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
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.
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
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...
Discounted
It happened almost 20 years ago at the gas station. I filled up my car (back then a sporty little tourmaline coloured Sunfire) and went to the kiosk to pay. The boy-man attendant handed me my change, looked up and said, “thanks Ma’am, have a great day.” Wham, Bam! You...
If Only, Then What?
Sometimes good people get fired. Or laid off. Or lose their jobs. It’s happened to me and to people I love, including one of the most talented writers I know. Twice. The city I live in is prone to economic highs and lows, and when those lows hit (like now) the axe...
Peak Performance
It’s been a year this month that I left my job. One revolution of the earth around the sun, endless summer giving way to seemingly endless winter. And now, spring and another season of beginnings. I had hoped that, at the end of this year of change, I would emerge...
Careful Where You Dig
Spring has arrived and I have been digging in the dirt outside and in. In addition to planting my favorite French lettuces, there’s been the sorting through boxes of my Grandmother’s photos, the re discovery of my old high school yearbooks, and the recent trips to...
The Unexamined Life: Part One
There are pros and cons of having a home office. Where once I was very concerned about fashionable office attire, I now wear the same yoga pants days at a time. There's no need to put on makeup or even “try” in order to be productive here. And productive! Well, if I...
Some Wings and a Prayer
This week a freelance project randomly took me to my old elementary school! And, as my daughter would say, I am not even joking. Out of all the schools in all the cities... It smelled the same; Pine Sol and pencil sharpenings, wet boots and forced air. And most things...
The Good That You Do
It is easier to feel successful when you are making money. At least that is true for me. And, until the point last year when I quit my job to follow my spirit, I felt relatively successful. I still have most of the things I had then: good health, a lovely daughter, a...
Kindness of Strangers
I don’t think I am alone in feeling lost and hopeless, given the news lately. I am specifically speaking about the shootings in Paris. I am generally speaking about fear, hatred, isolation and intolerance. It’s easy to feel both foolish and incredibly naïve if you...
ABOUT
Who do we become when we explore what it is to be more fully ourselves?
I started asking that question a few years ago, at the end of one career and the beginning of something else …read more
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