Heading West

I'm heading out to the West Coast on Thursday for ten days of what I hope will be a relaxing, creative break. My thesis is being left behind in Toronto and my knapsack will be carrying only some clothes, a couple of books, my journal, my camera, my ipod, and my laptop. C'est tout. That person sauntering through the airport terminal and bypassing the luggage hall, probably sipping a latte and still engrossed in her book - that will be me.

For the plane, I'll be catching up on my podcast listening and have also downloaded a couple of cool lectures from the Stanford podcast site. Not to mention the first season of Grey's Anatomy that's sitting on my computer waiting to be watched.

Because I hope to be writing as much as possible, I'm not bringing any fiction to read for this trip. Instead, I have some poetry and some non-fiction to take down to the beach with me. Airstream Land Yacht by Ken Babstock and The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. The poetry because I've been saving Ken's new collection for a time when I can really take it in and the Didion because it sits only a quarter read on my bookshelf in Victoria. I think I was too close to my own grief to read about Didion's over my Christmas holiday, but now I'm looking forward to the book.

And I'm sure there will be many photographs of the ocean and the garden wildlife taken...and posted here.