By Sea Sky & song

I first went to Portugal in 2016 and fell in love with this beautiful and diverse country. I’ve now been back four times, three with my husband and one solo trip last summer to hike the Portuguese Coastal Camino de Santiago. This past summer we rented a camper van and drove up and down the coast, starting in Porto and ending up back in Lisbon for 5 days. We made stops in Nazare to watch the big wave surfers tackle the power of the ocean and to see the women in traditional dress drying and selling fish down on the promenade. We continued south all the way to Tavira in the south and up to Monchique in the mountains, Alcoutim on the Spanish border, Carrapetira, Praia do Amado and the gorgeous beaches along the wild western shores which are rugged and beautiful. We followed a dirt road along the coast from Lagos in the south to Lisbon and fell in love with this stunning landscape. One of the most beautiful stretches of road following the coastline with quaint surfing towns and miles of beaches. This is such a special place. We did a few day hikes in the area weaving in and out of coves, craggy cliffs, stunning views of the coastline. We hiked, surfed, enjoyed local fish and Fado.

Lisbon, Portugal

Lisbon is a colorful and vibrant city. We stayed in the neighborhood of Alfama, known for its Bohemian feel and offbeat collection of bars, restaurants and nightclubs. ... Fado is the music of Lisbon, and remains a unique musical expression. The haunting strains of this most solemn of musical styles is played out in many Lisbon restaurants. Tile is everywhere….colorful hues of blue, green, brown & terra cotta cover the fronts and sides of buildings everywhere.

Many of our wild camping spots were off dirt roads with views of the ocean and not a soul in site.

The Souks of Marrakech

Marrakech, a city that awakens your senses. Colorful, chaotic, atmospheric, vibrant, with twisting lanes and alleys…I could get lost in the Souks for hours. The Souks are difficult to explain, they overwhelm your senses as you try to take it all in. Bright ceramics, steaming tagines, lanterns that cast their hypnotic spell of light reflecting off of walls, the sweet smell of leather, spices, mint tea.. every few minutes you hear a call to prayer….a wealth of energy, sights, sounds and smells to get lost in….spices teaming from old metal painted cans, the way the light dances off of the ancient cracked walls. Silver, fabric, Kilem.

The church in Valle Di Cadore, my Grandfather’s birthplace in the Italian Alps. A majestic, beautiful place of deep valleys, stunning mountain views, friendly people, incredible food and family. I’ve made three visits to this enchanting place and each time I go I discover more of the local culture, beauty and cuisine. My first trip was with my Mom when I was 21, before we all had cell phones in our pockets. We miraculously found my Mom’s cousins by giving a local woman my Grandfather’s last name and she led us to their house where they welcomed us with open arms, homemade wine and delicious food.

Wine Bottles, Tuscany

View from above, the island of Capri, Italy

Positano on the Amalfi Coast of Italy

Family

A ride on the grand canal, Venice

Beautiful Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Liguria, Italy

I was invited by my friends Daphne and Reg to travel to Crete to perform for guests at the villa they managed in Chania. It was an amazing experience and I ended up returning for 4 years to sing my songs to their villa guests. Then I was invited back again by their friends who ran a home for disabled individuals in London and would bring them to Crete every few years. I performed for them and got to spend a week with adults and children with all kinds of disabilities from Autism to Downs Syndrome. It was such a rewarding time to hear their stories and share my music with them. I brought a friend with me and we explored Crete in between shows. We drove to the highest peaks, rural villages with sea views, explored the cave churches, hiked the coast and canyons, at delicious olives, bread, tomatoes, local wine, and feta, swam in the salty sea and were treated like royalty by Daphne and Reg. What wonderful memories I have of those times and that beautiful country.

We spent 5 days in the city of Dubrovnik in southern Dalmatia on the Adriatic Sea. A historical city with medieval architecture and a fortified old town. The city is romantic, intriguing and beautiful. We rented kayaks for a day of exploring the Adriatic Coast and out to one of the local islands.

