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Holiday interruptus
I’ve been basking in some unexpected holiday time this Christmas season. It’s allowed me to spend some extra time with my family, do some extra baking, and sing way too many cheesy Christmas songs at the top of my lungs with nobody around to hear. It’s also given me some peaceful moments to simply relax, reflecting on the past year and making plans for the new one. I’m far more calm just days before the big holidays than I usually am. Sounds great, eh? But there’s just one little catch. Unfortunately, I have one of those jobs that you can’t just… Read more…
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Woman’s best friend
They say that dog is man’s best friend. I think they’re wrong. In my house, dog is woman’s best friend. An exhausted puppy snoozes a decade or so ago. My mixed-breed Maggie joined our household almost 11 years ago. Ostensibly meant as a companion to my youngest child, who was about to be “abandoned” by her brother as he joined my eldest boy at school full time, the whole family knew that cold-nosed squirmy bundle of energy was really for me. While she is partial to my daughter, mine she started and mine she stayed. A decade later, despite the fact… Read more…
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Little things for the year ahead
I’m sure the “blogosphere” is full of new year’s posts today; full of people extolling their grand plans for the year that sits in front of us as unspoilt as freshly fallen snow. I could write one like that. But I won’t. I know better, from past experience, than to make grand pronouncements of all the things I hope I’ll be able to accomplish this year: the pounds I’ll shed (again!), the great works of charity I’ll accomplish, the calm, unharried professional I’ll be in the office every day, or the perfect parent my children will witness. Those hopes will vanish more… Read more…
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A yarn of a different kind
Snow arrived in my part of Ontario almost two weeks ago, and as it fell softly on my newly-raked lawn (just in time, phew!) I found myself picking up my knitting needles for the first time in a long time. I’m not sure what made me put them down in the first place, but I discovered a couple of three-quarter-finished projects at the bottom of a bag of yarn. So, with a cup of steaming tea at my side, I settled down to finish them up. A young colleague at work had recently picked up needles for the first time.… Read more…
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The post I almost didn’t write
Disclaimer: I almost didn’t write this. In fact, I started it twice, deleting it each time. The third time around, I almost didn’t hit the publish button. I worry it may be a bit self-absorbed, self-critical and may come across as attention-seeking. It’s not meant to be. But I realized that not going ahead just contributes to the silence that needs to end …. *** Three weeks of Jian Ghomeshi and other harassment stories. Three weeks learning things I wish I could unlearn. Three weeks of words painting pictures in my head, that I want to erase. Two weeks of… Read more…
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Things I’ve learned at work
They say you should never stop learning. When I look back at my career, I learned a lot of important lessons early on – and I continue to learn important lessons to this day. As a communicator, you work with senior managers – right up to the top of the house – early in your career. One of the best pieces of advice I was given early on was to never, ever, ever annoy the president’s assistant. Because she (and sadly, it still usually is a she) runs the world. While that may not technically be true, she does control…
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Pirates of Bobcaygeon
Once upon a time, in the tiny Ontario town of Bobcaygeon, there lived a pirate gang. A friendly gang, to be sure, but pirates none-the less. Let me back up a bit. For about a decade, my parents ran house-keeping cottages in a picturesque little town on the Trent-Severn Waterway. Their waterfront property had several self-contained cottages, a tiny little beach courtesy of the sand my father had trucked in every year, and docks for the kayaks, canoes, peddle-boat and small rental fishing boats available for their guests. It was a great fishing spot. You could dangle a fishing rod… Read more…
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Stationary Fireworks
I was on my way to work earlier this week with the radio on. The announcer introduced a streeter– where a reporter stops random people to have them respond to a question – about favourite things about fall. One gentleman talked about the fall colours, and called the transition from green leaves to the riot of colour that is autumn “stationary fireworks.” It created such vivid pictures in my head that I had to write about it. Fall is my favourite season. The temperature is comfortable, the new apples are in season and nature is showing off in technicolour. There… Read more…
