There Was a Time

Equal opportunity seldom 

equates to equal capabilities 

in some minds. In the last 

few days, writing about 

epilepsy, scoliosis, and my 

career in nursing, I know that 

there was a time when such 

chronic conditions and a 

career were never in the same 

sentence. Never even hoped for. Merely stay at home, stay 

quiet and read. It may only have been 

a wisp of a dream. But as society 

changed, so did the rigid policies 

of the day. And they can return to 

such a past. For any of us who 

have diverse minds or bodies to 

develop, I hope we keep moving 

forward. ~ p.s.: it so happens that 

besides my career and my activities, 

I enjoy staying at home for maybe 

a day, maybe two in the cold winter, 

in the quiet while reading a mystery 

novel and I do love a good walk in 

the snow! In the meantime, I will 

keep on living life’s opportunities

“All things are difficult before they are easy.”

~ Thomas Fuller

Rabbit Ears

Intimidated by news reports and talking heads, I am certain the worst will happen. I won’t go into that story I tell myself because it is an unknown 

future. Sitting in the bus shelter this afternoon, the sun shone through the plexiglass, warming me on a cold day. The sky, a fine baby blue, was 

decorated with thin cloud that mimicked the scarves that most of us wore. Of course there were those brave, or maybe just goofy, souls 

that walked, jackets open to the light wind. One young woman, toe touched 

the pristine snow twice to make rabbit 

ears with her boots. She smiled at 

the effect and moved off to sculpt 

another pair. It’s not easy to push 

intimation aside, until someone 

makes rabbit ears in the snow.

“Don’t be intimidated by what you don’t know. That can be your greatest 

strength and ensure that you do things differently from everyone else.

~ Sara Blakely

The Gift

Leaning into the winds of change, my balance threatens to be lost. But no, it is a threat without a promise. My promise is the gift of my 

own balance causing me to step back, to breathe deeply and know that I am here, now, not flying about in the tornado of chaos like an old chair, or roof torn from a barn. 

Here all is quiet and good, even the glittering 

snow that fills cracks and crevices everywhere. 

Today I lean into my own home, and make plans for tomorrow and tomorrow; grateful for all that I have and all that I am.

“I know myself a mortal, and my share in what 

the morrow brings not more than thine.”

~ Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus

Morning's Introduction

Victoria, BC, December, 2015

Introducing myself to 

each morning wakens me 

to a longing for life. 

A longing that can only be 

fulfilled one sleepy step 

at a time, until I pull 

back my drapes to see 

a world of snow softening 

trees and roof tops. 

Beautiful life is real and 

lifts me to smile and feel 

morning’s introduction.

“Each morning, we are born again. 

What we do today is what matters most.”

~ Buddha

A Good Photo Op

Sliding into home base. I did 

want more than this cliché, 

a tired old phrase suggesting 

summer time and baseball. It 

snowed today. Snow on snow 

on snow. When I started out, 

it almost felt lovely and calm, 

but when I turned the corner, 

the icy wind blew its cold breath

in my ear. I pulled my hat over  

my forehead, and hunched into 

my heavy gold coat. On my way 

home, my multicoloured scarf,

up around my face and the wind 

in my back, I could barely see the 

city street. I’m used to seeing hoar 

frost on the trees, but the hoar frost

I saw on a little spindly bush looked 

out of place. Never able to resist 

what might be a good photo op, 

I bared my hands and cell phone 

camera to the icy day. It was a 

perfect mating of nature and the 

convenience of human kind ~ 

the little tree, in its dormancy, 

had grown beside a dryer vent 

and was coated with the hot moist 

air ~ scented crystals to pique my 

curiosity on this cold February day. 

“Curiosity is lying in wait for every secret.”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Using Time Wisely

Entering and stepping into 

the real world of home and 

hearth can be a pretty big 

challenge! But there is no 

challenge unless I count the 

kitchen’s junk drawer or the 

pile of tax documents, perhaps 

the latest snow fall. Manageable 

things for today and tomorrow, 

so isn’t it really the annoying 

maxim called ‘Using Time Wisely’?

The chaos of the larger world 

continues while home is restored 

to order; doing what is possible

including a good read, a cup of 

tea and musical interludes ~

and a quick look into the chaos 

of the larger world for hints of

things one can do to effect 

some relief for me and thee.

“It is the time you have wasted for your 

rose that makes your rose so important.”

~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

Pancakes and Maple Syrup

Ready for whatever comes, 

I know that today 

is ready, and as yesterday, 

it was food prep day. 

I did watch some news, but only so much. Always leaves me with more questions than answers, lumps great scoops 

of anxiety on my plate like 

it was a celebration dinner 

with all the trimmings. 

Anxiety doesn’t fit well 

in my life any more than 

an itchy wool sweater. Today, 

I made pancakes and granola, 

thanking the dishwasher gods for 

their help. There were so many pots 

and pans between yesterday and today. 

The TV news did not even mention all 

of my work. Disappointing but I suppose 

it’s none of their business and 

not high flying enough. I’m sure 

they would have enjoyed a big 

plate of pancakes and maple syrup. 

“Man is not worried by real problems so much as 

by his imagined anxieties about real problems.”

~ Epictetus