Edith was washing dishes when she heard Aggie Thomas calling from the front steps. “Oh for goodness sake,” said Edith, “can’t she just leave me alone? She`s here to share gossip, mark my words.” “Jack,” she said to her husband who was lying on the couch demanding his second cup of tea, “you’ll have to…
Toronto 2024 It was a cold, damp and miserable grey day. Feels like London, Dianne thought as she pulled the hood of her jacket over her thinning, almost pure-white hair. In fact, it’s just like that day I first saw her; that girl on a motorbike. My goodness me, that must be fifty years ago…
She was in love with Murray. They went to the same church and she couldn’t help staring at him during the services. Looking at Murray helped to relieve the monotony. Linda was sure sometimes he smiled at her. He was 16, tall and skinny with thick, wavy, light brown hair that stood straight up from…
It started as an ordinary, late-November day — no sun, no snow, no wind, no rain, no leaves, no flowers. There was nothing that brought joy, nothing that brought excitement, nothing that brought fear. It was one of those days when you couldn’t imagine anything but dull and grey. It was noon and I was…
When Susan was eight or nine years old, all she wanted was a doll house. She’d only seen doll houses in Collinsons Department Store, and certainly never played with one but all the girls in her class had a doll house and talked constantly about them. Their doll houses sounded so much grander than the…
You know when you can’t sleep – you toss and turn, count sheep, think positive thoughts, try meditating, go get a glass of warm milk. Nothing works. At 1 a.m. you look out the window to see if anyone else has their lights on, 2 a.m. you check your email and FB messenger, 3 a.m.…
It’s early fall in Toronto. The trees are turning to flame, the days are getting cooler and shorter. The nights are getting longer. It’s just after 7 p.m. The lowest hydro rates have kicked in and for the second time this week I’ve thrown a load of laundry into the washer. Suddenly, I’m thrust back…
A style sheet helps keep your writing consistent, whether that’s an article, a newsletter, web content, a brochure, or an annual report. While a style guide like the Chicago Manual of Style or the Canadian Press Stylebook will lay down the basic rules it won’t help you with things specific to your company or industry…
If there is one word in the English language that I’ve become sick and tired of over the last four months of the COVID pandemic, it is unprecedented. Sometimes it’s used several times in the same sentence (written and spoken). By now, we all know that the year 2020 has been a very different year…
When I was five-years-old, my family took the train from Ashhurst to Gisborne (New Zealand) to visit my grandparents. At the start of our journey the train wound its way through two or three long tunnels as we travelled from one end of the spectacular Manawatu Gorge to the other. As we entered each tunnel,…