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The comfort of traditions
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the comfort of traditions. We’re supposed to want change all the time. Continuous improvement, self-improvement, bigger, stronger, faster. Change is the only constant, they say. But sometimes the comfort of tradition is what we crave. Yesterday, I felt drawn to make crepes on Shrove Tuesday the way my Mum used to make when I was little. I haven’t made them in a long time, but it felt right this year to go back to that tradition. I’m out of practise though and they were not quite as thin as they should be. Maybe… Read more…
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Oh Canada!
It’s a funny kind of Canada Day this year. Normally, I might have been down by the wonderful Lake Ontario waterfront with throngs of other proud Canadians, celebrating our country’s birthday. But the world has other plans this year.
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Breaking bread
I finally broke. After weeks of self-isolation and alternately mocking and cursing the people hoarding baking supplies (I really did run out of baking powder), I finally joined the ranks of those baking bread from scratch. A few of weeks ago, a dear friend sent me a care parcel (courtesy of porch drop-off by her husband) of lentil soup, Turkish delight and – wait for it – sour dough starter. The starter sat in the back of my fridge in hibernation until last weekend, when I realized that I’d better bring it out, warm it up and start feeding it, so hibernation didn’t… Read more…
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What might have been…
Do you ever wonder what might have been? If you’d turned left instead of right? If you’d chosen this instead of that? If you’d said yes instead of no? Would your life have turned out very differently? Or would you have eventually ended up in the same place, by a different route? One of my favourite movies is Sliding Doors. Quite apart from the fact that I could listen to John Hannah’s Scottish brogue for hours, I am forever intrigued by the two parallel lives shown in the film. It shows two versions of the main character’s life – one as… Read more…
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With apologies to Clement C Moore
Twas the day before Christmas and though joy’s in the air,All creatures are rushing, no second to spare.With carols to sing and stockings to stuff,The kitchen’s a whirlwind of baking and love. The concerts are finished, our voices are strained,Yet songs still ring out, as the season ordains.My son’s home from uni, he’s raiding the fridge.Exclaims nothing’s there, he’s eaten all but a smidge! Family visits are next, a once yearly meet,As others pour from offices, filling the street.Once more back home, with all good deeds done,We start to think, “Perhaps the holiday battle is won?” The family arrives, grandparents… Read more…
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Looking back – way back – at a big adventure
It seems impossible to believe that it is 30 years ago to the week that I started a grand adventure. A scared 18 year old, I boarded a plane on my own, first to Frankfurt and then on to Istanbul, Turkey. I was headed off on a year-long Rotary Youth Exchange Program, preparing to live with another family and go to high school in a country I had only learned the location of some six months earlier. Nervous “Inbounds” in Istanbul: Sept. 1985 The process of being selected to be an exchange student was arduous. The application forms, multiple rounds of… Read more…
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Cozily content, post-Christmas
Tonight, I’m curled up on the couch in my family room, glass of wine at one hand and new books at the other. The fire is blazing across the room and the lights on the tree are shining bright. The Christmas season is almost done for another year. Something was different about the festive season this year. I can’t remember the last time I was so impatient for it to begin! Just a few days ago, I waited, impatient as a small child. The presents were wrapped, many with what I hoped were witty clues to their contents attached. The… 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…
