Featuring the works of author Patti Murphy
Stresstember is a serious thing. And it’s not just teachers who suffer from it. If you’ve got school age kids, or if your last one just left for university or even if you’re feeling that sort of “New Year” vibe that seems to come with the changing of the leaves, chances are you’re feeling a bit of what I call “Stresstember Syndrome” right about…
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In September of 1996, I published my first ever piece with the Globe and Mail. It was basically a love letter to teaching. I read it over the other day to see if the writing held up and if I still felt the same way about teaching. It did and I do. This is for my colleagues. Happy First Day to you all….
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This morning when I sat down to write, I was greeted by this colour-coded tangle of sticky notes and felt compelled to take a picture of it. These are my “notes” (and I do use that term loosely) for the next twelve chapters of Date Square Dharma. Yeah, it’s a mess, I can see that. It is also a fairly accurate visual representation of…
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Coming to you early this week, because when you’re cottaging, you’ve got to take your wifi where you can get it… So here’s a cool and somewhat unexpected perk of spending the summer at a cottage far away from your usual home: you get to meet so many interesting new people – like the lovely group of women I met last Wednesday at the…
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Patti is trying to finish chapter eight right now, so this week’s “Note from the Blanket Fort” is brought to you by guest blogger and professional dog, Gavin. – For those of you who don’t know, a “cottage” is a little tiny house by the water, where humans sometimes go for a “vacation” or to “get away from it all,” which is a bit…
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As you might have gathered, I am spending a chunk of the summer at a teeny tiny cottage about 25 minutes away from the little town where I grew up. I’m having a sort of working vacation – writing in the morning, paddling and swimming in the afternoon, sitting on the teeny tiny deck watching the waves roll in. It’s been good for my…
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Funny thing about writing – if you don’t actually sit down and commit words to the page, nothing gets written. I sometimes wish that this wasn’t the case – I wish I could just beam my clever thoughts and witty observations from my mind to my word processor (or perhaps directly to Amazon) and have them appear there as fully formed dialogue and descriptions,…
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I’ve been immersing myself in a lot of Buddhist books and podcasts lately – I’m reading Standing at the Edge by Roshi Joan Halifax and listening to dharma talks by Gil Fronsdal and I can’t recommend them enough, especially if you need a little sanity in your life. Which apparently I do. I’ve been reading and listening to these inspiring Buddhist teachers not because…
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So, a few days ago, I think I had the perfect day. Well, my perfect day, anyway. You could argue that because I’m on holidays, all the days are pretty darn amazing, and I wouldn’t disagree. But this was one for the record books. Can I tell you about it? I’m currently staying in a tiny little cottage on the shore of Georgian Bay,…
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The orange lilies are blooming, so that means I have a birthday coming up. Thankfully it’s not one with a zero in it so I don’t feel maudlin and gripped with existential angst, although I will admit to feeling a wee bit reflective as I complete my 53rd orbit around our ever-warming sun. Here are some things I learned on this year’s trip: Put…
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