‘Tis the season of remembering and though we get caught up in shopping and decorating and baking, the remembering is the best part for me. I was digging through my box of decorations last week and I reached for four separate items that make Christmas for me–one from each daughter […]

The holiday season is here and you know what that means: lists. I have lots of lists this time of year. My Christmas baking list is a good one, though it doesn’t always reach fruition. It’s a bit like buying a gym pass in January. It seems like a superb […]

I am shocking my drilled well. It’s winter and the cap of the well was buried in snow but I found it and dug it out. The nuts for the well cap bolts were a little rusted (okay, a lot rusted) and took some cranking–and my arthritic thumbs shouted back. […]

I was thinking about the concept of aging. It’s subtle; tends to sneak up on us and if it weren’t for mirrors, most of us would take little notice of our changing bodies. But some days, Mother Nature, with her wicked side, likes to shout it out. “You’re old,” she […]

I’m sitting in the Pearson International Airport in Toronto. My flight was to depart at 10 a.m. bound for Halifax. Warnings popped up on the radio this morning advising travellers to get to the airport early as they had “system” crashes during the evening and there would be backlogs. They […]

As you may remember, I am a fan of lists–lists for almost everything. One of my favourite comedians, Demetri Martin, says the only thing on a magician’s list is “ta-da.” I find that hilarious but perhaps you have to love lists to get the humour. I’ve added a slightly different […]

I don’t think I’ve ever attended a writers’ event, either as a spectator or as a participant, that the question isn’t posed, “Who are you reading these days?” I never seem to have an answer at the ready. After all, no one asks me who I am wearing–and that’s a […]

I’m trying hard to embrace the idea of minimalism. Actually, I’ve been trying since before they had a word for it but it is hard not to acquire a lot of “stuff,” especially in the kitchen. I’m a sucker for anything lime green, as if a lime green paring knife […]

My thumbs hurt. I hate to complain but they hurt, almost all the time, and I think if I ate more green vegetables, they would hurt less. And though that seems an easy enough remedy to incorporate into my daily schedule, I don’t seem able to master the excessive use […]

Loraine and I have decided to paddle to Finland. Now, we aren’t just willy-nilly with our plans–coming up with some hair-brained idea without careful planning. We want to see Finland’s outdoor glass sculptures that look like they are living beings; flames of glass seemingly growing out of the marsh and […]