Famous last words, almost. Don’t read further if you don’t like medical stories. I haven’t been blogging for a few weeks – busy at a conference in Saskatchewan and then sitting at son’s hospital bedside. Son (age 28) demonstrated the hazards of not believing that the excruciating stomach pain really could be life-threatening. After a ruptured appendix, peritonitis, systemic…
I like fabric art. Here are some cushions I made from some molas (reverse-appliqued fabric panels made by the Kuna in Panama) from panels I bought in Panama a few years ago. I searched for blogs on “molas”. Here is a very nice collection of framed ones. I must try to go to the Textile Museum…
This book describes the young (30ish?)author’s experience doing 3 pilgrimages: El Camino in Spain (Catholic), 88 temples on the Japanese island of Shikoku (Buddhist) and a Rosh Hashanah pilgrimage of Hasids in Ukraine (Jewish) Lewis-Kraus writes extremely well and has a bizarre sense of humour that I enjoyed. However, he went a little overboard at times…
Husband and I went to the PNE (Vancouver’s annual amusement park, arcade, agricultural fair and exhibition). Trooper was playing the free evening concert. For the international readers, or readers who are too young to know them, Trooper was a very successful Canadian rock band beginning in the 1970s. Here is a recent short promotional video that highlights their…
I haven’t had a lot of success growing vegetables but I haven’t tried very hard, either. Watering in the summer is not something I’ve managed to organize. Even though the vegetable patch is only about 12 feet by 8 feet (and that includes the raspberries), I would have to take 2 minutes to unravel the hose to…
Two events in the news this week had an odd coincidence in my history: Neil Armstrong died. He was the first man on the moon, having commanded the Apollo 11 spacecraft that landed on the moon July 20, 1969. A terrible explosion occured at the Amuay oil refinery near Punto Fijo, Venezuela. The short story…
It’s perhaps my favourite time of year – sunny late summer. Today I spent a few hours in the garden, cleaning, pruning and weeding. In fact I was already thinking about various activities coming up in the fall, and realizing that I have to start the fall clean-up now. I was also thinking about how I…
Last week we held a 90th birthday party for my mother. Just family, but I have never entertained 20 people at my house before. My 3 siblings came from Toronto and Halifax, along with 10 of our 12 children (Mom’s grandchildren), plus a few spouses and significant others, the first great-grandchild, and 2 dogs. The…
Seeing Clarely 