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If you are feeling bored and want to regain the friskiness and adventure of your youth, you can try these things: Make some stilts with scraps of wood you have around the house and walk around on them. You can swat off the spider webs high around the ceiling with your fly swatter. And just look down on things, as if you were a tall person. Think of something reassuring to say to the cat or dog, because they will probably think you are crazy, or in danger—which you slightly ar

This week, when I got home from the plant nursery with a trunk-load of flowers plus two tomato plants, I finally noticed that I still had one pant leg rolled up from the bike ride that had preceded the plant shopping. Argh. I comforted myself with the following sobering thought, once fatally communicated by a hairdresser to a dear friend of mine: “Nobody is looking at you anyway.” I have decided on a preventive measure. From now on, I will roll both pant legs up so that it wi

I was in the bathroom working on my face this morning when it occurred to me how similar this was to another job I sometimes have to do. That similar job is icing a cake. These tasks both precede having to see and be seen by other people. I have to work on my face this morning because twice today I will be seen by other people: first, at the gym (make-up optional) and second, at bridge (make-up desirable). I am pleased to compare and contrast these high-skill activities for y

I am just back from another road trip, this one from Chilliwack, BC, up the Cariboo Highway through the Fraser Canyon, to Prince George, BC, a drive of approximately 7.5 hours each way. I went with a dear friend of mine—Karen (Rustad) Bergman—so that we could attend the celebration of life for a cousin of hers. The cousin, Jim Rustad, was a pillar of the community of Prince George, a city of 100,000 people, he having run a big sawmill and planer mill busines for many years. F

I am waiting for something. While I wait, I am thinking of that old black-and-white cow that was tethered to a peg in what was the equivalent of the village green in Langham, Saskatchewan. All that cow could do was circle round and round, grazing on the grass within the circle she could reach. Poor thing, but that was just the way of life for that cow. The village green was a low spot, green in the summer, but in the spring it became the slough — a veritable lake, where boys

There is a curious emptiness to the house when the company leaves. The house was so full when the company was here. All the air in the house was filled with music and happiness and talking and choices and remarks and what to do next and smiles. A very big ratio of happiness per square inch. Then the company leaves, out the door, promises to come again soon, don’t leave it so long, have you got your keys? Your wallet? Your book? If you forgot anything, we can mail it to you. D

Since this essay jumped into my brain yesterday, I have done a lot of thinking about Alberta, and I have moved from outrage to concern and hope. My outrage started with my reaction to the Alberta separatist proponents. How dare they even THINK of stealing away a piece of my Canada?! (Yes, interrobang.) This is my country. Our country. You cannot raid it and plunder it, you selfish idiots. And some of these people flagrantly misusing personal voter information. You don’t own A

Yes, there is good and evil in this world. Let’s not sugar-coat it with “unevolved”. Evil. This morning, enjoying my drive to the gym on a fine sunny day, I was scanning the horizons for anything of interest. I saw a man wearing a black T-shirt, on the front of which was printed: “The next round is mine”. I liked that. Maybe it meant this round is mine, or it meant after you pay for this round, the next round is mine. Either way, good-hearted and funny. Then there was the hel

If you are anything like me, you love a good dinner party. What could be better than sitting around a table, enjoying some especially lovely food, with some entrancing people--just having a good visit and a great conversation? I have dear loved ones who are just so much fun to hang around with. Such good talks. Meantime, since they are all far away from me, I can cook up some great dinner parties in my head. This one is at the Keg in Abbotsford (a short drive away for me). I

On Monday, I was doing some serious gardening—the kind you have to do when spring finally, slowly, reluctantly staggers into the backyard. It turns out that, when I wasn’t looking, a whole bunch of the wood dividers, planters, and wooden whatnots in the garden had been rotting and secretly turning into topsoil. I had to decide what to do. Then I had to do it. I had to hack away, pull out, and drag to the front of my building all these disintegrating planks. You know how they