Canadian repatriation: Month 1

It’s been almost a month since we left the UK for Canada. A time of change and excitement, but puzzlement too as we adjust to a place which is, yet isn’t familiar.It’s bigAlthough Canada is a vast country in terms of geography, it’s also big in...

Moving away and moving toward

Migration has been a recurring theme in my life and family history.My mother’s ancestors left Ireland in the nineteenth century to seek a better life in what was then the frontier of Canada’s Ottawa Valley.Her lone Scottish ancestor, my great-great...

“Viva la Dragonfly”

Before the Golden Heart® class of 2015 named itself the Dragonflies, I hadn’t thought much about that particular insect. I hadn’t had a positive experience with dragonflies, but I hadn’t had a negative one either. Dragonflies were simply peripheral...

Hope…in life and writing

I’ve thought a lot lately about my mission as a writer. What do I want readers to take away from my work? To answer that question, I keep coming back to the angel teddy bear perched on the bookshelf beside my writing desk.The bear was a gift I gave myself many...