One click of the shutter, and a Hemingway scene I had dreamed of for a decade came to life. This is the art of observing. An hour earlier, I was deep in the delicate task of keeping my young and sun-weary children in check, while attempting to savor the best conch burger and rum punch […]

It’s surprisingly difficult and dirty work. But it’s also a privilege and an honor to have so much that needs polishing. A few pieces are thrift store finds, but most are hundred-and-fifty-year-old family heirlooms that found their way in to my grateful hands. I take the responsibility seriously.  I was 12 when my only living grandmother […]

“Hey! What was that little worm-looking thing you were pointing to us?” That’s it, I’ve got them hooked. Those are the questions I love from a student fresh off of dive site. Their hair is a mess, water drips from their nose, and their eyes are filled with wonder and excitement.  New divers always look […]

Eight years ago my husband and I were packing our bags for our one-year anniversary trip back to our wedding site for a long weekend of electric blue water and Goombay Punch. Then Hurricane Matthew set its sights on Great Exuma and it would be another five years before we return. Sadness set in for […]

It’s hard to explain how much I still miss and grieve Jimmy Buffett. (Especially to non-parrotheads.)  And it’s not the party I miss—although they were a hell of a lot of fun. But it’s the artist I long for. Our compass. Every lyric is so deeply buried in my being that every so often for […]

Almost 30 years later, I finally made it back to Bonaire. This time a diver, with a whole scuba career under my belt, and slightly worried that it wouldn’t be the same place from the core memory I’ve held onto all these years.

I had never painted a dog portrait before, but I was new a mother and full of ambition to try new things, so I found some watercolors buried in my art drawer, sat down at my kitchen table with a blank sheet of paper and a photo of Keeli, and got to work.

I was born and brought home to house with a darkroom and walls full of fish portraits. This was my destiny. My legacy. It never occurred to me to pursue until I was packing for the Bahamas and he said, “Here, take this. Let me give you the quick rundown: a physics lesson.”

Beach Trees. Those are the words my sister and I would call out from the back seat on every beach trip when we saw them lining the median of the section of US 331 that runs through Florala. Incessantly. Excitedly! And I’m sure to the annoyance of my parents, because my now-4-year-old does the same. […]

I’ve seen my dad teary-eyed on a handful of occasions. I’m sure you could guess the obvious milestones and passages, but the one that surprised me the most was when he opened a rectangular package wrapped in pink paper on Christmas morning 2020.