On a recent Friday evening at Decanter, my friend Karen Palmer was sitting at her typewriter, writing poems for the people gathered there. It was one of the final weeks of this special place as we know it. MJ and Angie have fostered and nurtured such a loving community here in Prince Edward County, and these Friday gatherings have become a cherished part of our lives.

Karen calls her typewriter Olive. She’s an Olivetti, and Decanter was the first place Olive made her debut. And here they were again, Karen and Olive, in one of the final weeks of Decanter as we know it.

There is something magical about watching them together. You give Karen a word, and she sits down at Olive and begins, spontaneous and in flow, channelling her poetic gifts from somewhere deep within, from an emptiness beyond what we can imagine or see. A short while later, she brings you your poem. Then she reads it to you, and the tears flow.

The word I gave her was sincerely.

Is this me? Such a small question, with so much within it. I love that our sense of self can whisper on some days and roar on others, and that the practice is to listen. With so much around us trying to shape who we are, I wonder how often we pause long enough to hear ourselves. And how often we recognise something of our soul in what we feel drawn to create and share.

Karen has given so much of herself to promoting Prince Edward County and shining a light on the people who make it what it is: the artisans, the winemakers, the painters, the antique shop owners, the people behind our bed-and-breakfasts, our shops and businesses. Bringing them to the world, and bringing the world to them. She is also the author of Spellbound: Inside West Africa’s Witch Camps. And here she is, at her typewriter, sharing another of her gifts.

MJ and Angie have brought their gifts into our lives through Decanter, through the warmth and hospitality they offer and the friendships they have nurtured. MJ shares her gifts through yoga too, and I am so touched that she has offered to bring her practice to Maison Millefleurs. We will miss Decanter as we know it, and we are looking forward to the new ways they will share their gifts with the County and beyond.

We are such multilayered, multifaceted human beings. How beautiful it is when we slow down enough to observe, to witness, to be curious about all the facets of another person. And of ourselves. We may know someone through their work, through one part of their life, and there is still so much more to discover.

I think again of Karen and Olive, in this gathering that MJ and Angie have brought into being. A poem about listening to the soul, offered in a place where so many people have shared something of their own.

Thank you, Karen, for the gift of this sincerely poem and for your friendship. And thank you, MJ and Angie, for all the love you have brought into our lives.