"People who love to eat are always the best people. - Julia Child" A love affair with German pastries The day started just like any of my Hamburg days. I rushed out the door of my five-floor walk up, hopped on the U-Bahn and made my way to the Altona train station to get to one … Continue reading The joy of food
Short Story: The Faultless Four
Short story writing challenge #2 — The Faultless Four The five words that were randomly generated for me to use are: gossip, wooden, spilled, crooked, weeds Trudy had never been one to dwell on things, but today was different. Today the past had jumped into her bright yellow, sunflower painted mailbox and she had no idea … Continue reading Short Story: The Faultless Four
My top 10 favourite podcasts
There's nothing I love more than a well curated list. Okay, there may be a few things I love more, but when it comes to finding the info I need on the internet — lists just make life a whole lot easier. Lately I've had a handful of people ask me for podcast suggestions and … Continue reading My top 10 favourite podcasts
Short Story: New York Lemonade
Short story writing challenge #1 — New York Lemonade. Hello and welcome to my creative writing journey! My short stories will be approximately 500 words and show the beginnings, middles, or sometimes endings of a story. The rest can be filled in using your imagination. This first snippet comes from a writing assignment, five little … Continue reading Short Story: New York Lemonade
On writing and my new project
“You don’t start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it’s good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it. That’s why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence.” ~Octavia E. Butler I have loved writing since the day I stuck a pencil in my mouth, sat at … Continue reading On writing and my new project
Leaving Toronto – top 8 things I’ll miss
I've had a lot of beginnings and endings in my life and although the cities and the people have been different, the feelings are always the same. The sweetness of adventure is always lined with the bitter taste of goodbyes. Because the reality is, once we leave a place, it will never be the same … Continue reading Leaving Toronto – top 8 things I’ll miss
Empathy and the modern world
I'll never forget the day I went to see Saving Private Ryan with a bunch of my high school friends. I walked out of the theatre feeling like I'd been through emotional boot camp. I felt a dark and forbidding cloud hang over me for the next week. I didn't want to look at people, talk … Continue reading Empathy and the modern world
Big Little Lies & small, extraordinary truths
I used to watch romantic comedies like they were going out of style. My female friends and I had massive collections of DVDs (okay, okay they started out as VHS) and inevitably 80% of them were romcoms featuring your typical boy-meets-girl, boy and girl hate each other, boy and girl grow to love each other, … Continue reading Big Little Lies & small, extraordinary truths
Letter writing, the Isle of Man and a 30 day challenge
It's September 1998. I've just graduated high school and left home for the very first time to volunteer as a Gap student on the Isle of Man, a tiny little island (32 miles long by 11 miles wide) in the middle of the Irish Sea. When I first heard that I had been accepted to … Continue reading Letter writing, the Isle of Man and a 30 day challenge
On climbing and anxiety
My heart thuds in my chest so hard that I'm sure I'm having a heart attack. I gasp for air and each breath is short and unsatisfying. Everything closes in around me and every muscle tenses. It's at this point I either freak out completely or I talk myself off the ledge. When it happened … Continue reading On climbing and anxiety