This is the second instalment of a Lenten conversation between Laurel Archer, my poet friend, and me providing some art. This week I sent Laurel a painting as a prompt. She responded with a poem. The Hellebore plant was new to me when I moved to the coast (we didn’t have it in Saskatchewan, at… Continue reading A Lent Conversation – Week 2
Do you keep Lent? Lent is a church season—a time of sober introspection in preparation for Easter—that my faith tradition mentioned only in passing. But I do love the idea of a faith calendar where one remembers and honours each season of faith at a set time each year. In the spirit of discovering, appreciating,… Continue reading A Lent Conversation
It’s always a joy to celebrate the coming out of a new book by a fellow Canadian writer. Today is the day we fete Deb Elkink and the re-release of her prize-winning debut novel The Third Grace (originally published in 2011). It comes out with a new cover, but the same rich interior. Here is… Continue reading The Third Grace – review
Fresh Joy: Finding Joy in the Midst of Loss, Hardship and Suffering by Heidi McLaughlin My rating: 5 of 5 starsWhen the sudden and unexpected death of a partner hit Heidi McLaughlin for the second time, it would not have been surprising if she’d have become bitter and joyless. But she was determined not to… Continue reading Fresh Joy – review
Blood Ties by Tracy Krauss My rating: 4 of 5 starsIn Blood Ties, Book 2 of Tracy Krauss’s Three Strand Cord series, we again get involved in the lives of Stella, Tempest, and Cherise.College-educated Stella returns to her ranch home in Texas to find both ranch-hand brothers in love with her.Dirk, Cherise’s brother, falls for… Continue reading Blood Ties – review
Beyond The Purple Sky by Eunice Cooper-MatchettMy rating: 5 of 5 starsIn dramatic scenes fueled by an informed imagination, Cooper-Matchett takes us into a little-known time in Israel’s history. The Jews are in exile in Babylon. Zerubbabel—a brilliant Jewish lad and companion of Nebuchadnezzar’s successor Belshazzar and sister Belshalti-Nanner, is being groomed for service to… Continue reading Beyond the Purple Sky – review
"Galaxy" - © 2020 by V. Nesdoly Yesterday a newsfeed headline “How to Prepare Now for the Complete End of the World” caught my eye. I didn’t read the article right away, but it got me thinking. Are we near the “complete end of the world”? The spreading covid19 virus, the doom and gloom of… Continue reading Prepare for the End of Your World
January 2018 seems like just yesterday in some ways—and like a long time ago in others. As I look back and ahead, here in the middle of the year, I see several trends. FOCUS My one-little-word for 2018 is FOCUS. I began to put that word into action early in the year by cutting out… Continue reading Look both ways before proceeding (Spiritual Journey First Thursday)
Summer. Even saying the word makes me feel good. I think the magic of this season is so much a part me because of the rhythms of school ingrained from childhood. From my earliest memories it has always been ten months of school (September to June), two months of summer holidays (July and August)—the standard… Continue reading “Summer” and “read” are synonyms (Spiritual Journey Thursday)
A few weeks ago an acquaintance sent me a newly published book of her poems. They were simple but beautiful in their first-person expression of praise, love, and gratitude to God—a collection of modern psalms. I reacted to that book like I have to other similar ones, asking myself, why don’t I write more overtly… Continue reading Vicarious (Spiritual Journey Thursday)
Violet Nesdoly 