Hands, Unedited

Today I had the opportunity to attend a writing circle. This is one of the things I wrote, and resisted the urge to edit, in response to the prompt “hands.” Hands. Handstands. I can’t do a handstand but sometimes I try anyway. It helps if there’s alcohol involved. In a hostel room in New Zealand […]

Maintain or Create

Today I hit up the East Van Culture Crawl. Each November all throughout Vancouver’s eastside, hundreds of artists and studios open their doors to the public to explore everything from medieval leathercraft to glassblowing to moss art. It is spectacular. I’m always so inspired by other people’s art and creativity. More so than their art […]

Socially Broken

It’s not Covid’s fault, although that certainly didn’t help. I used to be a social planner, a community builder. I would round up my friends to go on adventures, host gatherings organized around board games or wine and cheese and invite everyone I knew, even if they didn’t know each other. There were friendships that […]

Faraway Friends

Last weekend was Family Friday for me, and this weekend I’m meeting up with a friend from faraway. I am usually the faraway friend that comes to visit. It’s become so much a thing that I actually warn people now, when they flippantly say “you should come visit,” or “if you’re ever in (town/region/country) you […]

Pandemic Pigeons

You guys, I think I may have unknowingly predicted the Twitter Apocalypse back in 2020. I made a website for fun during the early days of the pandemic when I was doing a coding course called Pandemic Pigeons. In one place it states: “It’s also possible that the technology we rely on to communicate could […]

Choose Laughter

I went to a funeral today. My great uncle passed away a few days ago and the family gathered to remember him and celebrate his life. I didn’t know him very well, or have very many memories of him, but as I was getting ready to leave for the service reflecting on just that, a […]

Moving Beyond “Strong Female Lead”

A surprising headline jumped out at me today: “Emily Blunt Rails Against ‘Strong Female Lead’ Label.” Initially I was taken aback… Wait, but why? Strong female leads are what saved me from… needing to be saved. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Xena Warrior Princess, Lara Croft Tomb Raider, the Paper Bag Princess. These strong female characters […]

In Defence of Mondays

I don’t expect this to be a popular post. Mondays have a bad reputation, and for good reason: they herald the death of the weekend’s carefree festivities and the start of a new week of tasks and to-do lists. The first day of the work week, Monday, is notoriously the most-hated day of the week. […]

Wine Sunday

After Family Friday and Caturday I’m rounding off the weekend with the third post in the (short-posts-because-family-time-is-important) trilogy, concluding a full weekend of family festivities. We made the most of the last day, which meant leaving late in the afternoon and chasing the sun. After driving the five+ hours back from the interior through several […]

Caturday

This is Leonardo the Ninja Kitty. Leo for short… he’s retired now but in his day he ruled the neighbourhood with his back-flipping blind-climbing ninja skills. Even in retirement he lives on the edge. Short post today as it’s family weekend and I have to uphold my reputation…