World Cancer Day 2025

How Does YOUR Garden Grow?

How does YOUR garden grow? Mine grows with Rachel Gill! Rachel was my youngest's preschool photographer. I met her 9 years ago, and after seeing her wonderful photography, decided to hire her for some candids and portraits of all of my kids, then 3, 7 and 9. The result was so much more than a beautiful collection of photos; we created memories of a fun-filled late afternoon jaunt through some fields to get to a barn, as we tried in vain to get Imogen to laugh. Rachel suggested I dance cartwheels behind her as she snapped away and it worked like a charm - the resulting photos are some of the best I've ever seen of my kids, or any kids for that matter! She really is a gifted photographer. I later learned that Rachel's photography business was not her primary talent; she was in fact a gardener by trade, and a very passionate proponent and educator on sustainability and on growing your own food. When she said she was a fellow nature lover I knew I had found a kindred ...

Keeping Abreast of Ellen: The One with the Sequel

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...

FIVE

Wishes do come true. But only if you make them happen. It was late evening on March 21, 2012. I was standing on my front porch, surrounded by the chill night air, and listening to the melting creek bed whispering notes of spring. I had just left the hospital and my MRI and there was nothing to do now but wait, and live in this moment. I stared up at our second storey windows. Inside, my children slept soundly, oblivious to the turmoil in their mother's mind. I turned my head to the baby's window. She stirred. There would be no nursing tonight, the MRI's contrast agent coursing through me had nixed that. At 15 days old, she was already getting used to my not being around. I wondered if this was to become a pattern. Would I be there to hear her first words, to see her first steps, and to watch her enter kindergarten? I was angry and determined to do away with most, if not all of these unknowns. I didn't know how I would do it, but I was going to give it my all. ...

Keeping Abreast of Ellen

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