Grief

July 26, 2023.Reading time less than 1 minute.

One

July 3, 2023.Reading time less than 1 minute.

A birthday celebration was the highlight of our weekend. One-year-old Tima could not believe we would leave her alone with a cake that size, lol. She also could not fathom why so many people crowded around to watch. A swim afterwards with her Dad brought her around to her old self.

Tender Stories of Motherhood

June 26, 2023.Reading time less than 1 minute.

This week Lens-Artists challenge us to tell a story through photography. These brought back memories of motherhood.

A Mother’s Day Farewell

May 14, 2023.Reading time 2 minutes.

“Moments before she passed away, I asked my Mom if she had any words of wisdom to share with the world. She bit her bottom lip, shook her head, and replied: “No. I’m not that kind of person.” I disagree. Mom was both humble and wise. What she lacked for in words, she conveyed through […]

Curly

April 30, 2023.Reading time less than 1 minute.

My newest granddaughter has a shock of curls on top of her head and it reminds me of me when I was a baby. Of course, I needed proof, so yesterday, while visiting my mom, I went through old photo albums, and found this photo of my dad feeding me.Apparently, history does repeat itself. Have […]

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 […]

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 […]

Photo Play

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

Introduced my granddaughter to one of the photo apps I’ve been using and gave her my phone. Within minutes she created the featured image, speeding through the app as if she’d been doing it forever. Not be outdone, I borrowed the photos she’d taken of herself and created this: Not quite an April Fool’s joke, […]

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 […]

Learning What Matters

February 21, 2022.Reading time 2 minutes.

Parents brought children to the occupation in Ottawa. They set up camp on a main thoroughfare, in front of apartment buildings and retail shops, and obstructed the lives of others. They honked their big rig horns, left their diesel engines running day and night, and set up barbeques, and food tents, and bouncy castles, and […]

I dream that I am teaching again, and having assigned the class independent work, I am spending time connecting with each student to see if they are grasping the material. It’s my favourite part of teaching, and I wake up wondering if I’ll ever have that feeling again. So rewarding. It is bittersweet, growing old. […]

Fatal Fury

Really wasn’t your faultthis fury that overcame –Words evoked onslaught,a raging river of pain. Didn’t mean to push you,miscalculated my aim,swimming in swamp watersnot a recommended game. You floundered, gurgled,cursed me by name –our love story, now viralbrought an alligator fame. (Image my own. Tale is totally fictional, I promise.)