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.

Warbler

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

There are many species of warblers, and most I am not able to identify. Google reverse image suggests this is a Blackburnian warbler (likely a female). Most importantly, these little birds always bring such joy. Thanks to Don’t Hold Your Breath for hosting a bird of the week challenge.

For Ukraine

June 28, 2023.Reading time less than 1 minute.

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.

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 […]

Pacing

June 21, 2023.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Rosy Grosbeak

June 16, 2023.Reading time less than 1 minute.

One of my favourites. The day my mother confirmed she was ready to die, I was tasked with calling the MAiD doctor, the funeral home, and so on. This Rosy Grosbeak with its large pink heart, stayed close by, as if to reassure me. He reappeared at my kitchen window the day we returned from […]

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 […]

What Saved You?

June 7, 2023.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Re-de-fine-d

Ask me how I’m doingand I’ll say “fine”, notbecause I’m actually fine,but because “fine” is the onlysocially acceptable response. If I said that I have been lyinghere, for three hours now,willing my body to move,that would elicit unsolicitedadvice and tarnish my “fine”. I’d berate myself for breakingmy promise not to moan,knowing that complainingprovokes a compulsive […]

Peace?

(Image my own)

Crisis

How did undocumented –a civil infraction –reduce people to ‘bodies’? And how did empathy –observation and support –merit death by gunshot? When we stretch for explanations –to fit the violent rhetoric –are we too not complicit in crime? Red, blue, it’s all intolerable –the global stage is watching –a nation in rapid decline. “He’ll burn […]