I'll never forget the "Holy Room" in my childhood house. We didn't call it that, but that's how it got treated. Although holy means sacred and consecrated, it also means set apart and separate from common use. This is the definition that … Read more
Communication is an art — and difficult to master. Life is never easy when parents lose an infant or a young child. Though I've never said it myself, I've been in the presence of others who said to grieving parents, "God just wanted … Read more
Long ago, a Thanksgiving Day was gloriously decorated with shades of autumn colours. It had been a busy day in my restaurant 200 kilometres (125 miles) north of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on the Trans-Canada Highway. There was a break with … Read more
In many parts of the world at this time of year, the leaves on the trees turn shades of orange and red. One of my favourite memories of Thanksgiving is of a friend and I driving to her cottage on Oxtongue Lake, near Algonquin Park in … Read more
On the afternoon and evening of September 29th, we had a violent storm here in southern Ontario, Canada. Early in the afternoon, the branches on the trees in front of our house started to whip around. As time progressed, the wind became … Read more
Throughout our married years, as times and people came and went, our Thanksgivings consisted of hosting parents, relatives, friends, university students, and then, our adult children and little grandkids. However, as time moved on, … Read more
Tragic events that have occurred over the past few weeks have had an emotional impact upon us. Hurricanes and floods, mass murder and terrorism, and even the deaths of music icons like Tom Petty, have severely dented the well-being and … Read more
As I turned off my television last Saturday night, I was nearly in tears. I had been watching the closing ceremony of the Invictus Games, held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, last week. Wounded veterans from 17 countries, 550 of them, many … Read more
This past summer, friends of ours flew in unexpectedly to nearby Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for a holiday. By the time that we had found out about their visit, they had already rented bicycles and cycled all around the lengthy … Read more