It is written that “a merry heart makes a cheerful countenance” (Proverbs 15:13).
Let me state that there is no other purpose for this writing than to make the heart of its reader merry and put a cheerful smile on his or her face. Whether this comical anecdote is true or otherwise is a matter to which I will simply let the reader be the judge.
I recall how deep in November one year, after the first snow of the season had amassed for a couple of days, I suddenly decided to do something exciting on the spur of the moment.
Volume 21, Number 124, December 2018/January 2019 Winter Garden by Paula Brine-Hogan
A pale, thin moon shines over the now sleeping garden.
Sparkles of light, like silver sequins without the dress,
Reflect in the frigid water of the pool,
Like a portal to the sky.
Nothing moves and there is an eerie silence.
Dead leaves and plants have frozen into a still life fresco.
My garden is waiting.
Not for me, but for Spring.
Volume 21, Number 123, October/November 2018 Immigration by E.R. Nicodemus
This is a portion of a letter my aunt Katie wrote telling of my father’s family coming to Canada.
This is an account of the immigration of William Graham and Anna (Schmitt) Nicodemus and
family as told by their daughter, Katherine.
Goff, Kansas, February, 1912.
My dad had a good crop of corn on the farm rented from Mr. McLain. My oldest brother, Charlie, age 21, had heard that there was land for homesteading in northwest Canada and he talked it over with my dad. Then my dad decided to sell out everything on the farm and go to Canada. So we had a sale of all the farm stock and the household furniture.
Volume 21, Number 122, August/September 2018 Favours Received by Judith Ouellette Bezaire
I ask myself how much of this story is memory. How much is myth? How much, mysterious miracle? The bus route I speak of was not well-established. The tourniquet, never kept. The true order of things in my seven-year-old, age-of-reason mind undetermined. But the details in the black and white snapshot are the evidence of the greater truth discovered.
There are ups for everything like mix and right
Like back up, stand up or turn up the light
You can walk up, crawl up or get up at night
Jump up, stay up or fix up your bike
Volume 21, Number 120, April/May 2018 The Ring by Marlene Ritchie
Lester Smith was a heavy-set man in his sixties, a confirmed bachelor we believed. He was a regular at our auction house. Though he was only five feet six, I could always spot him in the room since the aroma of Tide emanated from his denim bib coveralls.
Volume 21, Number 119, February/March 2018 Bernice's Secret by Joan M. Baril
Bernice walked like Jerry Lewis. She hunched forward like Groucho Marx. Her eyes, even with the aid of bottle-bottom glasses, lacked depth perception and she bumped into everything, including her fellow students in the halls of North Bay Teachers’ College where I was a student.
Volume 21, Number 119, February/March 2018 I Shall Never Forget! by Richard David Briggs
Dedicated to: The Canadian Armed Forces
Military wreaths, earned crowns for our blessed laid to rest,
Committed combatants, notable exploits, recalled to mind,
Our brave went to fight the good fight, gave their very best!
Many, supreme sacrifice paid, freedom in Canada, we find.
