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 […]

Something to Love

June 1, 2022.Reading time 1 minute.

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 […]

After the fear…

May 25, 2022.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Changing the Lens

March 7, 2022.Reading time 1 minute.

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 […]

Where is Home?

February 28, 2022.Reading time 2 minutes.

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 […]

Sculpting

January 2, 2020.Reading time 1 minute.

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 […]

“It’s the Best!”

December 12, 2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

“Wait till I tell my Mom I’m having hot chocolate for dinner! Do you have marshmallows, too?” she’d excitedly asked the waitress. “No marshmallows, but we have whip cream.” “Oh yum!” Children are so easy to please. I’d been in emergency all day, but didn’t want to cancel plans, so Ric picked her up from […]

More Hole Than Whole

November 24, 2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

The woman in the mirror is flawedage spots where freckles once sprouted,streaks of white, peppering former auburn,inner scars marking discontent. How then is she expectedto know wholeness? In days when mind was sharpself-confidence wobbled;when spirituality was planted,self-judgment undermined. The path to wholenesspitted with potholes. How often emotion overrodecommon sense, and choicesled her astray, how thickthe […]

Friends are Blessings

November 7, 2019.Reading time 1 minute.

Over brunch, my new acquaintance and I discover we have a lot in common – both former teachers, interested in art and poetry, with a love birds. She is just getting back into life after a long stint of caring for a sick husband, who died a year ago. I am finding my footing in […]

Blessings Plus a Year

July 25, 2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

Sunflowers and chocolates kick off my birthday week. Delivered by daughter and her family made it all the more special. I share my birthday month with now seven-year-old Sloane and our youngest, so July is filled with blessings. We are adjusting to the role reversals here – I now drive Ric to appointments, and do […]

Monday Mood: Exhausted

The events of the past few weeks, plus the rain, seemed to have caught up with me. Day’s goal: rest, rest, and more rest. (Photo mine)

End the Fray

This breach –this ever-widening gapfear inducedpits usagainst themas if humanitycan be dividedsalvationa selective process. We need a balmto soothe societalwounds, a tonicto calm the angstuntil clarityquells the uproarand kindnessreplaces this sin. (Poem originally appeared June 2019. Image my own)