Gratitude makes the journey better and so does kindness

Tag: life Page 1 of 7

About books, life’s gifts, and reverence

How often do you pick up a book and read with such delight that you forget about time and push a few less urgent items from your to-do list just you can keep reading?

Chances are, not often (unless you have somehow cracked the code, in which case I will politely invite you to share your secret.) For the rest of us, however, it’s a treat.

Starting on a New Journey

It’s been almost two years in the making. I am now ready to share with you the project I’ve been working on and mentioned a few months back.

There is a story behind it, and I keep returning to it whenever I get bogged down by the questions and worries that are inherent to any new beginning. Of course, new beginnings are where we get to learn that daunting, exciting and admittedly, scary, can morph into one.

The Quest for Slower Times

I will tell you why the 13th is not unlucky.

Take February 13th for example. It’s early morning and the sun is shining. Pup and I start on a morning hike with the intention to get to the top of a particular hill above the woods. I mean, what better day?

These days the trails are a mix of ice and crusted snow which makes for a good challenge in some parts, but if hikes are to be likened to life, at least occasionally, then the tougher sections are but good reminders of what our journey is about.

After stopping to take in the view, again, (and to roll on the crusty snow, again), we make it to the top. On the day that bears the number deemed unlucky, pup and I find ourselves in sparkling morning sunshine and with front seats to admiring birds in flight from above (the ultimate ‘bird’s eye view’ one could say, pun and all).

Weekly column: When hope, help and gratefulness count as stepping stones

Originally published as a column by Armchair Mayor News, on Wednesday, May 26, 2021.

On July 26, Jessie Simpson will turn 24. That’s also the day when his mom hopes to have him at home for a few days, so he can enjoy the place he has not been able to see but in memory, fragmented as it is, due to the horrendous attack Jessie suffered in 2016 on the night of his graduation party.

Presently he is in the hospital, fighting his way out of a kidney infection that has him in pain and nauseous. Just a few weeks ago, he had yet another seizure which his mom witnessed.

Day x + 1 of physical distancing: How to find balance

So… speaking of balance, do you check the news often? More now than before? In my case, yes and yes (and then I wonder why balance went missing.) I get my topic for my columns through perusing news, more now than I used to three weeks ago (it feels like we’ve been stuck in this pandemic craziness for way longer, right?).

But… this morning my eyes fell on a headline that just about made me run the other way as fast as possible, which is fine I guess as long as I keep my distance. The headline contained the dreaded word we are now seeing everywhere (yes, I mean coronavirus,) but included scarier yet words which collectively read ‘second wave of.’

Food was never supposed to become our enemy

My hands smell of basil and tomatoes. I just picked the first four Roma San Marzano tomatoes from our new garden. It’s all heirloom veggies this year. They are plump and red and pushing into the thick stem with a force that leaves grooves on their sides.

Food that is, food to be…

The basket is half-full of potatoes; they’ll be dinner and lunches. The potato berries are hanging bright green, round and tempting (do not, for they are toxic!) as I let my hands crawl deep in the dirt where the yellow and red tubers are. It’s pure reverence, seeking food and then cooking it. The simplicity of a meal cooked from the food you grow, no matter how small the crop… there is a mark left on your heart. It fills you up.

I pick a green taut pepper and fill my hands with more basil; purple. For a moment, I indulge in remembering my Dad’s hands handing me tomatoes and carrots to taste; the smell of summer nights when the sun drips honey-coloured warmth all over the horizon and the garden delivers promises; my Mom’s delicious light summer meals. Everything else peels off for a few brief moments and the plenitude of now is beyond rewarding.

I was to write a post about sugar and its ill presence, about candy bars that are wickedly awaiting by the checkout tills now in bigger packages. OK, maybe they have been around for a while and I just noticed them. Thanks to my Mom and that garden magic that started with strawberries, pears and red currants in the morning and ended with tomatoes and carrots and herbs of all kinds in the evening, I have a missing sweet tooth. But I did notice the bars this time. They were big and indecent.

The stats on obesity in North America (and beyond) are grim. 1 in 3 adults in Canada are obese and may require medical assistance to manage the symptoms. The many adverse health effects that obesity causes are daunting to think about. High blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular problems, arthritis, sleep apnea. Childhood obesity has tripled in the last 30 years though some recent study pointed out to a mild decrease between 2004 and 2014 (I believe mild cannot be a pacifier for the sizeable problem that childhood obesity has become.)

Where are we now? People indulge and lament at the same time, they eat and overeat because sugar does that to you. Portions grow, processed foods abound and sugar finds its way into almost everything…Sugar was never a true need but has become a want of gargantuan proportions. Meanwhile…the good food grows too. If we want it. In gardens, in pots, in farms from which we buy at the market…

The other (micro) garden…

Food we ferment so the good bugs in it can help our microbiome (the bacteria we carry inside and, on our bodies, a camaraderie that keeps us healthy.) I am experimenting with a new sourdough starter just for fun while a loaf is resting in the fridge for tomorrow’s baking. By the window there are summer pickles and pickled turnips (I know what you might think, but they really are so tasty!).

Tangles and sunshine

Hippocrates said that food should be our medicine. And yet… so much of it has become our enemy. Food is never supposed to make one sick; real food that is. Or obese. You eat as your body requires, you move and you celebrate both. Being alive comes with a need to eat, yes, but we need to rewrite the terms. Actually no… we need to remember them.

One tomato bite at a time. Or beans if you prefer. Or a new potato, cooked to perfection. This kind of indulgency never comes with fear, but with gratefulness.

Weekly column: When compassion and accountability are missing, the consequences can be deadly

Originally published as a column on CFJC Today Kamloops and Armchair Mayor News on Monday, August 12 2019.

Last week on Wednesday evening a 14-year-old lost his life to a suspected overdose. Carson Crimeni was alone as he struggled to stay alive, after being surrounded by a crowd of teenagers, some of whom filmed him and posted the video online. His grandfather found him in ‘very bad shape’ near Walnut Grove skate park in Langley. Carson was still breathing but died later that night in the hospital.

There are also rumours that was he was bullied into taking the drugs by the same people who then documented the aftermath. His cell phone was found in a nearby garbage can.

Page 1 of 7

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén

%d bloggers like this: