Unfinished Business

Unfinished Business

I’m writing this on a blustery morning, the springtime sun is obscured by cloud. This past weekend, with the help of my friend the Plant Whisperer Audrey, I finished the garden. We dug new soil and compost, peat, and worm castings into the earth; planted the last of...
Moment by Moment

Moment by Moment

Hi. Are you okay? The world is changing so quickly, and yet time has slowed right down. A day seems like a week and a week, a month. All we have is this moment, now brought sharply into focus. Which, of course, is all we have ever really had. This moment: Over in the...
War and Peace

War and Peace

Last year the Tower of London was awash in bright red ceramic poppies. 888,246 of them carpeted the lawns, one for each  soldier killed in the First World War. It was amazing; somber and uplifting all at once. We were lucky enough to be there, accompanied by my...
The Liar, the Witch and the Wardrobe

The Liar, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Halloween stirs up all kinds of things, a smoky mix of anticipation and fear, life and death, blood and chocolate. Since my daughter was very young, we have spooked it up with pumpkin carving and mummy dogs, gelatin brains and black candy apples. We dress up, the...
Away. And A Manger.

Away. And A Manger.

Autumn is a great time to get behind the wheel and just drive. I don’t know where you live, but here, roads are generally straight lines, the occasional hill, and lots of yellows and browns against the most gorgeous clear blue sky. Prairie skies. If you haven’t seen...
Selling The Farm

Selling The Farm

My mother grew up on a farm near Borden, Saskatchewan. Born the April before the stock market crash of 1929, she was steeped in uncertainty and lack. The farm she lived on until she was a teenager had been in the family since 1906, when her grandfather and his brother...