“Patsy has a high regard for Filipino craftsmen. She so lovingly chooses to position their pieces around her sanctuary in Calatagan, where you will find only local materials,” Johnson shares

adventures. “I wake up every morning to take a long walk, and then go out on the boat to spend the day at sea—swimming, snorkelling, going for a dive,” Patsy narrates. “For me, being out here is bliss.”

Patsy’s home is a space for her to do everything herself, including cooking in the open kitchen. “I really made this house so I could sit and read,” she says. Her idea of a perfect afternoon is a game of mah-jong, or curling up with a good book, her children and dogs coming in and out the door.

One book that can be found on Patsy’s shelf is the best-seller Eat, Pray, Love written by Elizabeth Gilbert. In a memorable scene, the author is described as “a woman in search of a word,” and towards the end of her journey she discovers that word to be attraversiamo, meaning “to cross over.” And while this concept applies very literally to the hanging wooden bridge that connects the old house to the new one, it also captures the essence of her home—a place that has truly grown around its owner, each moment spent there a treasured one.