Retirement Musings and Everyday Delights
As some of you might know, I'm not a big fan of winter. To say the least. I have to admit, though, that on days like today, when the sun is shining, the sky is blue, and everything is covered in a thick layer of snow, it's quite beautiful. I just prefer to admire that … Continue reading Passing the time with donkeys and raptors
Good morning Funchal! I'll admit I had to look up Madeira on a map before we left Canada. I knew it was a Portuguese island, but I didn't know where it was. It's geographically closer to Morocco than it is to Portugal, and has pleasant weather year round. It was 19 or 20 degrees during … Continue reading Sisters in Madeira
When I read about the top five regrets of the dying, the one that surprised me the most was not keeping in touch with friends. If you ask people what matters in life, most would put friends and family near the top of the list, but life gets busy and we don't always invest our … Continue reading Friends for a reason, a season or a lifetime
Of the ~13,000 people who live in Brighton, Ray and I know a couple hundred at most, but the frequency with which we run into those people seems disproportionate to the percentage of the population they make up. I think that's partly because people who get out and do things, tend to do a lot … Continue reading Networking in Retirement
Nick successfully defended his masters thesis, and he and Megan have signed a lease for an apartment in Kitsilano, Vancouver, taking possession on November 15th. Big life changes ahead for them. They're very excited, and I'm excited for them, even though I'll miss having them close by. It came as no surprise that they decided … Continue reading Let’s Go Blue Jays, Let’s Go!
In my last post, I wrote about a book where the main character was a death doula. That book was fiction, but The Top Five Regrets of the Dying is written by someone who spent many years working in palliative care. She found that at the end of their lives, people most regretted that they: … Continue reading Autumn Reflections
People often ask how I decide what to write about in my blog posts, and it's really just whatever is rattling around in my brain when I sit down to write. Sometimes a theme presents itself by showing up repeatedly in my life. That's what's happened recently with the topic of death. We had a … Continue reading Let’s Talk About Death (plus Nick’s Norwegian Adventures, part 2)
Ray spent a few days kayaking-cycling-birding-camping near the Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory. It's migratory season for the warblers and he was lucky enough to see a few being tagged. And, when Ray's away, sisters get to play. When he got back, we spent a weekend pet sitting for a friend who has a lovely … Continue reading Warblers, Mountains and Fjords
September is a mixed month. It has some of the best weather of the year, but it's hard to separate that from the sense of foreboding about what comes next. You see the leaves change colour, and you think, "I'm not ready yet! Spring and summer went by too fast!" You have to keep reminding … Continue reading In the September of Our Lives
When I was in my teens, I read a book about a girl who had selective mutism and I've had a fascination with it ever since. It's why I wanted to become a teacher of special-needs kids (that didn't happen). Fifteen years into my career with the federal government, I contacted an expert on selective … Continue reading Are you shy, or just an introvert?
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