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Funny thing about winter. At least for me. It doesn't matter how short it is, it's overstayed its welcome. This year we enjoyed a very slow start to the snow and cold. Christmas Day, in the afternoon, our family was actually able to sit outside and have snacks at a bonfire. It was only when the new year arrived that we finally experienced some of what we've come to know as winter weather here in Snowbelt country. I'm not ungrateful. This winter has been a blessing. But, one month of it is more than enough as far as I'm concerned. I believed its slow start would make it feel shorter and I'm hoping that a quick end is in the forecast to ensure that it is. Feb. 2, as most people in North America know, is Groundhog Day. Across the continent at various places there are celebrity rodents that will rise out of their burrow to deliver their prediction for that area.  Will the local groundhog see his shadow and announce six more weeks of winter? Or will an ove

In just a few days, January 2016 will be a memory. We will breeze into February with optimism  after experiencing winter's longest month and coming out the other side. Where January, after the excitement of celebrating a new year, left us with nothing much to look forward to but awakening each morning to snow,  February gives us a few reasons to have some fun. First there's Groundhog Day, a bit of superstitious nonsense that feeds our need for spring. Later in the month most of us in Canada enjoy a long weekend designated specifically to be with those you love. Family Day gives us that opportunity in the middle of a long, cold winter, to take a break from routine and find  warmth in our special connections. Smack in the middle of these two days, however, is one that is also about loving relationships and, like the Feb. 2 holiday, is perhaps a bit of nonsense as well. Valentine's Day is the time to express our undying love, devotion and/or infatuation with another.  On

As I sit to to write each day, one of the essential practices is to plug in ear buds and block out the office conversations and distractions. Focus while stringing a few sentences together is always a good thing,  and at this point in my life not quite as perfect as it once was. My go-to  for isolating myself, is an app called Jango that allows me to create playlists based on some favourites. Typically, I go for the heaviest music I can as I often can't understand the words so they don't take me away from what I'm trying to say, but I love the blistering guitar riffs. Nothing like a little Pantera to get a day started I say. This morning, however, I had more of a yen for some southern rock. Less a favourite of mine than my husband, finding one I want to listen to can be a bit hit and miss. But what I like I really like and this morning I lucked out. First up was the classic Free Bird by Skynyrd. Sadly, the familiar did mean my focus wasn't solely on finding a

You could put it down to my age; I suspect it's more the simple fact  I really just don't have the time to add another social media anything to my life. Regardless of the reason, I am not a follower of the Instagram craze. If you are like me, then I should probably go no further without explaining exactly what this new trend is all about. All the hip cats (dated myself, yes) know that Instagram is an app that lets you photograph and shoot video to share on a variety of social media sites.  Though it can be accessed from a computer, users are only able to share from IOS, Windows Phone or Android devices. While other social media networks are primarily about comment and commentary, Instagram is all about sharing yourself and your experiences visually. For a generation of people who  have grown up with a cellphone and, therefore, a camera at their fingertips, a generation for whom the selfie is everything, it's little wonder Instagram has become quite popular with th

Had the pleasure this past weekend of babysitting our sweet granddaughter — the most agreeable of toddlers I've ever known. Easy going, happy-go-lucky, social, curious and delighted in everything, a day with her is one spent in sunshine. Good thing too because there wasn't all that much of that outside. Not that it was dreary, just not quite as bright and cheerful as I like  if I'm going to be enticed out of the house on a lazy Saturday afternoon. Fortunately, this was another positive in having our little darling visit. Though I might not want to face Old Man Winter, it's important  that children get exercise and fresh air. So, I sucked it up and like sausage into casing, I stuffed her into snowpants, hat, coat, boots and mittens. She couldn't move, but she was going to be toasty. Her immobility, of course, meant that once we were outdoors there wasn't exactly a lot she could do on her own. We tried to plough through the snow as she hung on to my hand,