Category: Family & Friends
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Leaving Children Home Alone? It’s Complicated.
It makes for a perfect sit-com setup. Eight-year-old Kevin is accidentally left Home Alone when his family heads off on Christmas vacation without him. Funny in the movies, not so funny in reality. As a mother of four, I can attest that life gets a whole lot easier when at least one child reaches that… Read more
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At Home With Mrs. Hen
At home with young kids? This is it exactly. The dishes, laundry, food preparation, bickering and incessant demands rarely stop. I feel your pain. Enough to want to fly the coop… Read more
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Dreaming of Houses And Other Interior Spaces
Last night I dreamed I lived in a house where all the rooms were too small. The bed stuck out of the door into the hallway and the visitors had to climb over the couch to come in the front door. The dream dictonary says that too-small houses are about frustration or feeling like some… Read more
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CurioCabinet: Lord Dundonald’s Servants and Their Pets (1904)
Ottawa, 1904 Credit: William James Topley / Library and Archives Canada / PA-208448 It IS Canada after all…. Read more
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The Farmer By the Side of the Road
It was clear by the tire impressions left in the tall grass that others had stopped at that same place by the side of the road. I’m guessing they stopped for the same reason we did: to ogle the dozen or so brand-spanking new lambs in the farmer’s field. Located just west of Kemptville on… Read more
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Expats: From Neither Here Nor There
Ottawa is known as a government town. It is predominantly middle-class, not obviously flash or sexy. I don’t say these things as a criticism. We chose to live here for the past thirteen years and continue to make that choice for a variety of reasons. But unlike Montreal or Vancouver, with their more obvious charms,… Read more
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More Urban Than You
Last summer we attended a barbecue at a friend’s house in Westboro, Ottawa’s hip neighbourhood filled with yoga studios, coffee houses and Montessori daycares. It was a stunningly gorgeous blue sky day, the spread of food looked amazing, and our kids happily wandered off in search of other kids to play with. I’m generally happy… Read more
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The Consequences of Living With Animals
I don’t know how to say this delicately so I’m just going to say it: my kid has pinworms. Read more
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How Did You Find Your Dream House?
ser·en·dip·i·ty/ˌserənˈdipitē/ Noun: The occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way: “a fortunate stroke of serendipity”. – Merriam-Webster We never did look at another house. We were driving ever so slowly through the tiny rural village when we saw the real estate For Sale sign on the front lawn.… Read more