Once our children had families of their own, we established a rotation of sorts so that we could have our whole family together every other Christmas. This worked especially well when grandchildren were young and travelling the almost 1000 kilometres between our households was a big undertaking. We did this for several years and then COVID hit and extreme weather hit and airline cancellations hit and to make a long story short we have not been able to get together with our whole family at Christmas for a while. But not for lack of trying… *x#?&* COVID As everyone knows, on the first Christmas in the throes of dealing with…

Never in a million years did I see myself writing about cars and driving, but recent events have had this topic in the forefront of my mind. You see, we are now the proud owners of a new van, not so exciting in and of itself, but the journey to get there was like nothing I ever expected. The Fun Bus Back when our first grandchild arrived we thought purchasing a van might be a good idea so that we would have room for all the grandchildren we thought were sure to come. So we did just that and over the next several years more grandchildren did arrive. As time…

We all face different challenges in our lives, but Big and Little Sis have one in common. That is the challenge of, well quite frankly being 5 ft and 5ft 3" respectively, in a world that is 5ft 5.” Even when we wear heels it doesn’t help, we still can’t reach the top shelf at the Grocery Store.

It is a generally accepted principle that Grandmothers are "the best." (Full Disclosure: I am a Grandmother) But this post isn't about me. It's about our Grandmother, Lena Matilda, better known as Tilly.

Our Dad often signed business memos with his initials H.A.S., hence the title of this post. His handwriting was beautiful and somewhat embellished. In fact, a handwriting expert might predict a strong, decisive personality and that would sum up Dad perfectly. He was very intelligent and our family "Go To" for problem solving. We often said that he knew a little bit about a lot of things. He was also what we would describe as "quirky."

This is a story about a table, yes, a table- the one you see my grandchildren using for their chess game in the picture above. It is a beautiful solid wood table of the kind you don’t see much any more and that you certainly wouldn’t find at IKEA. It first belonged to our parents and after their passing now belongs to me. Before you start wondering what more one can say about a table, the real story here is about what that table represents and the memories that are attached to it. We Bought A House After many years with his company, dad received a promotion which involved a…

Haven’t we all at one time or another felt like our life was a three ring circus? Well, in our house we recently had a three ring circus of a different kind when raccoons decided to set up house in our attic. Yep, that’s right – literally raccoons in the attic, and figuratively too as we tried to figure out what to do. Spring Has Sprung One morning as I was sitting at my desk enjoying the sunshine, I heard a kind of a scratching on the roof and sounds that I thought might be baby birds. I quickly chalked it up to a bird nest on our roof. Kind…

Once upon a time, about 35 years ago, five young mothers each walked their daughter into the first day at Mountainview Preschool. It was a new exciting experience for both Moms and daughters. But little did they know the significance of that day and the ultimate bonds that would be established and nurtured over the coming years. Encouraged by their Moms, the daughters became friends. In the beginning they had play dates (dress up was a favorite), played soccer, went to Brownies and celebrated birthdays together. And the Moms gradually began to know, appreciate and support each other. They chatted at soccer games, before and after Preschool and even became…