What an era to be living in. It’s the second time in a decade that we’re thinking, “Well, this is a moment for the history books.” (Or the Wikipedia pages.) Are there any existential threats that AREN’T buzzwords right now? It feels like all the things are on the line. No wonder #elbowsup was a…
Doug Ford is not standing up for Canada – or even Ontario
What has Doug Ford done for you lately? Polls predict that Ford and his Progressive Conservatives will win – again – on Thursday. Personally, I don’t know what makes Ontarians feel that he’s a good leader, because I haven’t seen evidence of any good works… but there must be many who have. I sometimes try…
New Year Questionnaire – Looking back at 2024
It’s a new year! Actually not that new. Mid-to-late February, for Pete’s sake. This post takes forever, especially now that I consult my family for authenticity. But linear time be damned! (It’s all a construct anyway.) I wonder if there’s a formula for calculating how fast time flies for a person in any given year….
Hate shall not win; Love is our best thing.
I love you, lovelies. Today feels like a really dark day. Like many of you, I didn’t sleep well last night. Waking up to this awful reality, the far-reaching possible consequences churning in my gut… It’s heavy. You all know – we’re not fine. I guess my shock and disbelief are products of trying not…
Blogging in spite of the fear and loathing
Hi, lovelies… It’s been a long time! It’s odd thinking about how when my kids were little, I was blogging so often that a couple of weeks between posts felt like forever. My kids are way more independent now, and yet… I seem to have more difficulty getting to the blogging. When I consider it,…
Feeling grateful for rivers, quilters, friends, and family
There is someone out there I will never be able to thank for the gift they gave us. I don’t know who it is, but I picture a retired lady with kindly eyes and a sewing room stuffed to the gills. That person made a tiny quilt for a tiny person they didn’t know, belonging…
The Uke Heads Experience: “The album that became a community”
Back in 2022, an opportunity arose that I had been awaiting for years, although I didn’t know it. My ukulele hero, James Hill, sent an invitation to his mailing list, asking us to be part of an album of songs he’d been working on. He and his friend-since-childhood Chris Parsons had a nutty idea: get…
Thoughts on the Humbling Experience of Extreme Lower Back Pain
For the last four days, I have been dealing with my first truly humbling episode of back pain. And when I say humbling, I don’t just mean that it put things in perspective, though it totally did. It also literally put me down – on all fours – for the first part of both Friday…
The New Year Questionnaire – What Was Up in 2023
Here it is! Been working on the New Year Questionnaire since New Year’s, predictably. It’s still January (barely) and not yet Lunar New Year, so it’s still “timely”. What did you do in 2023 that you’d never done before? D: Attended the Annual General Meeting of the provincial Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario in Toronto….
The Comforting Presence of Trees at Solstice
There is a tree growing outside our dining room window that I dearly love. It is a rowan tree (also known as mountain-ash, though it is not an actual ash tree) of the American variety. I took this photo on the first of December. That weekend, as Sean and I sat at breakfast, two pairs…