I think one of the best things about being in a long-term committed relationship, growing old together as a couple, is the variety of small routines that you fall into along the way, and the multitude of small ways in which you come to rely on each other. For example, I know that on most… Read more »

As all of us who have said goodbye to our early-thirties are aware, it truly does become more and more difficult to stay in shape, as you get older. Gone are the days when all that was required to stay lean and healthy were a couple of hours every weekend of dancing at the discotheque… Read more »

I was recently walking with a friend through her neighbourhood. We were passing by this beautiful Victorian-style heritage home that both of us have admired and envied for some time. Over the past few years, it has been extensively and meticulously restored from a state of more-or-less neglect to a state of eye-catching beauty. It… Read more »

Sometimes in our lives, there are days when the world threatens to overwhelm us. The new supervisor at the office seems to be harboring some sort of grudge against you. You’ve just had a fight with your husband about whose turn it is to take your daughter to soccer practice. The cheque that you wrote… Read more »

For me, along with the success of our female athletes, it was a defining and transcendent moment of the Turin Winter Olympics and one of the most gracious moments in recent sport memory. I am referring to the moment when Bjorner Haakensmoen, the Norwegian cross-country skiing coach, helped Canadian skiers Sara Renner and Beckie Scott… Read more »

For the longest time, growing up in Southern Alberta, the word “mustard” was synonymous in mind with the gluey substance that was squeezed out of bright yellow plastic containers. Along with relish and ketchup, it was a staple of summer cooking. We swirled it on top of grilled hot dogs and hamburgers. We slathered it… Read more »

I suppose it is a pretty rare person these days who does not feel at least a little overwhelmed from time-to-time by the number of demands on their time. On a personal level, my day-to-day energies are directed towards a great number of activities. My full time involves lots of travel and deadlines, taking courses… Read more »

In the story entitled “The Final Problem,” Sir Arthur Conan Doyle tried to put an end to his most famous fictional creation by having Sherlock Holmes plunge to his death from the top of the Reichenbach Falls, locked in a deadly embrace with his nemesis, the evil Professor Moriarty. The massive public outcry that followed… Read more »

Last Saturday night, a group of us got together to celebrate the arrival of the lunar new with a good old-fashioned Chinese banquet. We gathered at 5:30 p.m. at our favourite Chinese eatery, a spacious dining room with red and gold veined wallpaper, crisp white tablecloths, and voluminous paper lanterns hanging from the ceilings. From… Read more »

When we were children, all of us experienced the pleasurable feelings of creating expression through visual art. Whether we were drawing, modeling with clay, gluing together collages from magazine pictures, or making papier mache puppets, these creative tasks tended to bring about a sense of concentrated bliss, a state of relaxed but intensely engaged mental… Read more »