Ukrainian/Canadian Celebration

May 23, 2022.Reading time less than 1 minute.

It was cool, but the smiles were warm. Four families from our area, hosts and guests. A celebration of kindness.

Plus Five

May 20, 2022.Reading time 2 minutes.

Arrogant of me to ask you to stop and read while I have been so absent, yet I have much to share. How did this broken woman, debilitated by disease, find herself deeply entrenched in the humanitarian side of war? I ask myself this question daily. It is a lesson for all us, I believe. […]

Approach softly

May 18, 2022.Reading time less than 1 minute.

In times of painbe the whispering breeze that soothesnot the harrowing wind. (My image)

Weekend Sky

May 15, 2022.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Okay, it’s not this weekend; it’s an April sky. Weekend Sky

Pause for Art

May 13, 2022.Reading time 1 minute.

For the first time in weeks, I took a break to create. The volunteering threatens to be all-consuming, but I am determined to find balance. Weeks ago, when I started this venture, I was hoping to connect one displaced Ukrainian family with a host family in my area. Quickly, the requests poured in and soon […]

Pondering…

May 11, 2022.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Acknowledgment, they say, is a valid human need,yet, humility is a virtue…how do we balance the two? (Art my own)

Light and Shadow

May 9, 2022.Reading time less than 1 minute.

For Lens-artists Photo Challenge: light and shadow, the original photograph, and then an altered version.

Helping is Medicine.

May 6, 2022.Reading time 1 minute.

As I type, twin blue captain’s beds are being delivered for boys that we will soon be hosting from Ukraine. On my messenger feed, another ambassador is typing about an emergency situation at an airport, where the documentation is being questioned. The family has no more money for alternate flights. Outside, the chickadee sings “yoo-hoo” […]

Not Everything is Defined by Age

May 4, 2022.Reading time less than 1 minute.

As a child, I knew no limits, setting out on adventures with never a fear for how I’d find my way back home. Now, nestled in my home, I limit myself to certainties, fearful of risks. Some days, I wonder about that child, and how it would feel to wander freely, and it makes me […]

April Sendoff

May 1, 2022.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Weather cooperating, we gathered poolside to celebrate a late April birthday. Such a nice way to bid adieu to April. Two of my ‘kids’ and a daughter-in-law. For Bushboy’s last on the card.

Childhood Home

The place remains in my dreamslike a movie set preserved… Have assigned each rooma critique – disclosed the crimes Yet, it remains, like a beacondraws me to it, begs reflection What if I could go backnow that I can breathe Now that I’ve laid claim to maturity;would I discover a sudden windfall? Makeover conditioned motifs;reevaluate […]

Human Toll

Talks stalledescapees strugglelives minimizedburdens heavydespair palpable Can they sensethe global hug,compassion circling? Do prayers have substance,or have the displacednever felt so alone? (Image mine)

Wasn’t Meant to Be

Love evolves –a considerationwe overlookedthose day whenpassion drove usto fanciful displays Tried to align myselfto the certaintyof your dreamsbut my compasswas set elsewhere Memory, thoughhas tattooed uson my heart;the ink still bleeds. (Tuesdays, I borrow from Twitter @Vjknutson. Image mine.)