One of the great things about keeping a blog is looking back over the year to see what happened.  In general, I can hardly remember what happened last week, let alone last January, so it’s kind of fun to look back and see what was going on for 2011.  What happened in the Boyhouse?  Here’s […]

Every November, I wear a red poppy.  I believe in peace, I believe in diplomacy, but I also believe that the world and its problems are coloured in shades of grey, and so I do not wear a white poppy. I am a peaceful person.  I believe that I promote peace, understanding, and compassion in […]

Tomorrow is the boys’ soccer tournament – Super! Soccer! Saturday! – and I am completely unenthusiastic about it.  It looks like it is going to be freakishly cold, and most likely raining, as it has been for most of this week.  The rain did not dampen the spirits of a teenage couple who were walking […]

Last Wednesday Mark got the all-clear from the doctor: no more pneumonia!  The second round of antibiotics worked, happily.  Sadly, less than two days later he caught his brother’s minor cold, and Friday night I lay awake, listening to him cough relentlessly.  Each thing I did for him – propping him up with pillows, giving him […]

My grandpa passed away Friday night.  He was 96, and ill, and so it was not surprising or even, to me, particularly sad.  I was thankful that we had visited with him a few months ago, prior to his foray into the hospital and nursing home, while he was still at home and still able […]

Remembrance Day, to me, conjures up images of the World Wars.  I think about mothers, like me, with sons who were drafted and never came home and with sons who were drafted and did come home, scarred.  I think about the elderly veterans who have seen and experienced unimaginable things, and I think about their […]

On Thursday I was talking to a friend, and we noted all the kids missing and sick at the school.  “There sure is a lot going around,” I said to her, “I just hope if we get it, we get it right away and get over it before the book fair.”  That very night, Mark […]