A Writing Process

May 26, 2018.Reading time 2 minutes.

Sleep beckons, but the mire of anxiety and issues that surround me right now threaten. I push them aside and think of the positive – visualizing our new home, and imagining how I will furnish each room. The power of the mind to shift focus amazes me and I jot down these words: We keep […]

Eavesdropping

May 25, 2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

We are full of the excitement of making plans, and after signing more papers, decide to go out for lunch. Both of our minds are going in different directions, so when the hostess seats us, I barely notice the couple sitting next to us, except that they are young – she a striking chestnut-haired beauty, […]

House Hunting – Option #3

May 23, 2018.Reading time 5 minutes.

“We love the Bluffs!” my friend exclaimed when I told her we were house hunting. We are looking for a small bungalow in an adult retirement community, outside of the city. So far our options have taken us forty-five minutes and an hour from family. Today’s destination is an hour and a half, and overlooks […]

Reflections on a Travelling Life

May 22, 2018.Reading time 1 minute.

It is easy to engage in surroundings when vacationing: all travellers belong, having escaped (even if momentarily) their scripted lives. We project friendliness onto strangers – mothers meeting outside our day-to-day – have new things to discuss. Dare to confess concerns, or approach the personal, and the shunning is immediate. Only peripheral conversations are expected […]

House Hunting

May 21, 2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

“Fasten your seatbelt,” Ric told me fourteen years ago when I first agreed that we were a “couple”. He wasn’t kidding. We’ve barely just settled in after a six month journey across North America and now we are looking for a home. We’ve narrowed it down to one of three. Option #1 is in a […]

Pain Fog

May 19, 2018.Reading time 2 minutes.

The hockey game blares from the front of the bus with a confidence I am not feeling. Yesterday, I had two cracked and very infected teeth extracted, and my jaw is in intense pain. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” the dentist told me. Apparently, I had clenched so hard that I split my back […]

Brief Connections

May 18, 2018.Reading time 3 minutes.

The morning drizzle gave way to sunshine by noon and even though I’ve been tired today, I decide to take advantage of the clearing before retiring for the evening. I grab my camera and go in search of worthy images, but my legs are useless today, so I decide to sit instead, on a picnic […]

Relationship Ruptures

May 17, 2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

The sign on the community pool clearly indicated that the pool was closed, and the gate was locked, but that didn’t stop my friend from scaling the fence and jumping in. Our other friend hesitated only briefly before joining her, and I stood by in disbelief. It was day one of our girls’ getaway, and […]

“Half of a Yellow Sun”: Review

May 16, 2018.Reading time 1 minute.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie weaves an intricate tale, with well-developed characters and relationships, and just when the reader wonders where it is all headed, the unthinkable happens. “Half of a Yellow Sun” is not a symbol I would have recognized before reading Adichie’s work. Now I know that it is integral to the Biafran war, and […]

CFFC: Dilapitated

May 16, 2018.Reading time less than 1 minute.

What is it about run down buildings that stirs the imagination? This crumbling facade inspired the poem Abandoned: No voices linger, not even the sound of shattered glass echoes, only bones shedding flesh, an unholy darkness within, a mystery shrouded in silence. This is the schoolhouse where my mother-in-law had her first job as a teacher, […]