In November, I noticed signs for the South Alley Holiday Market. I didn't think much about it. On the day, I was kicking around the house and decided to walk over with no expectations. In Gananoque there are the main streets for the fronts of homes and then alleys in behind the houses which face the backyards of the two corresponding streets. Not having a lot of driveways and garages in front yards, gives the town a lovely nostalgic charm. I stepped onto South Alley that

In another lifetime, when my children were little, we had the opportunity to travel to Finland over Christmas to visit family. Truth be told, I don't like to travel at Christmastime. It's expensive, crowded and people tend to be a in bad mood. My stance is that, for the most part, little kids want to wake up in their own beds on Christmas Day. But this was travelling to the mothership of Christmas. I was in. We would be staying in downtown Helsinki for the majority of the

I had the privilege to live in Argentina for eight years when my children were little. A country that adores small children; it was a wonderful place to be a young mother. I hadn't returned in over 10 years and would daydream about it. Being so intimately connected with a place, and then not returning for a long time is surreal. The mind can play funny tricks. What does the memory embellish? How much is reality and how much is rose coloured glasses? About six months ago,

A couple of years ago my youngest kiddo was in the twelfth grade and applying for university. While out running errands in the late winter/early spring he casually slid into the conversation that he might want to study in Malta . My ears pricked. He had come across it while researching places to study on exchange. By the time he brought it to me, he had worked out the details, to show me he could do it. The next thing I knew we were flying across the ocean for university