In praise of the kindness of handymen: 33 degrees out there, and there are two sweating men on my roof repairing windows, painting, filling with wood filler … while up there doing something else, they noticed

 On a walk, I saw maple leaves starting to turn. Mon pays, ce n’est pas un pays, c’est l’hiver …  Home. The shining grey of Toronto. Incredible – the rebuilt bedroom, now green. No bugs

It’s been a summer of tossing and turning through the night; I know these times of extended insomnia as the shifting of internal tectonic plates. A grandson who has overwhelmed me with love, a mother’s slow

Writing from my mother’s room at the “retirement residence” – which was called in my youth an old folk’s home – as she sleeps before dinner. She slept after breakfast and again after lunch, did

The poor man on the left has a hand growing out of his shoulder. Those of you who follow this blog know, perhaps, that my dear friend Chris, who was adopted as a baby in

Chris and I had not factored in a heat wave. The weather reports did not warn us that it would be 32 degrees in Montreal, feeling like more. Yesterday, in Old Montreal, there were hordes

The stripey twins at Schwartz’s on the Boulevard St. Laurent – Mr. Diet Coke – And Ms. Smoked Meat. And below, what I left behind: bedroom reconstruction, and the cutest baby in the history of the

This is it, my summer vacation – three days in Montreal with almost no agenda, away from chaotic house, family, work. And what better place – how I adore this fabulous city. Chris and I landed

I have to say that this week has been, perhaps, particularly stressful. I know, not ill health or family emergency, far from it. But today – mon dieu. My best friend Chris has arrived from