Category: Community
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A Reasonable Expectation of Undisturbed Rest
[pullquote]I am awake, but ’tis not time to rise, neither have I slept enough…I am awake, yet not in paine, anguish or feare, as thousands are. ~ 17th Century religious meditation for the dead of night[/pullquote] With winter darkness falling at 5:00pm, I’m lucky to remain vertically upright until nine. After a hard day’s labour,… Read more
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Present Imperfect
Just after midnight I get out of bed, double-check the calendar, and put the bag on the dining room table. At 5:45am, I search for light and hope I’m not late. My slippers flip-flop on the path in the pitch black. I ring the doorbell, a vision in robe and FrankenHair. Happy birthday to you,… Read more
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Geocache: Piccola Casa Curiosa
Update: The Casa is now a geocache at www.geocaching.com (and getting great traffic!) ********** We’ve been calling this piece of interactive art-in-progress the GiveOneGetOneBox. But knowing firsthand how search engines perv up any title that might possibly have something to do with naked women and intercourse, I’ve officially changed the name. Call it what you will. For… Read more
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The Invisible Man and His Dog
I hadn’t thought about him for years, the old man with the three-legged dog. That summer I laid interlock and dug beds in my front yard I saw him regularly. He always walked north to south, across the bridge towards the general store, and back again. I mentally catalogued the possibilities of where he might live… Read more
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Roundabout Paradise
I knew it couldn’t last. A profusion of gorgeous wildflowers in a roundabout is just too attractive to a municipal weed whacker. Read more
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Welcome to Quintland
UPDATE: August 5, 2018: Annette visited her birth house in North Bay today. Cecile was supposed to join her but cancelled due to health reasons. The story is here. UPDATE: As of November 19th, 2017, the birth house and museum of the Dionne Quintuplets has been moved to the North Bay waterfront, installed on Oak… Read more
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Easter Karma
[pullquote]The quality of others’ lives have a direct impact on our well-being; the energy of generosity, as an antidote to acquisitiveness, establishes the reciprocal loop of happiness that occurs when we take others into account while making choices. ~ Michael Stone, Yoga for a World Out of Balance[/pullquote] I sit in a chair, in the… Read more
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The Best Place on Earth
The more I travel across this country – and abroad for that matter – the more I am dumbfounded by the human ability to choose just one place to call home. There are a hundred magical villages, towns, cities and regions that strike a frisson of excitement in my gut, triggering the feeling that “I… Read more
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The Paddler
Yesterday afternoon I went for a walk in a torrential downpour and returned home with a kayaker from Florida. Karen has been travelling, paddling and visiting up here since late June. She completed sections of the Trent-Severn Waterway then discovered the Rideau Canal. She parked her car in Ottawa and caught a train back to Kingston,… Read more
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Celebrating Happiness
It seems the entire population came out for the annual summer celebration of village life in Noyers. I took the little ones home around midnight and my eldest wandered in around 1:00am. Apparently there was still a crowd of people in the square until 3:00am, when they shifted to the local after-party. Getting together en… Read more