Pippi was so nervous the day she arrived at our home in her little dog crate. Her brother had no problem sniffing out his new domain and blessing us with a tail wag, but Pippi made a beeline for our then 8-year-old granddaughter and stayed put. All eleven pounds of her shook with fear. For […]
Note: I’ve written before about how my older brothers were kidnapped by their father as kids. My mom and her new husband (my father) had won custody, but as my oldest sister was hospitalized, they were unable to go after them or hire a private investigator. Eventually, the oldest brother returned to us on his […]
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 […]
Behind the restlessness behind the shortened fusebehind this continual gut achelies a wall of grief. First four cousinsthen anothera grandmothera favourite uncle the ongoing knowledgethat at any point my sisterwould slip away, disappear in that great abyss But first, another cousina childhood frienda suicide an accident As promised, I held her handas sister succumbed to […]
The morning drizzle gave way to sunshine by noon and even though I’ve been tired today, I decide to take advantage of the clearing before retiring for the evening. I grab my camera and go in search of worthy images, but my legs are useless today, so I decide to sit instead, on a picnic […]
The sign on the community pool clearly indicated that the pool was closed, and the gate was locked, but that didn’t stop my friend from scaling the fence and jumping in. Our other friend hesitated only briefly before joining her, and I stood by in disbelief. It was day one of our girls’ getaway, and […]
The prompt for this week is to consider the vulnerability of new growth and what it takes to protect it, tying it into nature. Here is the edited version, after the instructor’s suggestions. Rebirthing It came in the peak of summer that most optimistic time, when sunshine equates with health and bodies glow with exertion […]
(The Story Circle Network published two of my pieces in their quarterly e-journal. The category is “True Words” and the following article plus my poem “Retirement” were both accepted. ) Dead Ends and Surprise Beginnings The emails started arriving the morning after I presented at the regional conference—invites and accolades validating my life’s passion. Here I […]