Wendi Stewart – Wendi with an ‘eye’

It’s Sunday morning when I am writing my column. It’s early. No one else is awake—not even the puppy. It’s quiet and the sun is delicious, but not hot. The air has a crispness to it and it makes me glad because I know it is going to warm up. […]

I recently did a road trip with Laurie (Daughter #3) from Owen Sound, Ont. to Wolfville, N.S., covering the 2,000-plus kilometres in two days. Although the marathon of driving was a bit tedious, sitting in that small space with my daughter took my heart and gave it a complete overhaul. […]

To nap is to sleep lightly, especially during the day. I looked up the definition just to be sure. Although a nap sounds like a lovely treat, I only nap when I no longer can walk; when I am almost falling down with fatigue. I find “nap entry,” like re-entry […]

“To Kill a Mockingbird” is my favourite book of all times. Although a few others have come close, none move me the way Harper Lee’s writing does. I carry the novel around with me like a Bible—a source of inspiration and comfort and hope. I often have it in my […]

Obedience is defined as compliance with the wishes of another; an acknowledgement of authority. What a grand idea. I would like to be the authority and would be most pleased to have “Gracie,” canine member of my family, to be compliant. How would I achieve such status? Take one Miss […]

The frogs and robins are back. I’m not suggesting the frogs hopped their way to Florida for the winter, but suffice to say they’ve wakened and crawled out of their muddy beds. The robins, meanwhile, bounce around on my lawn and I apologize to them for the cold weather we […]

I knew Hinderika Sieders the way children know adults. She was Mrs. Sieders to me; I’m not sure I ever knew her first name. I watched her from a distance, from the perspective of being a visitor in her home, a friend of her children. She was the mother of […]

Jonathan Franzen appeared on “Oprah” quite some time ago, but I taped it and watched it recently. He was a finalist for the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for literature and the guy who declined Oprah’s invitation to appear on his show with his third novel, “The Corrections,” a maneuver that seemed […]

I don’t like to drink coffee. Actually, I’m not particularly fond of any hot drinks, so it isn’t just coffee. Tea, hot chocolate, and hot toddies all fall into the category of “I don’t like.” My mouth burns easily compared to my friends, who can swallow steaming coffee straight from […]

Tomorrow (March 8) is International Women’s Day 2012. This event, which has been observed around the world since the early 1900s, began in reaction to oppression and inequality as a movement to facilitate change. At face value, it’s fair to say, “We’ve come a long way, baby.” But have we? […]

I was thinking about making cookies the other night. Oh no, not for me. Certainly not. These cookies would be for my daughters away at school—a treat, a reminder that they are loved, while they are buried in the tests and assignments and uncertainty that life flings at them as […]

I love a bubble bath—a big deep tub filled with water hot enough to almost melt me and with bubbles up around my ears. The combination of bubbles and heat solve many of life’s dilemmas and anxieties. I think this stems back to my aspiration as a six-year-old to become […]