Today was my day off work. I like my days off, but I’m fortunate to have a job that I enjoy.
I got up and had a nice cup of coffee with my breakfast. Lucky me. Coffee AND a choice of breakfast foods. Having a choice of any kind makes me rich. Continue reading “A day in review.”
“What fits your busy schedule better? Exercising one hour a day, or being dead twenty-four hours a day?”
I’m really upset with myself this winter, but I haven’t done anything about it. Of course that means that I really shouldn’t complain, because I have absolute control over the outcome, but here’s my story.
A few years ago, with my age, family history of diabetes, and knowledge of cardiac risks in mind, I decided to take up running. Actually, I didn’t exactly decide, it was more like an epiphany; a realization that it was time to take care of my health or it just might end up taking care of me. Continue reading “Exercise … thy name is sure not Phyllis.”
On such a grey February day, many of us tune in to daydreams of azure water, white beaches, and warmth. Others long for the snow to melt and cottage season to begin. I haven’t written much about azure waters, but I did write a story that was published last spring in a collection of short stories called From the Cottage Porch .
In keeping with the keen yearning for warmer weather, I thought I’d share that story, one of my few cottage experiences. In honour of everyone who’s made memories at a special place “up north”, this one’s for you. Continue reading “Everything I know about leeches, I learned at the cottage.”
When my favourite brother-in-law (are you reading this, Randy?) had an MRI last week, just hearing about it brought all kinds of unreasonable emotion to my otherwise rational mind.
Ever since I can remember I’ve had a fear of enclosed spaces, and the first time I can recall that gut-grabbing feeling is when I was playing hide-and-seek with some friends. Although the bed I was hiding under was open on all four sides, the sight of the mattress just a few inches above my face had me scrambling out of there, not caring that I might be found.
Continue reading “Caution: Tunnel ahead.”
I’m all for couples celebrating their love on Valentine’s Day. Dine, enjoy your ro$e$, and eat chocolate to your heart’s content. But every year my heart feels sad when I think about the flip-side of this day.
Despite determination not to, hopes often run unreasonably high. Hopes of adolescence, young adulthood, the unattached, unhappily attached, or completely detached — hopes for an unexpected surprise, no matter how remote the odds. Even for couples who have agreed in advance to ignore the day and its overpriced commerce, the anticipation is often there. Continue reading “That Hallmark-est of Days”
To any of my children reading this post, this is NOT directed at you. It is just a bit of a ramble about my reality at the moment … okay? Okay. (Insert smiley face here.)
For the past six weeks we’ve had our ultra-sweet, eighteen-month-old, grandson, Nolan, and his mother, living with us. They’re not here indefinitely and will be joining Daddy State-side before too long. I can honestly say that except for one sick and super-fussy weekend, (Nolan, not me) we’ve loved every minute he’s been here. Continue reading “I’m just a bit spoiled.”
I learned something kind of cool today, and if my non-extensive Google research is correct, a “young mated queen wasp” is living in Murray’s workshop.
Here’s how it happened. Continue reading “Wasp-cube.”