My mother-in-law recently moved into a long-term care home in our neighbourhood, so I am able to walk over to see her. Her present health on account of aging has made it difficult for her to remember names and events well. When we talk together, there are times when she has difficulty recalling. Yet when…
It was a spring evening smelling of dirt and dust, the sound of tractors tilling up earth and the weeping beauty of a thousand frogs mating. I looked up from the kitchen sink, saw my oldest trudging back to the house from the garden where he’d been helping his dad plant potatoes. The green balloon…
I have been sitting too much these days. Other than grocery runs, I hardly get out of the house. I miss walking around schools during my regular visits. I miss playing in my annual volleyball league. Many of us in the world of education feel like we’ve been sitting for too long. Like our public…
Nine-year-old Brenda lives with her father and grandmother in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Brenda’s mother died when she was young so Gran takes care of her while her father goes out to work. Brenda thrives in that loving environment characterized by nutritious meals, healthy expectations, financial stability and Sunday worship. For a school project about someone…
Based on the life of Clarence Brazier, born August 28, 1906, in a log farmhouse near Magnetawan, Ontario, this compassionate, informative children’s picture book relates how “for nearly one hundred years, Clarence had a big secret.” The third of seven children, Clarence and his family worked hard to survive. Big for his age, Clarence readily…
This spring, our city is running a healthy eating challenge, and our family was lucky to be chosen to participate. When I put in the application, I hoped it would give us something new to do during another stay-local holiday far away from our wider family. We like cooking together and usually like to try…
I’m sitting down to write on the first open-yer-windows day of 2021. Birds are hollering at the humans to get outside and soak up the sunshine. Walks with our girls on days like this are a gift. Though we loved the wheelchair skis on snow, it is easier to move wheels on bare pavement and…
We didn’t even know how to spell it. Was it Bar Creek, Bahr Creek or Barr Creek? We may not have known the name, but we knew how to enjoy it. What I call the South Branch of the Bar Creek ran through the backyards of people living on Wisconsin Avenue and Center Street in…
Before his death in 2019, Lee Bennett Hopkins, renowned children’s poet, anthologist, and author of more than one hundred books, compiled this selection of gentle, imaginative goodnight poems by 13 poets. A child’s bed, pillow, blanket, rocking horse, book, and more are celebrated. Creatures like dogs are appreciated. Dreams are anticipated. Guardian angels are welcomed….
“Return to Normal” and “Build Back Better” are the two dominant mindsets for COVID-recovery. Any suggestion of more disruption would invite stone-throwing, but that may be our future. High levels of present anxiety and fear for the future lead to equating hope with more tranquility. Is there another kind of hope? Is hope possible in…
“Heap on more wood! The wind is chill;But let it whistle as it will,We’ll keep our Christmas merry still.”Sir Walter Scott When I was little, my mother quilted an advent calendar. It was a pre-printed fabric scene – chipmunks making popcorn chains, I believe – that she made three-dimensional with batting and stitches, and 24…
“The star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stood over the place where the Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with great delight. On coming to the house, they saw the Child with his mother Mary, and they fell down and worshiped him”(Matt. 2: 9-11a). Long…
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