One of the blessings of retirement is travel. Oftentimes we hold back during our working years thinking, “I’ll just wait ‘til I retire--then my bags will be packed.” I recently traveled on a tour of Japan, an intriguing country long on our bucket list of international destinations. More on that in a moment. But suffice it to say that travel helps us learn, explore, and (hopefully) change our perspective. All of these are preconditions to release our creative juices, even as we age.
Her name was Emma MacDonald. She was a single lady, at that time known as a spinster: a woman dedicated to the training and teaching of piano lessons for young children...
After five months on the job, I nearly lost it. Because of Palm Sunday. We opened with the grand processional hymn “All Glory, Laud and Honor.” The choir, the children..
My great grandmother would come to visit and stay for a couple of weeks each year. Together with my mother they would play piano duets in the evening after I had been..
Being Mortal is a meditation on how the many triumphs of modern medicine have impacted end of life decisions. We have many choices to make as we face death from our..
I had put the job off for several weeks. Excuses were easy: I don’t have time now; it’s not really important; no one will notice. But my compulsive-work-oriented-self..
Illuminating books. We can read that phrase a couple of different ways. Are books, by their contents illuminating? Do they shed new understanding on life’s experiences..
Slide projectors, each with its own carousel, were stacked three high. They were managed by a dissolve unit, and by the creativity of the writer/photographer whose..
One year ago this day, January 6, 2021, this blog’s writers were scheduled for a zoom planning meeting at 3:00. As news from the events unfolding in Washington DC began..
End of the year holiday expectations are often tied to memories of past celebrations. So, back in November I asked about 50 people in leadership at United Church Homes..