Month: June 2026

Book of the month – June 2026

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The Correspondent

Virginia Evans

When I requested this debut novel through the interlibrary loan system, I was something like 85th on the waiting list! Obviously, like me, many others had read the positive reviews and were eager to get their hands on it. While I waited and my name slowly climbed up the list, I wondered if I would actually enjoy it. Could an epistolary novel, one written entirely in letters and emails, truly tell an engaging story or would it be a disappointment?

The day finally came when the the library called to tell me that the book was in and once I started reading it, I had a very hard time putting it down! The more I read, the more I loved it! In fact, I read most of it in one day. As my usual bedtime approached, it was easy to tell myself that I’d read just one more letter. Of course, one letter became two and two became three. After several more letters, wisdom finally prevailed. I reluctantly put the book down and went to bed, but I eagerly picked it up and finished it the next morning.

Sybil Van Antwerp is a mother, a grandmother, a divorcee, and a retired lawyer who lives alone. When the book opens, she, like me, is in her early seventies. She has always been an avid letter writer, feeling that she can express herself better through the written word than orally. She regularly writes to her brother, Felix, her best friend, Rosalie, and her daughter, Fiona, but she also writes to her neighbour, her eye doctor, a customer service representative, and the dean of a university faculty who won’t let her audit a class she desperately wants to take. She even writes to her favourite authors to tell them what she thinks of their latest books. Through the letters that she writes and the responses that she receives, we learn a great deal about her life both past and present. We learn about her losses, her regrets, her fears, and the struggles that come with aging, but we also see kindness and generosity. In other words, Sybil comes across as a real, imperfect person just like the rest of us.

This is definitely a book that was worth waiting for!

Camping with caterpillars

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Hubby and I spent the past four days camping at Cross Lake Provincial Park about three and a half hours northwest of here. Amazingly, in spite of the fact that Alberta has been experiencing near-historic rainfall over the past month, we enjoyed four days of beautiful sunshine and it wasn’t until we were tucked into bed in the trailer last night that the rain began to fall again.

In addition to all the rain, Alberta has also been experiencing a massive infestation of tent caterpillars, a natural phenomenon that peaks every 10 to 12 years. Located in the boreal forest that encompasses almost the entire northern half of the province, the campground was overrun with these hairy little critters.

Although we love to spend most of our time outdoors when we’re camping, we ate our first supper in the trailer to avoid the caterpillars and when we were outside that evening, we literally had to tuck our pants into our socks to keep them from crawling up the inside of our pant legs!

One place where there were no caterpillars was out on the water. The main Cross Lake Provincial Park campground offers 130 lovely powered sites, but across a wide bay and accessible only by foot or by boat, is rustic George’s Point campground with seven tent only sites. For the first of our two kayaking excursions, we packed a lunch and paddled over to George’s Point for a picnic. We were the only ones there and this is the view that we enjoyed.

While kayaking, we saw families of ducks and loons as well as gulls and other water birds, but we were especially delighted to spot a bald eagle. There’s no way to keep a kayak perfectly still on the water, so taking good photos, especially those that require zooming in, is extremely challenging. Needless to say, I’m pretty happy with this one…

When we got back to our campsite later that day, it was lierally like walking into a horror movie! Every surface was crawling with caterpillars… thousands and thousands of caterpillars! Thankfully, we’d heard from another camper that there weren’t many of them on the far side of the campground where there were more evergreen trees and less of the deciduous ones that the caterpillars feed on. The campground was far from full, so we asked and were given permission to move. It was a lot of extra work, especially for hubby, but it was definitely worth it. Although there were still a few creepy crawlies, we were able to enjoy the remainder of our stay.

We weren’t able to do as much hiking as we might have as many of the trails looked like this…

Thankfully though, although we had to carefully skirt around a couple of huge puddles, the trail from the campground to French Creek, which flows out of the lake, was passable and we even found the only geocache located in the park while we were on that hike.

Now we’re home and it’s raining again, but at least there are no caterpillars here!

HOOFING IT again!

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Once again, HOOFING IT, the annual CNETS (Canadian Neuroendocrine Tumour Society) fundraiser for NET cancer research, is up and running. Between June 1st and September 30th, 2026, the Canadian neuroendocrine cancer community will be working together to raise $60,000 to fund research grants! I wasn’t actually planning on participating this year as I really hate asking the same people for money again and again, but then I read about the recipients of last year’s grants and I was reminded just how important this campaign is. Without the research that led to the various treatments that I’ve received over the past 13 years since I was diagnosed with NETs, I probably wouldn’t be here today!

Once the shock of being diagnosed with a little known and poorly understood cancer, for which there is no cure, wore off, it became important to me to do what I could to raise awareness of the disease and to advocate for more research and greater access to improved diagnostics and treatment. I also believe that no one should have to fight cancer alone. That’s why I co-lead the Alberta NET patient support group and why I’m once again HOOFING IT to help raise funds for NET cancer research! 

