Blog: Notes From the Blanket Fort

Nine- thirty on the dot, Gavin and I head out the door for his morning constitutional. Overcast, damp, 5C with a just a breath of breeze, still a very good day for a walk. I take in a deep lungful of fresh October air and we set off at our usual brisk pace, only to come to a screeching halt at the end of…
Read more

You guys. I’ve started my new job (Full Time Writer During a Global Pandemic) and I have to tell you — even though it’s only been a few weeks, this is a pretty great job. For one thing, the commute is fantastic! After I make myself a latté (there is free coffee for all employees in the kitchen!) Gavin and I walk through the…
Read more

So, yesterday, on the third official day of my retirement, I walked Gavin around the neighbourhood, did some work in the yard, mowed the lawn… … and then sat down and wrote the first 1,246 words of what will be chapter one of the The Spaghetti Supper Sangha. Thought you’d want to know. (There’s also a secret project that I can’t tell you about…
Read more

This morning, just after sunrise, I walked Gavin on a deserted beach road, through a cathedral of awakening trees. When I got back to my teeny, tiny boathouse, I went for a long swim in the healing waters of Georgian Bay. (Full disclosure: nobody was around and so it was a skinny dip.) Then, I sat on the deck with my tea and breakfast…
Read more

You guys. Just popping in to say that The Kitchen Sink Sutra is an audiobook now! (I know, right?!) And let me tell you, it is just the thing you need right now. Going on a road trip? Audiobook. Working in the garden? Audiobook Folding laundry? Cooking? Sitting by the pool? Audiobook, audiobook, audiobook. Read by the insanely talented Natalie Naudus, this audiobook version…
Read more

Our friend Ali told us that her son Will (who is all of three years old) woke up one day recently, yawned, stretched and said, “Is coronavirus over yet?” I feel you, kid. Just between you and me, it has not been the best week at my house. The dishwasher died, the refrigerator is making a funny noise, I’ve been in desperate need of…
Read more

Well. Here we are. I’d ask how you’ve been since we last talked, but I have an idea how you’ve been, at least lately. If you’re at all like me, you’ve been anxious and restless and reading the news with a subtle mixture of apprehension and dread. You’ve been missing your pre-pandemic life, you’ve been missing your friends, your family, the normalcy of a…
Read more

I love the autumn. There’s a slow unwinding that happens in the world and within me, too – a respite after the busy fertility of summer, a last brilliant pause before the stillness of winter.  Maybe it’s because deep down, I am a Celt – my people come from an emerald green island where it’s cloudy and rains a lot.  I love cool weather…
Read more

The irony is that when I write, it has to be absolutely quiet – I can’t concentrate if there’s talking or a television or even music in the background. (Yeah, I’m a real treat to live with. I do however make a spectacular spaghetti sauce and I’m always the one who cleans the cooktop so it’s not like I don’t contribute to the household.)…
Read more

I’ll be reading from The Date Square Dharma and signing books at Kichessipi Beer (2265 Robertson Road in Bell’s Corners) on Wednesday September 11th at 7:00 p.m to benefit The Leukaemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada. Pre-purchase tickets for $20 at staffordfalls@gmail.com In the meantime, here’s the beginning of chapter one of The Date Square Dharma… The Best Laid Plans I have every reason…
Read more