Blog # 179...July 2026

 The art of survival is occupying all of us these days and pulling away from despair is taking effort and creative thinking. Following the NY Knicks first NBA championship since 1973, David Remnick's editorial inThe New Yorker shared the joy enveloping the Cityfelt, finishing with, "Joy, remember that?" " 

I now choose what to read from what's available on the many forms of audio books at the Library.. It means I sometimes can't find what I think I want, but discover an unexpected treasure instead. I've loved Ann Patchette's writing ever since Bel Canto, so I reserved  Story of a Happy Marriage expecting a novel. Instead I found myself engrossed in a collection of personal essays, a memoir of sorts. As well as stories of her childhood and growing up, she shares how  her years as a journalist informed her fiction writing and her thoughts on the craft of writing. Her piece on the creation of Truth and Beauty, which she wrote after the death of Lucy Grealy is an exquisite and loving tribute to friendship. The story of opening  Parnassus, a Nashville bookstore gives her a chance to champion both reading and independent bookstores. As you may have guessed by now, I liked this book.  

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And Scotland keeps attracting my attention.  Douglas Stewart has a new book, he won the Booker prize with his first, Shuggie Ban, written after many years as a successful fashion designer.  In a delicious interview with Oprah Winfrey, he introduced his latest ,John on John, set on the remote island of Harris, where the famous  tweed is woven. The meeting of her voluptuous exuberance with his restrained humour makes for something both funny and sweet. YouTube has it.

I was so happy to be back in Quebec recently, having let too much time pass since my last visit. This time we were in the Eastern townships, in and around Sherbrooke. The town centre has been largely shifted to the outskirts, but its history has been preserved in a series of mammoth murals,on large expansive walls of buildings scattered throughout the town. Here's a link so you can look at them

all if you're so inclined, they're quite fabulous.

https://www.google.com/search?q=sherbrooke+murals+photos&oq=sherbrooke+murals+photos&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRifBdIBCTE3MDcxajBqN6gCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#lpg=cid:CgIgAQ%3D%3D,ik:CAoSFkNJSE0wb2dLRUlDQWdJQ2h6XzZkZVE%3D

Wow, that's the longest link eve,! hope it works

I've always had a somewhat proprietary feeling towards the Toronto General 

hospital, having been born there, delivered my daughter Julia there and worked on the front line in inpatient psychiatry from 1984 to 2001.

I winced when they gobbled up theToronto Western and then most of University Avenue as the University Health Network., but I rejoiced when they established Dunn Avenue for 41 vulnerable people who lived on the streets and were frequently in Emerg. They're now entering another area of social concern,supporting members of our aging population to stay in their hom.

It's called NORT, no idea what that represents in our world of acronyms and lol's, but I think there's plans for one in my neighbourhood, which is quaintly called Seaton Village. .I'll see if I can get to the bottom of it, in the interest of the art of survival and report back.

So, as Bugs Bunny would say,That's all folks! I hope you found some joy as you read this and will spread it around, and keep cheering for Team Canada, in all its forms on July 1st.

Back in August.

 Blog # 178...June 2026

There are many wonderful things to see and do in Glasgow. The presence of architect Charles Rennie MacIntosh is everywhere, and great pubs and  restaurants. It's a cool place now but remembers and retains with pride its working class pas., The  People's Palace shows how ordinary people lived, worked and played in the city's evolution. There's also a plaque in City Hall marking a visit from Nelson Mandela in1993 to accept the Freedom of the City, awarded to him in 1981 while he was in prison. Then there's the Glasgow Women's Library, a beautiful building, dedicated to women writers and readers.  As well as shelves of books and a welcoming atmosphere, they host  authors sharing their work as well as frequent open lectures and workshops on topics of particular interest to women. Every few months, I get their newsletter with the latest menu. A recent  appearance by Donna Moore previewed her new book Knit One, Heist Two. If you liked, as I did, The Thursday Murder Club, you might want to check this one out. 

Scotland seems to be on my mind right now, I've been using my great grandmother's tea set brought over on a ship in the late 1800's, and thinking of her and what that journey and her arrival here must have been like. As well as being the land of my forebearers, Scotland was the centre of psychiatric innovation in the 1970's with RD Laing,  and Maxwell Jones, among others. 

