When you hear hoofbeats behind you, don’t expect to see a zebra Professor Theodore Woodward, University of Maryland School of Medicine Have you ever heard the phrase if you hear hoof beats, think horses, not zebras? I’ve been thinking about that a bit today. It’s a version of a phrase coined sometime in the 1940s…
Tag: chronic illness
All the Little Extras: Quirks of Trigeminal Neuralgia
When I’m busy on a writing project, particularly if it’s poetry or fiction, one of my favourite things to do is go to a local cafe and spend a couple of hours with a couple of cappucinos and my tablet. Most of my writing time is spent at home, in a quiet room overlooking the…
Rundown on a Rare Disease
Today was a lucky day. I found a four-leafed clover. Our garden was a farm paddock before they put a road and houses here, and if we don’t keep the lawn under control it swiftly reverts to type and the clover runs rampant. It’s the first time I found a four-leafed clover – despite hunting…
Self Care, Cat Style
On a day out to Palmerston North recently, we took an unexpected detour. Most detours are tedious interruptions involving traffic cones and tortoise-paced driving. Not this one. This one was a spontaneous decision triggered by the sight of the SPCA sign at the side of the road. Shall we go in? we said. The previous…
Learning to Live With It
It’s the middle of winter here in New Zealand, and we’re already seeing signs of new life all around. It’s a gorgeous, sunny day today so I’ve just had a traipse through my garden. It’s heaving with welcome signs of spring, like the purple flowers starting to put out their spears on the hebe shrub,…
The Words in my Notebook
Words – I love words. Words that probe and words that play, words that delve and words that dance. Words that explain, words that explore. I’m not so keen on words that complain and words that hurt, but they do have their uses. I have notebooks full of words. What writer doesn’t! But some of…
Getting a Slice of the Cake
Change. A single, soft-spoken syllable. Yet it’s a powerful little creature, reaching into every corner of our lives. Sometimes it’s an invitation – welcome and exciting. Sometimes it’s a burden – disruptive and frightening. It’s a bundle of contradictions: progress and retreat, secret and flamboyant, havoc and harmony. It can bounce into our lives with the…
Verve 