Sally Philipsen, Portrait of an old woman dressed in mourning, 1900, Denmark Well then, I’ve had one of those summers. It has rained constantly and the rain washed away many of my garden seeds. I considered building an ark. My neighbour across the street put up a huge political flag. Really?? And to top it […]

Hanging out in the woods with the fungi! I bet you love my outfit. There are many places I happily love to hang out. Some, like Paris, or New York, I only get to visit every few years (heavy sigh), but thankfully, there are others that easily fit into my life without having to buy […]

I just love watering my plants while wearing a long skirt, long-sleeved blouse, and a tie. Oh! And a chignon. It’s been a longggggggggggg wait for spring to arrive in Canada. Because as much as I’d like to plant my garden in early May? I have to wait for the snow to melt first and […]

If you look closely? Everyone is laughing! Maybe it caught my eye because my parents were pig farmers many years ago. Or maybe it’s because I once attended a wedding that was interrupted by a bat swooping at the bride and divebombing the guests throughout the ceremony whenever the organist played (the only thing I […]

Girl Eating Porridge by William Adolphe Bouguereau, 1874. Will oatmeal give me her youthful glow? I was procrastinating about writing (don’t judge – we all do it) and so I decided to shovel the snow off the sidewalks instead. As much as I love watching a blizzard? The shovelling is a bugger and yet, also […]

Written by Tracy Giles, Canada The ocean was still and flat like a scrying mirror with nothing to tell. The air was wantonly warm, tickling, tingling; and the sky was a deep swimming pool sapphire, unblemished by a single cloud. But there – a ripple, a break – the head of a seal, smooth, black-eyed […]

Written by Kate Hensher, Italy The hospital bed, oversized and incongruous amidst the junk shop finds of my mother’s, dominates her narrow living room (the irony of living, not lost). I don’t know how she does it. Even with this ugly piece of metal that lifts and lowers, and promises her comfort, she’s still squeezed […]

Babette’s Feast is imprinted on my heart forever. I was in my early 20s and it was going to be a cold winter weekend with a blizzard of snow and howling wind. The kind of weekend where you happily leave the world outside and hunker down with books, apples, a cozy blanket, soup on the […]