 

In addition to raising money to fund much-needed research, the HOOFING IT campaign also encourages participants to be physically active. There is a component to the program that allows us to track a wide range of activities and to earn points for them. Some patients aren’t well enough to engage in physical activity though, so that part of HOOFING IT is entirely optional. Personally, I’m not concerned with tracking my activity or earning points. My goal is to walk or hike at least 5 days a week until the end of September and to raise a minimum of $1300, $100 for each year that I’ve been fighting this cancer.

That’s where you come in! If you’re able, I’m hoping that I can persuade you to visit my fundraising page and make a donation. Charitable donation receipts will be issued for all donations of $20 or more, but no amount is too small! Every cent that is received will be directed to neuroendocrine cancer research. We need to know what causes this disease. We need better diagnostics, more effective treatments, and ultimately, we need to find a cure!

Brave or resilient?

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As a cancer patient, I’ve often been told that I’m brave. I know that people mean well, but that descriptor has never sat very well with me. To me, brave is the firefighter who enters a burning building to save lives or the person who jumps into deep water to rescue someone in danger of drowning. Bravery is defined as the mental strength to face danger, fear, or difficulty. It’s often impulsive or heroic. That doesn’t describe me or my thirteen year journey with neuroendocrine cancer.

Recently, a person whose opinion I value highly told me, “You’re so resilient!” and that word rang true to me. Resilience is a long-term process best described as the ability to endure, adapt, and survive adversity and recover from difficult experiences.

Those who know me well know that I’m a self-professed word nerd. Words matter to me. For more than a decade, the word stable, as in “no evidence of new or progressive disease” which was the final line on my latest CT scan report, has been a favourite word of mine. Now resilient has become another favourite!

So, how does a person build resilience? Becoming resilient is a lifelong process, not a one-time event. Life is rarely easy for anyone. Most of us experience a variety of difficult and upsetting events and circumstances over our lifetimes and I’m certainly no exception. Long before I was diagnosed with cancer, I endured a series of other tragedies and traumas, including the loss of a preschool daughter to leukemia. In each case, I chose to keep putting one foot in front of the other and living life to the fullest extent possible. That wasn’t easy, it wasn’t brave, and I couldn’t have done it alone, but it did help prepare me for life with an incurable cancer. I learned to accept circumstances that I couldn’t change and I also learned to depend on the God who loves me and who promised to take care of me.

In 2 Corinthians 4:8–9, the apostle Paul, who suffered many hardships, wrote “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” That’s resilience!

What is self-care?

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This is a post that’s been rattling around in my head since I spoke at the ladies retreat at our church in April. I mentioned self-care in my afternoon talk that day, but I wanted to develop the idea more fully here.

First of all, I want to be very clear about what self-care isn’t. Self-care is not selfish! In fact, it’s essential. It helps us stay strong and healthy physically, mentally, and emotionally so that we’re able to handle the stresses of daily life and be there for others.

Self-care needs to be intentional. It’s much more than just a bubble bath or even a one-time spa escape, although those are wonderful ways to relax! Self-care involves making lifestyle choices that nurture body, mind, and spirit. It includes getting enough sleep, eating a nourishing diet, getting regular exercise, and seeking medical care when it’s needed. Self-care isn’t always glamorous or fun, but going to the dentist, starting a new exercise program, or choosing a reasonable bedtime are all ways of investing in your overall well-being.  

There’s much more to self-care than just taking care of our physical bodies though. As holistic beings self-care needs to address every aspect of our well-being. We need to make choices that also help us live well mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to self-care, but there are some common factors. We’re fundamentally wired to be social beings. Close connections with other people are essential to our well-being. We need to make time to connect with family and friends, but most of us, especially those of us who are introverts, also need alone time. Like many things in life, it’s about finding the correct balance; balance that works for you and is good for your well-being.

Emotional self-care means taking care of your feelings; your inner wellness. It means means recognizing, understanding, and managing (not suppressing) your emotions. It includes actively challenging negative self-talk as well as knowing your limits and setting appropriate boundaries. It also involves taking time to relax. That might mean escaping into a good book, watching a favourite show, engaging in an enjoyable hobby, or spending time in nature. Pursuing fulfilling and meaningful activities that give your life meaning and purpose are also essential to emotional wellness.

I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention soul-care. Although there’s overlap between how we take care of our emotional and spiritual selves, soul-care also involves specific faith or tradition based practices that nurture our relationship with our Creator and allow Him to fill us. This might include scripture reading, prayer, meditation, or journalling as well as being part of a community that provides encouragement and accountability.

As strange as it might sound, one of the most spiritual things that we can do for ourselves is rest. That’s why God introduced the idea of Sabbath. There’s a big difference between being “tired” and being “depleted.” If we’re simply tired, a nap can solve the problem, but when we’re “depleted,” we need something more. So, if you find yourself feeling overworked, overwhelmed and over stressed this is your invitation to slow down and focus on how you might better engage in self-care. Quality self-care has been shown to improve mental health, enhance self-esteem and self-worth, increase optimism, and lessen symptoms of anxiety and depression. It can also help build resilience so you’re better equipped to handle life’s many stressors and challenges.