Hello Friends,

I have started this blog primarily  because I’m a born communicator – a talker, a story-teller, a gesturer, and a writer. By profession, I am a speech-language pathologist (SLP). Clearly, I have always considered communication to be of huge importance, not only in my life but in the lives of others. Throughout my career I have been required to write research proposals, diagnostic reports, and letters to doctors. I’ve also had to cultivate the art of communicating effectively with parents, some of whom have intellectual challenges and marginal literacy. It was equally important to be able to communicate at a highly technical  level with my colleagues, my students, physicians, teachers, and other members of the care team for the benefit of my patients. I haven’t had much opportunity to write just for the joy of writing. I use the word “joy” quite deliberately. For me it is not just “fun,” or “pleasure,” or “recreation” – I write with “JOY.” That joy is made more acute because, in working with people with a variety of communication impairments over my 33- year career as an SLP, I recognize how precious are the gifts of speaking, reading, and writing.

I have always been an avid reader and have tremendous admiration and respect for those who write for a living. In recent years, I have found myself “needing” to express myself through writing. This discovery has coincided with the development of social media which allow me to easily write down my thoughts and share them with friends and family no matter where they are. In the spring of 2014, I embarked on the David Suzuki 30-day Nature Challenge, posting my experiences and reflections on Facebook everyday. I received such positive feedback from my FB friends that I decided to do a second Nature Challenge in September. I discovered that these ventures were enhanced by the sharing aspect of the endeavour. So, with the encouragement of many of my FB friends, I have created this blog. My goal is to share my day to day life experiences, my rants, and my reflections in such a way as to amuse, entertain, inspire, or challenge my readers.

So, here goes. Grab a cup of tea or a glass of wine and come along with me as I learn the nuts and bolts of sharing my words and pictures.