I was recently given an invitation to join a group of highly dedicated people. They meet regularly and have a wide variety of interests pertaining to their particular subject. The invitation came from one of the speakers of an upcoming meeting so I thought, '"Wow! I...
She was the nicest girl you could ever meet. All the people of the town really admired her and if you were a young mother needing medical treatment, you would call on her to mind your children while you were away. Children loved her. She also visited the home for the...
It is a sad thing to stand at the gate of where home used to be and now it is not. You stand like a stranger, a guest without a welcome, at a gate that once swung open to your touch. You have no right to open it now, no right to smile and step inside and say ‘I’m...
The freight-train driver knows about driving to plan. He knows a fully loaded train needs to be carefully managed if it is to climb steep grades and remain under control down the other side. He knows precisely where to begin lifting engine power or decreasing engine...
He was being rebellious. He wanted to throw off all the restrictions placed on him by the family code. He claimed he wanted to live the way nature intended. Finally his dad turned to him and asked, ‘Do you like making bushfires in your life? Why don’t you make it...
We have a family of little blue wrens who come looking for food several times a day. I have found they like a certain mixture which I make and crumble small so that they can pick it up easily. When they hear the screen door open, they flying out of an invisible...
We were standing around outside having a cup of tea and a slice of loaf. The ground was white with winter frost and we stomped our feet to get circulation moving as we warmed our hands on our steaming cups. It was bitterly cold but the operative phrase was "Isn't it...
Some things we were taught in our childhood homes, we put in place in our own home. Certain behaviours were acceptable and the family that adhered to those behaviours was united by them. They were something like a badge of definition. The family you came from was...
I grew up in hand-me-downs and nobody was more proud than I when I could put on those new hand-me-downs and know I was really well dressed. My clothes came from a wealthy family so they breathed quality, looked quality and felt quality. They were quality even when...
Recently I was given a couple of tiny wildflowers. They came from a distant place where they are quite prolific but I had never been to that region and had never seen them. Theirs was a loveliness never revealed to me before. Enchanted, I put them in a vase for a few...