Month: January 2004

Lois Sweet's highly recommended new book, "Writing with Spirit", says all there is to say about writing. It covers everything from researching and interviewing to grammar and ethics, time management and selling. I can skim the text and choose … Read more

When travelling in southern New Zealand near Dunedin, my husband and I went to see the royal albatross colony. These rare birds make their home on a rocky cliff at Taiaroa Head. According to the guidebook, it is "the only … Read more

When I first moved to Thomasville as a young woman, I was extended an invitation to join the Junior Woman's Club. I was so excited. The invitation meant that my peers had accepted me as a social equal. I now … Read more

In 1994, I had brain surgery to remove an arterial venial malformation (AVM) that doctors told me had probably been there since birth. The surgery caused me to have many of the symptoms of a massive stroke, including loss of … Read more

Part of my childhood involved several moves in order for my father to find work. After one particular move, I remember telling my cat, Trail, how much I missed my friends and my other home. Once, we moved into an … Read more

I have never been the athletic type who could control the physical body. In my senior yearbook, I was labelled "bookworm of the class". I considered this an honour, because this was where my interest lay. My favourite place in … Read more

There have been times when I have dropped slices of bread into my toaster, and gone on with other preparations, expecting to hear the pop that informs me that the toast is ready, only to realize that, after having used … Read more

We had been talking about forgiveness at our Bible Study, when one lady offered the following thought: "I know God can forgive me, but it's so hard to forgive myself for mistakes I've made." I had known her for some … Read more

I stood in line, waiting, waiting, waiting — waiting, but still no movement. The people in front and behind began to huff and puff, and gradually, they muttered various obscenities and moved off. For some reason I was quite happy … Read more

We faced it the Canadian way, with calm panic! Most of us were not prepared for the great blackout of 2003. We had little or no cash on hand. Because our local convenience store owner needed to be on hand … Read more