I decided to take a solo pilgrimage to honor my parent’s who both passed away last year. I spent two weeks hiking the Coastal Portuguese Camino de Santiago, starting in Porto and heading North along the coast to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. I hiked anywhere from 12 to 17 miles a day carrying my own pack. Mostly I stayed in hostels, Albergues and hotels and made wonderful friends along my journey. I had so much time to reflect on the past few years and on the grief that I was carrying. It was incredibly stunning scenery as I hugged the coastline up through Portugal and crossed in to Galicia in Spain by boat. I hiked through tiny fishing villages, rural mountain towns, seacoast boulevards, rocky trails, sandy beaches, roads, highways, dirt paths, winding and weaving through walled towns, vineyards and vines, olive trees, up to hill tops, over bridges and into Santiago. Feet sore, body throbbing but proud to have made it solo. I feasted on local wine, fish, olives and delicious local cuisine which fortified my journey and kept me going. So many memorable moments, stumbling upon a local traditional dance celebration in Galicia, Spain, singing a song with a local troubadour who serenaded passing pilgrims on route to Santiago. Meeting wonderful fellow travelers from Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Israel, Spain, England and the Czech Republic.

Scorpions & Kiteboarding - Isle La Blanca

A letter home -

Hola from Isla Blanca Mexico! Land of kiteboarding and scorpions. Erik and I had a great couple of days kiteboarding. We had two wonderful instructors and are staying in a lovely guest house about 20 miles outside of Cancun in Isla Blanca. The good news is I got up on and started riding the kite board in my second lesson, the bad news is I got bit by a scorpion and ended up in a Mexican emergency room! I am fine now but it was quite a crazy experience. I was putting my wetsuit on before my lesson and I felt a sharp pain in my hand and told my instructor something bit me and sure enough there was a huge scorpion hanging off of my wetsuit... he flung it away and said not to worry they'd all been stung before and they aren't venomous, you'll just feel a bit of tingling and be fine. So I went about my lesson and thought I was fine except for my hand was killing me. About an hour into my lesson I started feeling my lips tingling then after two hours of my lesson I started feeling weird, tingly all over and was having trouble swallowing so we found Erik and the jet ski brought me back. I went to take my wetsuit off and couldn't feel my legs or arms tingly and numb all over and was having trouble standing and walking...I was having a sever systemic allergic reaction to the sting. Erik was getting really worried so we came back to our guest house and our Andre and Maria our house managers were awesome. They speak very little English but managed to understand when I said Scorpion bite! So Andre drove us first to a clinic but they said they didn't have the antidote and to go a specific hospital that had it on hand. So thankfully he was with us to interpret and they let me pass about 100 people in the waiting room to get treatment. I was brought into a room with a nurse who spoke some English and she Typed up my diagnosis (no computers) then was brought to a waiting area where they put an IV in my arm and let the antidote drip for 2 hours. So while I'm waiting for this thing to do it's magic I'm watching this crazy scene. Third world stuff... I asked for a medical mask to put on to protect myself. There was a man in a wheelchair who'd thrown up half a bucket of blood, a woman moaning in pain beside me and sick people everywhere! No one spoke English and they didn't let Erik in with me so Andre was there to interpret. After a while my symptoms started to subside and they let me go. The total cost of the treatment was $20. So that is my crazy scorpion story. I was better by the next day. Today is our last day and we are taking a ferry to Cozumel to do some snorkeling. We fly back tomorrow mid day.

My husband and I bought a 34 foot Gemini catamaran in 2008 and have been spending summer’s sailing throughout the Northeast ever since. We have a mooring in Greenport on the North Fork of Long Island and one in Mallet’s Bay on Lake Champlain. We’ve sailed from Greenport to Sag Harbor, Montauk, Block Island, Cuttyhunk, to Lake Tashmoo on Martha’s Vineyard, up the Cape Cod Canal to Provincetown, to Mystic, CT., the Thimble Islands, Shelter Island, Watch Point, Rhode Island, East Hampton, as far south as Cape May, NJ where we had to abandon ship and head north as Hurricane Sandy sat over head and hurled boats and buildings about….somehow our little Symba survived unscathed! We lived on our boat for a few summers along with our two cats, Django and Jazzy…fishing for dinner, eating from local farm stands, exploring small towns on our two folding bikes. We’ve sailed our boat up the Hudson, around NYC through the locks to Lake Champlain and back a few times stopping to visit friends along the way and anchoring in little harbors and inlets along the way. To approach an area from the sea, by water is to gain a newfound perspective on a place, you feel as though you are one with an area….to sail along side of dolphins playing in your boat’s wake, to sleep under the stars on Symba’s deck, to dive in the ocean under moonlit skies, to watch the wildlife in Hallock Bay when you are the only boat there, to spend a day surfing at Montauk’s ditch plains, to paddleboard among the boats anchored and moored in Block Island Harbor, to meet neighbors anchored next to you and become life long friends, to work as a team hauling sails, navigating charts and weather and challenging situations and come through with memories and stories to tell.

