Hello summer and time to refill my creative well

English Rose wrote her last exam this week so is now off school until September. My weekly ballet class and choir practice are on hiatus for the summer, and my neighbor’s peonies are blooming in pink profusion. And ever so slightly, my family’s usual routine has...

Remembering my dad…on Father’s Day and always

I’m about to mark my tenth Father’s Day without my dad. Although time has lessened the raw grief of his death, his absence is still and always will be a “hole” in my life familiar to all “orphaned children” no matter how old. I thought of Dad especially during the...

Advice to my younger self

 On social media and elsewhere recently, many people are giving advice to their younger selves. Some posts are short and pithy (no major accomplishment without significant “butt hurt” is an especially topical one for writers!), but others are longer and thoughtful...

Fantasy to reality: No ‘rules’ for an engagement

This week, Tech Guy and I marked the twenty-fourth anniversary of our engagement. In some ways, that special day seems like yesterday. In others, it’s a lifetime ago and that young(er) couple are like people we used to know, almost strangers to who we’ve since become....

“Death and taxes”

Here in Canada, taxes were due on April 30 this year. As such, the phrase “death and taxes” (usually attributed to a 1789 letter by Benjamin Franklin in which he said they were the only two things certain in life), has been much on my mind.  Multiple currencies...