacation/travel aspect for extended periods of time. As I share with you these research observations, follow along with me in a 3-part series on the RV...
Read MoreIn the middle of Everywhere
It was December in 2008. My family and I, including kids and dogs piled ourselves and “Christmas” into a borrowed van and headed off on an amazing adventure. We began by driving several hours over a mountain pass. A bit nerve wracked, we arrived safely in the small fishing town of Tofino, on the west coast of Vancouver Island in the wilds of Canada. On a big, ‘ol clunky fishing boat, we travelled for several more hours, northwest toward Hot Springs Cove and Cougar Annie’s Garden to a small floating house in a bay somewhere in the middle of Everywhere. In this exquisite...
Read MoreSurvival Before “Discovery”
There were four crockery barrels on our back porch.I was four years old. We all had jobs. My job was to get things from the crocks. One held eggs preserved in water-glass; one was filled with oolichans (eels) in salt; one, my mother’s concoction of lye, oil and I don’t know what, which was the soap used for dishes, the floor, the laundry, the dog and our Saturday night baths in the tin wash tub; and one, goose grease, the salve of all bad things from cut fingers to leg-aches and whooping cough. When I see an episode of the TV show, “Survivor”, featuring people touching or tasting...
Read MoreOver a pot of tea …
Be the change we want to see, see the change we want to be … “So, what’s so controversial about compassion anyway?” That’s what six Island women of all ages and stages asked each other as they chatted over a pot of tea last week. Compassion? Isn’t that just humans behaving well? Our tacit understanding of what makes society tick? The Golden Rule? We agreed compassion was obvious, but not easy. We also agreed that the world works better when everyone treats their neighbour the way they want to be treated themselves. “How could anyone disagree with that?” we said. Edith...
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