In Search of the Practical Life
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In Search of the Practical Life: What happens when a city girl moves to a remote island
Life on an island I’m a city girl. I have spent most of my life living in cities. Some of my favourite places in the world are cities. Give me a day in Chicago, Istanbul, London, Edinburg, Delhi, Montreal… these places are alive, diverse, and full of culture and interesting cuisine. So, I was as…
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In Search of the Practical Life: Remembering the monster’s of race, part 1
One of my earliest memories—I must have been about nine—was of riding on the gondola at the state fair with my little brother. We had been allowed, after much begging, to leave our mother and baby sister and ride across the fairgrounds by ourselves. We held hands and swung our legs and thrilled at the…
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The Nature of Childhood Today: What to Know & What to Do
And 3 ways parents can become the experts on the care of their children for today’s world Let me tell you a story. I grew up poor. American Midwest, subsidized-housing poor. Dirty needles and gunshots on the playground poor. Blocks of orange plastic stuff that was called cheese and came in boxes to your doorstep…
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In search of the practical life: the Complexity of Simple
The are mornings where the sky turns orange and then pink and the ocean becomes so still it appears that it is the stable force and the sky is the tumultuous one. On these mornings, I am drawn like a sleepwalker, only awake, out the door and into the ocean. I stop for shoes. Rocks…
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The Alchemy of Hope
“The dark is rising,” I say to my friend, Vanessa, a photographer who has called to tell me how a bird fell out of the sky and landed at her feet, dead, during her morning walk. She is obsessed with birds. She has hundreds of them in her freezer. Songbirds collected and given a second…
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Inspirational Wednesday: An Interview with Brad Major of Carbon Sync
I fell in love with Vancouver’s newest Christmas Tree Rental company because they are so much more than even that (which is a pretty cool thing in and of itself). So, just how green can your Christmas Tree be? I did an interview with Carbon Sync‘s founder Brad Major to find out. 1. How did…
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In search of the practical life: the Complexity of Simple
The are mornings where the sky turns orange and then pink and the ocean becomes so still it appears that it is the stable force and the sky is the tumultuous one. On these mornings, I am drawn like a sleepwalker, only awake, out the door and into the ocean. I stop for shoes. Rocks…
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In Search of the Practical Life: Light and Fog
The fog lays over our little island like a child tucked in the bed for night. It’s as if we are all being called to say our prayers and retire the day’s events. There is nothing surrounding us… there are no little rock islands to which to paddle, neighbours to greet, or mountains to reach….
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In Search of the Practical Life: New Beginnings
I’ve been stuck at home for a week. My car, even with snow chains on, can’t make it up our two kilometer, hilly, and now icy road It’s January and a time of new beginnings. As if I didn’t have enough new beginning: leaving the city and moving to a very rural island with my…
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A bedtime blessing for children
A beautiful verse for children: nondenominational, pagan, or Christian bedtime prayer … A Child’s Bedtime Blessing Mother Goddess, tuck me in Father God, watch over me Please protect my kith and kin And all I love, so may it be. Rock me to sleep, O Lord and Lady And fill my dreams with love…
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Seasonal Prayers for Children: November
A beautiful, Waldorf-home, natured-inspired blessing/verse for children in the month of November…. Child’s Prayer for November Leaves are twirling everywhere – shaken by the autumn wind, spinning through the air. Thank you for time to play and time to work, time to think and time to dream. This verse is by Juliet Harmer author…
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Poem: Mother talks back to the monster
Mother Talks Back to the Monster Tonight, I dressed my son in astronaut pajamas, kissed his forehead and tucked him in. I turned on his night-light and looked for you in the closet and under the bed. I told him you were nowhere to be found, but I could smell your breath, your musty fur….
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Poem: Leaving Is A Playground Is Not Love
Leaving Is A Playground Is Not Love It is the indecision of a seesaw. The wood chips. You told me never again live in tender. The wood has grain as if I could engrave. For you a monkey bar. For me straw and light. For you the scurry of an ant. The sky spreads out…
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A nondenominational protection prayer for families
A beautiful blessing for all religions, particularly nice at bedtime… The Protective Robe of Light Prayer I surround myself (or insert name of person here) with the protective robe of light with the love, wisdom, and strength of God not only for my own protection, but for all who see it or come into contact…
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Making Images for the Green Mama Book
Manda, better known now as The Green Mama, and I met twenty years ago on the first day of cross-country preseason when I was a freshman and she was a sophomore at Oberlin College. There was an instant energetic connection that has persisted from the very first moment. Was it because we were both devout vegans at…
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How to Write a Book, Blog, or Article. #MyWritingProcess
How does a person write a book? There are as many answers to that as books, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot to learn from looking at the writing process. Indeed, there is much to learn and share and thus I was thrilled to take part in the #MyWritingProcess blog tour. It’s…
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Greening Guatemala: Saving Guatemala’s Children One Family at a Time
What happens when two ordinary Canadians decide to make an extraodindary difference? Project Somos Children’s Village: A home. A family. A future. For the last few years, I have been involved with a very special project: an EcoVillage of sorts for Guatemalan children. My family and I have visited five times: their story and their project have inspired me and hundreds of others to make a difference. Thanks to EcoParent for originally publishing this article.