Growing with gratitude for life's challenges
“Have you been to Tule Marsh yet?” our new neighbours ask the moment we tell them we like birds. “The Whistling Ducks are there.” I’ve been wanting to see the Whistling Ducks! The Tule Marsh spans both sides of Highway 35 in Rockport, although apart from some small signs, it is hard to spot, which […]
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” I’m worried about my generation, Mom. There are so few male role models to set an example, how are we supposed to know how to live our lives?” My son was fifteen when he shared this concern with me. Having watched his own father turn his back during our divorce, and witnessing the same […]
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Father abhorred laziness. “The idle mind is the Devil’s playground!” he’d say. Or: “What are you trying to do; win the horizontal championship?” Well, I’m the horizontal champion now, thanks to illness. Wonder what he’d say about that? Still, I’m not lazy. To my face he was hardcore, unless he was soppy drunk, then the […]
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Situated at the crossing point of two rivers, our little town was once indigenous hunting ground, until European settlers arrived in the 1840’s taking advantage of the rich deposits of limestone. Much of the original architecture remains, giving the village an old world charm. The television series, Murdoch Mysteries, has used our train station and […]
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(* or any male of influence growing up.) I can’t count the number of times my father’s words hover over me, even though he’s been gone since 2005. He was the king of platitudes – constantly quoting (and making us recite) the works of Dale Carnegie, or Norman Vincent Peale. “Mind over matter,” he’d say […]
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Questions are piling up over here, with very few answers. Isn’t that life? And maybe that is the point: we are meant to reflect, to ponder, to search, to explore. As a teacher, the emphasis was on inquisition: teaching children to think beyond the obvious, find the tools to research deeper. In this ever-increasing digital […]
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Look at us building fencespretending we have differences do we not hunger the samehunt in the same places do we not strive with equal intentbuild our nests with the same ferocity forgo passion to survive?Let us stop pretending let down these walladmit to our vulnerabilities align our purposesfight a more fearsome foe. (Cee’s black and […]
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I’m struggling with myself. It isn’t the first time, and I’m certain it won’t be the last. There is no definable reason, and yet my emotional self tries to find blame: it’s Ric’s behaviour; it’s because I’m homesick; it’s my illness. Rationally, I recognize that my life is full of blessings right now, and this […]
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The heavy cloud cover of yesterday is breaking up allowing for small pockets of sunshine. The temperature is hot, almost muggy. We are headed back to the Aransas Wildlife Refuge. “Better get my camera ready,” I tell Ric. “Last time we saw that coyote just before the entrance.” “Yes, and it was motoring! Not a […]
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In every direction, waterand birds flying by Behind, a canal flowingtoward the Aransas Bay For now, we are nomadsseeking varied horizons. (Lens-Artists challenge is “around the neighbourhood“.)
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One Woman's Quest II 