Through a silly mix-up, and a lapse in responsibility, I lost Samantha and Keladrie. It was totally my fault. I left them in the wrong area of the room, unsupervised and then they were gone. Despite frantic searches, they couldn’t be found.
Read moreCottage Life - Is my cozy retreat just a storage space?
At a time when other people my age are divesting of possessions, I purchased my first cottage. To be honest, calling it a cottage is a bit of an overstatement: It’s basically a two-room cabin, and even that description makes it sound more charmingly rustic than it is. I may be a little long in the tooth to be purchasing a cottage – I mean, cabin – but I’ll justify it by saying that I bought it with my daughter, so it’s for both of us. And possible future grandchildren. It’s the family cottage that neither of us has yet had in our lives.
Read moreCourt Sports
Thank you, everyone, for your positive comments and support for my writing! This week I’m posting an essay I wrote called Court Sports: Some friends asked me to join their basketball, I mean, softketball, group:
“You look like a lively sort. Do you know how to play basketball?”
My mind flashes back to the years spent playing basketball on the high school team. Or rather, to be honest, years spent watching from the bench, dressed and ready to play, but being called on rarely. Such as, when the score was extremely lopsided in our favour. Then, I suppose, the coach judged an opportunity to give me some valuable experience while doing little harm. My hand unconsciously touched my glasses as I also remembered frequent visits to the optician to repair eyewear that had been sent flying by the ball, or, put another way, what was my head doing in the way of a pass from one team member to the other? Perhaps that’s why I spent so much time warming the bench.
Read moreHélène’s Arrival in Hull in A Thousand Kisses
Thank you, everyone, for your support for my writing! My blog this week includes an excerpt from A Thousand Kisses. Hélène had recently been married, was expecting her and Walter’s first child in a few months, and had successfully escaped from Russia just weeks before the 1917 October Revolution – it must have been one of the happiest times in her life. She had finally achieved everything she had hoped for: a father for her daughter, Lili, a new life in England, and a baby on the way.
Read moreHélène’s 25th Birthday in Saint-Pétersbourg
Thank you, everyone, for your positive comments and support for my writing! This week we will re-connect with Hélène who was working as a governess in Russia in 1914. Having lived in Saint-Pétersbourg for four-and-a-half years, she now spoke fluent Russian, spent her spare time with her friend, Marie, and had settled into the routines of the Stolberg family. Little did she know that her relatively carefree life would soon come to an end, as WW1 loomed just around the corner.
Read moreMarketing's Revenge
Thank you, everyone, for your positive comments and support for my writing! This week I am posting another short essay I wrote called ‘Marketing’s Revenge: It’s creepy how those boots keep stalking me.’ I’d love to know what you think!
‘I think a pair of boots is stalking me. Everywhere I look, often when I least expect it, there they are. It’s a little creepy. They look like the sexy, high-heeled red beauties I checked out online a few days ago. They seem to know I once looked at them fondly, but changed my mind, wisely opting for a more practical, weather-resistant, low-healed pair in black. And yet, the red boots persist. They are clearly not ready to be disappointed, perhaps jealous of the other boots, acting like a rejected lover. Honestly, it’s getting a little sad as they turn up everywhere, perennially hopeful, with pitiful reminders that they’re still available. They brazenly flash “Buy Now!” notices like an exhibitionist demanding attention. When this approach fails, they resort to discounting, trying to tempt me with better and better offers. They tease me by parading their alter ego in brown. In fact, the retailer they are in league with is eager for me to meet the rest of their boot family and friends; surely there is a pair I wouldn’t be able to resist.
Read moreHélène’s Life in Hull in 1917 in A Thousand Kisses
Thank you, everyone, for your positive comments and support for my writing! This week I am including an excerpt from when Hélène first moved to Hull, having lived in Russia for 8 years. She was staying with her parents-in-law, but spending most of her time with her husband’s sister, Minnie-Annie, and her family. After a few weeks, she was starting to feel at home in Hull, waiting for the war to end so her husband, Walter (who was still with his ship in the Gulf of Finland), and daughter, Lili (who was living with Hélène’s maman and the rest of the family in France) could join her there, and, with their new baby, they could start their lives together as a family.
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A Stitch in Time
For my Mom, it's not the sweater that counts, it's the knitting
My Mom doesn't need to knit her own clothes, Debbie Scoffield writes, but this latest project is a metaphor for her long life
ILLUSTRATION BY WENTING LI
CONTRIBUTED TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL, PUBLISHED MARCH 1, 2018
My mother has finally finished the sweater she spent months knitting – in fact, it had taken so long I was afraid it wouldn't be ready in time. Not that there was exactly a deadline, no event she's planning to wear it to or anything like that. But she's 95, so what I mean is, I was worried that, after all that work, would she have chance to wear it? I have to admit I was also thinking: How much use will she get out if it? Why bother?
Read moreHélène’s son, Albert Walter Scoffield: The Miracle Baby in A Thousand Kisses
Thank you, everyone, for your positive comments and support for my writing! February 27, 1918, exactly 100 years ago today, was an important day in Hélène’s life. It was the day her second child, Albert Walter Scoffield, was born in the most extraordinary circumstances. Conceived in Petrograd, Russia, born in Hull, England, he was a miracle in every way. He was also my father.
Read moreExcerpt from A Thousand Kisses: Train From Paris to Saint-Petersbourg
Thank you, everyone, for your interest in my writing and novel, A Thousand Kisses!
This week, I’m including an excerpt from the novel. It takes place after Hélène left her young daughter, Lili, in Barisis, in 1909, and travelled to Saint-Pétersbourg to become a governess. On the long train journey, she met two other young women from France who were also seeking governess jobs in Russia. One, Marie, would become a life-long friend and confidante: she and Hélène would eventually live together in Saint-Pétersbourg, in 1917, flee Russia just before the final Russian Revolution, and journey to England together. In the research I did for this part of the novel, I was able to find a 1902 German travel guide to St Petersburg (translated into English) which really helped bring the train experience to life for me (and Hélène!).
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