Category: Life
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The Shortest Day
It’s the winter solstice, and sunrise here in Moose Jaw happened at 9 a.m.—tomorrow, we begin the slow crawl toward light and garden season. Two snowstorms in the past few days have kept us mostly at home and indoors. Gerry’s been out a couple of times with his birthday snowblower, and I took advantage of…
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In the Dark
Jarred from the peace of sleep and the comfort of warm flannel sheets, I retrieve my glasses and Kindle from my bedside table and, with a little Yorkie in my arms, stumble from the bedroom. Molly’s internal clock says it’s time to get up. It’s barely 4 a.m. and I inadvertently trained her to rise…
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Surviving Costco
Gerry and I are home from Costco or, said differently, we survived Costco. There is no such beast in Moose Jaw; Regina, about 40 minutes east, is the closest one. We originally planned to go yesterday, but the weather was less than optimum for winter highway travel so we opted to stay home—and spent a…
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Peace
Molly and I are up at 4 a.m. as is usual for us. I brew a mug of tea and take it to my woman cave. There, Molly goes back to sleep on my lap while I pray, read, and listen to Handel’s Messiah performed by the Cape Town Youth Choir. Two candles flicker on…
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And So, Advent
On Saturday, Gerry and I went to see the annual Christmas performance at nearby Briercrest College and Seminary in Caronport—a dramatic musical called A Christmas in Caron, 1942. It was inspired by the real-life story of Royal Air Force cadets who came to the Caron flight training school (about 25 minutes west of Moose Jaw)…
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Projects. I Like Them.
Some of you are coming down off a turkey high this morning. The rest of us are just doing Friday, having celebrated a low-key Canadian Thanksgiving back in October. I’m back at my desk in the woman cave, starting to put together my 2024 blog book. I’ve compiled all my posts in book format for…
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The Gift of Ordinary Along a Broken Road
The snow showed up—later than anticipated, but it’s here. I just stepped outside to capture a couple of images that, in a small way, depict what it’s like out there. What they don’t capture is the silence, broken only by the sound of a neighbour’s snowblower. Someone getting ahead of the white while it’s still…
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Birthday Snow
We had a big dump of snow this week and are currently under a snowfall warning for the weekend. Though the calendar says otherwise, winter is most definitely upon us here in Saskatchewan. Just now, I’m sitting here in the wing chair in my woman cave listening to my Gregorian playlist on Amazon music while…
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A Stormy Day Ramble
We’re experiencing the first winter storm of the season as snow blows and drifts. Here’s the view outside our front door captured a few hours ago. I had an appointment to get my hair cut this morning, but cancelled it. I decided that at age 65 I can choose to take a snow day and…
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Once a Techie
It was around this time of year in 1983. My dad had died a couple of months earlier and Mom, used as she was to staying with us as she did often while Dad was in the Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops where I lived with my husband and our two children, was with me.…
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There’s a Lot Happening Out There
I’m thinking of replacing our front door. The one we currently have is pretty and stylish, but it’s also distracting. I wasn’t enamored of it when we first moved into this home at the end of 2023, and am less so now. I don’t like that someone could stand on our front step and peer…
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A Busy Day
It’s 3:00 p.m.. I went to my desk around 9:3o this morning, as Gerry was leaving for the gym, and have been there most of the day, save for a break for lunch and a game of chess. For most of the day, I’ve been working on writing competitions for Story Circle Network. One, just…