We are walking with nature in a sun-dappled forest as we learn about Indigenous healing traditions with Painted Warriors, an Indigenous-owned business near Sundre in the Alberta foothills. Our guide, George, points out a native plant with feathery grey-green leaves, carefully breaking off a small leaf, crushing it to release
Continue Reading »

Every year, around my birthday in the Fall, I give myself a night off at a hotel in town. Once a year is all I take off as a parent and this year, I decided to give myself two nights away, in another city!  I spent my Mom-Cation in another
Continue Reading »

On a snowy day in December 2019, Elder Cy Standing of the Wahpeton Dakota Nation welcomed eleven plains bison to their ancestral home at Wanuskewin Heritage Park near Saskatoon. A sprawling expanse of rolling yellow hills dusted with sparse patches of snow, on this momentous day Wanuskewin is the portrait
Continue Reading »

At the annual Chore Horse Competition at Bar U Ranch National Historic Site in September, skilled teamsters (people who drive horses on long reins) harnessed up tons of horseflesh to recreate ranching work of bygone eras. I come from an era of forklifts and delivery trucks; my father, whose hundredth
Continue Reading »

“I don’t think I want to go,” our 19-year-old son told us when we excitedly announced we were taking a family road trip to Eastern Quebec and Nova Scotia. “Okay,” I answered, swallowing hard. Even though I knew this day would come, I felt deflated. We’ve been travelling as a
Continue Reading »

Now that we can venture out again, with safety always top of mind, here are three spas in Priddis, Calgary and Canmore, Alberta to put on your feel-your-best list. Flourish, the LIV Well Spa at Azuridge Estate Hotel, Priddis, AB Semi-precious gems form slowly under pressure given enough time, so
Continue Reading »

The footpath was unassuming. Starting beside a bridge over a little gurgling stream, it snaked around moss-covered logs and big rocks. My five-year-old intended to show off his trail-running skills so I had to try to keep up with him while the other two kids hiked a more normal pace
Continue Reading »

He’s massive! His yellow claws are as long as my fingers and tap the ground as he saunters beside me in that carefree way only the king of the forest can. His chestnut brown fur still wet from his morning plunge in the pond glistens in the sun. Even though
Continue Reading »

I’m a full-time mom who writes from home, so summer vacation isn’t ALWAYS a vacation. But we only had two months to live it up now that my son is in Kindergarten, so this is how I spent my summer vacation: trying to do it all! We had a true
Continue Reading »

We recently visited Prince Edward County for the second time, and I’m already planning our third. Living in Toronto, it gives our family an escape from the hustle and bustle, but having grown up in a small town in the Ottawa Valley, I also feel instantly at peace in cottage
Continue Reading »