my romantic tryst with cancer

When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free. Wendell Berry, "The Peace of Wild Things" from The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry. Copyright © 1998.

People judge you by your writing, so getting a word wrong can make you look bad. Be sure to avoid these common writing errors in your next email: Affect/Effect:   Affect  is a verb;  effect  is a noun. It affected him. The effect was startling. All Right/Alright:  Although  alright  is gaining ground, the correct choice is still all right . A Lot:   A lot  is two words, not one.  Allot means “to parcel out.” Between You and I:  Nope.  Between you and me  is the correct phrase. Complement/Compliment:  Things that work well together  complement  each other. Compliments  are a form of praise. Farther/Further:   Farther  is for physical distance;  further  is for metaphorical distance. How much farther? Our plan can’t go any further. Lay/Lie:  Subjects  lie down ; objects are  laid down. He should lie down. Lay the reports there.

Dragon’s Den co-host talks about her attitudes towards money and why material trappings can be a trap. By: Adam Mayers Personal Finance Editor, Toronto Star. Published on Mon Aug 31 2015 Arlene Dickinson is best known as one of the tough-talking, no-nonsense venture capitalist co-hosts of CBC’s Dragon’s Den. The highly successful businesswoman, who the broadcaster bills as a multi-millionaire, came by her success the hard way. She arrived in Calgary as a three-year-old with her immigrant parents, who were fleeing South Africa for a brighter future in Canada. “My father and mother wanted us to have a better place to live,” she says. “But we were the typical immigrant family, with five dollars in our pocket. Growing up, we had very little.” That upbringing has influenced Dickinson’s attitudes toward money, the trappings of material wealth and the things she is trying to pass along to her five grandchildren. Dickinson left the Den in January after eight seasons, and now shuttles between

 By Rebecca Faust letter to my transgender daughter I made soup tonight, with cabbage, chard and thyme picked outside our back door. For this moment the room is warm and light, and I can presume you safe somewhere. I know the night lives inside you. I know grave, sad errors were made, dividing you, and hiding you from you inside. I know a girl like you was knifed last week, another set aflame. I know I lack the words, or all the words I say are wrong. I know I’ll call and you won’t answer, and still I’ll call. I want to tell you you were loved with all I had, recklessly, and with abandon, loved the way the cabbage in my garden near-inverts itself, splayed to catch each last ray of sun. And how the feeling furling-in only makes the heart more dense and green. Tonight it seems like something one could bear. Guess what, Dad and I finally figured out Pandora, and after all those years of silence, our old music fills the air. It fills the air, and somehow, here

I'm sorry if I caused confusion. Yes, everything is OK. The regret was about missing the flexibility the old job gave me to be where I was, when I wanted, which is impossible now with days just filled with meetings. I missed being able to play with the kittens, sleep in with D. But I don't miss the anxiety and bullying and intimidation at the University. As dysfunctional as the public service may seem at times, it matters that you're not alone in it, and it isn't personal... I know I made the right move. It's a forward in life, not work. No regrets, just this temporary tinge, and then it passed...

"A tinge is to be expected. There are few decisions that come completely cleanly - most have pros & cons. Important thing is to learn from past & look ahead ." Shared with me by J Aloisi this unsettling morning.