March 2025 “For most of history,Anonymous was a woman.” ― Virginia Woolf Welcome to March. In this part of the world, it came in like a lion, indeed. As I sit here with my hands paused, fingertips poised and ready to write to you, my mind swirls with the maelstrom happening outside of my safe little office walls. Inside here, I can convince myself that the world can be safe and calm... just not right now. Because even inside here, there are too many things, impossible to deny; impossible to...
30 days ago • 5 min read
February 14, 2025 “What a blessing it is to love books.” ― Elizabeth von Arnim, The Solitary Summer We're about halfway through February and we've just had the heaviest snowfall of the Winter. No surprise, really. But it does mean that many folks spent the better part of the last 24 hours digging themselves out of over a foot of snow... 32 cm to be precise, according to some reports. AND... there's more coming this weekend. But you know... this is a good thing. It's supposed to snow, in this...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
February 2025 “Books have the same enemies as people:fire, humidity, animals, weather,and their own content.” ― Paul Valéry cr: Paul Volkmer We've just stepped into February and although "some days must be dark and dreary", as Longfellow said, that must mean some days must be bright and vibrant, right? But... what about if the weather itself doesn't know what the heck it's doing? And... does our mood have to match? Well, of course our moods don't have to match the weather, but they sure seem...
about 2 months ago • 7 min read
January 2025 “Resolve to renew all your old resolves,Add a few that are new,Resolve to keep them as long as you can,What more can a poor man do?” ― from a postcard in the 20th century Laura V. It's New Year's Day, late afternoon. It's dark and gray, with a little bit of everything falling from the sky. It's wet and cold. It simply does not feel like a day for resolutions. The tradition of new year's resolutions is primarily a Western world tradition, filled with promises of renewal and the...
3 months ago • 7 min read
November/December 2024 “It was the best kind of November day.Cold and crisp, but not quite freezing, not icy.Just cold enough that she could justifiably wear all her favorite clothes – cardigans and tights and leg warmers.” ― Rainbow Rowell cr: Jaromír Kalina As I write this, Reader, nearly all the leaves have fallen from the trees in our neighbourhood, while our feisty smoke tree hangs onto hers, all round and copper coloured at this bleak time of year. The sky is mostly grey though the sun...
4 months ago • 8 min read
October 2024 “A fresh start. A new chapter in life waiting to be written.New questions to be asked, embraced, and loved.Answers to be discovered and then lived...!” ― Sarah Ban Breathnach A bright ray of sunshine... new reads and new meetup adventures! One thing that lights me up in the way that welcoming a group of readers at a Silent Book Club meetup, is knowing that meetups are burgeoning across the city. These are all meetups you're already familiar with, but some are shifting schedule...
6 months ago • 6 min read
September/October 2024 “Enjoy these second summer days, before the frost of fall really sets in.” ― Sarah Laskow The sun peeks around a tree on Britannia Beach.(Dave Charbonneau/CTV News Ottawa) Just dropping into your inbox a quick moment, Reader, to remind you about the meetups remaining for this month and all of those for next month (the dates are weird for next month, playing a little bit of leapfrog, so pay close attention)... and to share a thing or two with you. We are seeing such...
7 months ago • 4 min read
September 2024 “Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.” ― F. Scott Fitzgerald red bricks, fall leaves and a chill in the air No matter how old I get, Reader, no matter how long it's been since I've been in school, and no matter how long ago it was since the last time I had the chance to go back-to-school-supplies' shopping, September always feels like the beginning of something. It certainly isn't the beginning for a lot of other things ~ farmers are havesting, not...
7 months ago • 6 min read
August 2024 “Summer’s lease hath all too short a date.” ― William Shakespeare sneaking in a few moments of reading I hear lots of people feeling rushed by the fading of the Summer months. Here in Canada, we already have such a short Summer season without cutting it shorter still!... Right? I will admit that I am guilty of looking outside, glancing at the calendar, and sighing, my head spinning, noticing time moving on too quickly, and even looking towards the plans already taking shape for...
8 months ago • 5 min read