Letters from Rona / Sort by date

The city I thought I knew like a friend revealed another side of itself when my husband and I took a long evening walk through urban corners we'd never explored. Right on our own turf, we had a mini-vacation that was full of surprises. [more]

I didn't remember meeting Lia Grimanis, a spirited advocate for homeless women. But she remembered meeting me at a crowded reception. And when she bought my book, she took a minute to cheer me on. [more]

I've always chafed against killjoy restrictions (never do this, always do that). Then I realized who the ultimate enforcer was. Me. [more]

If there's anyone who understands what it means to stand firm in a crisis, it's my friend Sheela Basrur, whose leadership during Toronto's SARS outbreak captured hearts and minds across the land. Now she has cancer, but cancer doesn't have Sheela. Last week I took a break from move-related mayhem to celebrate Sheela's latest honour, the Order of Ontario. I came away refreshed by the wisdom she shared at the podium. [more]

I've yet to sample the famous burgers at the Patrician Grill, but whoever runs this joint has a delicious way with words. [more]

Some women have ex-husbands. I have ex-homes. Yesterday I let the movers carry all the traces of myself and my husband out yet another door. The time had come to live somewhere else (together, thank goodness). Even so, it hurt to leave home. [more]

The most absurd fashion purchase I've ever made was a navy blue cloche that cost way too much and never fit right. But it looks stunning on my friend Christa, who blogs about fashion at Petite Fashionista. May she wear it long and well. [more]

What I learned from giving my cast-off fiction and poetry to Sanctuary, a charity that befriends the the scorned and forgotten. [more]

For more than 30 years, I've had a home office where I could write in my bathrobe before dawn if the spirit moved me. I thought I'd found the room of my own that every woman writer needs, according to Virginia Woolf. Then along came the Internet with all its distractions. Instead of writing, I'm buying furniture and booking vacations. So I've made a momentous decision. Starting now, I'll get dressed every morning and go out to work. [more]

The big city became a very small small world indeed when I discovered that we'd bought our new home from our grandson's cousin. [more]

My heart goes out to Jimmy Page. The celebrated Led Zeppelin guitarist has to sell a cherished $2 million tapestry because he's run out of wall space in his mansions. I know how he feels, because the walls in our new loft won't hold a custom-made piece of neon art that doesn't mean a dime to anyone but me. Oh, the exquisite agony! [more]

We all know that day care workers earn peanuts, while engineers collect big bucks. So steering women into science courses ought to boost their earning potential. It hasn't worked out that way. In a provocative new book called The Sexual Paradox, psychologist Susan Pinker argues that well-intentioned efforts to close the wage gap have devalued women's real desires and motivations. Women don't see the world as men do, she says. And the reason is rooted in our brains. [more]