Wendi Stewart – Wendi with an ‘eye’

I confess that I’m not particularly fond of cooking, though on some occasions such as Christmas and Thanksgiving, I’ve been known to put on a decent spread and most of it quite edible. To the best of my knowledge, I haven’t killed anyone off with my culinary skill (or lack […]

I am in a state of emotional rage and I’m struggling to focus on the simplest of tasks–tasks as simple as flossing or walking. I can’t think straight and all I can think about is the images of children taken from their mothers at the U.S.-Mexican border, oftentimes removed with […]

The news is filled these days with talk about techniques to combat anxiety and worry while we each try to find a solution that works for us as an individual. Worry on any given day is present; is picking and poking at our peace of mind, wrestling with our sense […]

I have friends visiting from Dawson City, the kind of people you meet and feel instantly as if you have known them your whole life. So off we went the other day to Fishermen’s Cove on the Eastern Passage of Nova Scotia, a small historic village on the Atlantic Shore […]

The prime minister of New Zealand has just gone on maternity leave, and something about that warms and calms me. Jacinda Ardern, at age 37 the youngest female government head in the world, has a team in place who will help her do her job. But no doubt the time […]

When we are young, we think many “things” will be the answer to our pursuit of happiness. A new bike, our first car, cool glasses (though when I first started wearing glasses at age 13, there was not a single thing cool about them, no matter the colour or shape). […]

I have written about libraries a few times in my last 524 columns, 385 of which have been printed here. But who’s counting? I guess I am. Libraries are the past and the future, and everything in between. I was at the Kentville Public Library one morning last week, doing […]

I went a little crazy with my pre-gardening plans this year. I’ve started seeds and no longer have a spare room. That room now is a seedling nursery, with the bed and a table covered with little pots housing plants of every variety in excessive numbers. It’s a bit like […]

If you get the chance to escape the winter next season for a warm clime and Sunwing is in charge, I suggest you forego the opportunity. My daughter returned from a Sunwing Vacation some 15 days ago (while I am writing this) with her husband and two small children. Their […]

We often hear the advice from others as the calendar turns over at our birthday–marking another year having galloped into the great abyss, out of sight. “You’re not getting any younger.” Not exactly a revelation like the splitting of the atom or landing on the moon or the discovery of […]

My father called me Winnie Pooh when I was little, dropping the “the” so as not to be accused of violating copyright laws (I’m sure that was the reason). When I re-read the letters he wrote to me just before he died, letters I’ve read at least a hundred times, […]

Friendship is like a secret hide-out; the kind of place I imagined as a child to escape to from nightmares, to run away from disappointment–a place where I was completely perfect with all my flaws, some of them more noticeable than others. My height was a flaw when I was […]