As the end of summer holidays approaches you can feel the excitement (and anxiety) growing. Fall is almost here which means back to school for all the kiddies. Everybody is looking forward to the new daily schedule (for a while, anyway). It's becoming busy, busy, busy again and often moms are overwhelmed with fulfilling everybody's needs. It might be preparing the little ones for their first day in kindergarten, shopping for new shoes for the bigger kids or helping the older guys search for stuff for their dorm rooms. You are swamped.
Gurl-able is a word I should have coined back in the Eighties because that was the day my daughter Leslie (almost) totaled my little sky blue sports car. Now you're probably thinking gurl-able is a negative term. You're wrong! For me, it's a celebratory word implying a coming of age. It's my description of any female who demonstrates she is well able to take care of herself in our often unsettling day-to-day world. Gurl. Able. Get it?
Picture this. You, hubby and the kiddies have been out sightseeing all day and you're all perfectly pooped. Everybody is cranky and you wish you didn't have to go out for supper. This grilled cheese sandwich recipe is easy, healthy, and cheap. Your children (little ones or teenagers) will absolutely love it. In fact, I promise they will volunteer to do the cooking and your hotel room meal will be complete in minutes! Make a quick stop at any grocery store. These items are generally readily available:
I have four grandchildren under the age of 12. As a travel journalist I travel a lot. On each trip I try to bring one gift that will be of special interest to each child. Where possible I try to include an educational element. As a rule I try to stay within a $10-$15 budget.
Birthdays, Mother's Day, I Love You Days. You want to show your mom and your children's grandma how much you love her but choosing gifts are getting harder and harder. She already has acquired so many things herself that really, all you are doing is duplicating. And, if it's not to her taste, she won't tell you and your present will be packed away in a closet. I know. I've been there with my own mom.
By now you must be sick and tired about reading that my bag was lost for 99 days coming home from Antarctica and then miraculously found courtesy of LAN Airlines. You probably also know all about how everyone online and off joined to try and locate my beautiful Indian pashmina.
My sincere apologies! I've taken this long to blog about my Valentine's Day blind date because I didn't know exactly how to break the news to all of you. If you remember, back in February I wrote a blog post advertising the fact that I was a grandma looking for a grandpa to enjoy Valentine's Day with.
A great many of my 'grandmother' friends shun social media. They all own computers. They all know how to search for things and they all know how to send an email.
Let me clarify that last statement.
They all know how to send an email but most wouldn't dream of emailing a stranger.
I adore birthdays. I've liked them ever since I was a little kid. Not just mine; I love everybody's celebration. The anticipation, the guests who celebrate with you, good friends checking in from far away, the cake, the presents. What's not to love?
Somehow this year my 73rd birthday was more than special with lots of lovely little extra touches that made my heart sing.
As most of you know my day job is as a travel journalist. In that capacity I've visited close to 70 countries on seven continents. My goal as a writer is to inspire other women to step out their door and explore our great big world—solo, with their partners, and with their families.
I've been away for a few weeks but came back to the same frustrating local news. How disappointing to learn that the teachers union vs the government fiasco is still going on in Ontario. Honestly, I don't know enough about the issues to comment on the conflict. I feel for both sides who each believe that they are so right. However, let me be clear. That is where my sympathy for the teachers begins and ends.
One of the most delicious things about kids under six is that they haven't yet had the truth socialized out of them. As a result they say it as they see it and feel it.
The youngest of my grandchildren won't sit still for photographs. She's absolutely adorable, she refuses to put her hair in a pony tale, and her idea of a photograph-able face is a comic grimace.
She's up; she's down. She's like quicksilver in constant motion. As hard as I try I never get anything close to a recognizable and presentable portrait of what she really looks like. Please see Exhibit #1
Something you might not know about me: I was 45 when I went back to school to get my Bachelor of Arts with a major in Film and Communication. I studied script writing, editing, film history, and film analysis. For five glorious years I lived and breathed movies and loved it.
In 1989 I accepted an internship with a production company filming in North America and the Middle East. I went from being a messenger on set to the company's production coordinator. My name is in the movie's credits and I absolutely adored the experience.
When I was growing up and our neighbours were giddily anticipating Christmas, my Jewish siblings and I were anticipating Chanukah, the eight day Festival of Lights.
It's a funny thing. As I get older my bucket list of things I still want to try seems to be shifting to the eccentric. I guess that's par for the course once you've lived seven decades and had the wonderful opportunity to try a lot of things.
You might see a striking resemblance between us in these photos but I think my daughter, Erica Ehm and my real daughter were switched at birth. If this isn't the truth then why did she treat me this way?
It's a funny thing. As I get older my bucket list of things I still want to try seems to be shifting to the eccentric. I guess that's par for the course once you've lived seven decades and had the wonderful opportunity to try a lot of things.
