Patterns and Progress

September 4, 2024.Reading time 2 minutes.

I chose not to drink having grown up in a family of alcoholics. I wanted my children to have the experience of a parent who was present and predictable. It was an ideal, and certainly not perfect. My children, a generation removed from the trauma, choose to socialize with a drink. I’ve never seen any […]

Old Dog, New Tricks

January 26, 2022.Reading time 1 minute.

This old dog is determined to learn something new, so I’ve been practicing drawing faces. If nothing else, it’s fodder for laughter. The featured image is me, sans lunettes. I ran it through a digital filter to de-emphasize the amateur quality. The drawing below is my husband from a photograph. When I showed it to […]

VJ’s Weekly Challenge: I’m learning…

February 15, 2021.Reading time 2 minutes.

Ric is home from the hospital, still hooked up to IV antibiotics and needing daily nursing care, and I’m learning that I cannot hold responsibility for his need to push boundaries. From my son, who insisted on coming and spending the night while Ric got settled in, I am learning that I have trouble accepting […]

Black History Month People

February 3, 2021.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Don’t know about you, but I have so much to learn. “The time is always right to do what is right” MLK said. The rest is up to me.

Self-Portrait and Mountains

March 7, 2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

Many moons ago, I won an award for my artistic talents and was immediately counselled to drop the art program. That same year, I wrote my first novel, and after it was graded, I burnt it. I wasn’t meant to be creative, I decided, and obediently signed up for advanced math and other academic subjects. […]

Art Inspires Hope

November 6, 2018.Reading time 1 minute.

There is a painter inside of me busting to get out. She talks to me, while I am working – makes suggestions, helps me pick the right brush, encourages different strokes. I like it when she is present. Listening to her is an act of letting go. It is a form of trusting. A growing […]

Resilience

Boxes are filling up around us. We’re making a dent in our to-do lists. Doubt seeps in. Are we doing the right thing? Then I remember all the reasons behind making this choice and affirm: We are dismantling one life to build another, purposeful existence.

Monday Mood: squirrely

The movers need to be arranged, and the closets sorted and packed, and when was the last time we bought groceries…. Head and attention are going in too many directions at once, and I’m exhausted before I get started. Might be a little cranky too. The stress of moving is real.