A Healing Place

“Take her to Arizona,” doctors advised first my parents and then my husband, as if going to the desert was some magic remedy for all that ailed me.  Might as well have told me to go to the moon, the possibility of such a journey always just beyond our reach.  Until my husband found a way, deciding […]

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Resetting the Dial

At fifty-nine, I was certain that I knew myself – accomplished, defined and established – but illness changed the framework from which my remaining time would unfold.   I became a non-entity in my former career, and a ghost to friends.  My children mourned the loss of their vibrant mother and settled into lowered expectations. […]

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Buying Time

Dreams of distant lands,adventures enhancing hope –future insurance. (Written for Ronovan Writes Weekly Haiku Challenge: future/hope) In a week’s time we are setting out on another RV adventure.  

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Appearances

Testing social waters – that cherished state of interaction – prone to revealing too much have been homebound, studying life without a facilitator, now attempting to penetrate invisibility gathering the salvageable bits – minimal fragments of a once whole woman, reaching out, reconnecting, reception mixed much has passed me by – no amount of homework […]

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Photo a Week: Bridges

The gap between the life I’d envisioned and this current reality is widening… I need a bridge – not a short, low one, but a large, expansive bridge to carry all my wishes, to facilitate movement of passing ideals, allow for traffic flow. Or a bridge to slow me down, dialled in to the sun’s […]

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A Rare Autumn Day

I’d been told that one street over from our house, behind the nursing home, there is a nature trail.  Ric has been busy working – driving back and forth between the city – and I have been homebound, moaning about the dull weather, so I haven’t had a chance to see it for myself. Then […]

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Reflections on Gathering

The forecast for last night was a frost warning. “The rooftops were white this morning, did you see?” a neighbour asked me at our communal brunch. I hadn’t noticed, but I am feeling it in my body.  Things are seizing up. We’ve had a week of get-togethers, starting with Thanksgiving.  Tuesday, we drove into town […]

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Gathering

Squirrels, squirrels everywhere, chirping: “Get ready; be prepared”, hoarding their finds with relish treetop leaping with added zest. The geese are gathering too – like all good Canadians – making plans for the winter weighing the options for flight.   Clouds gather to mark day’s end and the influx of autumn weather – and I […]

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Leaving Ottawa

Canada’s capital city has lots to offer.  Before leaving we took the scenic drive along the Rideau, stopping in at the various parks and places of note to take pictures.  At the Remic Rapids, Muskoka chairs line the grassy banks, overlooking rock sculptures in the water.  Apparently, artist John Felice Ceprano has been creating these […]

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Self-Talk

What I liked about starting a new school as a kid, was the opportunity to change my approach to life.  In the early years, I was known as a tough girl, a fighter.  I decided to leave her behind when I moved schools in 5th grade, and focus on being smart.  Instead, I learned to […]

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