I am rarely, if ever, affected by celebrity deaths. Usually I am surprised, as I frequently think the celebrity in question was already deceased, although sometimes I feel great shock and sadness at the cause of death, such as that of Rob Reiner or Phil Hartman. I was greatly affected by the death of Princess […]
A Baffling Situation
September 21, 2026 by 63 Comments
During our semi-recent trip to Southeast Asia, my husband and I were chatting with some members of our tour group when the topic of travelling with best friends came up. One lovely lady, Helene, gestured to the man beside her. Well, she said, Nick is my best friend. My husband and I exchanged glances, both […]
The Week of My Discontent
September 14, 2026 by 79 Comments
Two weeks ago I received an email from my web host provider with regards to my storage usage, and yes, that sentence IS just as boring as anything could possibly be, but bear with me a moment. The web host was unable to back up my site – this very site that you are looking […]
Random Semi-Related Things
September 7, 2026 by 57 Comments
I Always Feel Like Somebody’s Watching Me After a very busy and productive August, the garden is starting to take its annual September Slow Down. Every single day last month, I spent hours in the garden harvesting berries and vegetables, weeding, and deadheading. I was especially proud of myself for my management of what I […]
Book Talk: Genre, Recommendations, and Finding Time
August 31, 2026 by 82 Comments
What and Why When I was in Grade Five or so, my best friend’s mom imposed a rule on her that she could not take out “junk” books from the library. She was not allowed to read what the rest of us were furtively reading, which were the Sweet Valley High and Cheerleader series, and […]
Nicole’s Favourite Things: The Perimenopause Edition
August 27, 2026 by 73 Comments
It occurred to me recently that Gen X women are the first generation to really talk freely about perimenopause and menopause, just like we were the first generation to talk about the agony and ecstasy of parenting via “mommy blogs.” There were probably some exceptions but it seems to me that our mothers’ generation kept […]
Book Talk: To Finish or Not To Finish
August 24, 2026 by 78 Comments
I remember so clearly the moment it all changed for me. It was December 2022. I closed a book, realizing that I had just wasted several hours of my life that I would never get back again. The book in question took its title from one of my favourite poems by my very favourite poet; […]