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 […]
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 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 […]
Walter Cronkite spoke to my father every weekday evening with the CBS Evening News. My father sat in his green chair, placed at just the right angle for the television, his legs crossed, right over left, leaving a small V-shaped spot in his chair into which I fit perfectly. I […]
I read the obituaries. Not often, but sometimes. I see a life I knew, or knew of, that ended and I ache for those who are obligated to carry on. I see the commercials on TV that warn us to “Make death wait.” But sometimes death won’t wait; death just […]
Do you know George Orwell? Well, you wouldn’t personally know him, considering he was a writer and George was his pen name. But you might remember reading “Animal Farm” or “1984” in high school English with Mr. Fryer. George wasn’t exactly a cheerful guy, but he once said something that […]
Jan. 24 was Global Belly Laugh Day. A certain Elaine Helle of Lake Oswego, Ore. conceived this idea in 2006 in an effort to better society’s mood. And her idea obviously was a good one because 30 countries participated from seven continents. I’m not completely sure how many continents there […]
If you want a sure-fire guaranteed quick trip to insanity, I have just the recipe for you. Get a puppy—one that has limited ability to grasp the notion of peeing outdoors; one who thinks ceramic tile is a much better place to deposit urine. Stir in several weeks of limited […]
