Better to Give

Better to Give

“Anything will help.” That was the message scrawled on a cardboard sign held up by a man just outside of my driver’s side window the other day.  I had to make a decision before the light turned green.  Should I avoid eye-contact and sit there uncomfortably until the...
Won’t You Be My Neighbor

Won’t You Be My Neighbor

“It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood. A beautiful day for a neighbor. Would you be mine? Could you be Mine?” If you started singing or humming the tune to those lyrics, you must be one of Mr. Rogers’ neighbors. I simply adored Mr. Rogers...
A Ghost of an Idea

A Ghost of an Idea

“I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it.” -Preface to...
Kids at Heart

Kids at Heart

By Monica Palmer   Recently, my son had a piano recital at a local retirement facility. I have a bad habit of being late to these types of things, so sometimes I try to trick myself by making the event time in my phone’s calendar a half hour ahead of the actual...
The Most Wonderful Time

The Most Wonderful Time

by Monica Palmer   Around the time the pumpkin-spice lattes find their way on to coffee shop menus, many of us begin to emerge from a sort of self-centered slumber. We open our eyes and awaken to the reality that there are a lot of struggling people around us. We...