toffeereflection

Challenging masks

Yesterday evening I played at the first in-person service since March 2020. At this particular church the congregation have a strong faith in healing; firmly believing that God’s love heals. I am hired to provide piano and organ music on Wednesday evenings. For the first year of the pandemic the music for their Zoom servicesContinue reading “Challenging masks”

Home

The question was making it’s way around Facebook not long ago — “how many different homes have you lived in?” I ran out of patience to answer that question, but today I decided to attempt an answer. There was the first house where we lived until I was 6 years old. I remember the backyardContinue reading “Home”

Living on the edge

I was minding my own business, standing across the street, listening to a jazz concert in the local church parking lot. It was a nice change from staying home all alone. A man came and stood not far from me during the last song of the afternoon and asked me some questions about the event.Continue reading “Living on the edge”

memories of Toffee

My little protector is gone. People can ring my doorbell or knock on the door and nobody barks. It’s just quiet…so quiet. My neighbour whose two children have studied with me for several years let me know how sad they all are that Toffee is gone. Her son, when he started lessons with me wasContinue reading “memories of Toffee”

Goodbye to Toffee

Today I said goodbye to my companion of over 11 years. Toffee was a gift to me, discovered by my children, to help me cope with the death of my husband, Michael. It is hard to believe how attached one can become to an animal, even a person like me who was never very fondContinue reading “Goodbye to Toffee”

Emile

Today is Emile’s birthday. He was my stepson, the very beloved son of Michael. Emile died in October, 2014. His father, Michael died in February 2010. I will probably never know or understand what made Emile give up on life. His father died of a brain tumour. They were close, though not overly close. IContinue reading “Emile”

Reflecting on the past

This morning I met a friend at a coffee shop, and we sat outside enjoying a conversation over morning coffee. Before the pandemic started this was a regular occurrence, but in the past year we have only tried 2 or 3 times. Both of us are very concerned about our own, and each other’s healthContinue reading “Reflecting on the past”

Music as an escape

This morning I watched a film that was shared in a Facebook group which I was invited to join. The group was formed recently because of our local school district’s plan to axe the elementary and middle school music programs because of money problems. I won’t go into the details, or even my opinion ofContinue reading “Music as an escape”

Hiding behind a mask

When life gets busy, journalling is the first activity to get put on the shelf. This probably should not be the case, but it happens. Yesterday Toffee and I were out for a mid-afternoon walk, and while heading home and gentleman in shorts stopped to look at Toffee. Usually I don’t let Toffee approachContinue reading “Hiding behind a mask”

Drunk Tanks

I was reading a news article about a man who died in police custody. They were discussing the future of drunk tanks. This got me thinking back to the time I was in a drunk tank. That was about 17 years ago, or so. One of my daughters wanted to change her surname back fromContinue reading “Drunk Tanks”