i’ve decided to tell you all a couple stories from the journey we’ve had.  simple ones.  they are meant to give context to the moments that have been very pleasant for us, but simple none the less.  two stories to start.

benromach distillery, forres, scotland.

the speyside whisky festival happened to be taking place while we were in the boat of garten.  we joined in on two events, one a whisky tasting at benromach distillery and the other a highland gathering.  the whisky tasting turned out to be something spectacular.  a bit pricey at first (so i thought), we were taken through the distillery with the head brewer and the director of whisky buying at gordon & macphail.  after the tour, we ended up in a small room, with five glasses of whisky in front of us, some oatcakes and a bottle of water.    the whiskies we tasted were:  benromach 10 year, milton duff 10 year, mortlach 21 year, strathisla 42 year, and finally (drum roll) a macallan 56 year.  i guess we were the ones getting away with the steal deal.  the experience was such a wonderful one, and though we felt as though we were just slight posers, knowing very little compared to the company we were in, we soaked in every second of the experience with wonder and an eagerness to learn.  i did check out the bottle of macallan when we found internet later.  it is a $2000 bottle of whisky.  my jaw dropped just a little bit more than i had expected it to.  only then did i realize why the other few people at the table were as attentive as hawks, waiting and frothing to drink the left over whisky that wasn’t finished in other peoples cups, as the afternoon was winding down.

whisky tasting at benromach

papa smurf

peter’s old 1975 yellow vw bus is a beauty.  but for this trip, we were housed and transported by the gorgeous papa smurf, a 1978 original bay window camper, fully equipped with a classy yellow and brown 70’s striped canvas pop top.  everywhere we went we turned heads… waves from oncoming traffic and people on the streets taking photos of us… i couldn’t help but feel like a bit of a celebrity.  i know, i know… it wasn’t me.  but i do have to agree with the masses… he is worth swooning over.

we drove from inverness to the isle of skye to the isle of lewis and harris, through ullapool and north to clachtoll beach, pushed north just a bit further until we turned around to head back to inverness.  a week flew by so quickly.  we were sad when we had to leave our trusty steed.  but he was a wonderful way to see the some beautiful parts of scotland.

papa smurf on his way to the isle of skye

isle of skye, loch ainort

papa smurf at talisker distillery

on his way to neist point lighthouse

bus driver

morning coffee

roadside meal

at the butt of lewis, isle of lewis and harris

private picnic by a beautiful lake and beach, name unknown

clachtoll beach

clachtoll beach, with peter and jim's chickens

papa smurf, a reflection... and a fond memory.

xx

all images © erica chan 2012

]]> http://ericachan.com/blog/2012/05/10/three-days-in-the-boat-of-garten-scotland/feed/ 0 http://ericachan.com/blog/2012/05/01/two-days-in-paris-honeymoon-part-i/ http://ericachan.com/blog/2012/05/01/two-days-in-paris-honeymoon-part-i/#comments Wed, 02 May 2012 00:18:43 +0000 admin http://ericachan.com/blog/?p=1624 we left vancouver and traveled for 14 hours until we arrived in amsterdam.  i watched 4 movies along the way and found myself tapping my feet, that just barely reached the airplane floor, in anticipation of our european adventure.  it has been years since i’ve visited europe.  and my eyes were craving a feast of beautiful old architecture and cultural coalescence.

hour 16-24 were spent acclimatizing to the fast paced, hustle and bustle of amsterdam.  a quick tour of the city to ease us into a different world from maui or vancouver.  this weekend was especially busy as it was the weekend that they celebrated queen’s day.  all accommodations were full, and the grey, rainy city was splashed with enthusiastic bursts of orange everywhere we looked.  there was a carnival set up in front of the royal palace of amsterdam, flinging laughing bodies around on energetic rides and providing momentary views from high up the ferris wheel.  games and lights and music and cotton candy all lined the open square that normally occupies the space in front of the regal display of dutch classicism.

we grabbed a quick bite to eat and wandered along with the herd of people, as they explored the pot hazed streets of the city.  we took a slow stroll back to the train station to catch our train to paris.  although the festivities were wonderful, we were opting for a quieter weekend, our first weekend of our honeymoon.

europe’s grey landscape raced by our big picture window on the train, as we were transported from one quaint scene to the next.  the train stations in europe are so beautiful… there is something characteristically magnificent about train stations – a grounded form of travel that still remains hosts to many stories of unions and farewells, with a flavour of historic respect.

we arrive in paris, tired beyond belief.  i suspect we have been awake for close to 30 hours now, spare a few quick minutes of shut eye here and there on the train.  we find our friend’s house and make our way up the narrow stair halls of the old french building.  we share wine, cheese, sausage and baguettes over some laughs and great conversation.  but it is now 36 hours of sleeplessness that settles into my tiring mind.  delirium pushes me into my pajamas and tucks me into a short, but well received slumber.  five hours later i awake to pouring rain.

i look outside at beautiful french architecture and think i may go for a walk.  vancouver can be this rainy… it shouldn’t stop me.  but it does this time.  i sit up in bed for a couple hours and write a bit… look at a few of the polaroids from the previous day.  i fall back asleep for a half hour.

when i wake back up, it is sunny out.  the tall, classic french windows characterized by sun flare and muted tones opens up to a glorious day.  we head out on a mission for some good food… and in hopes that a sympathetic adventure would pick us traveling hitch hikers up.  two days of photos sums up the glorious april two day adventure we had with the romance of parisan life.  the only thing missing in the entirety of our trip was a cigarette.  although we had plenty of whiffs of the sultry perfume walking through the clouds of smoke – all through the city.

enjoy the photos.  on to scotland tomorrow for the real honeymoon destination.  i shudder to think of how ill prepared i may be for the weather.  the last time i checked there were lows of 1 degree celsius and a tonne of rain.  this may take some mental preparation to survive… or a whole lot of scotch.

