Confession: I gave up. I threw in the towel. I put down my pen and walked away. I got discouraged and quit. ‘Who cares anyway?’ I thought. ‘So what if I don’t write? What is my voice among the cacophony of others?’ I stopped using my voice and not just here on my blog. After…
Category: Thoughts
Interruption or Opportunity?
Life changes. In a moment. Unpredictably. Here we are in the midst of a pandemic trying to figure out how to be and how to live through this uncertain time. On New Year’s Eve this wasn’t the 2020 we imagined. In this part of the world we are fortunate so far to have very few…
Lay Down, Be Free
Last Saturday afternoon I took myself to the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in town. I feel things should happen during my weekend afternoon free time – it’s rare after all, and treasured, when I lose some of them to work. I’m dying to get out and about. The winter is long. Cabin fever is real. I’m…
Tale of a Home
Everyone is tidying up. It feels like it. Maybe it is more accurate to say many people are watching ‘Tidying Up with Marie Kondo’ on Netflix. I read her book a while ago about decluttering and being tidy (The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up). I pulled out all the clothes I own, the clothes ‘sparking…
In Winter’s Grip?
“Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight, At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more, When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death, And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.” The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, C S Lewis I can’t help but think…
Everything’s Not Lost
I lost the gemstone out of my engagement ring. Watching television the night before I turned my rings round and round on my finger. I knew the stone was there then. Yet as I walked into the kitchen the next day, a Saturday lunch time, after a whole morning at Kids Club, I looked down…
Rivers, Floods and Inexhaustible Water
We’re thankful to live near water. We lived by the English Channel on the south coast of the UK, here we live by the Saint John River. Right now many people in Fredericton are clearing up after some record-breaking spring floods. The river breaks its banks to some extent every year when temperatures rise and…
Roots, Shoots and Humility
Way back in the summer last year I decided to try and grow an avocado from the pit. I love avocados, but they are expensive, so the idea that one day I may be able to harvest my own, even years down the line, seemed too good not to try. I came across a YouTube…
Books, Culture, Social Media, Church
‘It’s one of Heather’s picks,’ one of our patrons at the library said to me as she asked about a book she wanted to read. People have so many different ways of choosing a book, some like recommendations, some work through the Man Booker Prize list or such like, some will only read one author,…
Palaces, Concert Halls or Out in the Fields
When I was a little girl, I went through a stage of wanting to be famous. I wanted to be a TV presenter. I wanted to be noticed. I don’t know where this ambition came from. It’s clearly not a dream that came true. I was asked to read a story in our Church family’s…
Farewell Christmas Lights
Our street is still cheered by the warm glow of Christmas lights on the houses at night. I like them lighting up the snow. In only a handful of days they will be switched off – to be taken down later when it’s a little less like a freezer outside. Still, the Christmas festivities will…
Looks Like Work or Looks Like Glory
I stood in the line at Costco. I was buying a handful of things, including a big 10kg bag of flour which was in my shopping cart as it’s a bit heavy to lift onto the belt. ‘Is this yours?’ the cashier asked the lady in front of me. As I opened my mouth to…
Emma's English Kitchen 