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Snowbird of Paradise

Living and Learning in Alberta and California

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Category: Family

April 16, 2021April 21, 2021Snowbird of Paradise

Lessons from Canvases

In one corner of my living room is an easel holding a blank canvas. It has been there for a couple of weeks. I keep meaning to get out my paints and brushes to actually create something on it, but my lack of imagination holds me back. I have no idea what I want to […]

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April 11, 2021Snowbird of Paradise

More Love For Nurse Nan

Today I was delighted to hear from the doll collector who now has my old doll, Nurse Nan. I had written about the doll in a previous blog post and explained how I came to donate her to a local doll collectors’ club. After she had been picked up from my home, Nurse Nan was […]

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April 9, 2021April 9, 2021Snowbird of Paradise

My Covid Year

It has been quite a year, hasn’t it? We have all adjusted to new truths, new living situations, and new restrictions. As I look back on my year, and as I try to stay hopeful, I want to review what has changed in my life and how my life has changed me. I do this […]

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March 15, 2021March 16, 2021Snowbird of Paradise

Nurse Nan And Her Wardrobe

After a suitable interlude, I have resumed my memorabilia winnowing. A few months ago I sorted through and discarded about nine boxes of miscellaneous documents. Most recently, I abandoned an attempt to sort out “The Box” and my eldest son relieved me of it in its entirety. You might have thought this would have cured […]

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March 5, 2021Snowbird of Paradise

The Box Is History

It’s gone. That box that I have talked out in a couple of blog posts (here and here) and that I have been packing around for fifteen years, is finally gone. I opened it up, looked superficially at the contents, and decided there was too much to sort through. Inside the box were three big […]

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March 2, 2021Snowbird of Paradise

The Kettle and the Box

Question: What is the relationship between this kettle and this box? The answer: a dream. Remembering a Dream I rarely dream. In fact, when I had a dream a several weeks ago, it was a momentous occasion for me. It was the first time I had remembered a dream in many, many months. Maybe years, […]

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January 31, 2021January 30, 2021Snowbird of Paradise

I Don’t Dream

I don’t dream. I can go for months or years, even, without being aware that I have dreamed. Once in a while I might be startled awake while dreaming, but after I have gone back to sleep I don’t remember the dream. I haven’t woken up in the morning remembering a dream for years, until […]

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December 10, 2020December 9, 2020Snowbird of Paradise

Rethinking My Rethinking

A couple of weeks ago I reconnected with Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. I had stopped using them in early 2018 and 2019 and restarting those connections has kept me away from this blog. It has also kept me from reading other, favourite, WordPress blogs and I apologize to those bloggers for my absence. I probably […]

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November 13, 2020Snowbird of Paradise

Comparing Dumpster Fires

Everyone agrees that the Covid-19 problem is awful, and almost everyone thinks that their politicians are doing a terrible job of managing it. A friend on Facebook recently described the situation in Alberta as being “a dumpster fire” and she isn’t wrong. Comparatively, though, the dumpster fire is bigger in a lot of other places. […]

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November 4, 2020November 3, 2020Snowbird of Paradise

Wordless Wednesday 4 November 2020

October 24, 2020October 24, 2020Snowbird of Paradise

If At First You Don’t Succeed . . .

The process for finding and meeting a psychologist isn’t hard, but when you are depressed it seems like a pathway strewn with obstacles. At each roadblock, it is easy to just give up. Having overcome some of those setbacks, I would strongly encourage anyone who is feeling unusually despondent to stick with it. With the […]

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September 8, 2020September 8, 2020Snowbird of Paradise

Feels So Good

This morning I had a really good clear-out. Now, a bag of trash and two bags of recyclables are waiting for the garbage trucks. In addition, I just took to the thrift store two boxes full of miscellany, a bag of clothes, a recycling bin full of pots and pans, and a George Foreman grill. […]

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July 22, 2020July 22, 2020Snowbird of Paradise

Coincidence, Correlation, and Cause.

At 2:30 AM last night. I was having a bad night because I had insomnia, so, when my next door neighbour’s motion-sensor light came on right outside my bedroom window, I noticed. In fact, I noticed enough to get out of bed and look out of the window. I didn’t see anything, so I went […]

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July 19, 2020July 18, 2020Snowbird of Paradise

Pecking Orders Have Changed

The first pecking order I became aware of was in housing. My family lived in a semi-detached house (known as a duplex in north America). At some point I began to realize that I went to school with some people who lived in detached houses, some who lived in council houses (social housing), and some […]

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July 13, 2020July 12, 2020Snowbird of Paradise

Well, We Tried

For a few years I have tried growing shrubs and bulbs in our front yard, but have had very limited success. The soil quality is not good because it is mostly clay. In addition, there are bugs that are determined to kill almost anything that starts to look as if it might grow to bloom. […]

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July 5, 2020July 5, 2020Snowbird of Paradise

More Than One America

When you watch Independence Day celebrations and hear the patriotic songs, it looks and sounds as though the people of the USA are all celebrating the same thing, doesn’t it? Today, I’m beginning to think that the perception is wrong both for the observer and the celebrant. Yes, Americans are independent of British rule, but […]

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April 1, 2020Snowbird of Paradise

Marmalade Improvisation

Before the rush on the supermarkets got really bad, my family bought me some groceries that included a large bag of oranges. I knew I could not eat them all before they started to go bad, so I wanted to preserve some of them. The only way I know to preserve oranges is in marmalade […]

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March 23, 2020March 23, 2020Snowbird of Paradise

To See Ourselves As Others See Us

Until today, my major concern in relation to Coronavirus was to avoid contact with other people. I did not want to bring the virus home and I did not want to carry it to the people I love and live with. Before I returned to Canada I spent a week in self-isolation. I didn’t leave […]

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March 14, 2020March 16, 2020Snowbird of Paradise

From OK to Oh Heck in Four Days

In the last week I have gone from thinking “Oh, I’ll be OK” to “Oh, heck. I need an escape route.” There has been a rapid escalation in the number of cases of COVID-19 and, sadly, in the number of deaths both internationally and nationally. I have been following these trends but nothing has scared […]

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February 22, 2020February 21, 2020Snowbird of Paradise

But, Wait! There Is More!

My previous post described the train I took with some family members in 2017 on the Bluebell Railway from East Grinstead to Sheffield Park in England. The reason we were taking that train was, in part, to enjoy the nostalgia of riding on a steam train. Our destination, though, was more than just the cherry […]

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I am a snowbird who travels south for the winter. When I get there I have a bird of paradise plant on my patio.

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Recent Posts

  • Wordless Wednesday 21 April 2021
  • Degrees of Vanity
  • Lessons from Canvases
  • Three Books About Belonging
  • More Love For Nurse Nan
  • My Covid Year
  • Wordless Wednesday 7 April 2021
  • Trying Out A New Lens
  • A Box of Rocks
  • Free Ideas
  • I Was Wrong About Feminism
  • Youthful Poetry
  • Forest Heights Park
  • Wordless Wednesday 24 March 2021
  • Three Books Filled With Dread
  • Nurse Nan And Her Wardrobe
  • Whitemud Park and Talus Dome
  • Wordless Wednesday 10 March 2021
  • The Box Is History
  • Wordless Wednesday 3 March 2021

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