Gratitude

Oh Holy Night

/ Hilary Mandel / 6 Comments

rosh-hashana-can“L’Shana Tova!,” my relatives and friends are saying as they greet each other tonight.  “Happy New Year! And,” some add, “may you be inscribed.” The whole expression is, “May you be inscribed in the Book of Life,” but I suppose we’re just too busy around the Jewish High Holy Days getting the gefilte fish ready to have time to finish our sentences.

The Book of Life is a bit of a fuzzy concept for me… I’ve forgotten the orthodoxy about it that I was taught as a child (we were Reform Jews, not that kind of orthodoxy, but still…). What remains with me is the sense that during these “Days of Awe,” we are given an opportunity to reflect on how we are coming along on the road to our holiest purpose. Continue reading →

Back to the Beach

/ Hilary Mandel / 2 Comments

DSC_0642.JPGOn the morning of December 27, 2007, I pulled out of the driveway of my home in sunny Los Angeles, merged onto the San Diego Freeway heading north, and four days later (having taken my time visiting friends and relatives along the way), crossed the border into Canada to begin a new life.  I had flown up a few weeks earlier and signed a lease on an apartment, but my furniture hadn’t arrived yet, so I was staying at my friends’ house. They were out of town for the holidays, so my New Years Eve celebration that night was quiet. Continue reading →

Scratching an Itch

/ Hilary Mandel / 1 Comment

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It’s been at me lately, this itch to get at this blog again.

With the pending winter holidays has come the usual number of annual social gatherings where I’m asked  by those who haven’t seen me in a while, “So, Hilary, what ARE you up to these days?”  Chances are, my answer will be different from the last time you asked.  If I tell you about the last six months that have passed. you’ll hear some tales of travels, of family, of a kitten, and perhaps even of gainful employment, thankyouverymuch.

But if we’ve never met and you ask me what I do and I’m feeling particularly cheeky, I might tell you that I’m a writer and photographer.  Continue reading →

Home for the Holidays

/ Hilary Mandel / 2 Comments

Make yourself at home.  There’s no place like home.  Home is where the heart is.

As I approach the fourth anniversary of my return to Vancouver, I am comforted knowing that I have found a home here.  It wasn’t always clear to me where my home was, especially during my decade of moving up and down and back and forth across the western part of the continent (LA – Oakland – Vancouver – Sedona – Berkeley – LA – Vancouver). That question — where is my home? – weighed heavily on me at times.

Of course, old adages are usually right.  Continue reading →

Belated Thanks

/ Hilary Mandel / 2 Comments

Another Thanksgiving (or two, if you count Canadian and American) come and gone.  Gratitude, gratitude, gratitude abounds.

This has been an unusually busy fall, between the move and three, count ’em, three trips to Southern California since August.  My most recent trip had me in Palm Springs for our annual gathering with family and longtime friends.   This year, my dad and his wife were in town for a change, as well as my mom and my brother and his wife and two girls.  There’s no greater joy for me than being an auntie… it’s just about the best thing ever.  My nieces are growing up so fast, as kids tend to do, so every time I get to spend quality time with them, it’s a blessing. Continue reading →

This Old House

/ Hilary Mandel / 10 Comments

I never thought I’d say it, but I might actually miss this old house.

My time here was never meant to be long-term.  When I moved in less than two years ago, I figured I’d stick around for maybe six months, tops.  Cute place, yes… top floor of an old house, high ceilings, good light, but not in a part of town I particularly loved, and not enough square footage for my stuff (much of which I hurriedly threw into storage, after realizing the day before the movers came that it wouldn’t all fit). Continue reading →

Another year…

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I’ve never been to a Polish wedding, but from what little I know about them, they last for a good long time… sort of like my birthday celebration did this year.  I turned another year older last Thursday – not a birthday that ended in a five or a zero, just another one of those “regular” years that puts me more squarely into the “late” side of this decade than in the “mid”.  Not a particularly special year in terms of numbers, but still a wonderful excuse for celebrating. Continue reading →

Thanks Giving (continued)

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Over Thanksgiving weekend in October, and again over Thanksgiving weekend in November, I counted my blessings (including the fact that I celebrate Thanksgiving twice).  Let me tell you, it made me feel good.  So good, in fact, that I want to do it again.  I need to do it again.  And again.  And again. Continue reading →

Giving Thanks

/ Hilary Mandel / 10 Comments

It’s Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada.  A few years ago, I heard about a  practice that sounded like a wonderful idea: to think about what you’re grateful for as soon as you get out of bed every single day, the minute your feet hit the floor. Ever since the idea was planted, I’ve meant to make gratitude part of my morning routine, but so far, it just hasn’t happened.  It’s usually only when I’m feeling low that I think about pulling gratitude out of my bag of tricks, as I’ve found that it’s almost impossible to feel lousy and grateful at once.  Gratitude trumps the bad stuff 99% of the time.  If you don’t know what I’m talking about, give it a try. Continue reading →