toffeereflection

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?”

Giant

From the “Blessed Shiver” prompt from the Isolation Journals, I am encouraged to write about one of my earliest memories in vivid detail. There are a few memories from the age of three or four….decades before starting kindergarten! I was the middle child of four siblings: my older brother, and younger twins were the onesContinue reading “Giant”

Notes to self….

I joke often that I still feel like I’m 18 years old. At 18 I was very shy, although learning to talk to people one-on-one in normal conversation. Yet, in front of the classroom (I was a substitute band teacher back in the days when all you needed was the skills and not the papers)Continue reading “Notes to self….”

remember to breathe

Last year, before the pandemic shut down our choir rehearsals, another choir director prepared special buttons for each of our singers. We had some leftover, which I happily kept. Children love to receive gifts, no matter how small, and these ones seemed quite special. The button that I kept reads “remember to breathe”. It isContinue reading “remember to breathe”

What? How?

The Isolation Journals prompt that I am using today is from poet Victoria Redel. She challenges us to write poem or prose using words with only one syllable. How much can I write in 10 minutes with that limitation? We’ll see: This morn we woke upstars and moon still high in the skymy dog andContinue reading “What? How?”

Blessings

Eleven years ago my children decided that a puppy would help improve my life. My late husband’s best friend was probably the one who encouraged that thought, knowing that I was lonely and lost. When Toffee came into my life, he was 3 months old, and so very cute. I was told that I couldContinue reading “Blessings”

Ten Images

Here are just 10 images from the past 24 hours. Thank you to Ash Parsons, via the Isolation Journals. the drip coffee waking me up enough to answer messages from my brother the Canada goose pretending to be a swan decoy in the pool the crisp, cool air at 6 a.m. the delicious aroma escapingContinue reading “Ten Images”