There was a sharp glint of pink in the universe, northern lights crackled in the night sky. There was a deep crack and rolling rumble, a seismic icy shift, and a quiet shaking that formed a crack in the mountainous block of ice, the glacier, the glacier that is me, the mother of you, when you moved away. My … Continue reading Calving Season
Family
Red Sun in Morning
I type in the dark, fingers missing keys, as my daughter sleeps in a shadowy futon couch bed in the corner of my study; a grown woman planning her big move to the west coast of the United States. Today she turns 21. The first fall without my Mom. She has passed away. Passe Compose. … Continue reading Red Sun in Morning
Mama – Last Word
I made one more trip to see mom before she died. I went straight down to see her and was dismayed to see how lifeless she was. She had not been sitting up for a few days, and she had stopped eating. I knew that, and I knew what was happening, and I knew why … Continue reading Mama – Last Word
Mama
My mom’s dying is so gradual that I feel like I am watching a tree return to the earth. She hardly moves now, and Parkinson’s is stealing her voice and her expressions, just as she feared. But if I sit beside her and look into her eyes I know what she is thinking. Her eyes … Continue reading Mama
There is always time to dream, write and paint
My sister and I home schooled our kids, hardcore. We did not hesitate to leave behind the current public school curriculum and grade testing. We taught our kids to read, think, play and explore without anyone telling us how to do it. Although our Mom never home schooled I think that our confidence in taking over the education … Continue reading There is always time to dream, write and paint
Mama is Preparing to Leave this World
Every time I return from Toronto I know that these trips will be over soon. After my dad and his wife died I never went back to Victoria. The home, the chairs sitting in the sun, the desk with the photos, the box of tea, the couch where I crashed, were gone. Those very things … Continue reading Mama is Preparing to Leave this World
Tiny Moments of Reflection
In many tiny moments I think about life and death. If I am carefully pouring sugar water into a small glass bottle for hummingbirds, I think about my Dad and how he would have done this, when he was alive. How my Dad would have enjoyed my bird feeders, and laughed with me about the … Continue reading Tiny Moments of Reflection
Mom and the Old Bitch Above
There was a time in my youth when I wished my Mom was dead. As soon as I wished it I realized that it was a terrible solution. I knew that my Mom drove me crazy in various ways but it was certainly not fair to request her death in order to set me free … Continue reading Mom and the Old Bitch Above
A Cuppa
My friend looked at me with an expression of dismay, “Well”, she said, “I don’t know what to do now”. I was at a loss too. Her husband was lying dead on the driveway with my favorite scarf jammed between the ice and his grey hair. He … Continue reading A Cuppa
The Long Form Census and Moi
Part of me wanted to defend myself, ‘but I only just lost my job last spring, and I may get a new job soon, I am waiting to hear…’ But another part of me wanted to throw her tiny ass out in the snow so I just looked at her. “Have you worked for the government for long”, I asked.
Notes from a Sinking Isthmus 