Tiny flowers on Irish moss, ruby radishes ready to eat and a gift of homemade chicken soup all make life lovely, even when stomach flu has us sluggish, shivering and sleep-deprived. A heat wave hit our city two days ago and my radishes bolted. I read on-line that once they […]
Most of us start life full of energy and enthusiasm. We’re young, able-bodied and eager. Then comes a shift that many of us go through, from invincible to fearful. What moved you along this path? It could be something as seemingly insignificant as bullies at school or as huge as […]
Although practical challenges are tough – fixing something that is broken, tidying something that’s a mess, walking a long distance – I think, for all of us, mental and emotional challenges are tougher. You know what I mean. All of us deal with fear, anger, pride, resentment, unfulfilled longing, rejection… […]
It’s been ages since I’ve seen family face to face. Although our province has, once again, initiated a state of lock-down for us all, we drove to see my sisters over the Easter weekend (visiting outside by a campfire with one and taking advantage of the chance to ‘join households’ […]
The past months have been unlike any I can remember, culminating in Ontario’s stay-at-home order, which permitted leaving home only for work or essentials such as groceries. I could share with you all the things I’ve missed most – I’m sure you’ve longed for some of the same things I […]
Growing up, everyone I knew hung prints on their walls: large landscapes, idyllic small town scenes, abstract splashes. Then, as a young adult, I met a man who filled my life with texture and pigment. He was always talking about Peru, his homeland: the food, the warmth, the history, the […]
As a child I found squash odious. Consequently, as an adult I never cooked it. Then, I discovered the joy of a simple, homemade butternut squash soup: fry an apple and onions in a generous amount of curry before adding broth and squash and you have the makings of a […]
A world in quarantine changed us all, I think, in big and small ways. We’ve heard about wild life returning, the clearing of the skies, people singing on balconies. Personally, I find it hard to articulate the subtle changes I sense in myself after months of forced seclusion. Stopping for […]
Subtle flavour and gentle sweetness are sensory pleasures I discovered later in life. My husband and I stumbled, together, across an obscure Japanese bakery in Markham, years ago, and the lightness of a strawberry shortcake we found there is with us still. Later, I tried, for the first time, an […]
Four years ago I became interested in bees and pollinator plants. A number of books about Colony collapse disorder caught my eye and, the way I saw it, with more bees in my backyard I could help save a species essential to our food supply and have more tomatoes and […]