Photo Play

July 10, 2022.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Haven’t had much time for art, but sometimes photo play can be just as satisfying.

Preparing for our group of seven

July 6, 2022.Reading time 1 minute.

As many of you know, Ric and I, along with our neighbours, Ian and Bev, have decided to host an extended Ukrainian family. Our first big monetary challenge is helping them get here. We have to date raised $5,600 towards flights, but since our initial efforts, flights have increased, and numbers have changed (Tania’s husband Mykolas is […]

Dark and Light

July 3, 2022.Reading time 3 minutes.

“Her water broke!” The moment we’d all been waiting for, in fact; we’d had a betting pool going: who could guess the date and time of birth. No one had picked the first of July. By 4:00 they were headed to the hospital. By 6:00 my daughter-in-law had an epidural. At 11:30 I messaged for […]

Last Laugh

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

Fourteen-year-old Alina thinks I’d look better with her hair colour. It was good for a laugh. (For Bushboy’s Last on the Card)

Are hopes and dreams stored together?

June 27, 2022.Reading time 1 minute.

Funny thing about this house we purchased on a whim two years ago was that the basement haunted me even before we moved in. The entrance is a wide-open descent from the main foyer – in reverse of the upward rising staircases of dream homes. I would wake at night, in a sweat, fearing that […]

A Home of Their Own

June 22, 2022.Reading time 3 minutes.

Five weeks ago, a family of five arrived on our doorstep, distraught and teary-eyed after having fled the war in Ukraine. The dad started working the next day, and the rest of us sorted out beds, groceries and necessary paperwork. Within a week, the kids started school and Mom applied for jobs. It didn’t take […]

Alina’s Dream

June 17, 2022.Reading time 5 minutes.

“Will you please write my story, V.J.?” fourteen-year-old Alina asked me recently. She and her family have now been living with Ric and I a month. Alina is a striking young woman, calm and poised, and over the past month, I have come to appreciate the strength of her determination. We talked about interests the […]

Stopping to smell the flowers

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

I rushed to the grocery store for a few things before the kids got home, skipping aisles to avoid wasted time. Loaded the bags in the car and hopped in the driver’s seat before I noticed them: flower pots everywhere. If I don’t have time to photograph the flowers, I decided. then something is wrong […]

Numbers

June 13, 2022.Reading time less than 1 minute.

525: the number of displaced Ukrainians on my list needing hosts. 525 out of the 300,000 who have applied for refuge in Canada. I am one of a team of a dozen. 7 days ago I hit a wall. The pain just doesn’t want to subside. So now my team is -1. The numbers haunt […]

Life Story

June 8, 2022.Reading time less than 1 minute.

I can’t focus on what I’ll be remembered for; I am too busy living my best self today.

Wings

(Written during my bedbound years with ME/CFS)

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis

May is Myalgic Encephalomyelitis awareness month. Also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, this disease is characterized by exhaustion after exertion. The exertion can be physical -taking a shower; emotional – worrying or obsessing; or mental- filling out forms. The best source of information about ME/cfs, as we call it, is the Bateman Horne Center. They […]

Sorry

Sorry –so much inadequacybundled into one wordas if five letterscan conveydepths of regret,shock, dismay seems I am the sparkto your lighter fluid –unintentional, I swear still reelingfrom the aftermathof the explosion attempting todeconstruct theformula –precautionary I am sorry –that you are enraged,that you are so obviously disappointedthat you are consumed with resentment –except, it is […]