By Patricia Anne McGoldrick  »  I grew up in Garafraxa, on the edge of the snowbelt, surrounded by two hundred and fifty acres of forest and fallow, and fields of purple flax, amber wheat and lanky, tree-tall corn.

In our small, rural, southern Ontario township, weather dictated the days of our lives.  I have clear childhood memories of conversations, which centred on weather observations, forecasts, and past run-ins with meteorological forces such as Hurricane Hazel. 

Even today, living in Kitchener, my senses are still attuned to the weather.  Much to my Montreal-born husband’s amazement, I have inherited my father’s ability to smell the approach of rain.  For my children, the smell of soil is now available in a Crayola crayon, but I can remember the real thing and the sight of hundreds of grey-white sea gulls chasing the worms upturned by the trademark yellow and green John Deere cultivator.

Through sun and rain, hail and snow, from cool September to sweltering June, my brothers and sisters and I rode the long yellow rectangular bus to school.

By Patricia A. McGoldrick »  Have you got a vision for your life? Your ideal job? Favourite place to live? Well, it seems that the news is out—it makes good sense to take a look at where you want to go in life--now. 

In the past, you may have set goals, resolutions, without too much thought; however, envisioning your future more concretely may be a venture well-worth pursuing.

This can be done by creating a vision board which is a graphic construction of pictures and words recycled from some of your favourite magazines; envelope yourself with visual items that resonate with you and where you want to go in life; fine-tune this initial hunt with a re-selection from the above images to make a cut-and-paste creation on a poster-sized surface.  According to Christine Kane, an artist/performer/life coach,

The idea behind this is that when you surround yourself with images of who you want to become, what you want to have, where you want to live, or where you want to vacation, your life changes to match those images and those desires.^[1]

Recently, I discovered the concept of vision boards through the website of Ms. Kane at http://christinekane.com/blog/how-to-make-a-vision-board ^[2] where she has posted her user-friendly article about vision boards, possible focal points for boards and easy-to-follow guidelines for how to make one of your own.

By Hector Arcadian

Recently in Montreal, I read an article in Ici magazine in which Jane Birkin said that she had a great amount of consideration for poets who used the minimum amount of language to create great images; she was saying this comment in the context of her new record. I myself have a definition of what a poem is, and based on this definition, I can more or less say whether I will like a poem or not. My definition is not necessarily everyone else’s. Let me explain...

Growing up, I was educated by Robert Graves’ The White Goddess when I was 14 or 15 years old; Graves was the traditionalist’s rebel. Then somewhere along the way rock and roll, grunge, Riot Grrrls, and avant garde music all influenced me a little, followed by mythology and surrealist art, while on my bookshelf you would find The Brontes, Frost, Plath, and Carson.

By Vickie Iverson » Whenever you are asked, "Are you ready for Christmas?", do you feel like the real question is, "Have you finished your Christmas shopping?" Has the exchange of 'presents' begun to interfere with your ability to be truly 'present' at Christmas time?

Gifts of Presence. If your gift-giving list is so long that you secretly hope your recipient isn't home when you drop off their gift, I encourage you to remember that it is your 'presence' that is most valued.

Giving the gift of presence allows you to be truly in the moment with the one you are with. If you are in conversation, listen to what is being said rather than thinking about your response. If you are reading a book to your children, be fully present and involved in the story rather than letting your mind wander to your to-do list.