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Fact: I did not support Jack Layton in his bid to become the leader of Canada’s New Democratic Party. I backed the runner-up, who was left far behind in the dust of Jack’s first ballot victory at convention that day in 2003. We were a small group, the runner-up backers; we fit into a single … Continue reading And we’ll change the world…

Confessions of a Quitter Our family camp on the north shore of Lake Superior was the landing place for creating some of my most cherished family memories. I was young and single and enjoyed the arguable status of ‘best aunt in the whole wide world’ to my two young nephews. I think proximity had a … Continue reading She Leaved

This morning, while tidying up a bookshelf, I found this package of postcards. It's been sitting there for years - well actually, it's been sitting somewhere for years, moving from house to house, room to room with me because I just love it. I purchased this package at the Art Gallery of Ontario (the AGO) … Continue reading Snail mail, Frida Kahlo, and more

The author, David, Miriam and Sean in Antigonish, Nova Scotia - 2016 Mornings were often difficult for me in the first few years of adjusting to having a family after living 48 years on my own with only a big white fluffy dog and myself to manage. Having three, sometimes four people in the house, … Continue reading Lessons from my Hero

There is a French colloquialism that goes “trop de la pain sur la planche” or “too much bread on the board.” It is meant to describe being too busy, having too much to do. Before the 19th Century, the same phrase was used to describe being comfortable with one's resources; having enough to get by. … Continue reading Rabbits on the Beach – Both/And

In my experience, dragonflies have never posed a physical threat. I teased David once that he must have some Disney princess in him when a persistent dragonfly kept landing on his face and t-shirt while we walked in the woods one day. They seemed to be a random but consistent theme for gifts for me … Continue reading Speaking of Dragonflies

Mom and Dad are doing it again. They know how to talk in a different language, and they do it when they don’t want me to know they’re talking about. I’m four, turning five soon, going to be a big girl. They’re talking about my birthday present. I know that much. “Should we get her … Continue reading Definitely Ambivalent – dispatches from my inner child

My dad, Reynold (Ren, Rennie) Bertolo, was a kind, gentle man with a dry sense of humour that often left people wondering whether or not he was joking at all. He loved the rugged landscape of northern Ontario and the north shore of Lake Superior; he was a gifted artist, painter and cartoonist; he loved … Continue reading Coughs, colds, sore holes – a list for Fathers’ Day

In today's mail from Tom Granger As I’ve alluded to previously, I left my career as a political aid at the end of the Canadian federal election in October 2019. Without being sure of what would come next, I knew that I needed to rest, to grieve, and to heal. I knew, too, that I … Continue reading In unexpected places

I was enrolled in an online learning group a while back in which people would type that they were “going rouge” when they deviated from the suggested plan. It was used so commonly that I began to think it was part of the group’s lexicon rather than a typo. Either way, it’s become part of … Continue reading Going Rouge