Familial Snags

August 9, 2023.Reading time 4 minutes.

Days before she turned 65, Mom confessed that she suspected she had cancer. “I’m thinking about just letting it take me,” she said. There were many things I wanted to say in that moment, such as: You should be discussing this with a therapist and not your daughter, but; this was the nature of our […]

A Milestone Moment

July 28, 2023.Reading time 3 minutes.

“You need to rest, because tomorrow is your birthday.” There is talk of baking a cake and maybe preparing food for visitors. My birthday fell on a weekday, so I told our new guests I will likely not have visitors – everyone will be working. They shrugged: “Maybe…” Ric and I have accepted a new […]

Strive

July 19, 2023.Reading time 1 minute.

Conceived in the midst of unbearable psychological drama, I was the reason for my mother’s marriage to my father – a relationship that would cause us all great pain over the years. Many losses would follow – deaths of grandparents and a favourite uncle, two fires resulting in the loss of five children.I grew up […]

Dead Never Tell

July 12, 2023.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Not a Chance, Lady

July 10, 2023.Reading time 1 minute.

I decided to ignore the tugging signs and drive the car the short distance to the river. The day was overcast, so I reasoned that the light would not bother my eyes. Some things are not meant to be. Lifting my camera to shoot the heron lingering in the shallows, I realized that my right […]

Cornered

June 23, 2023.Reading time 2 minutes.

It was the pitch of the two dogs barking in the backyard that alerted me to trouble. That and Pippi, the female, growling. The two had cornered a young groundhog between the deck steps and a tiered planter. After I sternly sent them back inside, I went out to check on the animal’s wellbeing. “He’s […]

Three Gifts

June 14, 2023.Reading time less than 1 minute.

(Excerpt from Acceptance and Illness, June 2017)

Re-emergence

June 11, 2023.Reading time 3 minutes.

Hard to pinpoint when it all started. Was it the night before, when I pushed myself to finish that knitting project even though my eyes were so blurry that I had to feel my way through? Was it the day before, when I noticed that my breathing was compromised? I do know that I awoke […]

Keep Going

February 13, 2023.Reading time 2 minutes.

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 […]

AI and Ghosts

January 27, 2023.Reading time 1 minute.

“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 […]