Growing with gratitude for life's challenges
Lesia, our Ukrainian guest, wanted to take up knitting again after a career too busy for hobbies. So, Ric bought both of us needles and wool for Christmas and my neighbour offered to hold a knitting circle where we could learn and practice English. Lesia was miles ahead of me from the start, her patience […]
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“What’s with the spooky images?” I’ve been experimenting with AI generated images. You tell the computer what you want it to create and it spits out a number of alternatives. Ric is looking over my shoulder. I shrug, not really knowing how to reply. At my age, with my mother contemplating death, many ghosts of […]
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I met a woman once, so debilitated by disease that my impulse was to recoil. Then I remembered the words of one of my teachers: “There is something to love about everyone”, and I checked myself, and realized that this woman must have an incredibly strong will to live. I told her so, and noted […]
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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 […]
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Reading through old journals, so much focuses on lack of money. I express guilt for not providing enough as a single mother, anger for being abandoned by my children’s father, and shame for having to rely on others. The feelings still linger. And then I hear my father’s voice: “The good Lord always provides.” And […]
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I ask my three-year-old self to show me her home, and she points to the floor beneath the formica-topped table in the kitchen. There, caged within the chrome legs of table and chairs, she is out of the path of adult legs, whose movements are as unpredictable as their moods. I ask my four-year-old self […]
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My childhood home was surrounded by fence, bordered by tall cedars – we had a secret to keep. I learned not to trust neighbours. I learned the price of shame. At the back of the yard was a gate that opened onto a field and beyond that a wooded area. There I found serenity, connection, […]
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The best openings are the one’s we carve for ourselves. We spent New Year’s Eve reminiscing about eighteen years of togetherness. Stayed up past midnight, and talked about our future. Hope coloured our words. Sculpting has been on my mind – not literally, but in the sense of chipping away at the outer facade to […]
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Tracks on ice remind me that even in the depth of winter there is movement. I am conflicted by the onset of cold: resigned to spending more time indoors, and already feeling the restlessness set in. Art projects line up, encouraged by the many related gifts I received for Christmas. Writing calls to me too […]
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One Woman's Quest II 