In February 2014, the elders at Redeemer Presbyterian Church granted me a month sabbatical to write my book on Identity Mapping. I spent the month on Camano Island. The upstairs bedroom at mom and dad’s house was a perfect place to rest, retreat, reflect and write. I spent the mornings writing.
At noon I spent a couple of hours splitting wood. My goal was to fill up dad and mom’s woodshed.
I also filled up my afternoon enjoying the beauty of Camano. Dad had stumbled upon the mother lode of blackberries. I picked wild blackberries with him, reminding me of the good old days when we picked blackberries together.
Each afternoon I jogged to Mabana Beach, swam in the brisk waters, and jogged home.
A highlight of my month on the Island was camping on my Sunnyshore Studio lot. When my brother, Jed, his wife Renae and their daughter Willow arrived on Camano for their vacation, I gladly gave up my upstairs hideaway, and set up a tent on my Sunnyshore property.
I dug out a fire pit, put an large steel truck rim in the bottom of the pit and arranged bricks in a circle on the outside. Watching the light fade in the eastern sky and staring at the flames in the fire was a perfect way to wind down in the evenings.
Another highlight of the summer was waking up with the rising of the sun and watching the sunrise over the Cascade Mountains to the east. It was so quiet and peaceful. Still.
The summer of 2014 was a perfect preview of what it would be like to stay in the studio apartment of Sunnyshore Studio. I can’t wait to share this beautiful place with people I love.