Tonight, I went in search of a word that refers to language that is unique to a family, such as an expression, word or pronunciation that is used in one household but not elsewhere.
I came across several words, including familiolect, familect and eco...
Jennifer Hollington
Posted on July 1st, 2024
This afternoon, I came across a video of English actress Helena Bonham Carter reciting Jenny Joseph's poem "Warning." That was serendipitous because I wrote about the poem two years ago and created my own take on what I would do when I got older.
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Jennifer Hollington
Posted on June 29th, 2024
A walk along the Ottawa River at Andrew Haydon Park was a perfect way to spend a Friday afternoon. The warm sun, brisk breeze and sparkling water made the stroll pleasant and peaceful.
Chris loves the goslings and likes to admire the geese from afar....
Jennifer Hollington
Posted on June 28th, 2024
My mother, Olivette, was a year old when the Second World War began in 1939 and seven when it ended in 1945.
In a recent conversation, she told me about the air raid siren that she would hear in Rockland, Ontario, from her home in Clarence Creek, abo...
Jennifer Hollington
Posted on June 28th, 2024
As I shared in my 2021 blog post Us and them, Denmark does a remarkable job at creating videos to remind its citizens that they have more in common with their neighbours than they might realize. In 2017, Denmark's TV 2 (a government-owned broadcast and...
Jennifer Hollington
Posted on June 27th, 2024
This is the sixth installment in my series about conducting a life history interview with an older family member or friend. The series is based on William Fletcher's book Recording Your Family History. Previous posts in the series provided an introduct...
Jennifer Hollington
Posted on June 25th, 2024
I still don't have a date for my breast reconstruction, but I did move one step closer to that day when I took a call this morning from a nurse in The Ottawa Hospital admissions department to prepare for my upcoming surgery.
The pre-op call represente...
Jennifer Hollington
Posted on June 24th, 2024
Today, my mom, my daughter and I attended the Strawberry Social at the North Lanark Regional Museum in Appleton, Ontario. This quaint museum collects, preserves and displays the history of Mississippi Mills, which is made up of the former Townships of ...
Jennifer Hollington
Posted on June 23rd, 2024
This morning, I finished listening to the latest episode of Gyles Brandreth's podcast Rosebud. Brandreth interviewed Björn Ulvaeus, one of the founding members of ABBA. It's a delightful interview, but the statement that particularly caught my attentio...
Jennifer Hollington
Posted on June 22nd, 2024
Mel took the day off work, so we planned an itinerary that turned out to be a day of firsts.
It started with a trip downtown by bus and train. This was my first trip into the city on OC Transpo since the LRT launched in 2019. I was like the kid who re...
Jennifer Hollington
Posted on June 21st, 2024
