Youthful Poetry
I once took a course, many years ago, that required me to write poetry. I have never considered myself a poet or a connoisseur of poetry, but I did as I was asked. That poetry was put into a ring...
View ArticleI Was Wrong About Feminism
A couple of days ago, I discovered something I wrote when I was in my twenties. It was an essay entitled “Why I Am Not A Feminist.” It represents a moment in time when I had mixed feelings about the...
View ArticleI Cannot Cry
I sometimes feel as though I want to cry and all the normal emotional and physical triggers suggest that I am about to cry, but I don’t. I am told it is a side effect of one of my medications, and most...
View ArticleBeing at The Crossroads of Change
A couple of days ago, I told my eldest son that I wanted to thank him for being so supportive of his wife’s success. She recently had some good career news, and we were enjoying a celebratory dinner....
View ArticleContentment vs Happiness
When I was chatting with one of my singularly remarkable sisters who has recently become single, she said something that captured my attention. Normally, declarations that come with hesitations make me...
View ArticleLearning To Socialize Again
Two years of Covid semi-isolation has been a mixed blessing. I have enjoyed feeling safe and secure but also felt myself become increasingly agoraphobic. The long Edmonton winters and icy sidewalks...
View ArticleAn Oath of Allegiance
Next week, British citizens are being asked to individually and collectively swear an oath of allegiance to King Charles III, and that sticks in my craw. Today I have been wondering why. First, I have...
View ArticleSaying Goodbye to Farewells
Farewells are hard. Goodbyes are even harder. No matter how we experience them, there is always a tinge of sorrow, or regret, or hope, or ambivalence, or some squishy unnamed emotion that lies just...
View ArticleI’m Not Superstitious, But …
I’m not superstitious, or in touch with the beyond in any way, but something weird has been happening. I am repeatedly seeing the number 357. Sometimes it is 3:57 on a clock. No matter where I see it I...
View ArticleReflections on a Counter-Protest
On Wednesday this week in Canada, protests were planned on behalf of parents and others who object to students in public schools being given instruction and counselling related to sexual orientation...
View ArticleSeeing Red
Outside my window are lots of lovely autumn leaves. Many of them are red, or red-adjacent. They are a delight. Also in my range of vision are online comments. They may be in response to articles,...
View ArticleMulticultural Remembrance
Reblogged from 10 November 2016 The day after the US election I had a terrible hangover and I hadn’t even been drinking. I had waited and waited for something, anything, to happen for a different...
View ArticleConversation, Chit-chat, and Communications
You would think that a person with two degrees in a particular area of study would be good at it, wouldn’t you? In my case, though, you might be wrong. I studied Communication Studies because the...
View ArticleWhat is Normal?
A couple of months ago I let my children know that they might notice some changes in my demeanour in the coming weeks. I explained that my tele-health doctor had recommended that I cease to take an...
View ArticleUpdate and a Hummingbird
A little while ago I wrote a post entitled What Is Normal? about my problems with anxiety since I tapered off the use of an anti-depressant At the time I promised an update, and here it is. I am also...
View ArticleThe Moral Dilemma in Self-Gifting
Today I bought myself flowers. A big bunch of yellow flowers, and I can’t remember the last time I bought a bunch of flowers just for me. Now I’m wondering why I haven’t done this before. I have bought...
View ArticleWhat Is In A Name?
One of my children and their partner have changed their names in the last few years. On the face of it, this does not present me with any problems, and I am happy that they are re-defining themselves...
View ArticleFitting In, Sometimes
I’ve been in Nanaimo for two-and-a-half years now, and I love it here. This is where I am going to live out the rest of my days. It has everything I want and need in my retirement years, including...
View ArticleAdding To The Rainbow
I am in the process of adding to the Pride rainbow. This is not out of arrogance, or intellectual presumption, or a spiritual epiphany. I was simply out of the appropriate colours of yarn. Let me...
View ArticleNoisy Neighbours
Recently, Canada’s quiet existence has been disturbed by a new noisy neighbour. We have always been friendly and cooperative with the people next door, but now there are new people on the block and...
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