I’ve been flag-watching since the Sochi Olympics opened and though it is impossible to contain my bias, I love the clean, simple freshness of our Canadian flag and its uniqueness. The Maple Leaf conjures up any number of concepts for me: our vast natural wilderness, what I think of as […]
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 was a farm kid, content with my own company and the company of my siblings. But play often was solitary—building secret hideouts in the haymow, or finding the perfect tree for a fort and then lugging lumber to build something in the tree using more nails than I could […]
I’m not a fan of winter. I suppose I was an enthusiast at one time, when building snow forts was obligatory, throwing snowballs unavoidable, and careening down the hill on a long wooden toboggan or aluminum flying saucer was requisite—all part of the natural rights and privileges of childhood. But […]
I am a big fan of knitting. Do you knit? I taught myself to knit when I was 20. I call it therapy—perfect therapy—but at 20, I didn’t know it was therapy. I thought it was just a bunch of stitches cast on that took a few tries to get […]
Did you tune in to the Golden Globes a week ago Sunday? I would like to hear you say a resounding no. But sadly, some of you, like me, have weak minds and I tuned in—but only until Jacqueline Bisset’s long, drawn-out who-me speech had me wanting to kick in […]
There’s change afoot. Can you feel it? I can—and it has me happily rubbing my hands together and doing a high-five with anyone willing. We’re starting off 2014 with a positive foot forward with the UN declaring that “Small-Scale Organic Farming [is the] Only Way To Feed The World.” This […]
Winter is raising her icy fist around the country as we Canadians of the middle-aged variety—and beyond—tune into The Weather Network with dreadful regularity. Storms and records of cold and snowfall fascinate us it seems; winter’s entertainment. Here in Nova Scotia, we have had an unusually early winter with dumps […]
As soon as Boxing Day has passed and I know for certain that Christmas has departed and taken my visiting daughters with it and I have managed to quit sobbing and have dried my eyes, then I have a tremendous urge for lists. These lists need not necessarily be of […]
What do you want for Christmas? We all have asked that question, and have been asked it. I always come up with a blank. Socks, underwear, fresh tea towels. I just shake my head—coming up with nothing much. I remember wanting a Wonderful Wendy doll, from the Eaton’s catalogue, when […]
I miss Nelson Mandela. I can feel the shift as if his very presence on Earth, the simple fact that he was breathing, kept us safer. I felt the air go out of me, felt my insides collapse, when I heard the news of his death—despite his death being imminent […]
There are some sounds that happen in life that I find calming, relaxing, soothing. Sounds that are deliciously marvelous, such as a baby murmuring in her sleep with a sigh that says life is perfect, a meadowlark in the spring with her voice floating in my window on a soft […]
I don’t like to travel. There, I’ve said it. That’s a load off my chest. I also stole a piece of bubble gum from Perlette’s grocery store when I was five. It’s been weighing on my soul all these years, and I almost blurted out the truth on more than […]
