🎶(Staying) Home for the Holidays!🎶😷

I didn’t feel like decorating for Christmas this year. Usually, I’m gung-ho about it and have our home festive by early December to fully enjoy the season. But this year it just seemed like too much effort. Too much hassle for no visitors to enjoy. The premier of Ontario told us to stick to our…

Thousand Word Thursdays #114

Quaint little church that caught my interest in Chatham, Ontario. © Rita Jacques 2018.

Liver, Anyone?

Catholics can be funny creatures of habit. We like to sit in the same pew each week. I like “my” pew because it’s close to a fan. That makes for prime seating when the weather gets hot because the church lacks air conditioning.  But, last Sunday I noticed two different people situated in the pew in front of me. As I’m short, this…

Stress Busters!!

Stress. I’ve become an unwilling expert on this topic lately due to unfortunate circumstances. Let me share a few of the life lessons I’ve picked up. I’m learning to let go of things I cannot change. Just like the wisdom of the Serenity Prayer: Easier said than done. Make a tight fist. Feel the power…

Back to School…and Beaten!

Among all of the back-to-school photos posted on Facebook, one photo stood out. It didn’t feature a cute sign listing the little scholar’s future career ambitions and favourite foods. Nope, the photo didn’t depict the latest style of fall fashions, either. It wasn’t of an adorable four-year old embarking on his/her very first day of…

A Prayer Heard

My Mom was distraught. Her hearing aid was missing. Yup. The newly upgraded edition that had involved several trips to the hearing clinic. Mom had removed it earlier and placed it in her pocket. Werther’s candy wrappers happened to be in her pocket also. When the wrappers were tossed into the garbage, Mom thought the…

Enduring Love

I love to check out garage sales. It’s not just the lure of finding a treasure for next-to-nothing that’s the attraction. It’s the opportunity to find something unique that is no longer available in stores. Once I stumbled upon a garage sale where there were many poppy items and Christmas nutcrackers, both of which I…

A Cross to Wear

I told the older woman behind the counter at the dress shop that I liked her cross. Funny how those words opened up a conversation. She looked beyond retirement age but I’d watched her move expertly through the store: measuring brides-to-be for wedding gowns and teens for their prom dresses, and fetching yet another outfit…

Seeking an End to Worry?

“Inshallah!” A friend of mine practiced nursing overseas for a year. She worked at a state-of-the-art hospital in Dubai. Besides being paid extremely well, she found the unit she worked on to be well-stocked with modern equipment and computers. However, she had one complaint.  If she needed a “stat” x-ray performed or “stat” blood work done, she always got…

Pay You Double!

The young man sat hunched over in his old wheelchair. It was the kind you roll with your hands, not an electric model. An overturned baseball cap was held out by chapped, bare hands. My daughter and I had walked three blocks on a blustery January afternoon. We’d passed by six parking meters, each one labeled…