Image by PIRO4D from Pixabay Are you doing okay? I hope so; I think most of us are muddling through this pandemic using whatever coping skills we can. If you’re not okay, here is some contact info to reach out for help: Crisis Services Canada on the web at www.crisisservicescanada.ca or call 1-833-456-4566 24/7 (QC 1-866-277-3553) Kid’s Help Phone on the web at kidshelpphone.ca or call 1-800-668-6868 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline online at suicidepreventionlifeline.org or call 1-800-273-8255 (United States) Samaritans online at samaritans.org or call 116 123 (United Kingdom ..read more

This post has been in the works for a while and is part ranty-rant, part scary story, and part comedy of errors. I originally wrote it as therapy, to vent my frustrations and get everything off my chest. It has a happy ending though, so please bear with me! The Gift 'Grail' in question--Picture of The Hare and Hounds, Maghull The Cruise Last August (2019) my parents celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary—a monumental milestone—so my brother and I wanted to mark it appropriately. When they celebrated twenty-five years, I planned a party with family and friends; at forty years, we trave ..read more

I was sorting out my old writing notes recently and came across some old journal entries I had ripped from notebooks that are long gone. This one was a blog post waiting to be written, even before I was a blogger. I actually had all these points numbered in my diary! Ten years ago this month, I was liberated from a cast on the only bone I have ever broken--my wrist. As accidents go, this one was not serious. I slipped on ice while walking the dog, but got myself up, got us both home and phoned for help. My Hubs will tell you, however, that I was so incoherent he didn’t know who was phoning ..read more

Image by prettysleepy1 from Pixabay Happy New Year! I hope that your 2020 has been great so far. Mine is good, but did not start as I intended. So, the cliches I’d planned, about 20/20 vision and so on don’t quite fit my mood as this new decade begins. But, that’s okay, I’ve learned not to get too attached to my plans. Looking Back The end/beginning of a decade isn’t an opportunity to waste though. I often find myself caught up in the day-to-day that comprises most of life, to the extent that it feels as though nothing is happening, nothing is changing. When I looked back with a purposeful ..read more