So Many Questions

March 17, 2019.Reading time 3 minutes.

Questions are piling up over here, with very few answers. Isn’t that life? And maybe that is the point: we are meant to reflect, to ponder, to search, to explore. As a teacher, the emphasis was on inquisition: teaching children to think beyond the obvious, find the tools to research deeper. In this ever-increasing digital […]

Thistle in Bloom

March 11, 2019.Reading time less than 1 minute.

For Cee’s Flower of the Day.

V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #39: Unanswerable

March 11, 2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

“I always start with questions that I can’t answer. Otherwise you get bored halfway through if you already know the answers. If you’re asking what seem to be unanswerable questions, then you have to keep showing up.” – Barbara KingsolverFrom A Talk in the Woods, by Kevin LarimerFeatured in Poets & Writers, November/ December 2018 […]

Together a Tapestry

March 3, 2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

Across the miles, our wordsconvene, threads of our livesintertwining to form a tapestry. Stories of sorrow and kindness,humanity restored –of observation and empathyof inspiration through resonanceof brilliance and artistry. Each thread as colourfulas another, delicately added,thoughtful ponderings Of generations and legacies,misunderstandings contributing to tragedy,of infatuation and love’s fallacy,of childhood and noses in booksand entanglements leadingto […]

Quite the Dancer

February 27, 2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

The antics of the Reddish Egret, and of course its stature, distinguish this bird without further identification. As soon as we pull up to the water’s edge at Indian Point Park, I can see the bird hopping and swaying, like a giant metronome, keeping time to some unknown beat. I make my way up the […]

V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #37: Story

February 25, 2019.Reading time 1 minute.

My very first blog post on this site is entitled “Relevance of Story“. It was inspired by the work of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie whose Ted Talk: The Danger of a Single Story, challenged me to think differently about how, as a teacher, I approached my craft. Her words are also a recipe for living compassionately. Each time we open a blog post and read, we are touching a part of someone’s story. Every time […]

Wild Card Moments

February 24, 2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

Age, I’m determining, does not define me. Each new decade presents a different attitude and energy in regards to life, and sixty is but a new approach. Naturally, the onset of a debilitating illness and all the losses I incurred, made me feel old and redundant, but I’m happy to say, I emerging from that […]

V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #36: Wild Card

February 18, 2019.Reading time 1 minute.

This week, I am giving you a carte blanche…well, sort of… there’s a catch. Go back over the last week’s worth of posts or so, and notice any words or phrases that repeat themselves. I’m talking adjectives, or verbs, maybe nouns. For example, when I look over my posts leading up to writing this one, […]

Restoring Balance

February 17, 2019.Reading time 4 minutes.

Fog has dissipated, as has the rain. Hallelujah. Although it is still overcast, we decide to take a drive, cameras in tow. Goose Island State Park is our planned destination. It has just the right combination of driving and walking trails. This is also where we saw the Whooping Cranes, so maybe we’ll get lucky […]

V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #35: Balance

February 11, 2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

I don’t think I’ve possessed good physical balance since that time I went down in tennis and cracked my kneecap, despite physiotherapy’s best efforts. Now that chronic illness has been added to the mix, I’ve learned to live without that certainty. I’m wobbly; what can I say? Balance in other areas of my life, however; […]

This Life A Road

This life a road –the way preparedsigns to guide me,and still, I get lost. Construction, distraction,disobedience – throw me off –tendency to choose tougher routes,broken down and been sidelined And yet, the road still beckons,invites progression, thrills.A rolling stone gathers no moss,my father liked to say, and so… I push ahead, keep motoring,trust the obstacles […]

Wings

(Written during my bedbound years with ME/CFS)

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis

May is Myalgic Encephalomyelitis awareness month. Also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, this disease is characterized by exhaustion after exertion. The exertion can be physical -taking a shower; emotional – worrying or obsessing; or mental- filling out forms. The best source of information about ME/cfs, as we call it, is the Bateman Horne Center. They […]