Grief, 22 months later. I had a dream last night. I haven’t seen another person in four days. I’ve been sick. Flu, then weak and exhausted, not eating much and dragging myself around the house. Missing my husband terribly. I’m still pushing through the grief; I realize it’s been a constant effort, propping myself up with busyness – good busyness but busyness nonetheless. Alone these … Continue reading Still picking up the pieces
“I want to listen with my heart and my mind and not my eyes and my ears …” – Valley of the Horses/ Jean M. Auel My heart takes wing in the varied colours of our love, in the joys that abound between us, in having a caring and loving heart to listen to mine, even though apart. I enjoy so very much being a … Continue reading Visual Quotation 76 – Listen
I found this today on my husband’s desk … Continue reading Grief
“Happiness depends more on how life strikes you than on what happens.” – Andy Rooney
My receipe for happiness
Ingredients: Cups full of humility; Large doses of acceptance; Generous sprinkling of humour
Step 1: Simmer all ingredients for 20 to 25 years on low, or until tender.
Step 2: Find peace
Method: Continue reading “It Depends”
I’m getting ready for a sleepover … my three-year-old granddaughter is coming. I’m requesting, and getting, helpful hints from her mother to make this an easy and enjoyable experience for us all.
No. 1 She prefers baths over showers and you can kill a good 30-45 minutes if you toss in a few pieces of recycle for her to fill up with H2O and dump out.
No. 2 Do NOT attempt to brush her hair, it will not go well 😉
No. 3 She has been trying to be helpful but it’s still iffy if it will actually BE helpful in the end – I am warned to pick my battles 🙂
No. 4 Bathroom breaks – “I swear she only goes twice a day!”
No. 5 FYI, when she says she needs to go…she needs to go NOW!
No. 6 Encourage her to take a bathroom break but she usually just screams at me, “NOOOOO I WENT YESTERDAY !!!!”
No. 7 She loves to wash her hands but watch out or soap could be all over. I am pretty sure she thinks she is a surgeon and needs to scrub in 😉 Continue reading “The Sleepover”
Today is Canada Day, my country is 146 years young. I am thinking about how lucky I am to be a Canadian. It has been noted that Canada does not have a lot of history—while 1750 is old in terms of Canadian history, in Europe it is merely when the “new” bridge was built over the river. By comparison with many of the countries of the world, Canada is brand spanking new—if Canada were a car it could be said it still has some of that new car smell to it.
In terms of daily living, I don’t have to make the trek to the town well every day, as we Continue reading “O Canada”
The Tin Box, A Second Chance, and The Coded Message
Three daughters, three special gifts.
Nothing displays more focussed attention than a child playing a video game – absorbed in the sounds and intent only on achieving the target.
My daughter related an incident during a recent visit. At Christmas she gave her young niece a board game. It was called Rush Hour – a number of small cars are placed on the board in various, progressively difficult, formations as if in a parking lot. The aim is to get one certain car out of the parking lot without removing any other cars, the only movement allowed being forward or backward. The child didn’t know what to do with it … until her Uncle showed it to her in electronic form on his phone, which she took and with thumbs flying, proceeded to work it out.
Is it possible the child couldn’t relate to the three-dimensional objects? That would be Continue reading “The new babsitters”
Anybody else notice in their comments sect ion that words are breaking at incorrect and sometimes inopportune spots? No hyphens inserted – just words broken abruptly ? This could be very embarr assing – what if I share our favourite mushroom soup recipe and with no regard for decency or deco rum it takes the primary ingredient of shit ake mushrooms and splits it? … Continue reading What has WordPress done now?
It started with a phone call from my sister 10 years ago asking if we could help her get to Rome … Rome? My husband’s career was with an airline and sometimes we can help family members get a better rate … Rome? Why ya goin’ to Rome? A Mediterranean cruise, wanna come? Well!
Suddenly I reeealllly wanted to go to the Mediterranean. I had passed through 30 years earlier and had such great memories of it. Of course, the result is , we DID join them and that was the beginning of our travelling foursome.
