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Loosening up the muscles
You know how muscles atrophy when you don’t use them? The seize up and they stop working properly. When left for too long they can actually wither away, causing adjacent damage. That’s how I feel right now about my writing. I took on some big challenges at work at the beginning of this year and that left me with less time than ever to write outside of the office. As a result, my creative writing muscles have weakened. They’re stiff, and even the ‘idea generator’ in my mind is turning over at lower than optimal speed. My writing on this blog suffered as a… Read more…
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Rain, rain, go away
Beyond my back fence there is a tall, stately poplar tree. In summer, it’s verdant green leaves hide my view of houses further off in the distance, making my pocket sized little garden feel bigger and more private than it really is. In autumn, it’s small leaves turn brilliant yellow and on a crisp sunny fall day, they blow in the wind like gold coins, twisting and turning in the breeze. But this week, the weather has been grey and wet. Very wet. Heavy laden with rain, the wind mercilessly tears them from the tree and throws them to the… Read more…
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Is it a habit, or something more?
My middle child is stubborn. Really stubborn. When he was young, I wanted to throttle him regularly. I often joked that one of us would not make it to his adulthood. As he got a bit older, I started to see this stubbornness as a positive sign. He had a “stick-to-it” quality that would surely serve him well. That mental strength was key to his success last summer as a tree planter – and why he’s going back again this summer. I was slightly horrified to hear from my other two kids that they figured he’d inherited this quality from… Read more…
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Listening in the silence
Science has shown us that babies grow in the quiet hours while they sleep. And more recently we’ve learned that exposure to nature – and the stillness it brings – can actually help with hypertension and mental health. So why do we fill our waking hours with noise and distractions? I remember as a kid, my parents sometimes returning from visiting neighbours or friends and criticizing them for having the television on all the time. At the time I agreed with them. Who needed that noise all the time. Somehow, slowly over the past few years, I’ve fallen further into that… Read more…
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Random thoughts from a self-enforced moment of quiet
Are you strapped in? This week begins the “OMG, it’s less than a month before Christmas” panic that seems to afflict people – and especially mothers – throughout the land. The perfect joyous season our friendly advertisers bring us also results in a lot of stress and anxiety. There’s so much to do, so many places to be and so many events to attend that it can all feel a little overwhelming. This year, it seems particularly stressful. December is a whirlwind of Christmas concerts – between my daughter and I, our performances number close to 10 over three weekends.…
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Countdown to chaos
I’m reveling in my last few days of quiet. Not that my kid-free month hasn’t been busy and full – it has. But it has been nice to take a break from 24/7 parenting of teens. Making order from chaos! I’ve been out with friends – restaurants and back yard parties. I’ve strolled through farmers markets and malls. I’ve cooked fish and other seafood for many times, and I’ve even had popcorn for once (OK, maybe twice!) without worrying about what message I’m sending. A business trip gave me a few hours to wander in Montreal. I’ve spent more than one Saturday morning… Read more…
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It’s quiet…very quiet
I’m sitting in my back garden with a glass of icy cold lemonade, listening to the sounds of a lazy summer afternoon. Apart from the buzz of the cicadas, It’s quiet. Eerily quiet. It has been for a week and it will be until the end of the month. Two years ago, I finally managed to get all my kids away to camp at the same time for two weeks. That first year, I immediately got on a plane (literally that evening!) and enjoyed some long-awaited time just for me. Of course, that blew the budget so when the miraculous… Read more…
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Almost there…
Something happened this week. It’s as if a switch got flipped in my brain. I feel optimistic about things for the first time in a long time. The beginning of spring – a little late this year! I don’t know whether it’s because of the time change, which has meant lighter evenings, or the psychological boost that comes with the arrival of the spring equinox. Maybe it was the realization on Friday that there’s actually something growing in my garden, despite the snow which hasn’t fully receded yet. Could it have been the chatter at work, and the Facebook postings of Iranian friends… Read more…
