Musings of a Northern Canadian Senior.

Season of coming harvests, ripening apples, raspberries and tomatoes,  nodding yellow headed sunflowers,   golden canola fields, open air music festivals, trips to the northern lakes and Rockies, overgrown gardens as we let go of the weeding routines, the odd falling yellow leaf reminder of the season to come, slight chill in the morning air, raiding cupboards for Mason jars, noticing the evening moon for the first time as the days shorten. Sitting in my bird corner in the back yard allows a more leisurely time to write.A chattering squirrel that approaches here and can't quite figure out how to have access to the bird feeder. A black capped chickadee and a nuthatch are currently driving at the feeder and L'il Prince cat watches intently! Pockets of beauty ,   corners of colour and texture in my yard   which I call “ where the wild things grow” due to the overgrown nature and abundance   of rain this summer. Potted nodding faces of yellows, pinks and blues of ...

As a social worker in Alberta covering Surgical units in a local city hospital, I often find consults to assist patients/families confirming needed health care coverage and its costs.   Unfortunately there are often misconceptions about the Canadian Health Care system that result is very stressful situations of not only dealing with an illness or tragic accident but also financial stress. Some comments I get... Just because you have dual citizenship with Canada does not mean you have health are coverage Health care is free right? Can I bring my child for a specialized treatment and it will be covered? My country does not have this procedure. Used to have coverage in BC about 6 months ago, should be still valid right? We couldn’t get the right operation for our elderly mother in her country so thought it would be better in Canada Travel medical insurance, yes about $15,000 should cover it right? Our travel insurance is in Korean. Why am I signing this form that I will have to pay h...

T he concept is simple, in that it is basically a book sharing nook.   Take a book, share a book. It’s a great way to refresh your books without having to spend money, and without having to worry about late fees! There are over 100,000 sharing boxes worldwide, and about three dozen registered in the city of Edmonton, here in Alberta, Canada. 2 023 marks eight years in the well established Avonmore Community, with   a diverse population from retirees to young families. Primarily posting children's books, surprises often turn up with novels, cookbooks and Canadian authors. Located on a busy residential street backed by tall spruce trees,   the   wee library sports sports a bench, a chair and even the occasional library cat! that bid readers to stop and pull open drawers. The dresser has drawers labelled as to different genre of books but primarily focussed on those for children, from preschoolers to youth readers. Also some French books, adult fiction and non fiction...

Originally about 2004 or 2005 I started a blog on my work stints in N unavut http://bonnieupnorth.xanga.com/ which lasted until 2015 when Xanga no longer supported the site. My Nunavut Blog  A brief stop 2010-20 for a creative writing blog but no longer supported by typepad. Then as we all know social media and the internet has changed so much and spend far too much time there. Reasons for doing so now include the fact wanting to take some time to do some writing, sharing my experiences and photos and perhaps finding another creative writing group.