Confession: I recently tried cannabis for the very first time. My back had been in spasm for five days – five days in which I’d levelled up from hot baths and ibuprofen to prescription anti-inflammatories to prescription narcotics, without even the slightest improvement. I had three days more days to go before I could get in to see a therapist, so in desperation, I tried the pot. Why had I waited until I was 40 to…

Continue reading

Here’s a way to confuse yourself on a Saturday. Cross-stitch while playing Gilmore Girls in the background, then do tai chi while watching the latest season of Supernatural. Attempting to reconcile Rory’s boyfriend Dean with Sam Winchester is a good way to bruise your brain.* Then again, maybe it’s not so big a stretch. After all, while Dean was originally from Chicago, he became a small-town guy pretty fast. And the Winchester brothers have always…

Continue reading

I’d like to welcome Jackie Carmichael to the blog today! In addition to being my not-so-evil-stepmother, Jackie is a journalist and a poet and is celebrating the release of her first book. Tweets from the Trenches was inspired by her grandfather’s WWI letters and trench diaries. It’s a potent, emotional gut punch of a book, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in military or Canadian history.  You can meet Jackie on October 22,…

Continue reading

When I was in high school, there was a commercial – for Olay, I think – in which the actress complained about having acne and wrinkles at the same time. I remember watching it with one of my Sisters of the Traveling Chocolate and laughing, because like that would ever happen. Not so funny when you’re 40 and it’s true! I don’t mind the wrinkles so much. I figure I’ve earned those, especially the one…

Continue reading

I love that word, “process.” Makes it sound like writers know what they are doing, when we’re actually just faking it and hoping no one will notice. Now that I’m working on a fantasy novel, though, I have noticed that my fiction process is totally different than my nonfiction process.   My nonfiction process looks like this: 1) Get an idea.  This part is truly easy – ideas are everywhere. 2) Figure out if anyone…

Continue reading

I’d like you all to meet Fox Cousteau: Fox Cousteau was a gift from one of my Sisters of the Travelling Chocolate.* The same Sister who has told me, on more than one occasion, that I do not have enough fun.* * Challenge accepted. It started small. I’d take him with me when I went out exploring my new province and send her a picture of him from wherever I was. But then something happened.…

Continue reading

Happy Thanksgiving, fellow Canadians! You know that thing on sitcoms where everyone sits in a circle and awkwardly says what they are thankful for? Let’s do that thing. Today I am thankful for science: for Banting and Best, Canadian researchers who discovered the insulin that allows my Grandpa, and millions of other people with diabetes, to enjoy a little pumpkin pie today. for the portable oxygen tanks that let my Grandma leave her nursing home…

Continue reading

After a very, very long hiatus, last week was supposed to be my (triumphant) return to blogging. Instead, I decided to curl up around a bottle of Bailey’s* and weep. It was partly my own fault. My recreational reading for the week was a John Connolly thriller. Connolly is poetry at the line level and scary as hell at the story level, and definitely not recommended for young readers or the faint of heart. Normally…

Continue reading

I adore musicals. Tech Support is more skeptical of the genre, despite having a deep love of Fiddler on the Roof and Paint Your Wagon. But since he’s a good husband, he took me to Les Mis for Valentine’s Day. I’d seen it live a couple of times before, but this was the fancy new touring production. Not sure I’m on board with it. They took out the “time and place” signals, which made it tough…

Continue reading

There has been a ton of debate online in the wake of the latest shootings in the States. One thing no one argues about is whether or not the shooters intended to commit murder, because of course they did. Canadians, on the other hand, have been debating the question of intent – in the Gerald Stanley/Colten Boushie case. Did Stanley shoot to kill, or did his gun experience a rare malfunction? Called hang fire, it…

Continue reading