a way of life--my mother's eulogy
When impressionist painter, Claude Monet, was 80, he received a visit from a Parisian photographer who was interested in talking with him about his life. Monet finally said to him, “Look, if you...
View Articleold patterns
You know the setting sun must be beautiful when the houses on the east side of the street reflect a red hue. Tonight, just past 9pm, I hurried my three older children into the car so we might catch the...
View Articlea healing recipe
Grief hits hard. Tired and exhausted, I can't tell if it is my body or my emotions that are simply worn out, but my understanding of healing grows and grows and grows. Here is a working recipe. Add...
View Articlemisty morning
A few haiku I wrote this morning on my walk. I am trying to write myself back home. Even though I have been home for one month, I feel ungrounded and out-of-season. Where did the Spring go? And now...
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dazzling jewels
"Hope and the future for me are not in lawns and cultivated fields, not in towns and cities, but in the impervious and quaking swamps. When formerly, I have analysed my partiality for some farm which I...
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finding the right pattern
I love fabric. I especially love fabric that is old and has a story. And every good story has to have the right pattern for support.I knew last summer that I wanted to make a quilt using old sheets...
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holding shape (and smell)
Just after my mother died in May, I searched her dresser for a piece of clothing that retained her smell. I didn't find any.Then I went to her closets. T-shirt by t-shirt I took them out and sniffed...
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seals, shells, spirals--a gratitude walk
Went for a solitary walk this afternoon as the tide and fog rolled in. I take my morning walks daily--same path, same sights. Sometimes it's refreshing to step outside my normal routine and walk some...
View Articlefly, fly, fly
It's challenging to get a thirteen year old packed for an overseas trip. In between his own thoughts and excitement and mental lists--and his dangling earphones--I attempt to share travel wisdom with...
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the outside world
What would the world be like if we gave each child more time to be outside?What would the world be like for children to spend more time in open places, old and new, so they could understand about the...
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an old tree
Walking in my childhood neighborhood with two of my children today, I came upon the stump of an old tree. I remember this tree, so big, so full of shade, a long time friend. As we crossed the street to...
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temple I
in a box is quilted fabric made from old sheetsheld by my 50 year old sisterin front of our 40 year old homewhere there is a room on the second floorthat once had a big bedand on that bed sheets would...
View Articleautumn haiku
Here are a few haiku inspired by a variety of moments in the last few days: watching an amazing photographer work, cleaning out my mother's freezer, tending a garden, and walking in the early autumn...
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catching creativity in a park
I went to the park this afternoon and found these creatively covered bike racks. Knitted in a variety of colours and stitches, they add a surprise and a beauty to the park. I always find it refreshing...
View Articleon walking
Is my morning walk, the one path I walk day after day, morning after morning, my work? It seems that this walk is the only time of day when my mind is really awake, when I am really aware and open to...
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how stories continue
Just finished the top layer of a quilt I've been working on since my mother died. Using her old bedsheets, it was an opportunity to remember how her bed was my nest growing up--a place we played, a...
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giants in the forest
Sometimes you find things in the forest you expect--autumn colours of brown, orange and yellow, fallen leaves, and the smell of wet earth. Other times you come upon something totally unexpected...like...
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