I am reading Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. Dillard’s memoir won the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1975 so I assume her writing is wise, and I might learn from it. The book conveys her thoughts on “solitude, writing, and religion” and has been categorized as a study […]
Wendi Stewart – Wendi with an ‘eye’
Wendi lives in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley, but the farm on Rainy River in Crozier will always be her home. MEADOWLARK, her debut novel released September 15, is published by NeWest Press of Edmonton. She is the mother of four daughters who did the unforgivable: they grew up. http://wendistewart.writersresidence.com
I, and my comrades, are reaching an age when those individuals we looked up to in life, those who lit our path, are departing this world. It is an inevitable place we find ourselves in but one that never comes with ease, without a silent plea that it might be […]
By Wendi Stewart I know every nick and mark on my bedroom ceiling. I know how many pine boards span its width. I have some idea of the spiders who go about their business above me from time to time, weaving their magic in silence. Why, you might ask, why […]
I am in Vancouver, a city too big to be enticing, too busy to be encouraging, in “too big a’ hurry” to be welcoming. I don’t belong here, but my daughter does. This is home to her. I live in a place that by the time the snow flies I […]
My washing machine “died” a few weeks ago, abandoned me, left me in the lurch. It was only nine years old but at the end of its “expected” life, or so the repair person informed me, with hand over heart and a solemn gaze. We bowed our heads and muttered […]
I often lie awake at night and dream of the Rainy River. I can feel her coolness on my childhood feet, breathe in her earthy smell. I remember her haste as she pulled at my legs, urging me to come along with her. Many poets have referred to the river […]
The first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation has come and gone. I donned my orange t-shirt. I read from my copy of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Summary published in 2015; something I try to do every day. I listened to speakers and […]
My favourite pass-time has always been “remembering”. Some would say we should spend more time looking ahead than back. That may be so, but I got muddled at some point after I left elementary school. My childhood memories are crystal clear as a result. My granddaughter Abby was visiting on […]
I think most of us, if not all, have had days when we feel a little unsteady, emotionally speaking, and rage is brewing in our core. Perhaps we’ve had to call Bell Canada or Revenue Canada or maybe we’ve listened to just one too many commercial vehicles backing up and […]
A gaggle of young men were playing catch across the road from me on the Labour Day weekend, complete with baseball gloves and an official MLB ball, undoubtedly signed by some contemporary hot shot pitcher like Justin Verlander or Clayton Kershaw. I would have preferred a Roy Halliday signature or […]
I love September. It was a love affair that had a rocky start. September had to grow on me. September used to be the force that took my children from me, a force who insisted on schedules and rules and timeliness, of having four heads of long hair brushed in […]
The Bluenose II is currently docked on the Lunenburg wharf on Nova Scotia’s south shore. I like to think she dreams, while gazing out to the Atlantic, of racing with the same prowess as her predecessor in whose likeness she was created. Visitors are allowed to stroll her open decks […]
