Call the Home

May 7, 2025.Reading time 3 minutes.

“What do you have planned for when you’re older and less able, Mom? It would be good to have a plan documented…” This from a family group chat when I mentioned that my 95 year-old aunt had fallen and broken both legs. Although I’m 66, the addition of a disabling disease makes this question more […]

Patience

October 11, 2023.Reading time 1 minute.

A message to my children, all adults now, who are caught up in the panic of trying to “make it”. I remember that drive, all-consuming, that eventually culminated in my body giving up. I don’t want them to follow suit, but at the same time, I am cognizant of the importance of letting them find […]

Change

January 4, 2023.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Changes

November 14, 2022.Reading time 1 minute.

After 7 weeks of respiratory illness, I think I’m finally on the mend. The family of refugees we’ve been hosting signed their first lease yesterday, and will be moving December 1st. Although hubby and I agreed that we wouldn’t host another family, we have committed to a single woman, my age, who we’ll take in […]

Robin, Robin What Do You See

May 30, 2022.Reading time 1 minute.

I haven’t been to the river for a while, time no longer a commodity. Ric and laugh at quickly our routines were toppled, and how sedate our life was by comparison. Life before 7 in our household, that is. “So that’s what the dining table is for,” he chuckles, since we never used it as […]

Helping is Medicine.

May 6, 2022.Reading time 1 minute.

As I type, twin blue captain’s beds are being delivered for boys that we will soon be hosting from Ukraine. On my messenger feed, another ambassador is typing about an emergency situation at an airport, where the documentation is being questioned. The family has no more money for alternate flights. Outside, the chickadee sings “yoo-hoo” […]

How quickly things change…

April 8, 2022.Reading time 1 minute.

Last Friday, a friend picked me up to go birding, and I thrilled at the sight of the Pied-billed grebe on our river. Saturday, we glowed in the aftermath of a successful fundraiser, supporting the displaced Ukrainians we offered to host – still having no idea who they would they were. Sunday morning we awoke […]

Making space for introspection

February 2, 2022.Reading time 1 minute.

Culling through old journals, and blog posts has me feeling introspective. Pausing and processing. I feel change tugging at my edges. Time to rethink the purpose of this blog. The camera has been tucked away until warmer weather and better health permits more exploring. In the meantime, I’m studying the art of drawing and playing […]

VJ’s Weekly Challenge #104: Next Chapter

July 13, 2020.Reading time 1 minute.

Sold! Next! Picture me surrounded by packing materials and boxes – I’ll be busy the next few weeks preparing for the move. Preparing for the next chapter. Some of life changes are abrupt, unexpected, and some, like our upcoming house move, are planned out. Either way, change is a given. The focus this week is: […]

Decisive Action

January 12, 2020.Reading time 3 minutes.

Life presents challenges and I stumble to keep up. Chronic illness continues to form the backdrop of my life, so it becomes the baseline for any actions I take. Ric and I made a commitment to our health and our community this year, and that means that I have been more physically active than usual. […]

Sun Certainty

Clouds bundleshift and foldcotton strata Trees huddleconfidence incommunity Emotions stackone on anotherco-mingling hues Beneath layersan eternal glowsun certainty. (First published April 2021. Image my own)

Peachy Keen

Not Everything Is Defined by Age

As a child, I knew no limits, setting out on adventures with never a fear for how I’d find my way back home. Now, nestled in my home, I limit myself to certainties, fearful of risks. Some days, I wonder about that child, and how it would feel to wander freely, and it makes me […]