Still in that mood, last week saw the most moving film I've seen in a while. Called I Swear, it's set in Cailean Shields, a small town about a hundred miles north of Edinburgh. John Davidson is a  promising young football goalie, expecting a visit from a professional scout. Much to everyone's horror, he develops physical tics and begins  shouting obscenities...yup, it's Tourette's Syndrome. It's not recognized or understood though and his life becomes a misery of ridicule and persecution. Playing John Davidson won the best actor BAFTA (the British OscarT) for Robert Aramayo who makes the role and the film unforgettable.

I'm often thinking of Iran these days too, I just heard some bits from writers who appeared at Blue Metropolis, the great Montreal literary festival,  Azar Nafisi was much in the news in 2003 when we were all  fascinated by Reading Lolita in Tehran where she revealed how she  encouraged her students to remove their hijabs and read forbidden literature as secret acts of rebellion against their restrictive regime.  A quarter of a century later, she's still at it, in the relative safety of the US, and has just published Reading Dangerously. She spoke of the tragedy in her country, but also of the insidious erosion of freedom where she lives now, for women as well as other vulnerable groups.

Two other Iranian women living in the diaspora are in my thoughts. Christiane Amanpour has a public platform with her daily appearance, with her former husband, Jamie Rubin, called The EX Files. Available daily, on YouTube, its subtle message is that two people who can't agree to stay married can still discuss topics in a reasonable and respectful way.  They take on the global news, frequently bringing Christiane's personal knowledge and experience of Iran into the conversation.

Some years ago, I met a recently arrived Iranian woman in a conversation group, set up to give people learning English an opportnity to chat and discover the language casually. I was in touch with her recently and learned that, although her immediate family members are safe here, her husband's family is in Iran, with nos possible point of contact. The courage of these three women, along with millions of others in many different situations is sobering, and cause for gratitude for our basic freedoms here.

Designs coming from the Haida culture are unique and have become easily recognized and two Iindigenous artists are bringing these designs into prominence. Doorothy Grant, a fashion designer who has just been awarded the first prize for IndigenousFfashion Design, using the motifs on common objects like jewellery and iclothing. Briain Jungendoes the opposite, taking apart Air Jordan sneakers, arranging them to create Haida patterns. He says cutting up the sneakers reminds him of gutting a salmon. Brian's sense of whimsy extends to a life size dinosaur skeleton created with wite plastic lawn chairs.

I'm determined to create this issue without mentioning the place where I live, which usually dominates and I'm going to try and be more outwardly directed in future. Any suggestions from your neck of the woods would be welcome,you know where to find me. Back in July. 

 Blog # 177...May 2026

Despite having a pretty low tech household, there seem to be a number of disembodied voices that keep me company. My bluetooth speaker murmurs softly when I turn my computer off, I can't quite make out what it says, maybe, have a good sleep, or, you should really do something about those cuticles. It's taken me some time to realize that voices approaching me from behind on the street are likely from a person having a phone conversation and not responding to imaginary voices. I listened to one of the latter this morning and decided that if I had to live on the street, I'd probably be yelling  obscenities too.

The CBC brings welcome voices int my life, I start weekdays with The Current and end with Ideas, Saturday morning I catch up on political shenanigans with The House. On Sundays, I eat breakfast with Sunday Magazine and lunch with Bookends.  Most of my blog features are gathered from those sources...just so you know.                                                                                                                    Other regular voices are accompanied by faces, Jon Stewart breezes in with a weekly breath of fresh air from the US and Christiane Amanpour, safe in the UK, brings her perspective on what's going on in her homeland of Iran.  Occasionally Bill Nighy pops in with Ill Advised, and most days Rebecca and Richard fromThe Daily Mail distract me for a few minutes with Palace Confidential. What a houseful!

Speaking of disembodiment, there seems to be a moving away from dating apps to in person meretings.  These  meetups sprung up in NYC in the nervous atmosphere after the attack on the World Trade Centre...9/11. I mentioned a few blogs ago going to a Death Cafe where the urge to talk about death seemed sondary to wanting to gather in a group. Lots of ways to come together  are emerging to meet our human instinct to be with each other.  It's a healthy sign, all that anonymous swiping would make me nuts if I were in the dating game.  

A Michael Fliess photo

On our way to see the David Blackwood show at the AGO recently, my eye was caught by this piece by Allison Katz. She's captured something interesting and amusing that speaks to me of many things - our relationship to art, our feelings as women and life itself.  She's new to me  and I'll start watching for her work. I could have stayed looking at her collection all afternoon but my friends reminded me that we had  come to see David Blackwood so I tore myself away.

