As someone who defines herself as a traveler and whose life is built around this pursuit, 2020 knocked me for a loop. First an artist’s residency in an Irish cottage set upon a windy cliff was postponed to 2022, and many months of international shoots evaporated in a matter of days. In the scheme of things, I knew I was lucky.

My visit to Squirrel Island last year was a brief one, but all the sweeter for the limited time. Spending summer weekends on this island outside of time, with dear friends who have become chosen family, sharing in their traditions over the years, has become one of my own. And the memories are deeply precious. Now we all remember a few of us already gone, the memories are that much dearer.

Boston is one of the oldest cities in America, rich in colonial and maritime history, the architecture spans all of the countries eras and the city is littered with momentous locations across the centuries, but less widely known are the modernization, growth, and food scene which have emerged in the recent decade, bringing the best of the old and new side by side. In the summer the city reverberates with festivals, live music, free outdoor activities, farmers markets and endless ways to enjoy the culture. There has never been a better time to visit Boston.

Exactly 7 years ago, I adopted Mia at Christmas (actually I fostered, and then foster failure followed but that’s another story) and a few years later realizing I could not foster, I had the opportunity to help out Paws New England in a pinch. Just in time for Christmas we transported a dozen animals from Tenessee to New Hampshire, from a place which did not want them to homes in time for the holidays and it was the most wonderful experience of the true holiday spirit.

I believe in all cases that getting lost can be good for the soul, whether it is humility, spontaneity, wonder or peace, taking to the road and letting go of authorship is always a good thing in this world of stress, over connectivity and constant demands. And when things feel like they are at their worst, I think it all the more reason to get in the car and lost.

A few weeks ago I had the extraordinary opportunity to direct a film about women exercising a vital American freedom, the right to choose with Windy Films and Planned Parenthood. Although it is very hard to believe that we are in a moment when progress could roll back, but the defense of women's reproductive health and choice stands in the hand's of two senators, Sen Susan Collins of Maine and Alaska's Sen Lisa Murkowski.

On a ride in upstate New York two collies sitting in the seat of a tractor caught my attention and I stopped to meet the pups, Massey and Fergie-named for the tractor they sat in, and their owner Richard, who invited me back to see the maple syrup making process.

New England snowstorm photographs.

On a Sunday afternoon last October, I packed up my rescue pup and about month of camping gear in the trusty Volvo and headed to Northeastern Maine, or in local terms, as far Downeast as one can go. So far in fact that we lost all phone signal and this was the goal. The road, my pup, nature, time, and freedom to just be.

Squirrel Island in Boothbay Harbor is an island outside of time, where the fog rolls in slowly and sea sounds and ferry times sound time time, everything moves at the pace of foot traffic, and folks greet each other with stories of their life since last summer, the cottage they are staying in and whom they know - how we are all connected.