Forty years ago I was standing on my neighbour’s lawn on Bell’s Turn when a dragonfly helicoptered its way onto my shirt sleeve. Although exquisitely beautif...

This year the world is celebrating the hundredth anniversary of American Commander Robert Peary reaching, or at least coming very close to, the North Pole. T...

Every generation has something it does that drives their parents crazy. It’s the natural evolution of things. Bring it on, I figured. There’s nothing my chil...

When discussing the New Year`s Levee, one of my sons asked me what it was. “It’s a way to welcome the New Year… a chance for the peasant folk to mix with upp...

“What`s so magical about kindergarten?” Clyde Jackman, Minister of Education asked me as he leaned back in his leather armchair. It`s a good question. And I`...

Steve Jobs thought he was belly button of the world. He thought rules for regular people didn`t apply to him. He parked his Mercedes SL55 in handicapped spac...

“I didn’t marry you for your feet,” my loving husband said one day while massaging my cold extremities. Well I hope he didn’t marry me for my money, I though...

For me, it was Japan. The year is 1993. It’s winter and the temperature is about 0 degrees outside as well as inside. I wake and roll my belly up off the th...

3:15 pm on Elizabeth Avenue near MUN campus the traffic is as bad as any weekday in Vancouver. Mind you Vancouver gridlock stretches for dozens of kilometres...

Surprise baby has made his kindergarten debut. After two snow days resulted in the cancellation of the initial Kinderstart session for children, we finally g...

No. 2 just spent five days roller blading in Detroit. He flew with a buddy to Toronto and then the two of them drove across the border with another buddy. He...

The art of the road trip is a tricky thing to master. The delicate balance of planning and unforeseen adventure cannot be upset. Too much of one or too littl...

It’s 9:15 on Wednesday evening. No. 4 is adjusting the rabbit ears on our flat screen to make sure we have clear reception for CBC’s Republic of Doyle, or Do...

May the odds be ever in your favour. I must be out of my mocking-jay-pickin’ trees. It’s after midnight and I’m in Cinema 6 at the mall with Nos. 3 and 4 wai...

This week two of my texting teenagers switched from regular cell phones to iPhones. They can now look up hockey highlights, check the weather in Zimbabwe, fi...

Hockey is almost over. And that means… Hiking season is upon us once again. So far this year we have tackled La Manche Village Path down Hungry Hill to Bauli...

I am not a frequenter of flower shops. I received enough flowers for a lifetime during my two-year stay in Japan. Nonetheless I found myself walking into a d...

Last June I did what I swore I`d never do. I became a helicopter parent. My eldest was in the midst of writing his final high school exams. He had applied fo...

I once had a job interview at a provincial government office. The day of the appointment a wicked February northeaster was threatening to sever souls. So nas...

Hants Harbour, The Hamptons of Trinity Bay My husband has been in Newfoundland almost two decades. But he still uses decidedly un-Newfoundland expressions li...