It was totally worth it. David Blackwood is new to me too. Descending from  generations of sea captains in Newfoundland, the North Atlantic is in his bloo and his paintings.  They capture its beauty and power as well as the the flora and fauna of the surrounding land, I could almost feel the salt spray. He's also known for the unique print technique he developed called intaglio  that produced beautiful etchings.  What a treat it was to discover both of these woderful Canadian artists.

 There's joy in discovering a new writer too. Early in the days of the self help and improvement titles that now crowd the shelves of bookstores, Harriet Lerner captured our attention with Dance of Anger. She cotinued to dance with Fear, Intimacy, Connection and Deception. Her son Ben has inherited the writing gene  and uses his talent for both novels and poetry, winning Canada's Griffin Prize in 2019. I've just finished his second novel,  10:04,  (the title refers to the time appearing on a clock in a film) in which the protagonist has Marfan's Syndrome, a condition that, although not very noticeable or fatal, affects a life. Ben share's his mother's interest in physicality and its link to behaviour and explores how the character's situation plays ot. Blending personal details with fiction,which Ben does, unsettles a lot of people but for me it's usually engaging and I don't mind a bit of challenge and uncertainty.

I posted about music in Powell River a while ago and they're in the news again. The town was founded on Indigenous land, its People displaced and the town was named after an early white settler. It was an era of cultural assimilation, and now in more sensitive times, the original inhabitants are asking for the original name to be restored. It raises the sticky matter of name replacement. On one hand, the rights should be respected but on the other hand, could retaining the imposed name offer an opportunity to talk about the wrongs that were done... Sometimes though, there is no other hand and as with much of life, it's complicated.  Namesake, a documentary appearing at this year's HotDocs festival in Toronto explores this, watch for it on a screen near you. 

It's raining very hard as I'm writing this, many places are flooding, hopefully not my basement!  I think and worry about water and love listening to The Great Lakes Suite, just put out by The  Rheostatics, celebrating the five expanses of it that define so much of our border with the US.  The music and narrative are a meditation, with the poignant voices of Tanya Tagaq and the late Gord Downie warming my heart. A more chilling view from Louise Penny's latest Gamache novel, The Black Wolf looks at a plot south of the border to take our water, wishing I could unread this!  

I think April is World Poetry Month, and if it isn't, it should be. My friends know how I love limericks, and I thought of writing one for you, but decided to share one of my favourites from Dorothy Parker, a forerunner of Hip Hop. not technically a limerick, but close enough.

"Oh life is a gay and glorious song,
A medley of extemporanea.
And love is a thing that can never go wrong,
And I am Marie of Roumania.”

There are scads of birthdays in May, if yours is one of them, count your blessings and have a happy day.

 See you in June and don't forget what arrives tomorrow.

Blog # 176..April, 2026

 I started this blog thinking it was a one of, but then kept going as there I kept noticing how art enriches and reflects our lives. It's sort of taken on a life of its own, veering into hope...the two things have much in common.

Panya Clark Espinal encourages us through her art to look at our surroundings more carefully  and feel differently about them. Her installations enhance many corners of Toronto, including the Bayview TTC station on the Sheppard line. She's an  artist to watch as she honours both the present and the past with inventiveness.  In I am Your Window, her current exhibition at the MKG127  gallery, she's ventured into weaving, referencing the art of her grandmother Paraskeva  Clark,  The actual tablecloth that appears in one of Paraskeva's canvases is placed beside the painting, both of which form part of Panya's childhood memories.  Different renderings of the pattern form the centre of this small but stunning show, full of craft, memory and love.

My cousin Billy gets a shout out for sending me a clipping from a Georgian Bay magazine that featured a cousin of our grandmother's. Jay Blairwas a well loved and eccentric figure from our  childhoods as well as those of our fathers. He lived well into his 90's without having conventional work, but was always totally occupied with his passions. He was well known as an amateur archeologist, devoting himself to searching for relics of previous inhabitants of the area around his home in Duntroon and reaching as far as  Midland and Penetang. The Royal Ontario Museum has several of his finds on display As a side hustle, he created new varieties of fruit by grafting plum branches o.nto apple trees, coming up with some pretty weird results that he delighted in showing us when we'd visit.

