Homesickness
May 6, 2024 No CommentsMain image by Ihor Oinua on Unsplash 28th March 2022 In English, when we miss our homeland, we say, “I feel homesick”. In French, when we miss our homeland, we say, “J’ai le mal du pays”. Close enough, but not quite the same. Taken literally, the English version seems just to be about missing one’s […]
Read MoreThe Miracle of Quality Listening
May 6, 2024 1 CommentImage by Sammy Williams on Unsplash 20 March 2022 COVID restrictions are falling away, even in France, which means that I am going out a bit more. This week I had four sorties mid-week – a wine-bar near my home, a premiere at the cinema with Medjool and his daughters, a goodish walk in the […]
Read MoreLearning to Live Without a Map
May 6, 2024 2 CommentsMain image by Ali Elliott on Unsplash 13 March 2022 I love maps and I love metaphors. I love maps, orienteering maps in particular, though ones of mountainous areas and other rough terrain will do. I like maps that use colours, and the larger the scale, the more detail of the terrain shown, the better. […]
Read MoreMy New Favourite Grief Model(s)
May 6, 2024 No Comments5 March 2022 Main image by Олександр on Unsplash This week is the Climate Coaching Alliance Festival – from 3-8 March 2022. I’ve joined it for the third year running. I joined it in part because coaching with the climate and our planet’s well-being in mind is increasingly part of how I work. I joined […]
Read MoreThe Shape of Her in Her
May 6, 2024 No CommentsPhotos my own from this week by Lac Léman/Lake Geneva 27 February 2022 One of my favourite writing prompts in Megan Devine’s 30-day Writing Your Grief programme comes on Day 28. So close to the end, when much excavation of one’s ever-changing emotions, thoughts, feelings and sensations has already gone on. The prompt starts with […]
Read MoreSometimes…
May 6, 2024 No CommentsPhotos by me this weekend – the exact spot I was with Edward. I have one with him grinning widely. I cannot find it. For now. But I will. 20 February 2022 Sometimes when I come to reflect on what to write about each week, I just know. I know – yes – THIS is […]
Read MoreCreating the Community I Crave
May 6, 2024 1 Comment13 February 2022 Photo of Gordon, Michelle & me at Soaring Spirits International’s Camp Widow, Toronto, November 2018 Back in the early days of widowing, as I heard the likes of Megan Devine talk about the importance of community, my reaction was something along the lines of “Hrrrmph”. I didn’t get it. I didn’t quite […]
Read MoreThrowing out decades of memories
May 6, 2024 8 CommentsMain image by Susan Q Yin on Unsplash 6 February 2022 Our house has long needed a lick of paint, new staining and varnish on wooden floors and stairs, mouldy patches on bathroom ceilings scraped off and refreshed with white paint, new lights/lighting, new curtains sewn so that they match better with whatever is around… […]
Read MoreChoosing Love
May 6, 2024 1 CommentMain picture by Mohamed Nohassi on Unsplash 30 January 2022 January’s Monthly Prompt from Megan Devine & Refuge in Grief for Grieflings who have been through her 30-day Writing your Grief Programme https://refugeingrief.com/writing-your-grief/ “For decades, my parents have said they wouldn’t get new dogs or cats when the ones they had died. Their last dog […]
Read MoreIf Only…
May 6, 2024 3 CommentsPhotos our own, taken over the years. Main photo with baby Ben, (2000). I have so few photos of us just sitting in bed, when it happened so often. Other photos taken by the kids or friends over the years. I treasure these photos. 22 January 2022 I have many terrible dreams. Night-time dreams, I […]
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