It’s officially spring in my garden. Snowdrops are blooming in a bright cluster near the back door. This is a quirk of climate change,...

I just finished reading The Book Whisperer, by Donalyn Miller (2009). Donalyn, a teacher, writes about her success hooking kids on...

I was given the greatest gift for a writer, time and solitude. I spent two nights in Canmore in a condo, courtesy of a brother- and...

Hi. My name is Maureen, and I’m a Reducetarian My older daughter was home for three weeks over the holiday. She’s a vegan, and so we...

One of my Christmas gifts is The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere, by Pico Iyer. From the back cover: “At some point, all...

Sometimes writing just doesn’t happen. Or it limps along. Or it flows, briefly, and then stops. For me, this happens when I’m sick and my...

I’m on a meditation retreat, but managed a little writing today (a sick day, felled by allergies). It was lovely to start from silence,...

I’ve discovered a new-to-me wondrous website for readers, Literature-Map. It’s a “if you like this author you should try this one” map....

I had a great writing day earlier this week. I’ve been editing a novel manuscript and on Tuesday, I saw exactly what needed to be done to...

For anyone who has had trouble getting on to my site in the last few days, my apologies. There was a “clerical error” at the domain...

For some reason I fail at growing fall flowers in orange and gold. I plant them, for that late blast of colour, but they die, or malinger...

I’m recovering from the longest cold I’ve ever had. It’s a good thing I work from home, because I haven’t been working, and it would be...

Friends and family helped pick apples in September. There were fewer this year because we knocked down a bunch when we were banging off...

After a week of brainlessness, struggling with what feels like an eternal cold, I am, at least briefly, writing again. I can feel my body...

Calgary’s been hit with another disaster-of-sorts  – a summer snow storm that snapped trees all across the city. (Heavy, wet snow on...

Last week we had a final brief summer jaunt to the mountains, but it felt more like fall than summer, with fresh snow on the mountain...

The wind has returned, after a summer of unusual stillness. It’s clearly a fall wind, as the first of the leaves start to turn (only the...

I visited Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, a World Heritage Site, for the first time the other day. It’s a lovely centre, perched on the...

We’ve just returned from a week in the mountains, staying in a cabin near Lake Louise. The weather was threatening the entire week...

I received a wonderful message from a writer about her five-year-old’s reaction to Feather Brain [edited for privacy and to shorten it...