OCTOBER 2007

A pressing need to get away? Check. A friend in Richmond, Virginia, who’d have me for a few days? Check. A supportive husband, a cheap flight out of Buffalo, and an unexpected adventure? Check, check, and . . . whaaat?

 Autumn-blue skies and bright sunshine made the drive from my home, north of Toronto, to the airport in Buffalo, NY, pleasant, and security clearance went without a hitch. While waiting to board my flight to Detroit, where I’d get a connecting flight to Richmond, I settled in to read and relax, but the luxury lasted less than ten minutes. A flight delay was announced, and my shoulders tightened with each subsequent announcement. When we boarded more than an hour late, I knew catching the connecting flight would be a challenge.

Sure enough, upon landing, there were only ten minutes to spare, and Gate C14, where I needed to be, could have been anywhere.

“Go to Gate 40,” said a helpful employee, pointing into the distance. “When you get there, turn right, and Gate C14 is just down that hall.”

Good directions? For sure. Achievable in the allotted time? Doubtful. I was at Gate 12, and Gate 40 may as well have been in the next state. I had no choice but to run my first marathon.

Continue reading “The Plans Looked So Easy on Paper” →

Today is my birthday — the Sunday of a Thanksgiving weekend. As I write, the day is nearly over. I’ve had a nice warm bath, the tea kettle is heating, and I’m reliving what is probably my most memorable birthday.

I come from a family of five girls. Four of us live in Ontario, and one of us lives in Ohio. Like most families, it used to be far easier to have full family get-togethers when there were just our parents, us, a couple of spouses, and maybe a grandchild or two.

Now, there are four generations, and the ages range from a nice crop of one to three-year-olds, right up to Dad, who is about to turn ninety.

A few months ago, my American sister pitched the idea of having her whole family — fifteen in all — come for a visit over Canadian Thanksgiving. Our children and grandchildren were told of the plan, and it was an instant hit. Text messages shot back and forth, and accommodations were researched, but nothing quite suited. Then, one of my sisters had a stroke of brilliance. Long story short, we rented a small camp near Stouffville, Ontario, for the weekend.

Accommodations nailed down, it was time for the three of us who live closest to start planning. If you think I’m a take-charge planner, you haven’t met the two sisters I was working with. Meal plans and grocery lists took shape, and a myriad of details followed. We each kept a running list of the extras.

A couple of days before the event, a Costco run was undertaken in the company of about a thousand other people, also eager to get their Thanksgiving goodies. While I navigated the grocery list, my intrepid younger sister pushed the giant cartful of food. There were three cases of pop, a bag of milk, and several frozen pizzas wedged onto the bottom shelf alone, and with that weight, she should have been wearing a “Caution: Wide Turns” sign.

Thanksgiving weekend finally came, and the Ohio relatives arrived on Friday afternoon. They planned to stay at the camp while the locals went home for the night.

Some folks came and went according to travel time and distance, but on Saturday, over forty of us spent a glorious fall day together, culminating in a full turkey dinner.

Continue reading “When Celebrations Combine” →

Don’t forget to be friendly to outsiders, for in so doing,

some people, without knowing it,

have entertained angels.

Hebrews 13:2

A while ago, I cleaned out a small desk. Along with dried-out pens, and outdated waste schedules, I found a Visitor’s Book.

I bought that visitor’s book nearly twenty-five years ago. Like the ones my mother had, it was meant to keep a record of those who visited and shared meals with us. Alas, the most recent entry is 2007, so the book was a bit of a fail, but the names that are there remind me of good times.

There’s the signature of my husband’s buddy, recording a happy visit after they hadn’t seen each other in years. There are names from a reunion of friends, long ago teenagers, from a summer job I’d once had, and folks who came to my dad’s 70th birthday party. As well, there are signatures of family and friends who came to our daughter’s nursing graduation party, and others who attended another daughter’s wedding rehearsal meal. Most precious of all is the writing of relatives no longer with us.

But the memories in my book are so few compared to my mother’s. Her books are a genuine archaeological site; and layers of family history are revealed when the pages are turned.

Continue reading “Guest Books” →

Who eats baloney these days? Do kids even know what it is? There are much healthier sandwich fillings, but baloney lovers know there’s nothing like nutrition-free squishy white bread and thick-sliced baloney to tickle nostalgic taste buds.

But what may seem delicious, nostalgic, and “right” to me may have a different twist for you. Should that bread be spread with butter, mustard, mayo, or perhaps all three? And what about the filling? Just baloney? A Kraft cheese slice or two? Or maybe a leaf of iceberg lettuce.

Continue reading “Baloney: Just Hotdog Pancakes.” →

So, here’s a story for you.

I don’t have to tell anyone that COVID shut down life as we know it in early 2020. At my job in a Greater Toronto Area Emergency Department, we came face-to-face with stuff in pretty short order. It was hard, it was scary, and it was real. For the next year, we rode the waves of that pounding storm.

Finally, in April 2021, with COVID numbers going down and vaccination rates rising, it was time to take a deep breath and look ahead to summer, hoping that COVID would soon be behind us. Feeling that relief and optimism, a couple of us were chatting at work one day about the lockdowns and all the cooking people had done while stuck at home. One thing led to another, and we hit on the idea of a departmental cookbook — like, what were we all cooking when the restaurants were closed? We talked about old favourites and how some of our index cards and cookbook pages were covered with stains and spatters. This somehow evolved into the thought that our cookbook could have actual pictures of well-loved recipes, not just typed-out versions, and voila! We had an idea for a unique book, plus it would be so easy to ask our co-workers to snap a picture of their recipes; no laborious copying-out required.

Continue reading “Once Upon a Cookbook” →

I usually write a short story — often a memory — to post here, but not today. The weather has been quite wet this October, so I really tried to enjoy the nicer days when they came along. That meant camera in hand when walking the dog.

Some of the pictures I took follow; different memories than the written kind. In the winter, when it’s cold and the snow is blowing, I want to remember this beauty.

Continue reading “To Remember Autumn” →

October is my favourite month. We are usually blessed with gorgeous big skies, spectacular red, orange and gold leaves, and cooler weather. The only part of October I don’t enjoy is having to empty my summer plant pots.

Before beginning the task, I take one last look at the plants who have bloomed their little hearts out for me all summer.

Continue reading “The Saddest Part of My Favourite Month” →