Blog: Notes From the Blanket Fort

Long time readers of this blog will know that I place a very high value on the notion of self-care. (I don’t always practice it – to wit, I’ve been sick with one damn thing after another since Labour Day, but I do place a very high value on the notion of it, despite my own personal shortcomings.) So perhaps in the spirit of…
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To protect the identities of the tiny humans in this story, their names have been changed to those of my favourite vegetables, since I sometimes actually do call them Broccoli or Brussel Sprout just to make them laugh.  (They’re six; they think I’m hilarious.) Act I: Late September (or It Seemed Like Such a Good Idea at the Time) The two Grade One teachers…
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So, for the past four weeks, as the darkness of November settled in to stay, I’ve started this new routine.  Every morning I’ve been getting up much earlier than usual, before the rest of the household has even stirred from their beds, sneaking down into the basement, lighting the fireplace and writing. It’s been amazing. The world is quiet and I’ve got a time…
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  Do you know what intra oral massage is? For your sake, I sort of hope not, because honestly, it’s not a lot of fun.  It induces that sort of pain where you’re not voluntarily crying, but your eyes just start to water like crazy and you’re counting the seconds and wondering just how much more you can take, all the while trying to…
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  I made soup this week. You see, Samhain has just passed – okay, you probably think of it as Hallowe’en, but those of us with Celtic blood think of it as a liminal time – a time of thresholds, the beginning of the darker half of the year.  My ancestors used to light bonfires to protect and cleanse, to push back the shadows.  They…
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Tuesday morning, not at school.  Packing the car for a trip across the province (okay, not the whole province, but it feels like it,) to take care of my mom who is just getting out of convalescent care with a brand new knee. Pack up, gas up, hit the road. The brooding starts before I leave the gas station. I can only stay a…
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  Everybody who loves their pet ends up here, don’t they? My partner Mariann is cleaning up the dinner dishes and I am taking Gavin for his evening constitutional – he didn’t want his food this morning and was lethargic, not himself.  He had pancreatitis this summer and I’ve been worried about him since then. I lean down to clean up after he’s done…
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You guys! I’ve been holed up all weekend, writing Date Square Dharma and I need some conversation!  (With, you know, real people, not just the people who live in my head…) This week will be your questions – next week will be my answers! Leave a question you have in comments or email your question to patti@pattiwritesbooks.com. Ask me anything – about The Kitchen…
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Just between you and me, I’m a bit crabby these days. If I’m not at the vet with a vomiting dog, then I’m at my own doctor saying, “I’m getting these weird hives…” ( To which my lovely doctor replied, “Oh, sweetie. That’s not hives, that’s shingles.”) Which are exactly as much fun as advertised, let me tell you. It’s all been a bit…
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  I have eaten the tomatoes that were on the counter   and which you were probably saving for lunch   Forgive me they were delicious so sweet and lush on toast with a little salt and mayo. P. P.S. Sincere apologies to William Carlos Williams…