Sunday, August 17, 2025

Authors in the Park, Sunday August 25th, 2025

 A writing prompt this week posed the question, "What would you do if you weren't afraid?" This was the encouragement I needed to contact the organizer of next Sunday's event and ask if I could set up a table. And bring my books. "Yes indeed," was Bill King's gracious reply. Hmm, being brave is a good thing.


Wednesday, August 13, 2025

The value of teachers

As a retired educator, I know the value of a good teacher as well as the back-to-school jitters that arrive when the calendar flips to August. Because September is next.

I'm learning the value of a good WRITING teacher and have signed up for another course with Brian Henry of Quick Brown Fox. Click here for an essay about a long-ago argument with my sisters called, you guessed it, Arguing. After you read it, check out the navigation bar at the top of Brian's blog for information about upcoming courses and retreats.

You're welcome. 




Sunday, July 27, 2025

On the shelves and ready to be put on hold!


The Hamilton Public Library shines a much-appreciated light on local writers; you can't get more local than my recent collection of essays. It was written 650 m. from my local branch. Yup, I checked on the map! Sitting next to Gary Barwin and Paul Berton is a bonus.






Monday, June 9, 2025

Not a prize-winning entry...

 "If you never win and are indifferent to losing, all that's left is playing the game,"  was my In the Shade: Friendship, Loss, and the Bruce Trail observation concerning high school athletics. Apparently the same is true for literary competitions! An acrostic challenge required contestants to begin with "X-rays cannot show" before proceeding backwards through the alphabet and finishing with a sentence that started with Y. No prize, but a good work-out for my brain! 

X-rays cannot show if I need to move up a size or if thick socks, perhaps two pairs of thin ones, will provide a comfortable fit. When I was a child, the shoe-fitting fluoroscope at Eames Department Store took away the guess work. Viewing ports allowed the salesclerk, my mother, and me to see how much wiggle room there was at the tips of the leather T-straps that were under consideration and on sale. Unless I had an unusual growth spurt, the shoes were expected to last for a full year of walking to school, trudging to piano lessons, and racing around the neighbourhood on my bike. 

The fit mattered, and it matters even more now that I’m, well, getting old. Shoes need to be flat instead of flattering which leaves my suede pumps and kitten heels sitting in storage boxes on a closet shelf, awaiting their fate. Rarely worn, they are remnants of a professional and social life that led me to the podium at conferences, to the dancefloor at weddings, but also to the bursitis that’s causing the joints in my left foot to swell.

Quite a few in my demographic share my concern which explains why Skechers, the multinational built on cushioned insoles, reached $8 billion in sales last year. Profits are soaring thanks to a design that eliminates the need to bend down or use a long-handled shoehorn. Only one in my circle of friends persists with stilettos and slingbacks. None of us thought we’d be wearing the runners once purchased for aerobics classes everywhere else, but here we are. Matinees, medical appointments, and meeting grandkids after school create a schedule that varies but footwear that doesn’t.

Listening to the millennials, you’d think no one had given birth or negotiated with a toddler before they did. Kind of like me when it comes to aging. Judicious insights were available from my mother, my mother-in-law, my second cousin once removed. I never asked. How did I not see their disappointment when wrapped parcels contained Velcro-tab slippers? Gifts like this proved we had not been paying attention. Feet were the least of their worries. Each of them was navigating a riptide of loss when partners died, homes were sold, and drivers’ licenses taken away.

Dusting off and donating shoes is straightforward by comparison. Cold temperatures and icy sidewalks offer an excuse to wait another week before loading boxes into my trunk, dropping them off at a thrift shop. Bye-bye midlife as well as any sense of style I ever had.

A salesclerk checks the soles before assigning a price. Zones within the store help shoppers find what they need: Clothing, Electronics, Books. Yet when she places my shoes in Vintage, it’s unsettling because the category that once implied old-fashioned and out-of-date now, apparently, includes me.  

Wednesday, May 21, 2025

The library has my back...

Libraries and independent bookstores are a huge boost to writers like me. Thanks, Hamilton Public Library, for ordering eight copies of my new collection for your shelves! Readers will notice that the first essay, Borrowing, is a love letter to librarians.

Thursday, February 27, 2025

This piece began as an essay. Then I went on a writing retreat with Brian Henry who's a writer + teacher + editor + encourager + builder of literary community. He suggested I keep the beets but add an angry fictional character and submit it to CommuterLit. He though it would take 2-3 hours from my draft to final product (it did not), but it's now done and finding its way in the world of online publications. 

Monday, January 27, 2025

Essay seven, Dog Days, in this collection includes some lines about Blossom's arrival. My mother died. My career wound down. "This would be manageable," I muttered through the loops of the afghan pulled over my head, "if I had a dog." Like the wooden stools designed for children, four-legged companions keep me from wobbling too. The clear-cut needs of a dog provide balance to the complexity of human relationships. Being greeted with enthusiasm and affection is a bonus. An absence of five minutes or five days, the welcome's the same.

Yeah, and now she's gone. Another essay about her, Stitching, was written after the book was published. If you are a dog person, or trying to understand the dog person in your life, it's available for the asking.

I'm also revisiting and revising the loss playlist posted on my  In the Shade blog. If you are in need of comfort, you may find it one of those tender melodies.