My dentist’s assistant asked me if I’d be able to tolerate a minute with trays of impression material in my mouth. I told her I would view it as I did labor, it’s only 60 seconds of my life. Actually labor was 10 to 21 hours of my life depending upon which instance, but that’s…

This summer our home will have been visited by Lena, Elina, Elena, Ellen and Lynn. Say that three times fast. Add me, Li, to that front of the mix and you have a mouthful. In high school Mari’s (pronounced Mahri’s) foursome was Mari, Mary, Sara and Amara. And at work, we’ve had two Cheryls, two…

In my younger years I was one of those sun reflector, baby oil and iodine sun worshipers. Now I’m paying for it. Recently I had nine moles removed with more in my future. All were OK, but I feel like Swiss Cheese. The subject matter for the mini-columns I write in our local paper often…

OK, I was going to write about how spectacular it is to live in British Columbia when the sun shines, but my children have hijacked this post. So, how do you sing the song? Is it an Eeensy Weensy Spider or is it an Itsy Bitsy One? I won’t even include the option of that…

Last night we met a couple who erroneously identified Ms. Grace as a Westie, not a Scottie, an identity error, in my husband’s family, akin to confusing a Dane for a Swede. No biggie, as far as I’m concerned. However, their Westie story beat any Scottie dog tales I could ever tell you. So, here…

Once upon a time, new neighbours moved into the house next door. They were two men and their older mom, relatively new to Canada, buying their first house. Twice, Chuck observed them struggling to cut their grass with a weedeater. Being the nice neighbour that he is, every time Chuck mowed our lawn, he took…

OK, boomers, do you remember those sewing cards – cardboard pictures that came with a shoe lace type string that you wove in and out of little holes that outline the shape on the card?. I just saw them advertised as "old-fashioned" sewing cards. Yikes, how did I get to be this old? How about…

"Bushtits are seldom parasitized by Brown-headed Cowbirds." That sentence from the bird book sent us into peals of laughter this evening. I love when summer visitors start arriving and we eat on the deck and our silliness can be heard for miles. Takes my mind off the ten stitches in my shoulder where the "it’s…

Have you ever seen something that is so foreign to you, so incomprehensible you look twice to check its existance? And then you look again just in case it was the MSG or maybe the wrong kind of mushrooms in dinner’s chop suey. Consider these. Excuse me, butt pads? In my family we are afflicted…

I believe in God. And I’m certain that "He" has very little control over a world that we mortals have influenced to the point of tragedy, illness and misfortune. I’m not going to get into the details of my kind of faith, but I know this to be true. Why? Because, as we have heard…