Missed Opportunity?

June 18, 2025.Reading time 1 minute.

“Are the children being taught Canadian curriculum or Ukrainian?” Did I detect a tone of disapproval? I was speaking at a Women’s Institute regarding the Ukrainian School we have set up in town. I explained that the children all attend Canadian school during the week, and this is an extra-curricular program which occurs on Sunday […]

Performance Success and MC Fail

April 23, 2025.Reading time 1 minute.

The children were decked out in their finest, and polished in their performances. An Easter event combining Ukrainian tradition with Canadian touches. It was a thank you for the volunteers who help the children with homework. I was the MC. Rounds of applause and smiles all around and then it was time for tea, coffee, […]

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.

Children in Motion

August 19, 2022.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Backyard BBQs and picnics in the park – perfect ways to build community. The children benefit the most, I’d say. For Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: motion

A Mother’s Education

May 10, 2020.Reading time 2 minutes.

By the time she was three, my first daughter, an early talker, had shared that people have colours around them, that I would eventually have three children, and not to worry about those who died, for they come back like she did. “She’s freaking me out,” I told a cousin of mine. “I don’t know […]

Hello Sunshine!

January 31, 2020.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Hunt for Joy Challenge this week is: sit in the sunshine. The sun is always shining when little ones are about.

Candid Moments

September 17, 2019.Reading time less than 1 minute.

In candid moments much is revealedthe curiosity of youth, unabashed A mind constantly processing the exuberance of a playful soul. (For Cee’s Black & White photo challenge: candid)

Three Times Blessed

May 23, 2019.Reading time 1 minute.

Recent upheaval has plummeted me into a dark space, where I am not willing to settle. Depression has followed me throughout life, and while I acknowledge it has a place, I am not willing to let it drive. I learned long ago that the only way for me to counter the clouds is to be […]

Remembrance

November 8, 2018.Reading time 1 minute.

My granddaughter paints a row of red flowers with crosses in between. “Flanders Field” she tells me. She’s six. “Your great-great grandfather, my grandfather, was shot in Flanders Field.” She raises her eyes to meet mine. “Did he die?” “No, but he was injured.” He was crawling across the field when the bullet entered and […]

CFFC: Things People Grow

October 5, 2018.Reading time 1 minute.

Here in southwest Ontario, we grow corn. By August we’ve also a grown an appetite for the taste of peaches and cream corn, buttered and salted, right off the cob. My mother comes from farming roots, but these days all she grows is older. We are all farmers, in a sense – planting our seeds, […]

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.)