Reader, sometimes a month is a MOOD and I felt that this morning... Every second Friday I tend to the animals at my son's Forest School - 3 goats and a bunch of chickens - and on this crisp October morning the chickens weren't too keen to head out and needed encouragement. The goats though happily trotted to their paddock, playfully as always. Chickens, goats and kids running. The trees bursting with colour. Today is so October (well, until this afternoon when it's supposed to be like 28...
12 days ago • 1 min read
It's Friday, Reader! The weekend may not mean total rest and relaxation but let's try to give you a little more emotional space for the weekend, shall we? Yesterday I had the privilege of introducing a group of ex-convicts and addicts to the power of therapeutic writing. They really got into it, even the guy who told me he doesn't like writing, nor doing what people tell him to do. But by the end of the hour, he was super engaged and looking forward to our next class in a couple weeks. I make...
19 days ago • 1 min read
It's Friday Reader, ...and it's been another week out there in our crazy world… it can feel like there’s no way to make a difference, but there always is. We dug into some of that last week with our prompt exploring what we can do at home amidst the dumpster fire out there. Very aware of all the loudness "out there", I took a quiet week this week. A bit of a moody one, to be honest. That time of the month. So I was pretty internally focused - took some naps, did some writing, stared at the...
26 days ago • 1 min read
Dear Reader, Yesterday, I sat in the same room as legendary Canadian writer Margaret Atwood at the Kick-off of Kingston WritersFest. I sat there in awe. In admiration. In reverence. She’s little, if you’ve never seen her. Likely littler now due to her 85 years. She walked slowly across the stage hunched over, her thin hand on a black cane. But none of these features of age diminished her presence, her power. Nor the audience’s adoration and desire. You could feel us all sit up, impulsively...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Happy (Easter) Sunday Reader, I wasn’t raised religious. In fact, my home was very anti-religion. My mother had been raised Protestant, converted to Judaism for her first husband, and began adamantly identifying as an Atheist by the time I came along. My stepfather too, a man of science, had little time for spiritual leanings, and indeed no time for the seemingly backward beliefs and traditions that accompanied religion. We were a feminist household, social activists, hippies, academics....
6 months ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader, Life is full these days… Spring has sprung and so the backyard needs tending, the house begs for Spring Cleaning, the kids are wrapping up extra-curriculars and starting new ones, work keeps chugging along, and oh ya, there’s a serious threat of fascism. Just another Tuesday night, right? In the mess of it all, have you been craving a moment to just breathe… and maybe pick up your pen again? The Spring Series of Sacred Pages starts next week and the 3-week workshop series is...
6 months ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, Writing has been challenging lately. I feel too much. I open socials and the devastating state of the world is right there on display, for us all to watch and grieve. I look around my house at the mess, the endless to-do list, the ongoing needs of a family where everyone is living with a chronic illness, and I feel like it’s impossible for anything to be different, for it to ever be easier. I feel the weight of being a mother and global citizen at this time, and the further burden...
6 months ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader Spring is here, though chilly. We’ve passed the equinox and the days are noticeably longer. There have even been some real beauties, those warmish blue-sky days that pull us outside. Sometimes though they fool us, looking so nice but then a harsh wind reminds the skin that it’s still March. For a few more days anyways… It's been a lengthy landing back here in Ontario, with the memories of our time in Costa Rica teasing us, taunting us with the desire for just one more sunset, one...
7 months ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader, On Saturday I was in a MOOD. Grumpy, frustrated, annoyed, a little depressed. It was an all around ugh state of being. The kind of mood that used to flow into the next day, and the next… the week or month… I never knew how long it would take to shake off. But now I know how to stop it before it takes over. Here are all the things I did to get through my mood without repressing my feelings, and come through the other side content with myself: Step 1: I talked about it. I didn’t even...
7 months ago • 3 min read