In 2009 I was invited by my good friend Billie Joyce to travel with her to France to visit a number of wineries on a private wine tour set up by Kermit Lynch who wrote “Adventures on the Wine Trail” and a is a well-know distributor of French and Italian wine. She’d become friends with Kermit while he was recording an album in Nashville. We visited Domaine du Vieux Telegraphe and Domaine du Tempier among others and had what you might call a backstage pass to these incredible historic vineyards and wineries. Getting to taste the latest vintages and witness the process of winemaking behind the scenes. We had the great pleasure of an invitation from Kermit to have dinner at his beautiful villa in the French countryside. We all cooked together and Kermit kept bringing out bottles of incredible wine to share. It such a memorable experience.

The view from our house Runaway. My Dad discovered the out island of Staniel Cay, in the Exuma Bahamas, back in the early 80’s on an exploratory trip to the Bahamas. He flew his private plane down to the islands with a friend, seeking a place to rent or buy. As he tells it, they were en route back to the states when the clouds parted and below he saw what looked to be a pristine, beautiful rustic island. He landed there, the approach was tricky with crosswinds, cliffs and a short rough runway. The rest is history. He found Runaway, owned by artist Joanne Mann at the time. We ended up renting her house on South Staniel for a year and then were able to buy it the next year. Back in those days the island was very rustic, there were no phone lines out to our house, I think we used a generator for electricity, it was much like camping and it was wonderful! We spent 30 years vacationing there, snorkeling, diving, fishing, sailing, exploring the gorgeous shallow waters of the Exumas with their extraordinary shades of blue and greens. We became friends with locals, we felt a part of the community. It was a magical time. You could only get to Staniel by private plane or boat so it was not easily accessible and remained a sleepy, off the beaten path destination for a long time. The island changed over time and became overly developed causing my parent’s and their partner’s to sell. That was a sad time as it was one of the most special parts of my life for so many years. A place to disconnect from the outside world and to reconnect with family and friends in a majestic setting.

Family time, Staniel Cay, Bahamas

Flags at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club

The ocean beach on Staniel

My buddy Brooks

In 2008 Erik and I went to Nelson, British Columbia and did snowcat skiing for 4 days in the back country. It was some of the best skiing I’ve ever done, deep, untracked powder. Nelson is a beautiful town situated on a lake with natural hot springs, mountain views and amazing food and coffee.

Ireland - 2002-2008

I first went to Ireland as a touring musician in 2002 after meeting good friend and music promoter, Eilis Boland while touring England. She invited me to come to Northern Ireland and stay with her for a series of shows in Belfast and throughout Northern Ireland and Ireland. I fell in love with this beautiful, majestic country, with its emerald green landscapes, ancient castles, sea views and gregarious, friendly people. I continued to go back every year to play shows and do radio interviews, while also exploring new areas.

In 2008 I went to Ireland to lead bike tours for the company I was working for at the time, Bike Vermont, leading guests through the backroads of Ireland. From the Cliffs of Moher to the karst landscape of bedrock of the Burren, through seaside towns, to the island of Inishmore and through the Connemara.

One of the exciting things about being a flight attendant is getting to experience new cultures all over the world and interact with people from all over the world. When I was on reserve for JetBlue I never knew where I was going or for how long, so it kept things interesting. While on reserve I flew to Mexico, the Dominican Republic, South America, Turks & Caicos, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas and many other places. This trip was to Equador and I had a day to explore the port city of Guayaquil on my layover. I explored the city, the artisan markets, Las Penas, a neighborhood full of colorful houses and stairs lined with cafes and art galleries that lead up to Santa Ana Hill, site of Santa Ana chapel, and views of the city.