I generally don’t like animated movies. But last Boxing Day, our three eldest granddaughters introduced me to Encanto, a new movie from Disney that pleasantly surprised me. “Would you watch it again?” one asked a few weeks later. “I would. And I did! Gampa and I watched it together.” She …
Tradition. That’s why Ezra, aged six years and eight hours, sits at our table, eying his breakfast: a vast bowl of Neapolitan ice cream. He chose that yesterday in the store, over my suggestions of more sophisticated options. “How about maple walnut? Black cherry? Rocky road?” But, no. He had …
I wrote the paragraphs below a long time ago. Originally published as one of my early columns, they eventually landed in my second book, Practice by Practice. I sense today’s readers, at least some of them, need these words (lightly edited from the original) even more now. My earliest memories …
Whenever I see a coin tossed on the ground or the floor, I pick it up. Among other things, coins remind me of childhood days. We weren’t as well-situated as the neighbours, but our family had wealth nonetheless. At around ten, I ran a flourishing counterfeiting scheme from our kitchen …
Was it the pandemic’s second or third wave? I can’t recall. But the doorbell rang at supper. I answered it and found a grandchild, standing alone, tears streaming like silver ribbons. Our daughter’s car waited at the end of the driveway. COVID protocol aside, what else is a grandmother to …
Anything can happen on a porch. Connection. Refreshment. Reflection. Rejection, sometimes. Even buying and selling. As a child in the sixties, I had the chore of sweeping our small front porch clear of its weekly accumulation of dirt and spiders. Rarely do I remember anyone but company using that porch …
“Nana,” my youngest grandbean started, as he, his sister and I sat enjoying lunch together. He followed that with a question that stopped my fork mid-air. My mind flew back to the day before, to a matter I thought finished. But clearly, the little chap had a cog blocking one …
“Since the takeover by ‘smart’ technology,” I heard an authority on human behavior say recently in an interview, “the quality of kindness is now perceived as being indicative of a weak personality.” The man gave examples that seemed to prove his statement. He followed that by saying that our smart devices …
Halloween. I’ve tiptoed around the unholy holiday for years, decades even; some years just choosing to be away from home on October 31st; some hiding in the basement, and others, joining in with what everyone else was doing. Trying to find the fun in it; trying to ignore the very …
I spouted a mouthful of fake news at lunch the other day. To the grandchildren, no less. With a federal election pending, it seemed natural that the discussion around our table turned to politics. “Nana,” asked one of the children asked, “does God discipline bad kings?” “Well,” I said, “When …
