Inlaws / outlaws
My daughter and her boyfriend left for Paris on Friday. She is coming home sporting a ring and a fiancé – her dating days are over. I love this young man who is soon to be my son-in-law in the same fashion that I love my existing in-law children – like I birthed him myself. […]
Behind the Glass
I started 2017 off with a resolve to give away some time – I now volunteer at the Vancouver Aquarium. It’s a perfect fit for me. I’ve always loved the aquarium – we had a yearly family membership when the kids were little (young enough to think an afternoon spent with their mother was a […]
Happy birthday friend
A very dear friend of mine is celebrating her birthday today. Like me, and so many people at this stage of our lives, there is nothing she needs or wants. So I decided to gift her with a blog post about our friendship and what she means to me. Of the many wonderful things my […]
Oh Canada — happy birthday
“Gramma makes us sing Oh Canada ALL the time.” My darling grand daughter complained to her mother one day. She was only about 2 at the time and she was right – Gramma did make her sing Oh Canada a lot – it’s one of my favorite songs, a real top ten hit. I’ve always […]
Exposure
This blogging thing is sort of like trying on bathing suits and having the mirror located somewhere in the middle of the mall – it’s terrifying. Sure most of my most private parts are still covered but enough is on display to invite ridicule. I like one piece suits — large and black. I […]
When writing becomes an addiction
My daughter asked me the other day if I was still checking my Facebook page a thousand times a day every time I put up a blog post. I squirmed a little. Perhaps secretly checking Facebook is like sneaky drinking – you think you’re getting away with something but everyone can tell. “Not a thousand,” […]
The price of a good story
My husband and I took the hop on/hop off bus tour of Dublin when we visited Ireland a few years ago. It was amazing. At one stop the tour guide announced that Ireland boasted the most storytellers per capita in all the world. Wow, I thought, that’s incredible and it also explains a lot! I […]
Find a Penny
Being a naturally clumsy person I spend a lot of time looking at the ground – walking, for me, is safer then. Because of this I find all sorts of treasures other people walk right past. I found a silver spoon once and immediately wondered whose mouth it had fallen out of. Another time I […]
Even a dog mom shouldn’t play favorites
I have dedicated a post to my Chesapeake, Chester — this one goes out to Olive, my darling 11 year old Boston Terrier. Olive came into my life with a history. She spent her first four years in a puppy mill. She was only put out for adoption after the vet who delivered her last […]
Lessons from my Grandmother
Many years ago, when I was a young mother, I watched my three year old niece put her hands on her hips and proclaim to her great-grandmother in defiant cheekiness, “you are not the boss of me!” I couldn’t believe it! Had she been my three year old she would have found herself in serious […]