Wendi Stewart – Wendi with an ‘eye’

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 […]

Narrativity is a word I wasn’t familiar with, or rather I hadn’t heard it used the way I heard it used last week on CBC Radio. In fact, my spellcheck doesn’t care for the word and wants me to use some other one while providing me with no alternatives. In […]

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 […]

I like to think I would have made a good pioneer. There is a caveat, though (isn’t there always). I would have made a good pioneer who had access to a deep freeze. That may disqualify my presumption. I like processing food from my garden. I blanche and freeze bags […]

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 […]

I may have mentioned eight or nine or 46 times that my grandsons started school in September; Aiden in junior kindergarten in Ontario and Linden in kindergarten of the regular variety in British Columbia. I have never been a fan of sending babies to school. Two of my daughters had […]

I’m currently in British Columbia helping my grandson transition into kindergarten. My daughter is a single mom and we had the resources for me to fly out to help the glacial move from non-kindergarten to kindergarten. As I drove Linden to school for an hour one day and two hours […]

I burned a pile of brush the other night. We have burning restrictions here in Nova Scotia due to the lack of rain, so burning is limited to between the hours of 7 p.m. and 8 a.m., when the dew has settled. I often wonder how forest fires are ignited […]