” the french language is so sexy and sultry.  despite the barrier it creates between myself and the rest of the parisan world, i can’t help but want to sit… awestruck and motionless… soaking it all in.  some stuff i understand.  some i don’t.  but that doesn’t stop me from loving it.  i hack away at questionable pronunciations, grasping desperately for some recollections from high school french class.  i get mixed responses from people – rolling eyes sometimes make me want to shy away and hide.  the few lovely parisans that think my attempts are “very very cute” make me feel better about trying.  either way, every time i leave with a smile on my sometimes blushed face and my distinctively canadian “je suis desole, merci,”  i can’t help but laugh as i never fail to feel like i am asking for ‘mercy’.” ~ excerpt from my journal, may 1, 2012.

au revoir, pour le moment.

xx

all images © erica chan 2012

we sat at a table and chatted for hours, discussing the ups and downs of life, the allure of maui, the beauty of family, the importance of friends, all the things that are possible, and the strength of a motivated mind.  i was lucky enough to find a couple of minutes to wander the slice of heaven on a day where the mill stood alone… i found her sunbathing like a naked gypsy beauty would be on a beautiful sunny day.  her walls reeked of stories that wanted to be told, the plants were romantically whispering sweet nothings to me in the slight breeze, the birds serenaded me and urged me to move closer… closer… closer.

for brides looking for a unique place to have your wedding on the island of maui, this is it.  this is your place.  you won’t have a beach wedding… you’ll have so much more.  there is truly nothing else like this place.  www.haikumill.com

here are a couple of polaroids to tease and tantalize you… but i warn you… they won’t do the place justice.

all images © erica chan 2012

]]> http://ericachan.com/blog/2012/04/11/haiku-mill-a-true-place-of-peace-and-beauty/feed/ 0 http://ericachan.com/blog/2012/04/06/emma-ben-maui-hawaii-a-select-few-from-a-beautiful-day/ http://ericachan.com/blog/2012/04/06/emma-ben-maui-hawaii-a-select-few-from-a-beautiful-day/#comments Sat, 07 Apr 2012 06:39:26 +0000 admin http://ericachan.com/blog/?p=1515

© erica chan

emma & ben | 2.24.2012

© erica chan

the hawaiian islands are socked in by a content grey ceiling of clouds.  they don’t want to move, and they are really letting their inner feelings pour down on us.  it’s been raining for days now.  they beaches are roughed up, the water is brown and murky, and the streets are cold and grey, and they slap back when you step all over them.  my little plants are happy as clams though.  they are luxuriously bathing in the darkened soil beds, stretching out, breathing and massaging the kinks in their roots.  at least some things are content.

i was in an early yoga class this morning and my teacher was talking about working on being content.  i tried really hard to think about being content while breathing through the difficult hip opener.  i saw a drip of sweat drop from my forehead… and as it burst on my mat i felt as sort of anxious contentment.  i knew my body was benefiting from the place it was in, but i couldn’t block out the screams of pain and strain as they were desperately trying to persuade me to stop.  all i needed was ten seconds of contentment.  why was it so hard to find.  my body felt tired and strong all at the same time. i heard my teacher saying – one second of contentment will turn into a minute… and then ten minutes… and then an hour a day… and then 10 hours a day…. and then days… and then weeks… and then months… and then years… years of contentment.  ok… i’m sure it will take some time to get there, but i don’t doubt it at all – it seems a natural growth progression.  at this moment, though, i was going to focus on my ten seconds.  and just with that decision, i found it.  i had ten seconds of contentment.  followed by the remainder of the day.   i like to believe it is the power of my mind telling me this, and not the sobering rain clouds i watch through my picture window – as i try to mirror their contentment.  i close my eyes and swallow the pathetic fallacy.

the content of our lives helps create the contentment – what we put in will determine the personality of our contentment.

i look around at my personal belongings – some stuff i need (or at least believe i do), some things are sentimental, some this are foreign, some things are begging me to give their existence meaning… but everything belongs.  changing things would somehow alter my contentment in life.  for better or worse.

people are content as well.  our relationships are living interactions.  we have to nurture them and feed them properly otherwise they become malnourished.  they require love, communication and reciprocity.  without relationships we become jaded… singularly militant and discomforted in situations we can’t control.  sometimes it can be hard to be around people if you don’t know how to act.  the choice is to breed that discomfort, or to melt away social expectations and try to simply be content.  raising our relationships like any good little relationship should be brought up will help us to build strength in our identity, while still being a significant, moving part of a bigger, more meaningful picture.

our minds are content.  they are filled with thoughts, intentions, ideas, motivation…. everything is put into this super computer called our brain.  our minds mind things carefully to make sure to send the right controls to our body.  sometimes our minds can become lost, off track, misguided, distracted…  our bodies and actions are given confusing signals or you just end up doing things that you don’t understand the reason behind.  in a vicious cycle, your mind can then become lazy.  i’ve been in ruts like this before.  both physically and mentally.  things that worked in the past, sometimes they no longer work in this present day that i am living in.  it’s frustrating… like paddling against current and wind.  the same kind of frustrating, because you ultimately just want to get where you were planning on going…. but the work to get there is a killer.  but then… hours later… you barely remember that moment as you sit comfortable by the fire – that you built with your bare hands, completely and utterly content.

if the lessons we learn throughout our moments, days and lives help us find even ten seconds of contentment, well then that’s enough for today.  content in the moment will eventually lead to a lifetime of it – moments are strung together with movement, interaction and intention.  eventually we richly wear them like a necklace of pearls.

“contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty”. – socrates.

© erica chan

an oldie but a goodie.

michael shindler and three, maui, hawaii.