The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo This intriguing story is written in an unconventional manner, which I found bewildering at first. I’m glad I stuck with it, though, because it eventually becomes clear that the underlying message is about women who endure hardship and triumph over adversity. It is set in a […]
This is just funny, for so many reasons. A couple of days ago I was watching television with my laptop on my lap when I got irritated by a spelling error on an advertisement. I usually manage to let spelling and grammatical errors slide right by me, but for some reason (probably red wine) this […]
I sometimes feel as though I want to cry and all the normal emotional and physical triggers suggest that I am about to cry, but I don’t. I am told it is a side effect of one of my medications, and most of the time I am fine with that. Sometimes, though, I really need […]
When you hear a story read aloud, you can enjoy the emphasis and drama in the voice of the storyteller. Their expression of the people and events become yours, too. When you read a story, on the other hand, your imagination brings images to mind and so your own perceptions inform your understanding. That distinction […]
When I checked in with family and friends on Facebook Stories a few days ago, I saw a beautiful sunset in Hawaii, a message about racism at the border of Ukraine and Poland, and an image of a golf resort in England set to relaxing music. It struck me that these three messages encapsulated the […]
On 118th Avenue in Edmonton is an abandoned movie theatre. It has been standing unused for at least eight years, when I moved to the area. It is on a large piece of real estate in an area that is central to the city, and I have always wondered why no-one has bought it to […]
I don’t usually promote products or services on this website, but today I am making an exception. After a recommendation from Judy at New England Garden and Thread a few weeks ago, I ordered a set of Yaktrax, and this week they have been the only reason I have been able to get out of […]
It could be simply that I am getting older, but I feel as though soap has changed. As the years go by, my skin gets drier, and my hair is less joyful. And by ‘joyful’ I mean less wavy, less springy, less everything. I don’t remember this being a problem when I was younger, but […]
After I had reviewed The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson, her book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents was recommended to me. It is another brilliant and very readable analysis of the social and racial issues facing the United States. Those same issues are facing other countries, too, but the circumstances Wilkerson describes […]
Yesterday, Eminem took a knee at the end of his half-time show performance at the Super Bowl. This should not be newsworthy, but it was. Here is what I wrote about kneeling at public events back in 2018. ********************************************************************** All the brouhaha about the new Nike ad using Colin Kaepernick’s image has raised again the […]
These are two books that I heartily recommend, and both imagine worlds that could improve people’s lives. One is a fictional child’s world, the other is a social economic possibility. My grandmother sends her regards and apologises by Fredrik Backman Elsa is a bright and strong-willed seven-year-old who has an eccentric, devoted, grandmother. After Elsa’s […]
My doctor invited me back to her office this week so that she could share with me the results of my annual checkup. I knew this invitation was coming, so I prepared by looking up the results on the Alberta Health website. I saw that my blood test was mostly OK, but my urine sample […]
The Edmonton Journal censored my comment yesterday. I don’t know which rule I broke, but what I said was apparently bad enough to cast my words into the depths of local journalistic purgatory. I was responding to an article about the convoy of trucks that paraded through Canada to Ottawa. The truck drivers began their […]
For weeks, I have been afraid to leave the house. I have been unable to walk on neighbourhood sidewalks because I am afraid of falling on the ice that has formed in too many places. I have also been unable to drive my car because of deep snow, or ruts in the snow, or packed […]
These two books about migrations within America and to America have given me a lot to think about. They go beneath the surface and find both heartwarming and unsettling consequences. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson Between 1915 and 1970 six million Black Americans fled the South for cities in the North and […]
Today the temperature rose to 7 C and it was lovely to get outside in the sunshine. The sky was blue and the air was warm as my eldest son and I took a walk across the Tawatinâ Bridge. (Tawatinâ is the Cree word for “Valley.”) I have wanted to walk here ever since this new […]
I’ve been making hats. It’s a pastime I began a couple of years ago and I picked it up again this winter. When you arrive at the confluence of time, isolation, terrible weather, and a supply of random leftover yarn, that’s what you do. I’m not a great knitter or crocheter, but I can handle […]
If you use Facebook at all, you will have seen some random questions occasionally. You have also, probably, answered a few of them. I once answered the question about how far I live from my birthplace, and the one about how many grandparents I can name. Mostly, though, I have resisted the temptation. These questions […]
Snowbird of Paradise 