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Eleven pirouettes. Ten is unheard of, but ELEVEN?! The film White Nights from 1985 features Mikhail Baryshnikov performing this impossible feat to settle a bet between his character and the character played by fellow dancer and actor Gregory Hines. No matter how many times I've watched the video clip, my heart leaps into my throat as I count while the incomparable Baryshnikov spins. Life's challenges for me, are measured to a scale of eleven pirouettes. Functioning in a chaotic world after the untimely deaths of my Parents? Eleven pirouettes. Quitting smoking cold turkey? Eleven pirouettes. Learning to paint in middle...

We were urchins, wandering the streets of our suburb in Montreal, much like the characters in a Dickensian novel. The world as we knew it was small and unforgiving. We stayed in "our" territory, already conquered. What we didn't realize then and only became apparent decades later, was that we were being given the best education about work ethics available, free of charge. The Perrette convenience store at the top of our street was owned by a family from China. The store was so clean your throat would burn from the smell of bleach as you entered. The family was...

If you are in a museum and see a display of old paint tubes and brushes with a tiny bit of Scarlet Lake paint dried at the tip, you may also see someone nearby dabbing tears from their eyes. This person is an artist and part of their heart just broke, seeing tools left behind by an artist who passed away. It never fails. Whenever I've visited the Whyte Museum in Banff, I have ended up in tears seeing the crushed tubes of paint and the palettes that my artistic heroes once used. The fact that I now paint where...

A boxer, being pummeled mercilessly, hears the bell and stumbles to his corner. As he flops down, exhausted, trying to find the energy to go back out in the ring again, he hears cheering through the ringing in his ears. Those cheers motivate him to continue the battle. When I was first challenging myself to move from watercolour to acrylic, learning the new techniques necessary for success, I spent money I couldn't afford to attend a workshop. The instructor was not only a personal artistic hero of mine, but his knowledge was (and is!) exemplary. We were given the opportunity...

It's strange how we take things for granted, especially as children. We live for the moment and only realize the significance of some things we have experienced decades later. Montreal welcomed the world to Expo '67. I was five, so have only a few memories. My "job", the day I attended the wonderful event, was to remember that my family had parked in the camel section: the parking areas were all drawings of animals rather than numbers and letters what wouldn't have been inclusive to ALL languages. I also have a vague memory of riding the monorail with my Mom, who...