Celebrating Liz


Hi Folks:

Mike’s sister Liz passed away 23 years ago today. Her greatest legacy is her children, who have grown up to be remarkable people in their own right. Liz was also a talented writer; unfortunately none of her stories are in digital format, which means that they’re tucked away safely in a box somewhere. To that end we thought we’d offer two of our stories instead, as well as a story about a story. All of them have to do with butterflies. Marcia’s first: Continue Reading →

Remembering Liz…

Hi Folks:

Seventeen years ago today, on June 16, 1995, Mike’s sister Liz passed away in hospital from acute liver failure.  She was not a candidate for transplant.  She was not yet 39 years old.  The whys and hows of this aren’t important at the moment, because today we want to celebrate her life and not her untimely demise. Continue Reading →

Looking for Butterflies

Hi Folks:

Yesterday marked the 16th anniversary of the day my sister Liz passed away. The details of that are irrelevant for the moment but her soft, gentle nature always put me in mind of butterflies, and tiger swallowtails were a favourite of both of us. You can read more about that here. It was interesting because before Liz passed away I had only seen a few tiger swallowtails in my life, but when we flew out for her last days and for the services after, we saw tiger swallowtails everywhere. Marcia and I would go for a walk and one would follow us down the street. We’d get in the car and drive somewhere and one would be there wherever we stopped. If we were sitting in the backyard a couple of swallowtails would come cavorting by. When we flew back to Ontario I saw three swallowtails in the first 48 hours, and I’ve seen several every year since. Continue Reading →