Christmas in Tortola is a bit surrealistic in that I keep hearing traditional songs like I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas and Jingle Bells in spite of the weather being 25 C. Mind you most of the songs are sung with a Caribbean flair, which makes me want to dance. But I keep looking around for […]
Barrie had a cold when we left NS which Carmen picked up right away and I followed suit after we arrived in Tortola. We hacked our way through the first few days (Barrie referred to us all as the Phlem Family). Our breathing was made worse by a severe case of mould and mildew that […]
Seemed like a long two days en route. But there were some lessons learned along the way (and a few things that struck my funny bone.) 1. Don’t stray further than two feet from your luggage. Sister Carmen went to park her car at the airport in Halifax, Barrie went to find a trolley (dolly?) […]
Little ol’ Yarmouth had national coverage on CBC news recently with the highest recorded water levels (and inland flooding) in recorded history. Not the kind of news we relish. But when 250 ml of rain dumped in less than three days, rivers and lakes shot upwards of 12-15 feet and the force of the sheer […]
I write a lot of stories for magazines–some of them community profiles–and it’s always a struggle to capture the essence of a community mainly because there’s so much to write about and not enough space. That happened recently with the story I wrote titled Only in Pubnico published in Saltscapes Magazine. I dream of having […]
I learned a new word. Spatchcock. As in, “Do you know how to spatchcock a chicken?” Well, I’ve recently been spatchcocking chickens. It sounds a little disgusting, if not downright perverse but I promise you this is all on the up and up. The funny thing is that I’ve been cooking since I was 15 […]
If you ever hear that photographer Freeman Patterson is giving a talk or seminar, go! If means you have to pawn your jewelry, re-mortgage your home or raid your piggy bank to attend, do whatever you have to do. A couple of weekends ago I happened to be in Halifax, NS when serendipity stepped in. […]
Thea Atkinson asked me recently if I’d join her on Facebook and posts some thoughts on writing creative non-fiction a.k.a. literary non-fiction, Lit J and narrative non-fiction. Without thinking, I said “Sure!” but when I actually went to post a few words I realized what a huge, huge topic this is. I wanted to write […]
Nine years ago I got a tattoo. Most people say that getting a tattoo is not really painful. They use words like “aggravation” and “annoyance.” Don’t believe it. It’s more like a cross between a root canal and a D&C. My fingernail imprints are still in the book I tried to read as a diversion. […]
It’s raining sideways today. There are whitecaps on the river (a rare occurrence.) Puts me in mind of our first canoe trip of the year. It was a fine May morning; I was surprised to hear the weatherman forecast rain, wind and thunder. “The weatherman’s made a mistake,” I said to my husband, Barrie, then […]
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