You would think that after 32 years of marriage, I would know how my husband Philip's mind works and he mine. Every day we surprise each other and most of the time it's worth a chuckle or two.

Forget the health benefits. There is more to working out at the gym than you may realize. It's a writer's paradise, or at least it is to me. Let me explain.

Warm up and cardio - the time to raise your heart beat and burn fat. It's also the time to watch people. Watch the interaction between men and women as they talk to each other. Take note of the body language and the language used (eavesdrop). Watch the smiles, the laughs and the flick of the hair. Look for tattoos or other…

Awhile ago I had coffee with a friend in a local Second Cup. I saw Americano posted on the board. Immediately I thought of the strong coffee I had consumed in England while on holiday. I remember mistakenly believing the English were only good at brewing tea (or are they?) Not so. Coffee is their forte, too.



I ordered a double Americano, added a bit of cream to the china cup and then I nursed it for an hour. I breathed in the rich aroma, I savored the strong taste on my tongue. I…

As we grow older we're bound to lose touch with loved ones. Friends move away. Family members may become distant and separate themselves from us. We have the telephone, Canada Post, and the internet to keep us connected. There's always the holidays - Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter to bring us back together, if only for a short while.

But what happens when a friend or family member dies? What do we do then? How do we tell them that we're thinking of them, that we miss them.…

I started to write about a year and a half ago when I turned the big 50. I blame it on my thyroid although my doctor tells me it's fine. I became restless and couldn't concentrate except to read. I devoured my one daughter's romance novels (Beatrice Small - sex in the highlands in an hour), the Twilight series a dozen times (don't ask me why) and The Sookie Stackhouse series in one week. Was it the sex in the books that kept my interest? Perhaps, but I got tired of reading the words "man…