Marie LesowayI’m a baba. Truth be told, I’m a proud-as-can-be, floating-on-air, tickled pink-and-blue baba who thinks her grandson is the cutest, brightest, smartest little boy in the whole wide world. Other babas are free to make the same claim. I don’t mind. It’s a baba’s prerogative. My babas were certainly proud of me. And I was … Read more
Easter 2021 was different, thanks to COVID-19. But I did my best.
My recent epiphany about the folk song “Alouette” brought to mind some other bird songs from my childhood—folk songs my Baba Fill taught me in Ukrainian. One was an action song about a chyzhyk—a siskin or a finch*. Again, in the bliss of ignorance, I didn’t know what a chyzhyk was until I looked it … Read more
Sometimes we think we understand things we really have no clue about.
Poop has been in the news lately. Not the kind that our politicians dish out (although there’s been plenty of that too). But all sorts of interesting poop! Did you know that honey bees in Southeast Asia use bird poop and buffalo dung to keep predatory giant hornets away from their hives? Bees are generally … Read more
I was 21 when my baba died. This was my first experience with the death of someone who was really close to me, but I was not completely sheltered from death before. When we were kids, we were taken along to the funerals of extended family members. I don’t remember being traumatized—even at the funeral … Read more
I just finished The Company We Keep by Canadian writer Frances Itani. It’s about six grieving strangers who have lost or are in the process of losing loved ones. They share their stories with one another, and find comfort and support in the new friendships they forge. I’m a huge Itani fan, although I have … Read more
A recent study at Harvard University’s Music Lab found that babies were soothed by lullabies even when they were sung in unfamiliar languages such as Scottish Gaelic or Hopi. That’s amazing! And it got me thinking about the lullabies I know. When my son was little, one of his favourites was “Oi khodyt’ son”—“Dream Passes … Read more
My family had a huge garden, when I was growing up—about 2½ town lots. Its bounty kept us fed throughout the year. By summer’s end, Mama had a huge freezer filled with beans, corn, peas, carrots, spinach and Swiss chard. And Baba’s root cellar, next door to us, was brimming with beets, turnips, potatoes and … Read more