By Virginia Parker Staat

 “Some things are so unexpected that no one is prepared for them.” 
~ Leo Rosten, Rome Wasn’t Burned in a Day

After the death of her archaic computer, my 90-year-old mother recently purchased a new one. She is still adjusting. As an example, she always closes her emails to me with “Love you, Mother.” 

     In her last email, she wrote, “The computer thinks it is cute to add Nature to my Mother. I DON’T.” I nearly fell off the stool in laughter. Welcome, my dear mother, to the world of the infamous autocorrect.

By Virginia Parker Staat

“Don’t gobblefunk around with words.” 
~ Roald Dahl, The BFG

One of my most recent favorite reads was Love Does by Bob Goff. It was a fantastic book. I savored every line… so much so that I even read the acknowledgements, which were oddly placed at the back of the book rather than in the usual front matter. In the acknowledgements, Goff included a curious tribute to his friend and fellow author Donald Miller, “and to Don Miller, who taught me not to write thatinto my life…” In Goff’s entire book, it is the one sentence that puzzles me.

Text & photo by Virginia Parker Staat

“Beware the ides of March.”  ~ William Shakespeare

Six-foot-plus Eric is dwarfed by the simple sign.

Would Eric really do it?

As I write this, we have just come off the Dempster Highway, one of my favorite roads on the planet. This road is the most northern you can drive in Canada during the summer. Continue reading →

by Virginia Parker Staat

“Tell me the facts and I’ll learn.
Tell me the truth and I’ll believe.
But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever.”
~ Native American Proverb

Years ago I attended a literary reading series. After one of the writers finished reading his essay aloud, he asked the audience an intriguing question, Continue reading →

By Virginia Parker Staat

“No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it.”
 ~ H.E. Luccock

Drawing stick people is a challenge for me. Continue reading →

By Virginia Parker Staat

“I love the tradition of Dickens, where even the most minor
walk-on characters are twitching and particular and alive.”
~Donna Tartt

It was a gem of a find. It had rained for six days straight, and we were looking for a diversion. Continue reading →

by Virginia Parker Staat

A writer has the duty to be good, not lousy;
true, not false; lively, not dull; accurate, not full of error.
He should tend to lift people up, not lower them down.
Writers do not merely reflect and interpret life, they inform and shape life.
~ E.B. White

I fear I have officially become a grammar ninja. Continue reading →

by Virginia Parker Staat

“Words have life and must be cared for.
If they are stolen for ugly uses or careless slang or false promotion work,
they need to be brought back to their original meaning – back to their roots.” ~ Corita Kent

David and I have just returned home from a four-month camping trip through Alaska and Canada. Continue reading →

By Virginia Parker Staat

Don’t you see, these words are an earworm. A song you can’t stop humming even after you die.
~Toby Whithouse, Doctor Who: Under the Lake Continue reading →

Article & photo by Virginia Parker Staat

“I love everything that’s old – old friends, old times,
old manners, old books, old wine.“
~ Oliver Goldsmith

It’s done… finished… finito. Last week we completed the library we have been building for over two years. Continue reading →