March brought the Paralympics which always engage me more than the big show. The games that feature people with a range of disabilities have slowly entered the public sphere much as people themselves have done.  In one of my many lives, I made documentary films, focusing on my experience with people with disabilities.  The first one, FREE DIVE, was about a group of kids in wheelchairs who had started a snorkel and scuba club. I learned many things from them, including how important it is to engage in something where they can be just one of the gang. The short version had a theatrical release across Canada in 1981, if you're interested and have 7 minutes to spare, you can view it at https://youtu.be/AN91JtDwCJQ

 What a mix of joy and sadness to see Joni Mitchell, that incredible genius of poetic expression struggling with the language to express her gratitude at being honoured with Juno's Lifetime Achievement Award. An aneurysm robbed her of some of her physical ability but her spirit and courage brought a lift to my heart and a tear to my eye.

Despite the balmy weather that's arrived, visions of the art that we saw in the bleak midwinter at the National Gallery in Ottawa occasionally pass across my screen, especially the wall with the many Inuit words for snow. A psychiatrist friend who spent time working in Iqaluit discovered that they had no word for depression, called it, thinking a lot and crying.

After the April showers, we'll have May flowers, see you then.il

Blog # 175...March 2026                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

One winter morning many years ago, my next door neighbour Lesley called excitedly to tell me there was a snowy owl perched on the roof of the hoiese across the laneway from us. I rushed out on the 3rd floor deck without stopping for a coat amd watched until freezing set in.                                    When I shared this amazing experience with my friend Robert, he gave me this photo, taken near Collingwood where we used to ski.                           I've had many pets over the years...this one sits quietly over my desk as I'm writing this, not demanding anything but my admiration

                                                                     February has been Black History Month with some  great art in the subway stations, and attention directed to contributions made by Balck citizens that may have gone unnoticed. I was touched by many of the stories featured on CBCand spent some time imagining the early Black residents who settled my neighbourhood. Deborah Brownand her family lived several doors away, I wish I'd had a chance to know them. 

Artificial intelligence is all over the air waves these days, accomplishing both good and evil, There's much pondering whether it will ever take over and leave us floundering in the.dust.  I heard an interview with science and nature writer Michael Pollen recently about his latest book, A World Appears... journey into consciousness. It looks encouraging as he reminds us that our brains have distinct areas of thinking and feeling, unique to each indiividual, and difficult to replicate, unlike computers with hardware and interchangeable software. He explores the mysteries of consciousness combining insights from a broad range of fields, including neuroscience, philosophy,  literature, and the study of psychedelics. It's all about our favourite subject, ourselves, and sounds like a worthwhile read.

Nadya Tolokonnikova, a member of the brave activist gill band Pussy Riot, ventured out of exile  recently to bring an interesting show on tour. She uses her art to channel her rage and frustration towards her native Russia and how it treats its citizens. The ICE activities going on in the US couldn't help reminding her of the repression and brutality that forced her too leave her country.

Church parking lot on a 19th cetury Sunday

I promised to share impressions of the show of winter art at Ottawa's National Gallery\last month. Since we're g.hrough a winter that seems endless, it was great to be cosy inside and admiring the beauty of winter captured in  paintings and sculptires...a sort of hygge (remember that?) Whole rooms were devoted to winter light and abstractions, those wonderful shapes created by snow and ice

There were many highlights, I particularly loved a piece by Kathleen Moir Morris, a Quebec artist who painted with the Beaver Hall group and whose talent surpassed her disablement  with cerebral palsy.                                                                                                                                                                                                      Indigenous artis are well represented with a room devoted to clothing created and worn to survive the cold, sleds and implements to hunt and cook.The walls of the final room of the show are lined with the many words for snow, my favourite was snowdrift caused by wind.                                                    

March brings longer days of light, International Women's Day, the ides, St Patrick's Day and the first day of Spring, and time to begin to think of filing your income tax...something for everyone..                                                                                  I'm always aided in getting this blog out, John Bilodeau, who got me started all those years ago, and is always there when I get caught up in technical tngles.  And Margeret Adamson, who has been contributing her eagle eyes for the past six months to send out work free of typos.. Thanks to them and to so many of you who tell me that you find ithe bloginteresting...I love writing it!  See you next month.

 Blog # 174...February, 2026

Well, we've taken a bite of the new year, bittersweet so far,  predictables and surprising, many elephants lumbering around the room, keeping me awake at night...business as usual.

