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It's been a beautiful week, beckoning me to find my way out onto the deck. Cycling home at lunch on work days I enjoy some quiet time there, basking in warm temperatures and bright, cheery sunshine.  At day's end I find myself in the same spot while supper's cooking, with a book and glass of chilled, crisp white in hand. These moments have also provided me with plenty of opportunity to admire the previous weekend's work. With a slow start to spring my guy and and I were starting to feel a little pressured about all of the yard work that needed to get done before we could relax and enjoy the lazy season.  Then the Victoria Day weekend arrived, complete with perfect weather. For the better part of three days, we toiled in flowerbeds and puttered around the yard getting everything ship shape. And I must say there is nothing more satisfying than enjoying the end result. I don't exactly have the greenest of thumbs. When we purchased our house I inherited a good n

Just as digital photography has turned so many folks into shutterbugs, the ability to create and publish a book with online tools and resources has inspired a lot of would-be authors. From fairytale stories for grandchildren to recipe books and novels, people from all walks of life are creating their original tomes. Some day, is the promise I have made myself. After work, after life slows down, after I finally have a few minutes to myself,  I'm going to sit down and pen that tale I've always had inside me.  Until then I satisfy myself putting together photo collections and books for the grandbabies on my trusty Mac. They aren't meant for anyone but family of course. When that day I spoke of finally arrives, however,  when I take the time to tell a tale for the masses, laying out the book will be almost as important as writing it.  Whether it's the cover or the font I choose, in the publishing world it all matters. There are resources that will take care of it for

In just a little under a week, citizens of the United States will be observing Memorial Day. Once known as Decoration Day it commemorates the men and women who have perished in military service for their country.  Held annually on the last Monday in May, this is far from a typical long weekend celebration, however, with many people visiting cemeteries and memorials. I am Canadian. I grew up listening to grandparents talking about the Great War, about young friends and neighbours lost. I heard my parents and their peers reminiscing about life during the Second World War, heard the stories from those who enlisted and came home, heard about those who served and didn't. A few local men fought in Korea in the early 1950s, and each Remembrance Day they would join the other veterans in telling young schoolchildren their stories. Then there was the Cold War, when the threat of nuclear weaponry put the sweet optimism of youth under a cloud of fear. This was a time when my classmates

This past long weekend saw the return of our pre-dinner neighbourhood deck gatherings. When the warm weather arrives a group of us converge late afternoon on the last day of the weekend at one or the others' homes. Given what has been a somewhat slow start to spring, we were all eager to celebrate the end of our hibernation yesterday. There were plenty of laughs and a lot of catching up to do. Much of it was nonsense, the type of conversation that happens with people who have lived close to each other and have come to know each other well. But  a good part of it was listening with interest to the sharing of experiences we might have known about but didn't get a chance to hear about in detail before. A lot of these involved travel. We talked about trips we took to the south to get away from the cold and snow. One friend had just returned from a business conference in Florida. Since I've barely had time to shed the tan I got during my holiday there, we enjoyed some mi