We have made 5 trips together and have travelled in Continue reading “Are Friends still friends after you’ve travelled together?”
This is my 200th post. It seems only fitting that it should be about You.
If it weren’t for You I would have packed up my keyboard and faded to black long ago. On January 16th I composed a short post and as my 
finger hovered over the publish button I wondered if I really wanted to do this, and what, in fact was I ever going to post about.
Blogging has renewed by interest in writing and in trying to write well. It has sparked an Continue reading “You”
Last week Julia posted about upcoming Anti-Bullying Week in the UK and I paused to think. Bullying is getting wider coverage … perhaps it’s more prevalent; perhaps it’s of a more serious nature than it used to be; perhaps it’s because of the new venue for bullies in cyberspace. I thought about the torment my daughter endured of which I was ignorant for far too long. I have learned that her sisters were also victims in varying degrees. Whether it was the bullying that came first, or the depression I’m not sure but even at 6 years of age I could see my daughter’s lack of self-esteem.
Today I read ShimonZ‘s post Free Thinker and I paused again. As he said, “As a species, Continue reading “Open comment to my grandson”
Julia wants us to be humourous this week for her 100 Word Challenge. With the prompt “… suddenly it was in my hand ….” this is my effort at trying to at least crack a smile – Continue reading “So Inclined”
The Daily Post weekly photo challenge has asked for photos of what makes us Happy – in no particular order, this is some of ‘my’ happy … Continue reading “All the good things”
My aunt was at the piano, old familiar songs flowed from her fingers, family young and old scattered around the room, voices young and old picking up the tunes. There was a theme to her choices, each song having meaning for someone gathered there. During a pause I asked what song she would play for me. “That’s easy”, she said as her hands skimmed the keyboard and I recognized “Qué sera, sera, whatever will be, will be, the future’s not ours to see, qué sera, sera”.
My mind clambers back Continue reading “Not So Sweet 16”
I was over at Julia’s place last week and her Friday smile prompted this post. Some of you have may already seen this as it has been around the internet circuit so many times that original authorship is, unfortunately, lost.
All of us, at one time or another, say things we don’t mean … and many of us mean things we don’t say … and often times we resort to sarcasm, transforming ordinary words through intonation to mean something else entirely. Perhaps I found this so humorous because I can hear myself in much of it …
What women say and what they mean …. Continue reading “What women say”
This picture is Julia’s challenge this week, no word limit, although I’m thinking she thought there might be less and not more. It’s a birthday card for her son … I think she’s expecting some humourous inside messages … sorry. I put fingers to keyboard and this is what emerged – 137 words. And. just so we’re clear? I wouldn’t put this in a birthday card, to my son, or anyone else – somehow this transformed into a comment on aging. Continue reading “A Cat’s Age”
Mummy tucked me in, kissed my cheek and slipped from the room. Light of the mid-June sun filtered through the drawn blind and my eyes lingered on the dancing shadows … but my thoughts returned, again, to school. With most of the exams behind me I wondered if I Continue reading “Stress and the 6 year-old”
July 30 is International Friendship Day.
While I was growing up I always had a close friend – someone to walk to school with, hang out with, laugh with, do silly things with, and sometimes cry with. Some of these friendships just provide me with memories now. Some have come loosely back together and reconnected with the advent of the internet and Facebook.
There are friends that I meet with over lunch every other Continue reading “The Anchor and the Kite”
“Never discourage anyone who continually makes progress, no matter how slow.” Plato
I stumbled through days propelled by demands on my time, and on my focus. My two year-old stepped into the doorway where I could see her. Stop.
Proud as punch, she displayed her choice for today’s outfit – undershirt proudly displayed over her colourful, long-sleeved shirt, underwear over her brown pants, one sock, shoes on the wrong feet and a beaming smile radiating pride. I couldn’t tell her so I beamed back at her with words of praise, quietly grateful that this day we didn’t have places to go and people to see.
Beyond the Brush 