toffeereflection

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”

Dead Wrong

This morning I decided to try to move out of my shell a bit, and joined in on the Hatch, a monthly virtual coffee hour for those who support the Isolation Journals. What I didn’t realize was that when we are encouraged to write it’s difficult to get started. So, I looked at one ofContinue reading “Dead Wrong”

Tired

I’m tired. Not just physically exhausted, but mentally and emotionally tired. Toffee tries hard to keep me going…he gets me up between 4 and 5 every morning just to get a head start on the day. But I had 3 late nights in a row, either because of meetings or participating in webinars. A bigContinue reading “Tired”

Patience

Let me tell you about my first father-in-law. (yes I have been married more than once.) Skinny, the literal translation of his name, was a very spiritual man. Everywhere he went, every day of the year he would tell people about God’s love for us. He was kind and patient. His patience is what IContinue reading “Patience”

Thin Places — St John the Divine in NYC

It was back in 2010. My husband, Michael had recently died following a valiant battle with a brain tumour. My youngest daughter was singing with a small choir and I was invited to travel with them as their collaborative pianist on their tour to New York City. My daughter was excited that I could spendContinue reading “Thin Places — St John the Divine in NYC”

Daily?

I just looked again at the sub-title of this blog site. “Daily reflections on life”. The word “daily” isn’t absolutely true, since I seem to find so many other things that get in the way of sitting down for 10 minutes every morning to write. Sometimes it is the rush of getting ready to headContinue reading “Daily?”