Joe Smith has moved from a defunct monastery in the Aegean to an old tin palace of a garage in the tumble-down town of Caspar, on California's North Coast. He shares the drafty shell of a place with his eleven-year-old daughter Sparky, six birds and a white cat. The impromptu roof yodels in every storm. Writings about his wanderings have recently appeared in a variety of publications, including Steelhead Special, the Mendonesian, Outlook, Arts and Entertainment, New Madrid, Manhatton Poetry Review, Lynx Eye and Rain City Review. His first book of true stories, Chopsticks, appeared in 1993, and he is currently at work on a second book, Worry Beads. He writes a regular column for Coast News Service called Witness Tree.