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 […]
For the past few days, I have been living with a cold and cough. I’ve been in a semi-conscious state with a fuzzy head, sore throat, and a relentless dry cough, taking the usual over-the-counter medications, drinking lots of herbal teas, and wondering how long this darned cold is going to last. I feel like […]
When I started this blog I had the idea that I wanted to write a book but needed to start with smaller writing projects. Snowbird of Paradise has been a good place for me to gain some writing practice, and I find that I like writing blog-size pieces about my life. The book I wanted […]
I recently reconnected with an old friend. We knew each other at college back in the early 1970s and I wrote a few blog posts about some memories I had of the ways in which she helped me through a difficult time. Subsequently, I wrote to tell her about the posts by finding an address […]
When you go to a museum with old people, you don’t see artifacts, you see memories. I had the pleasure of visiting the Innisfail Historical Village yesterday in the company of a busload of people on a summer outing from the North Edmonton Seniors Association. We had already spent the morning at a […]
A couple of months ago I began seeing a therapist. I wanted to change a habit, and so it made sense to me to find a hypnotherapist to help me do that. My reasoning was that if they could help people quit smoking, they could help me quit my habit. The habit that needed to […]
As the men who were packing my house carefully wrapped my pictures and boxed up my photo albums, it occurred to me that these things are what I liked most about my home. Although the house was nice, it was really only the shelter for my life and now my life is somewhere else. I […]
I recently had lunch at an Irish sports bar/restaurant, and ate a delicious shepherd’s pie. When I paid the bill, the meal had been identified as ”Sheppard’s Pie” and suddenly it had negative connotations. From the depths of my memory I had images of the Dr. Sam Sheppard murder trial in the 1950’s. Dr. Sheppard […]
Recently I was sorting through a box of miscellany and discovered a collection of a complete stranger’s family photos going back to about 1945. I volunteer at a Habitat for Humanity Restore, and we receive all sorts of things as donations. Although the focus is on reusable appliances, light fixtures, and renovation materials, sometimes people […]