I mentioned, Hope in Action, last month and I'm now reading it. I've always been interested in Finland, visited a number of times and had some long term close friends there. I've been struck by some similarities to Canada, two official languages, many lakes and forests and northern regions  stretching to the Arctic. They also share a long border with a large super power, theirs took Karelia, a large chunk of their land in 1942, ours is threatening. Reading Sanna Marin's memoir has given me a totally new look at the country from the inside and helped put some hope in action myself.  

Sanna became Prime Minister of Finland in 2019, at the age of 34, bringing together a coalition government with 5 parties, Left, Right , Centre, Green and Swedish, all led by women, all but one under 40. She's open about being raised by a single mother in a same sex relationship, surrounded by the LGBT community,  Her memoir tracks her involvement from an early age and includes many candid looks at the political process, both inside her country and in the many EU agencies and committees on which she served. I'm loving it.

Politics and hockey are both pretty hyper masculine settings and it's comforting to see some push back against the two sex only rules being enacted south of our border. The TV series, Heated Rivalry, has attracted huge audiences around the world, in communities both straight and gay, sports loving and not so much. I'm lacking the equipment to see it, but will figure something out to deal with that.

Watching the world spin into disorder sometimes seems like some cruel version of whack a mole (not to be confused with guac a mole which is delicious).   Ukraine, Gaza. Sudan, Venezuela, Iran, and othe troubled spots, not to mention Minneapolis! Two speeches in Davos, ours and theirs.  And Greenland, which evokes memories for me, not just from a few days spent there but from Peter Hoeg's 1964 novel,  Smila's Sense of Snow. A young indigenous woman from Greenland struggles with life in Copenhagen. We're not the only people with a history of treating our first nations brothers and sisters badly  

In the Cree language, when they ask someone's age, it translates as,"How many winters do you have?:  The National Gallery, as well as stirring up political scandal,  has been busy putting up, Winter Art, a vast and ambitious show featuring artists from around the world...Kurelek to Kandinsky, Monet to Monkman. I'm planning a trip to Ottawa in February, so I will tell you all about it in March. In the meantime, Katherine May’s book, Wintering, offers rest and retreat in difficult times..

 Blog # 173...January 2026

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Some things that made me happy in 2025:                                                       

Hearing an interview with Sanna Marin who at 34 became leader of the Social  Democrats and Prime Minister of Finland in 2019. She led her country through COVID and their application to NATO, resigning in 2023 to write Hope in Action,  a memoir of her time in office...it's on my reservation list at the TPL.                        

Discovering Patti Smith, a punk rock musician as far as I knew, is actually a fascinating, curious person of substance. She's widely read and travelled from Tokyo to Tangier, Berlin to Broadway. She's sought after to appear in such widely diverse corners  as the Continental Drift Club who honour the work of Alfred Wegener, and Casa Azul, the home of artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. I've read M Train, one of her memoirs and am heading for others.                                              

Remembering Oliver Sacks and liking him even more after reading the revealing profile  in the New Yorker.  

Amassing a collection of authors whose work is available on audio books, Colm Toibin, Susan Orlean, Barbara Kingsolver, Jonathan Kellerman. I've grown to love audiobooks, many people like to listen while they drive, work out or run, for me it's replacing my failing eyes. Being read to is also comfortingly regressive and relaxing, no need to hold a book and turn pages.

Reading biographies, which I've mentioned before, lets me in on the lives of people I've never met, but who have caught my interest. Something in their experiences may resonate with mine, or not. I'm also liking getting to know recurring characters in crime fiction, like Alex Delaware, a psychologist who collaborates with Lieutenant Milo Sturgess solving LA homicides. It's a bit like spending time with old friends in a one-sided way, I can sort of see the appeal of AI connections.   

I'm trying to expand my view of Canada and the world and love thinking of the music going on in Powell River, the BC town that struggles to survive the closing of the paper mill a couple of years ago. Luckily there was music established there already, and it was aided by Dutch cellist Arthur Arnold who left his position as Music Director of the Moscow Symphony when Russia invaded Ukraine. He's doing great things in this small vibrant community.

I was thrilled to hear that Dave Bidini, founder and editor of the West End Phoenix. a community newspaper in Toronto, and  the Rheostatics celebrated the band's 45th anniversary with The Great Lakes Suite. It stakes a claim and honours the huge bodies of water that centre our country. It includes a poem read by the late Gord Downey and a performance by throat singer TanyaTagaq. We began the year with our elbows up and we're keeping them there.

So those are some of the things that helped counteract all the chaos, meanness and inequity that social media delivers so relentlessly, news broadcasts too. 

Last time I checked, February comes next, see you then.