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Show’s over…almost
If you’ve been following along with me for more than a year, you know I love fall. Long walks along my local paths, gawking at the show of colours that Mother Nature puts on without fail every year. I love the sound of the leaves crunching under my feet and the smell as they begin to break down. I love watching as the goldenrod go to seed and the milkweed pods open up. I’ve just finished a week of #staycation and I’ve ventured off to many other locations along the Niagara escarpment to check them out. I’ve hiked to waterfalls,… Read more…
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Virtually giving thanks
It’s been a strange Thanksgiving weekend. There was no family gathering, no turkey, no stuffing and no cranberry sauce. Without the festivities to keep me occupied, I put the garden to bed and covered the patio furniture. These are things that remind me we’re about to be shut in our houses, with cold weather coming. It usually reminds me of gatherings in front of fire places, red wine shared and the promise of Christmas coming faster than I want to admit. But this year, there’s a depressing painting spreading out in front of me. The global coronavirus, and our inability… Read more…
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A plan without a plan
A few days ago, a friend of mine posted a quote on FaceBook from Mandy Hale that struck me. “You don’t always need a plan,” the blogger turned author wrote. Sometimes you need to just breathe, trust, and see what happens.” It seems particularly appropriate this week, as I’ve got “Sabbatical 2.0” as I’m calling it, papered over at work. While it clearly wasn’t meant to happen in 2020, 2021 is my year – one way or another. At this time last year, I was almost vibrating with excitement. I had my plane ticket booked and my flat booked. I’d told old… Read more…
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First tentative steps to normal
I had my first socially-distanced back yard get together with more than two people a few weeks ago. With a bit of fear and trepidation, I emailed a few single girlfriends and suggested that if their risk tolerance was high enough, that we might sit in my back garden for a few hours, drink wine and catch up in person – for the first time in months. In fact the last time I saw this particular group of lovely ladies was for my “going away” dinner, just before my sabbatical got stomped on by COVID-19.We were very good – we sat… Read more…
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COVID Blessings
There have been so many grumblings about what COVID-19 has brought us – mine included – that I thought it was time to reflect on some of the good. Here are ten of the better things that I’ve enjoyed during this pandemic. The spring migration. I’ve so enjoyed watching the birds return, grow into their summer plumage and build nests, with the melodious accompaniment of their song. The daily changes in my garden – and the fact that it’s finally just about warm enough to see if I can do my work meetings from the back patio (shh, don’t tell… Read more…
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Birds, blossoms and cages: A sad spring study in contrasts
There’s a clutch of baby grackles being given flying lessons across the road from my house. They noisily greet their parents as they hover nervously close at hand. One of the little one managed to get up to the hanger for a plant basket yesterday. And got stuck. Or scared, I suppose as he didn’t move for the good hour that I watched, but mom – or dad – kept coming back, encouraging the little one to flap his wings. A sibling in a nearby shrub is a little less boisterous. And up above me, in my own tree, I’ve discovered… Read more…
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I just don’t understand
I just don’t understand. In the last two weeks, the world has seen a bombing at a major European airport, a suicide attack in Bagdad as Eid celebrations were underway, a mass shooting in Orlando, individuals gunned down by police in at least two American cities and just yesterday, police shot in an apparently orchestrated manoeuvre in Dallas. I just don’t understand. People of spiritual persuasion, Christian, Muslim, Jewish and others I’m sure, espouse values of taking care of others. Of helping those less fortunate. Of sharing our wealth. And yet we close our borders, our pocketbooks and our minds. I just… Read more…
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Discomfort in a world gone mad
Paris. Oh, Paris. How the world is mourning with you after the latest tragic attacks on your beautiful city on Friday. We are shocked, horrified, saddened by the senseless deaths – so many of them – and pray for the safety of all Parisians as we work to uncover the hows and whys behind the attacks. Events like this draw people together and the best of humankind is in the spotlight as we react together with a strength of conviction that we will not let events beat us down. Hashtags like #prayforparis, #jesuisparis and #lovetoparis are filling my social media feeds. Social… Read more…
