Feeling the Pinch!

Where the iPad landed.

Do you remember this picture from my recent post about pain? Here I've made a note of where the iPad actually made impact with my foot, and where most of the swelling occurred. Today, I saw a podiatrist and learned more about why, a year since the injury, I have even more foot pain.

Remain Calm

This is the least of my worries.

Last night at bedtime, my husband reminded me that his parents, whom I love, are coming tonight. Somehow, I wasn't looking at the dates and thought that I still had another week before they would be here.

Bursting with Pride

A hug for the graduate. (And when did I get so short?)

I am so flipping proud of this girl that I can hardly write this without tears coming to my eyes. Today, our daughter Katie received her B.A. in English Literature (and a minor in Spanish), with High Distinction, from Carleton University. That alone is cause for celebration and pride, but what really impresses me is how hard Katie has struggled to reach this milestone.

Unsubscribe

Acupuncture on my knee

'Way back in April, I wrote about hip pain that had put me on bed rest (for a day). When bed rest and continued walking didn't resolve the pain, I ended up seeing a massage therapist who also did acupuncture. I love her.

Pick a Pretty Posy

A garden bouquet with salvia, chives, poppies, and a peony.

[This was going to be a quick-and-dirty blog post: snap a couple of pictures, add a narrative, and Bob's-yer-uncle. It didn't work out that way because I rushed the photography and had to redo my shoot TWICE more. Three hours later, I'm just starting to write.]

I love cut flowers. I know that some people believe them to be frivolous or even wasteful (they just die, right?), but I love bringing that splash of colour into my home, to enjoy as long as it lasts. And judging by the number of "likes" my arrangements receive on Facebook, I'm not alone. 

I read a blog somewhere that proposed a "bunch and fluff" method of arranging your flowers. I was to grab the bunch, stuff it loosely in the vase and just "fluff" it and let things fall as they may. It didn't work very well for me. Today, I share my tips for arranging flowers, using plants from our garden.

Boggles the Mind

Boggle

One of the great gifts my father left to his children was a love of words and, especially, wordplay. To this day, our family enjoys rounds of what I call competitive punning when we get together.

Dad was a crossword fanatic. And he twisted words to such an extent that understanding him really tested the limits of the redundancy of English, purposely using malapropisms, like saying "I'm going to renew my newspaper prescription." I do the same thing, and Stephen has caught my habit.

But there was one word game that was just between my dad and me: Boggle.

Fiction Friday: Release Me

I should probably have contacted the police immediately after reading the article about the dead man, but I didn't because I kept seeing those strangulation bruises on Bettany's neck and, not to say that Jim deserved to die for what he did (or threatened to do) to her, but I could understand how she might have done something in self defense. Especially given how volatile I knew her to be.

Post from the Past: 50 Ways to Leave your Covers

Originally posted in December 2012

---

Sleeping Beauty
Photo credit: Prince Charming

On Facebook this morning, I posted the following status:

I posted it because I truly have a hard time waking up. Often, the voice of Neil Sedaka swam through my head as I hit the snooze button.

Five Places: Barrie Street

493 Barrie Street, Kingston, Ontario

University students have an astonishing propensity for moving. I lived in a different house or apartment every year that I attended Queen's University in Kingston. But the most memorable house was on Barrie Street.

Potato Salad -- in a Hurry

Potato Salad with a Chive Flower

Potato salad is one of my favourite summer foods, but I almost always forget to boil the potatoes well ahead of time. (My middle name should be "Last Minute.") I had always thought that meant I would only have potato salad on weekends, but then I found a short cut!

Here's my simple recipe and my trick for speeding things up.

Watching a Fantasy Come to Life

My favourite little sitting area.

On June 1, 2010, I was fantasizing about our house in Ottawa. For the previous five years, we'd been living in Colorado Springs, which has a very arid climate, and I was looking forward to living somewhere where plants thrived on rainwater rather than irrigation.

We had also decided that we would install an in-ground pool, as we had done in one of our previous Ottawa homes.