Keeping Abreast of Ellen

Today on World Cancer Day I am trying out a video message in hopes of sending a more personal message your way. Enjoy, my friends, and stay connected. Ellen

Well hello there, 2025, so wonderful to make your acquaintance! I look forward to experiencing all that you may bring my way and more 😀. But first... While this week's buzz is heavy on the, "out with the old, in with the new," I unapologetically feel that my 2024 needs its proper adieu, so I am going to make space and honour her departure. I hope you will join me as I hop aboard my little metaphorical riverboat for a brief but meaningful séjour down the farewell 2024 riviera. Then we can move on to the champagne-bottle-smashing inauguration of 2025`s brand new cruise ship, complete with shiny shuffleboard decks (not just for old people!), infinity swimming pools (do you have to keep swimming in them forevermore?) and multiplex cinemas (how DOES one watch more than one film at a time....impressive!). I am making all of this stuff up btw, I have never even set foot on a cruise ship. Blame my Epi Friends, they have forever schooled me on the multiple reasons to limit cruise...

It's Christmas Eve! Well it was when I wrote this post. It really doesn’t bother me that I didn’t get to publish it yesterday as soon as my last sentence was typed. It is also no skin off my wrinkly nose that I was only able to do one very quick edit at 11:55 p.m., thereby ensuring this message would not reach you on Christmas Eve, given that it wasn’t travelling on Santa’s sleigh. Not.a.problem. My message is out now, and you are reading it, and that is all that matters in the end, right? So here it is, my Christmas message to you.  Note: While it is unarguably Christmas-related, it has been, as with all of my writings, scripted with every human, animal, spirit and holder of space in mind, so applicable to all. I just have a bone to pick with Christmas and it’s been simmering into the perfect storm of a broth for years…so get ready for a tasty yet powerful punch!  Let’s restart… It's Christmas Day! I am sending so much love and light to all of you, my family, friends and once...

On Sunday I attended a Fireside Teaching and Healing Workshop with Jenny (Sâwanohk) Sutherland. Jenny is the visionary and owner of the Misiwe Ni Relations Healing Lodge , an Indigenous Healer, and a registered psychotherapist. During our workshop she took our small circle of four through a smudging ceremony and a fireside chat on how being in the winter season and especially the stress of December's expectations depletes our energy and increases our anxiety. Sunday's session was all about restoring our energy through the power of connectedness, intention and a guided journey which left me filled with euphoria and peace, not to mention, more energy than I've felt in many moons! Two lasting pieces of wisdom stood out from our morning together: First, we all come from water and we must constantly work to replenish it. This is more than the futile promise I've made to myself all these years, "I really need to drink more water". No, I need to actually DO it, not j...

To quote Lady Whistledown, and because I feel strongly that this update (though far from gossip), is worthy of your time and readership, I will lead with: Dear Gentle Reader, Sequels are generally overrated. Mine is no exception. I have been toiling for months over how best and when to communicate this difficult news to you. I settled on today as I am now seven months in, have dusted off my figurative pen, and truly have cause to give thanks.  For those who need me to cut to the chase, here goes: Cancer has come knocking again. In fact it didn't knock, it let itself in through an open window and has taken up residence. Although it's contained to a few adjoining rooms (abdominal lymph nodes, ribs and pelvis), uninvited guests can travel in packs, so my awesome medical team and I are keeping a watchful eye for new squatters.  Those interested in how this story unfolds can  follow my new Facebook Page , Keeping Abreast of Ellen, where I'll soon post updates on key milestones...

Sometimes you think your week is going to start out one way, then it takes a sharp turn and leads you on an entirely different path. Sometimes the day wakes you up full of promise and hope, then tucks you in at night, numb and devoid of feeling. Sometimes you plan to write a light-hearted post on the age-old question of "how to find more time", and instead find yourself with a heavy heart, cursing time, and grieving the loss of one of your dearest friends. So you decide to write about that instead.  Today is that day. This is that post. Her name was Alice.  She was alive on a Wednesday. She died on a Thursday. I cried with disbelief for many days leading up to that day, and with unbridled sadness every day since. This was not the script that had been written for this leading lady. There were many more pages in her book, beautiful blank canvases full of imagery, ready to be captured. Her life had more volumes than the treasured  Livraria Lello  in Porto, and it w...