Wendi Stewart – Wendi with an ‘eye’

I’ve become a bird-watcher, although there should be a category of bird-watchers that are merely referred to as bird-lookers. I consider bird-watchers to be a dedicated, informed group who know their “stuff”—who can spot a Cerulean Warbler from 100 feet and then recite that particular bird’s habitat, diet, and shoe-size. […]

I recently spent time in an airport, waiting—my least favourite thing to do. I gathered with a crowd of passengers waiting to be herded on to the plane and squeezed in like cattle at the stock yards; bags loaded with every article of clothing they own and can’t risk losing, […]

I was thinking of Susan Griffiths the other day when “Gracie” and I were walking in the early morning. The air was fresh and fragrant after a heavy frost, and the morning sun hadn’t had a chance to do its magic, so everything in the shadows was still white with […]

I’m going to be a grandmother. Just saying it out loud makes me giggle with embarrassment as though everyone will know that I am a fraud. I can’t possibly be a grandmother; I’m not wise and patient, scary things happen in my kitchen, not a single doily is in my […]

I love libraries. I love the philosophy of them; the invisible sign above the door that everyone can see—the sign that says, “You are welcome. You belong here. This is your library.” A library often is the first place people visit when they move or are visiting a community. Unlike […]

I have to wonder about pets and the soundness of owning said creatures. Where do I begin in my account of the state of my sanity that is worn frighteningly thin? Let’s begin with Stinky. Stinky is a cat. He watches the birds out the front window while he dreams […]

I’ve never called myself a feminist, though I’m certainly fierce about the rights of women and I cringe with outrage, disgust, and horror at the plight and reality for many women on this planet. I have taken for granted the dedicated efforts of those women who brought about change in […]

I saw yellow rain boots on a young woman the other day; yellow rain boots on a snowy, cold March day. Yellow rain boots—the only bit of colour in the dull, dreary days of pre-spring when our whole bodies seem to be aching for sunshine and grass under our feet […]

“There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly.” Buckminster Fuller said that. What a great name. Buckminster. He, if you don’t know or remember, was an American architect who created the geodesic dome design. He was a prolific writer, designer, inventor. In a […]

I love watching curling on television. Always have, so you can’t blame it on my age. My daughters groan when I tune in to curling and they roll their eyes as if I’ve just made the lamest confession of all time; as if I showed up at their workplace with […]

Are you feeling winter-weary? If so, then you need your inner child recharged and I can’t think of a better way to breathe life into your sagging soul than attending an Al Simmons concert. If you are as poorly-informed as me, then undoubtedly you will pull your eyebrows together and […]

I went to a fiction-writing workshop this past week. I sometimes wonder why I go. It’s not as though I think the workshop leader will say something profound, and I’ll leap out of my chair with my arms thrown over my head and shout, “Oh, if only I had known.” […]