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September as new beginning 84 months ago; as time for reflection now

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This is my fifth September as a person retired from full-time work. Sheesh. Time flies when you're having fun!  Looking back at how this trip began is wild: with the idea that one day I would retire, followed closely by a public commitment in the form of this blog. I created it in April 2018 but did not post anything until September 30 that year. What fun it is to remember way back then and to review where I find myself today in the fresh breeze of a new September... Paradoxically (or maybe not), while time has flown by these past 84 (!) months, maybe the biggest lesson I have learned is that matters of imagination and creativity can take a long time to gestate, to produce and to share. What, then, fuels me to call myself Writer/Artist, today? Over the years, I have thought about this, wrestled with it, and, finally, come to embrace it; i n November 2023, t he quote below sparked a piece of writing for me on this topic: ARTISTS : Stop belittling your work. Stop using “little”, “j...
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Anniversary post: Love rooted deep

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“For it to last a lifetime, love has to be immense at the start.” Margaret Gore,  character in  Four Letters of Love  by Niall Williams  The hydrangeas planted two seasons ago are running amuck in the raised bed; they droop in the rain, get bashed by the wind, and their beautiful flower-heads hang from the stems as if tired in their home. They are not what I expected or what I want in that spot anymore. I am going to dig them up and move them. They have no choice in this matter.  Val and I mark 32 years together this August 31st, an anniversary we count on the day we got legally married 12 years ago. At that time, we had been together 20 years. But numbers don’t tell the story of a relationship. The roots that nurture it tell the tale. Our roots go deep, keeping us tethered in the here and now of being together, still, after all these years. We have had an ordinary life — ups and downs, health scares and health recoveries, job losses and career changes, parental...
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Pebbles, ripples and impact: Don't hide your light under a bushel

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We don't need to be a giant wave crashing onto the beach to have an impact. A small pebble tossed out into the water can create a meaningful ripple. My mother believed in telling someone what their work meant to her. She would often send me in to school with a note she had written to my drama, gym or music teacher about how much she had enjoyed X, Y or Z production in which I had participated. As a grade school kid, I was a bit embarrassed about what I perceived as odd behaviour on Mum’s part — why would my teachers care about her opinion? But as an adult, I, of course, recognize what a vote of confidence it was in those teachers, paying them not only respect for their work but offering the kindness of genuine appreciation for it.  Now, I do it, too, often taking it one step further. I communicate with the person to tell them that I appreciate their work, and sometimes I also offer up my own story as it relates to that work. Occasionally my message leads to nothing — literally; no ...
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Show and Tell: The retirement edition

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Last week's post contained many words and only a couple of pictures. This week's post has fewer words and more pictures -- words and pictures that tell the story of how I am feeding my creative spirit this summer.  Mostly, I am a writer, but I also love doing collage art, which I describe as my ' cross training ' that rounds out my art muscles and writer's brain. Regardless of the form it takes, my creative drive keeps me interested in, and focused on, making  things. In this world of ours, too often the objective is to simply  consume something produced elsewhere, so I find it soothing to the spirit to hold something in my hands that I have created myself, right here. One of a kind in every way.  Quite without intending to , one day  I discovered   that I had made a series of 'colour' collages -- all the same size, each one a celebration of a particular colour. Then, a promotion came across my email for 'print your own notecards' and I leapt on it...
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Book review: Thick skin -- field notes from a sister in the brotherhood

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Thick Skin: Field Notes from a Sister in the Brotherhood* by Hilary Peach Anvil Press (2022) *winner of Wilfrid Laurier University's 2023 Edna Staebler Award for creative non-fiction   Review  by Amanda Le Rougetel In short:  Five stars; h ighly recommended.  Buy the physical book; its weight (451 grams/15.9 ounces) belies the deftness of the prose contained within A FINELY OBSERVED , beautifully written account of a woman’s experience as the oft lone female welder on the job site. Crusty characters, foul language, sexist treatment, and good pay just about tell the tale. Without ever overtly teaching about welding or laying blame for her often less-than-honourable treatment, Hilary Peach brings the reader in to her trade and describes through story and characters what she saw on the worksites, how she experienced it, dealt with it — and survived it. Whether the worksite is in Peach’s home province of BC, across the US border, or down East in the Maritimes, her work t...
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Equality for women: Do women in the trades tell the tale?

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Four scenarios, three books and a few thoughts about how bloody slow some progress is...  SCENARIO ONE: It’s four a.m. and I am up for the day, having been woken by 17-year-old Holly, the cat who feels she needs fresh food *now*. I am too far gone by the time the tin is opened and the food served, so I just stay up, put the kettle on and tune in to CBC Radio to see if the episode of IDEAS catches my interest. This particular morning it does. Hilary Peach is giving a talk on her award-winning memoir Thick Skin: Field Notes from a Sister in the Brotherhood , about her career in welding. I am drawn in by her stories from the front line of her trade. SCENARIO TWO:  While I have never held a welding torch or cut, ground, and shaped metal pieces using immense heat, I have been in a classroom of pre-employment welding students who tested my mettle and almost caused me to run screaming from teaching as a job. That particular class was unruly and uninterested in learning anything I mi...
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Beginner’s mind is more advanced than you might think

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“Hmmm. Can I do it? Should I do it? Will I do it?” Stutter Stumble Silence Awkward mumble Another stutter Breathe   Regroup Stop being afraid of making a mistake   Dig deep for the words and Speak   Doing an interview in French on live radio is different than doing an interview in English on live radio. This will not surprise you, but I was reminded recently of just how different the experience is. I had written an opinion piece about the importance of the arts in our community and, happily, I discovered it published in our local newspaper on Thursday of last week . I had submitted it on spec, with no real expectation it would be accepted because many many years ago I had written an opinion piece on reproductive rights that was rejected for being polemic rather than interesting and, because we hold experiences in our body until we expel them, that experience was very much with me as I wrote and then submitted this op/ed piece. So seeing my words in print on page A7 (at th...
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