Paula Dunning Posts

Chinese proverb: The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The next best time is now. The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit. ~Nelson Henderson Trees. You can’t have too many of them. When we first…

I am both repulsed and seduced by the news these days. I log on in the morning to see if perhaps a ray of hope is making its way through the gloom, moving from one news source to the next, one political crisis or violent incident to the next. Most…

We’ve been back at home, on the Echo River, for a week and a half now. “Look at those trees at the top of the hill…I’d forgotten…” No, I haven’t forgotten since we left last winter. I’ve forgotten since decades ago. I have a new and improved view from my…

Every week, here in Mexico, I meet with a group of writers to discuss and share what we’ve been working on. I love it. These gatherings apply some pressure to my rather lackadaisical approach to this late-life commitment to writing. But more than that, these people—five of us when everyone…

About eleven o’clock this morning I wandered down the steep steps that descend from our house to the shops of Cerro de Gallo. I needed some veggies for supper and I was going to pick up some chicken from the carniceria—the butcher shop. When I arrived, it was shut tight.…

There are some days you never forget. That’s what I tell myself, anyway—and then two months or two years later, the details have disappeared into a fog. “Oh yes, I was there…let me see…” Monday was one of those days, so I’ll try to capture it here in the hopes…

Yesterday morning I sent out an urgent message on the ex-pat group website here in Guanajuato: Does anyone know where I can buy crutches?? I don’t often venture into the tunnels in Guanajuato. They’re dark and smelly, the traffic is fast, and I never feel really safe. But sometimes that’s…

It does seem like the Christmas season should be over, but events keep popping up. Yesterday we attended a post-holiday gathering of about a doze university students and their sponsors, part of a program called Caminantes Brillantes to provide financial assistance to promising young people who would not otherwise be…

(Apologies in advance for the quality of these photos. I don’t know why they’re all fuzzy. Hope you “get the picture” in spite of it.) It’s hard not to feel like you’re getting enough exercise here in Guanajuato. We walk almost everywhere, and the steep hills make every walk feel…

Regular readers of this blog will know that this jolly season coincides with my season of angst, when I prepare to join the flock of snowbirds and make my annual migration to Guanajuato, Mexico. Before leaving, every year, I agonize over missing winter with its white brightness and its cozy…

I’ve been thinking for awhile now that I should write a blog post about something weighty since the world seems to become weightier by the week. Perhaps I could add something pithy to the discussion of climate change or propose a novel solution to the terrorist threat. I have pretty…

I took my walk after breakfast this morning instead of after lunch as usual. I pretended to myself that I wasn’t actually planning to sit in front of the television all day long, but really, I knew. At 10:30, I tuned into CBC Newsworld and listened to Peter Mansbridge mark…

I’ve been struggling with this concept in the context of our current, endless election campaign. (Endless for Canadians; for my American friends, it’s just a blip on the calendar…) So please indulge me while I share this struggle. I am, frankly, tired of voting strategically. It’s been a long while…

       It’s September, but it hardly feels like it. We’re experiencing much, much warmer temperatures than usual—highs of 29, 30 degrees C the last few days, 24 today–and there’s still no sign of fall colours. I remember—here goes “back in the olden days”—when the start of school was also the…

Ok, the title is misleading. We haven’t made hay for 25 years–or more! But we still think about it. We still live surrounded by the fields we used to make hay on, and we watch the season progress from the first signs of green in the spring to the moment…

Agnes and True is proud to present our fourth story. Read “The Red Kite” by Paula Dunning: http://agnesandtrue.com/the-red-kite/ ———————————————————————— I went back to the “Message from Paula” (at the top of this page) posted more than a year ago to find this reminder of one purpose for this blog: “an…

That’s an estimate. I figure I’ve walked along the Echo River on average twice a week for at least twenty-five years—about the time I decided I needed to incorporate intentional exercise into my life. That estimate takes into account bad weather and, recently, winters away. When I’m home and it’s…

One of my favourite Calvin cartoons shows a confused, cubist Calvin splintered into many overlapping, angled pieces. Gradually, over several panels, he regains his equilibrium and his body parts fall into place as the confusion abates. Several times every year, I experience that disjointed feeling, moving from my “real” home…

Tomorrow—Easter—marks the end of Semana Santa in Mexico. The week is a lively combination of the secular (balloons, cotton candy, vendors of all kinds, street food, bands at night in the plazas) and the sacred (altars outside homes, church services, and a variety of rituals that I don’t understand).  This…