by kathykastner | Mar 22, 2025 | Blog: Dispatches, Mood
It seems mere months ago, I could leap tall buildings at a single bound. Dance anyone under the table. I’ve been exercising for decades, starting as a pre-teen, my mother dragged to me kicking and screaming to what was then called a “calisthenics” class at the local...
by kathykastner | Mar 21, 2025 | Blog: Dispatches, explorations, Mood
The mortgage was paid off, and we intended to live in the house forever. Then, Victoria Day Weekend, everything changed. 2 a.m. I awoke to our 3rd floor bedroom being bright as day. Through the glass sliding doors to the slightly rotting deck, I saw huge...
by kathykastner | Mar 17, 2025 | Blog: Dispatches, explorations, Mood
My parents found a kindred spirit in German playwright Bertolt Brecht. With German as their mother tongue, my ‘rents – Rose and Martin Kastner – experienced Brecht in his original language and, in the fullness of time, they became the Canadian...
by kathykastner | Jan 8, 2025 | Blog: Dispatches, explorations
My girls and my squirrel. Julie, our younger daughter, barely says hello to me, instead, firing off an expected question: has Hiya appeared? No matter the answer, she speeds through the house, heading to the big glass sliding doors that open onto a back...