Last year, our family summer vacation took us to the Rocky Mountains in Canada. I had visited this area by train about 25 years before. I was very excited to be going this time with my husband and two sons. … Read more

The hummingbirds are back! What a delight to watch those miniature helicopters whiz around the flower garden. To encourage them to come closer, we boil up syrup for the feeders. Hubby diligently hangs the feeders along the back porch. Then … Read more

"Seeing is believing" is an old saying that reminds us that unless some people see proof of a fact, they won't believe it. There is a Scottish play, which is set in a pub, with a bartender who doesn't believe … Read more

The phone rang on my day off, rousing me from the kind of sleep which precedes fully waking up — the sort of quasi-sleep where one wakes for a second or two, scowls at the sun streaming through the closed … Read more

My wife prefers to iron and I prefer to vacuum: I believe it is a win-win situation. Once again on a Monday morning I vacuumed the carpets, in a world of my own. The previous week's outing of the machine … Read more

If a person knows where to go, one can find wonderful blueberry patches where one can fill buckets in no time at all. Quite a few years ago, a forest fire went through the area. The regular blueberry pickers were … Read more

Many of my days begin with an early morning trip to the YMCA for water aerobics. I'm not interested in breakfast at this early hour, but I've found that if I'm to discipline my body in exercise for a full … Read more

My car needed to go in for some scheduled warranty work. I usually keep my car tidy, but after a winter of snow and cold, it needed a little more care to tidy it up. After taking the time to … Read more

When I was young, I lived close Lake Ontario. Sometimes I could hear the lake freighters blasting their foghorns. It was usually in a thick fog that they gave out three short blasts, followed by a quiet silence that brought … Read more

Wow! This message which I received as a daily Bible reading from the Canadian Bible Society on April 18, 2007, hit me directly. It was a message to the church in Sardis, but I felt like God was speaking right … Read more

Do you love to watch or read a good mystery? Why is it called a "mystery"? I always thought of a mystery as anything I could not reason or figure out. Webster defines mystery as: We as Christians should take … Read more

Though the club has disbanded, six members of my former Pilot Club have agreed to keep meeting together monthly — for friendship's sake. This little group of women has come a long way together and shared many memories and experiences … Read more

We recently spent a week on the Gulf coast of Florida, where each night, we were blessed to watch the sun set over the Gulf of Mexico. Our morning also found us walking the beach. On this particular morning, I … Read more

Choosing a wall colour throws many of us into a tizzy. Afraid of change, we decorate with coconut, dark chocolate, and deep sand, each some form of the familiar prison of beige. Listen to these comments from "Straight Talk On … Read more

Last summer, the weather was very rare for our part of Canada. We set record highs a few days in a row. The temperature was often over 30 degrees Celsius. One day, I saw on the weather network that it … Read more

As one day melted into another, I found it almost impossible to put a message together that made any sense. I paused to reflect on past experiences, knowing that sometimes God has other plans for us. There are times when … Read more

Yorkie pups are so cute, but they must be trained not to bark at every moving thing. My daughter finally had the dogs trained not to bark when her husband came home in the night. The cockatoo couldn't stand that, … Read more

Being an avid golfer, I do not miss many golf courses as we drive around the countryside. We were out and about a few months ago, and I noticed that this particular golf course had closed. To my dismay, it … Read more

I remember when I first felt the love of God. I was at a turning point in my life, sort of: my daughter was a baby, and it had suddenly struck me that I had a little girl in my … Read more

I was amazed one day as I was going for a walk. I saw a medium-sized dog wanting to cross the street. It was a very busy six-lane street, one of the busiest in our city. He stood and watched … Read more

"If I had your silverware and had to do what you have done, I would rather put it away permanently or give it away." These were the words of my son. I replied, "Would you like it?" to which he … Read more

Recently, we spent a weekend camping. After sharing our campsite with a bear, we decided to sit by the lake and watch the boys canoeing. Another family had gathered for a picnic, and as the children played, the adults prepared … Read more

One day as I was returning my metal grocery cart to the "corral" to collect my twenty-five-cent deposit, a woman in a pick-up truck cut very close to me, pulling into the obviously-marked "No Parking" space beside it. As well … Read more

Dad and I spent many mornings watching dawn break over our backyard pond. Fishing poles in hand, we waited for the slightest nibble. Often, we'd catch a few bream — enough to keep my hopes up. As my tenth birthday … Read more

World War II was finally over. Twice our house had been damaged by bombs or rockets; I had been trapped in a hospital during an air raid by V1s that levelled the hospital and killed many patients and staff; and … Read more

For many years, I have been living with the knowledge that I am responsible for a very valuable diamond ring that was my mother's. She was given these diamonds when she married my stepfather. He had his "graduation" several years … Read more

The swimming pool at our local YMCA has a baby pool at the edge, where the steps leading into the pool are located. Dividing this pool from the deep pool, there is a rope that has been stretched across the … Read more

For many years when I was a child, we never had running water. Or maybe we did: someone would have to run out to the well to pump it into a bucket and run it to the house. Mom much … Read more

During the night, as hurricane force winds blew through my yard, I worried about the flower bed that I'd tended so lovingly during the day. How could the plants possibly survive the fury of these winds? Surprisingly, the next day, … Read more

After I had finished a game of golf, I sat down on a bench next to a flower bed. Here, I observed a caterpillar as it stalked the leaves of a plant, munching them into oblivion. I knew that one … Read more

Does anyone get frightened watching the news on the television? All the murders and suicide bombings and illnesses, like cancer, that we hear about and see all around us today can be very unsettling. It can be very disturbing not … Read more