Of Course, It Isn’t Real

March 29, 2020.Reading time 2 minutes.

Oprah is smaller in person, and quite unassuming. We’re having tea in her bedroom as she gets ready for the day, and I feel as if we’ve been friends forever. She does most of the talking, and my mind tries to process all the details of her life – most of it contrary to what […]

V.J.'s Weekly Challenge #89: imaginary

March 23, 2020.Reading time 2 minutes.

Fresh air was the remedy yesterday. From six feet apart, we greeted our neighbours. “How are you keeping?,” I asked a widow. “Well thank goodness for the cat,” she said. “Am missing my husband, but I do talk to him regularly.” And then realizing how that sounded, she added: “His picture, you know.” I get […]

The Dominos Are Falling

March 22, 2020.Reading time 2 minutes.

A local business owner returned from a trip South, and went back to work, his thoughts no doubt wrapped up in the running of his store. Two days he worked, ignoring the fatigue. He blamed it on the stomach bug he’d picked up while away. Day three he decided to get checked out at our […]

V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #88: Domino Effect

March 16, 2020.Reading time 2 minutes.

Should we cancel our community dinner? The text came in while we were watching the news. One after another, closures are happening in response to the coronavirus – schools, sporting events, legislature, etc. So far there have been no cases in our area. Our first instinct is to say no. My daughter’s company is preparing […]

Red: A Welcome Sight

March 11, 2020.Reading time less than 1 minute.

For Nancy Merrill’s A Photo a Week Challenge: red.

V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #87: morning

March 9, 2020.Reading time 2 minutes.

“You do more in a morning than some people do in two weeks,” a graphologist once told me, having analyzed my handwriting. It was not news to me. I was raised to be a morning person. Waking before the rest of the family and getting ahead of the day was my way. Until I got […]

Clichéd Fun

March 8, 2020.Reading time 1 minute.

The grass is always greener –magnificent clichescarry on –the writing on the wall,a little bird told mein the nick of time,don’t cry over spilled milk –Is it cliché to saymuddied waters –me over the edge? Thank you all for keeping me entertained with your creativity. My poem is compliments of your gifted responses. Here are […]

Have a Cuppa

March 6, 2020.Reading time less than 1 minute.

I’m a mug kind of gal –Spot of tea – Earl Grey or herbal – Feet up, mug in handa warm sip and I’m calm Save the fancy chinafor the birds! (For Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: glasses, cups, or saucers.)

V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #85: mission

February 24, 2020.Reading time 1 minute.

Winters in Ontario, Canada, can linger far beyond their past due date – not a scenario I look forward to – so this week I’ve made it my mission to seek out signs of spring. While the river is still frozen, I found this break in the ice on an offshoot stream. It’s a start. […]

V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #84: sun

February 17, 2020.Reading time 2 minutes.

Despite Ric’s protest that the light is not good, I take the camera and drive to the river. It’s February, traditionally a sunless month. I need to get out. The sky is heavy and grey, clouds undefinable. Still, the sun makes his presence known, as if he too is tired of the somber mood. I […]

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 […]