Wendi Stewart – Wendi with an ‘eye’

I am compelled to take photos of old abandoned houses. I can’t help myself. I used to have my camera in my car specifically for this purpose whenever I was behind the wheel. Now I have an iPhone that simplifies the process, though the quality of my photos may have […]

“I laughed so hard my water broke . . . and I’m not even pregnant.” A story goes with those words—words I recently found inside a card at a card shop, but not just any card shop. Let me explain. Le Tablier Blanc was a card shop on College Street […]

Do you know Yo-Yo Ma? He doesn’t call me at home to ask advice, nor do we meet for coffee to exchange stories, but I do consider Yo-Yo Ma my friend. I’m not sure he is aware of that fact but I don’t think he would mind me saying so. […]

I find myself travelling again. I was aboard a flight last week—doing my impression of a sardine. The man sitting next to me was typing on his laptop and his elbows were spilling over into my seat, though he tried to contain them. His legs are twice as long as […]

When I sleep, or rather when I try to sleep (“try” being the operative word in that testimony—a word that comes laced with the potential for failure), I tend to think and recall every wrong turn I’ve made. The morning comes with hope, positive thoughts; a sunny disposition. But at […]

I heard the expression on the radio recently that we “sanitize” the lives of our children. It’s true that memories of our own childhood sometimes get roughed up a bit with literary licence when we compare our stats with “kids today.” As the distance from our childhood lengthens, the difficulties […]

I got my hair cut last week. I’m well aware that this fact is of little or no importance to you but it got me thinking (as things tend to do). For instance, I always go to my appointments such as the doctor, the dentist, and the hairdresser armed with […]

I had a friend visit me for a couple of weeks recently. She is the kind of friend who fits right in; who doesn’t alter a space in which she is in but rather enhances it. The best part is she has a serious helping of silly ingrained in her […]

Thanksgiving has passed. I ate enough turkey and stuffing and fixings to sink the ship a few times. The pumpkin pie was exceptional, if I’m allowed to say so; the pumpkin grown in my own garden, which somehow makes it more noteworthy, almost noble. If Rod Stewart is knight-worthy so […]

Kurt Vonnegut said, “Go into the arts. They are a very human way of making life more bearable.” That seems an almost defeatist way of looking at life but it’s true. Creativity is known to soothe the soul; to be in the tool box for rehabilitation. Yet the first programs […]

Many of you will have seen the video of six-year-old Alex from New York on Facebook reading a letter he wrote to U.S. President Barack Obama about the boy in Syria. He asked President Obama to bring Omran Daqnees to Scarsdale so Alex can give Omran a home. In his […]

I watch people. I think I’ve always watched people. I look for clues in how they hold their hands, or repeatedly pull on a ball cap as if they are trying to keep their thoughts contained or massage an eyebrow to control a worry. I look for sad, for weary, […]