We celebrated my daughter’s Sweet Sixteen birthday with a weekend in New York City for just the two of us. One plan of many, squeezed into a short 48 hours, was to grab a cup of coffee and have breakfast near (instead of at) Tiffany’s. We got rained out, though. The rain poured down in buckets, pounding at our umbrellas as we waded down the street to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Around us, those that didn’t have umbrellas ran for cover. Looking at someone splashing by us, my daughter said, “Mom, do you know you get wetter running through the rain than just walking?”

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What polar bears and mammoths share with us…

We all have the tendency to express anger about certain things. Some things just push our ‘buttons’, making us want to react with angry words or outbursts of loud and aggressive behaviour. This anger usually feels justified. It feels as if we have the ‘right’ to be angry about whatever it is that has triggered our anger. And it also feels as if taking a ‘stand’ on the issue will solve whatever the problem is.

I saw this from an interesting perspective this week.
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Becoming Familiar with the Transition of Dying…

I was asked recently by a friend to start writing about being a ’midwife’ for the life transition of death. That almost sounds impossible to imagine… ”The life transition of death.” How is death a part of life?

Really, it is a completely natural progression of thought…we live, therefore we die.
Death is possible as the completion of the harmonious cycle, which is life. Life and death exist because of one another. Each fulfills the experience of the other. (more…)

Well, that last year whipped by so quickly that it just about gave me whiplash!

It was a tough year. We had some personal health challenges and lost dear, close friends, both of whom were only in their late 40’s and early 50’s. One loss was quite unexpected and left us feeling bereft, reeling from the shock. (more…)

So this trip with my mother, I had no idea what to expect. We have not traveled together alone for many years…almost 25 years, although she has been to visit me wherever I’ve resided.

I know for a fact that she does what she can living alone. She used to do her daily routine of a Chinese Form called “Luk Toong Kuen”, but has since only committed herself to certain parts of the form. She had intergrated her Seniors Aerobics with her morning workout and continues with the Senior Aerobics three times a week. (more…)

My mother and I are traveling along the Amalfi coast, taking in its breathtaking beauty. So much history in this area of Napoli (Naples).

Never in my life have I had to do so much translating for my mother. Not only is she hard of hearing but when English is a second language, that surely does not help matters. (more…)

I have a new food passion – Edamame! For someone who loves Japanese food, I didn’t even know they existed until recently, when I tried some at my cousin’s house.

It was love at first taste. (more…)

How many times have you heard it? Or, for that matter, how many times have you said it? “I’m so busy that I can hardly find time in the day to do anything I really want to do.”

Well, I’m guilty – I say that all the time. “I’m so busy…I’m so busy…I’m so busy….” For goodness sake, it’s turning into my mantra! (more…)

How funny that lately my flow of thought continues to be about balance.

This whole month of July has just swept by, filled with the illusions of life that surrounded every situation and moment. The illusions have flowed like dreams, from one scenario to another. Like a river as the water trips and falls over stones and boulders, never knowing where it is going to end up. That was my month of July. (more…)

My husband surprised me the other day by buying me a brand new digital camera for our anniversary. I’d been bleating at him for ages about getting a “proper” camera rather than a “point-and-shoot” as I’ve always had an interest in photography but find the basic digital ones limited n what they can do. (more…)