Musings of a Northern Canadian Senior.

Mid Lenten term blues is a term that is often applied to students around this time of year, especially for those that are away from home. Memories of Christmas vacation seem but a pleasant blur and reading week or spring break cannot come soon enough. Others in northern climates find the lack of light difficult or may even suffer from SAD..Seasonal Affective Disorder, needing special lamps to infuse the extra Vitamin D.  Alberta fortunately has cold, but usually bright sunny, winter days, as opposed to overcast, dull rainy months of west coast climates. Most provincial governments have declared a mid-winter holiday ours being Family Day,  Previous Blog post of February 15, 2010 "So where have the mid-winter blues hit me personally? Quite frankly I miss being north and I mean further north, working in one of the small Canadian Nunavut hamlets for January and February as has been my pattern for the past 8 years….I miss the hunkering down with a good book in the evening; sewing c...

During these cold winter and often dark days, sitting quietly with a warm cup of coffee, and writing in my journal, is often a favourite part of my daily routine.   Allowing myself a few moments to be reflective, to centre, to plan tasks and occasionally vent has been practice of many years. My newest pottery mug is one made with slight imperfections, a little off balance   and a good reminder that we do not have to be perfect.  In fact, it is in our imperfections that we draw closer to God and allow the Creator to work in our lives. The Apostle Paul struggled with such and three times asked for it to be removed, as is recorded in 2 Corinthians 12:8-9 “But he s aid to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness…” So as I sit in the January mishmash of Christmas decorations in the living room still to be put away,   I am again reminded of blessings and moments that we are given to reflect on this imperfect world of ours.   “My gr...

Take some time today to explore the history of Indigenous Peoples in your own and other areas. Today in Canada honours the children who never returned home and Survivors of residential schools. I live on on traditional meeting grounds, Treaty 6 territory, gathering place, and travelling route to the Cree, Saulteaux, Blackfoot, Métis, Dene and Nako-Sioux and thus acknowledge all the many First Nations, Métis, and Inuit whose footsteps have marked these lands for centuries. Through my work, house guests and travels, I have come to know Inuit of Nunavut, travellers from Mexico and Central America, and Mayans in Guatemala. This young mother and daughter are from Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala, one of the most traditional Mayan towns on Lake Atitlan where I visited in 2019. The town has a remarkable history of resilience and resistance from the mudslide of Hurricane Stanley in 2005 to the push back in 1990 during the civil war, against both the army and the guerrillas to abstain from operati...

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.