The Twilight

The day is nearing its end. The traffic is hushed, the wind wafts softly through the leaves; the birds are singing their evening song. The heaving world is moving into stillness. I sit on my patio and exhale the remains of another day, take a moment to unwind beneath a purple sky pin-pricked with starlight,...

Sometimes You Just Have to Say…

I like to think I’m a pretty positive person - and when RA invaded my life, I found a way to look at the lighter side. I rarely complain about my flares and bad days because, quite frankly, those of us who have some form of inflammatory arthritis already know how bad it can get,...

Re-Imagining the New Normal

These are strange days for the world. A viral epidemic has set boundaries on our lives, and cultivated fear in the masses. It’s created an environment where groups and communities compete to set themselves above others, when all of humanity is on equal footing in the face of this outbreak. This is an unprecedented time....

RA Sins in Sin City

At the end of 2019, we took our annual trip to Vegas - it was a much-needed vacation after a year long program with the Writer’s Studio. The desert calls to me and it always offers a reprieve from painful joints. Winter or summer, the dry environment makes RA disappear from my world for just...

Finding My Light

The autumn glow of the harvest lights has long burned out and the tranquility of winter is gently creeping in. The crystallized frost on the windows is illuminated by a charcoal gray dawn. These days the sun sinks behind the mountains a little earlier, mornings are a little harder, and the joints a little stiffer,...

Working it Out: Summer Days and RA

It was a long time coming - the sublime transition from cool spring days to sultry summer twilights' was a stormy one, and not just for the weather but also for my joints. The air in recent weeks has been heavy and like a tropical rain forest - fantastic for keeping the yearly forest fires...

Springing to Life

Spring has finally arrived on the west coast - cherry blossoms line the streets with their pink canopies, bright green shoots are pushing their way through the rich soil, it’s an awakening for the earth and my body. The damp chill winter was an orbiting repetition of flares and fatigue, and it was only when...

Self-Care: Make it Your Own

January is almost over, and the in the last couple of weeks, I’ve heard the melodic warble of the chickadee signaling a change in the air. The days are longer, warming up a little at a time, and even the though the first month has flown by, the year is just getting started. Just prior...

Harmony for the Holidays

It’s been a long and busy year. Winter, spring, summer and fall have kept me busy with work, family, friends, travelling, and, as always, battling the ongoing whims of disease. The beginning of 2018 started out with several goals and aspirations, and although I accomplished some of them, I found life, or more accurately my...

RA Blog Week: Mindfulness and Restorative Moments

Mindfulness is a beautiful way to recharge and be present in the moment. It’s not always easy to achieve, especially when pain gets in the way and medical appointments fill up the spare cracks in our busy lives. There’s always something that needs to be done and never enough time to do it. My moments...