Recipes for dark days

In an effort to practice better home economy, I have declared this the Winter of the Bean. In the last few weeks I’ve experimented with baked beans and chili. Today, I made Bohnensuppe (Bean Soup) as per a simple recipe in …

We are memory

I just started work on an upstairs bedroom; it’s going to be our office. I’ve settled on a colour scheme inspired by the changing leaves on our red-twig dogwoods, which have turned rich plum-and-gold. It fits, thematically, with the colours we’ve …

Everything is fiction

I was reading an article about David Sedaris’ memoirs. It would seem very little of his “non-fiction” work is based in what we’d call truth. But, I thought to myself as I read, isn’t everything fiction? Naturally, there are certain events that come with …

One year later…

Everything has changed. As of September, I have left my job in the city and moved to live at our country house full-time. C is working as a grade 4-6 teacher at a local private school. I am, as of …

All changes have their melancholy

This week I wrote my 20th and last column for our magazine. After 10 years, we’ll print one last issue in November and then that’s it. Mostly, I’m good with it. We produced something smart and worthwhile. We never sacrificed our ideals. As …

One step closer to the merge

Well, we moved. Sort of. All our stuff is at the–our–house. And my husband is there. And our cat and our dog. The only one not quite there is me. The teaching job didn’t come through (not yet, anyway) and …

A Change is as Good as a Rest

We gave notice on our apartment at the start of July, three days before we heard from the school administration. They let us know that, while the loved us both and would like to hire us, they didn’t feel they …

Around, over, under, through

It’s been a weird time around here. I am at the end of a three-month hiatus from work. I am fortunate to work for an employer–as part of a union–that allowed me to take a leave to take care of my mental health. …

Welcome to Rabbiton

This morning I woke up at our house with a wonderful idea for one of our planting beds. Since there’s no way to go back to sleep after having a wonderful idea, I got up. As I pulled on some …

The wood between the worlds

Some weeks ago I had a bit of a breakdown. Maybe more than a bit. Now everything feels awkward, like there’s a wall between me and everyone else. I worry I’ll say inappropriate, alienating things. Sometimes I do. I waiver between …