Alison Garwood Jones

Remains of the day

Originally published in May 2013 in Blog

I got a lot of moving feedback the first time I wrote about my mother, Catherine, in The Long Goodbye, published three years ago on this blog. After she died last Christmas, I expanded on the story of our relationship and turned it into a magazine piece for Glow Magazine. It’s in the May issue, on newsstands […]

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Goodbye, Mommy

Originally published in December 2012 in Blog

Catherine Lucy Garwood-Jones (1928-2012), Hamiltonian extraordinaire, died on Sunday, Dec. 9 after a ten-year battle with Alzheimer’s. Pre-deceased by her husband Trevor in 2011, Team “Cath and Trev” changed the face of the city they loved so much — he through architecture and she through her commitment to health care, education, music and family. Catherine’s […]

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The big reveal

Originally published in May 2011 in Blog

How would you feel if genome analysis revealed you were predisposed to “early sudden death” from vascular disease? Less hungry for chips? Determined to blow all your savings in Vegas and have as much sex as the day is long? And what if a message in your inbox from a lab in sunny California coldly […]

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2010 Roundup

Originally published in December 2010 in Blog

The scariest post to write My best posts are usually the scariest to write. I’ve found that the more scared I am about the content, the more likely I am to connect with my readers because we all struggle with the same stuff. But there’s a fine line between tacky confessionals and honest storytelling. Maybe […]

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Christmas past

Originally published in December 2010 in Blog

Knitting was the last thing my mother knew how to do. I miss her — especially at this time of year.

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In conversation with Maureen Judge

Originally published in May 2010 in Blog

In a display of human nature at its worst, I once worked with a fashionista who sneered, “Old ladies smell like sour milk.” Wow, I thought, if women can be this disdainful of their mother’s generation, we’ve got a problem. Judging by popular culture, society as a whole finds post-fertile women not worth looking at […]

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Momento mori

Originally published in February 2010 in Blog

Alzheimer’s Tale: Several years ago, I found this folded piece of paper in the pocket of my mother’s favourite cardigan. This was just before my dad and I gave away her clothes to the Salvation Army and my last reminder that she didn’t want to forget us. ~ Penny is the family dog.

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The long goodbye …

Originally published in February 2010 in Blog

I got a lot of moving feedback the first time I wrote about my mother, Catherine, here in  The Long Goodbye, published four years ago on this blog. After she died in December 2012, I expanded on the story of our relationship and turned it into a magazine piece for Glow Magazine. You can read that version here. I […]

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