When we lived in the Ottawa Valley our street was dark. No really. No-streetlights-for-miles kind of dark. I used to like being outside on dark nights when you could see the whole of the Milky Way. Stars to navigate by, to help ships find their ways home, to provide a course to follow. Tonight and […]

I was feeling like perhaps a bit of pre-Christmas anxiety management was in order yesterday, so I went to the beach. I love the beach in winter. Most people stick to the path, rather than go down near the water. There are a few, usually accompanied by a super-friendly dog, who walk the sand, but […]

Happy Yule, all! At solstice, nature switches direction. The longest night is behind us, and we add a few minutes of sun to each day. I prefer moon salutations to the sunny variety, and the cool, quiet, silver of night to the raucous glaring gold of day. But that also makes it easy to get […]

Yeah, I’m behind again. This post is Friday’s effort. This is what happens when I’m on yay!cation. I get to 10 at night or so, and go “Nope, I don’t wanna sit at the laptop today”. So everyone get their Hermione Granger Time Turner out. 6 spins should do it (she says like she’s read […]

I love Christmas trees. I’ve been watching my neighbours’ Christmas tree in their window for a few days. There are two strings of lights that flash and different frequencies and a few that are always on. I can’t see ornaments (because that’d be creepy), but I’ve been watching. Yesterday, Mike and Connor put the lights […]

When I was growing up we always got a live Christmas tree. My dad (armed with bow saw) and my grandfather (armed with a flask of rye for him and a thermos of hot chocolate for me) would head off to a tree farm around Brantford. We got a short needle tree for my dad’s […]

Oh Joy! I was in the mall on Saturday afternoon for a few hours. It wasn’t a tactical strike – it was a wander. There were people who didn’t want to be there: Kids pitching fits and adults pitching fits and bribes of ice cream (because that *never* causes unintentional extra-crunchy mayhem) and a candy-cane stuck in an […]

I don’t feel the need to justify or defend my faith by forwarding memes because usually that means I have to put down one group to defend mine. By my standards of my faith, that’s not right. But every once in a while, one shows up that speaks to me. I’m still not likely to […]

When I was a wee thing, my mom took me to Green Acres pool in the summer. We could bike there pretty easily, and there were blackberries along the banks of the creek on our way. It was a path of wonders for my 6ish year old self. Green Acres had a regular outdoor pool […]