Category Archives: Musings
Fragrance
I stopped in at Klein Nursery on my way home last week to pick up 4 more blueberry plants and a purple lilac. The owners sound German or Dutch and love what they do. As she hefted a shrub from … Continue reading
Journey of the Heart
Journeying is a good metaphor for a lot of life’s little ploddings. For example, I’m in the process of learning to paint and was delighted to find a high school classmate who offers beginner watercolour classes on Gabriola Island. One … Continue reading
A Time to Laugh
In every city we’ve visited, on nearly every street corner ticket sellers for the Hop On, Hop Off buses call out their product and force pamphlets in our faces. We’ve learned to say “no, thank you” in Dutch, Flemish, German, … Continue reading
To Terezin
I was 15 the first time I heard about the Holocaust. My reaction was disbelief. Understandably. I suppose it’s only normal to seek an explanation. Books and films help, and if you have the stomach for it, a visit to … Continue reading
Brussels
It’s only an hour by train from Brugges to Brussels and we decided the EU capital was worth an overnight stay so here we are, eating giant merangues, taking photos of Manneken-Pis (the peeing boy) along with every other tourist … Continue reading
Cycling the Countryside
As mentioned in an earlier post, cycling is the preferred means of transportation for most in the Flemish lowlands. Our hotel stocks a good number of bikes so we borrowed 2 and rode along the canal toward Damme. The guidebook … Continue reading
Brugges and Flanders Fields
About an hour south of Brugges is the 25 square km patch of land better known as Flanders Fields. We don’t talk much about the Great War in grade school but most Canadians know the poem written by John McRae … Continue reading
Travel Prep
Opening my passport, lifting it to my face so I can take in the distinctive smell of pilgrimage, is one of the first rights of travel for me. I rifle through its pages, remembering past adventures, deciphering the smudged … Continue reading
Wander and Wonder
Apparently, when I was 3, living in Edmonton with my parents, I wandered out of my room, opened the front door and sat myself down on the front stoop to watch the thunder storm as it rolled through the neighbourhood. … Continue reading
Foam and Nonsense
It’s tough to find books on humility. Humilitas, from my course reading list is pretty good, written by an Ozzie named John Dickson. He starts out by saying, “the most influential and inspiring people are often marked by humility” (page … Continue reading