We are seated by our friendly server for an evening meal in a beautiful, open-concept family restaurant, aptly coined a country kitchen for its white hardwood table and chairs and charming down-home ambiance. On first glance, I am drawn to look up at the beautiful chandeliers hanging gracefully from the ceiling, as well as noticing …
Why do Mom’s cookies, eaten straight up from the cookie jar, taste best when indulged as a bedtime snack? Gingersnaps, rolled in sugar. Pressed with the hand, perhaps and then baked to perfection. These sitting on this mahogany table, tempting me until I cannot resist, have crackles like tiny rivers running randomly across their golden …
Morning rises. The newly borne dawn begins the day with heavy fog and low-lying clouds. Threatening rain. The air, so heavy with moisture, feels like a vapor bath. A quick look at the forecast reveals thunder showers and lightening are in the forecast for later this afternoon. Not what had been predicted on yesterday’s radio …
Drifting over salt water, as deep and blue as my daughter’s eyes, we spend a lazy summer afternoon on the water. The basin where we currently are set is past the North Port Harbour in western P.E.I., and we find ourselves tracing the shores of the sand hills, all while traveling alongside the protected shoreline …
The things we do for love. This past week, I have been more aware of how we who are parents change while we are on vacation- we become even better people than hopefully we already are. Not a real coincidence that all this happens while parents are on vacation from the real world. But, it …
A dear ‘stay-at-home mama’ friend of mine wrote her Facebook status today on ‘being present’. She briefly addressed the fact that she is with her children daily, but she is not always present with them. In this update, she vowed to be more present and ‘in the moment’ than she had failed to be in …
Do something with your days of which you can be proud. Even today. Start right now. For it is never too late to begin making moments count. Make your one life meaningful, and make it worth the breath it took to get you through the day. Do something worthwhile. Do this for yourself. Do this …
It has been said a thousand times over. To have the best life, to live out a life of excellence superior to the mediocre to which we so easily ascribe in the daily grind of the here and now, one must practice gratitude. Gratitude. Giving thanks for who I am, where I am, with what …
Bedtime rituals bring out my inner grizzly bear. There are always impulsive exceptions to the rule introduced by the Fearless Foursome. Exceptions that just about tilt my boat enough to sink it entirely. Nothing ever goes exactly as per routine. I roar for the majority of this most miserable of nightly moments, and then I …
I do not believe in fairy tales, and neither do I believe in happy endings. Life, as I see it, is a series of imperfections, unfortunate experiences, and hard times that follow one after the other. People talk about life being beautiful, precious and wildly exciting, but I don’t see it. I really don’t. Life …
As I pen words, it is a dreary, soaking-wet, rain-drenched evening outside my sitting room window. We are all drying ourselves out after a torrential down-pour just moments ago, occurring just as we made a run for it from the van to the front steps. This onslaught also occurring after we all had walked through …
On humility. Are we ever truly as humble as we portray ourselves to be? Even when we say, “humbly speaking…” or “with the greatest of humility” or the more coarse, “I don’t mean to brag…,” can we ever be that which we say we are: humble? I am really struck on this because I study …