Welcome to the 100^th edition of The Sunday Spark. I started this series at the beginning of 2023, with a goal of creating a place to share weekly thoughts and highlights, nuggets of learning, and a sustainability challenge for the week. To celebrate the 100^th edition, today’s post is a look back at some of my favourites from the series.

On my mind this week: Celebrating the 100^th edition of The Sunday Spark

I started The Sunday Spark series at the beginning of 2023. From the outset I saw it as a place to share whatever was on my mind, along with weekly highlights, nuggets of learning, and a green living challenge for the week.

When I decided to keep the series going in 2024, I replaced the green living challenge with a decluttering challenge. In 2025, we’ve moved onto a weekly simple living challenge.

To celebrate the 100^th edition milestone, I took some time to look back at the 99 posts in the series. It’s a snapshot of personal highlights and milestones, and a collection of thoughts on more serious issues and current events.

A slice of life

LA from Waking Up on the Wrong Side of 50 recently used the term “slice of life” to describe the types of blog posts she enjoys reading. The weekly highlights section of The Sunday Spark is definitely a slice of life, but some of my posts dive a little deeper into what’s happening in my little corner of the world.

In The Sunday Spark, I’ve pondered life’s beginnings and endings as my daughter Colleen graduated college and started her first full-time job. And, when Colleen turned 20, I reflected on surviving the teenage years.

I’ve also shared thoughts on the 50^th anniversary of my family’s arrival in Canada, my 60^th birthday, my retirement celebrations, and my first day of retirement.

On a more emotional note, I shared my feelings on my daughter Laura’s move across the country to British Columbia, and the prospect of an empty nest when Colleen left for an extended work trip in Prince Edward Island.

Along with daily happenings and milestones, I’ve written about some of my travel adventures, including a harrowing evening at Chicago’s O’Hare airport when a tornado roared by. Other travel related posts discussed winter travel woes, facing my fear of heights in Seattle, saying goodbye to an old suitcase, and the downside of island life. Oh, and let’s not forget the terrifying experience of driving in Ireland!

The serious and thoughtful

Beyond daily goings-on and personal milestones, some posts were a little more philosophical or weighed in on bigger issues and events going on in the world. It was really tough to narrow the list down, but here are 10 of my favourite posts from the series.

• In Women in trades face uphill battle, I discussed the sexism that persists in skilled trades.
• Oh my! Pink ribbons everywhere! summarized my thoughts and feelings on Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the pink ribbon movement.
• Do you miss dressing up to go out? was a fun look back at the days when we used to dress up to go out…including pictures. 
• What is the meaning of life? revealed where I was looking for answers to this big question.
• World Happiness Report shows big gap between young and old explored the growing gap in life satisfaction between the generations.
• In light of the Canadian women’s soccer team being disqualified from the Paris Olympic tournament, I discussed Things that are more important than winning.
• I celebrated Thanksgiving with a look at ways to Activate 3 levels of gratitude.
• Faith and trust without the pixie dust pondered how often we have to put our faith in strangers.
• November 11 is a day to reflect and remember was a reflection on freedom and the sacrifices of wartime.
• Shifting our focus to aging well calls on everyone to reject the anti-aging movement and instead focus on healthy aging.

Looking forward to the next 100

I have to wonder what the next 100 editions will bring. With all the turmoil and chaos in the world at the moment, there’s lots of material and I’m sure it won’t be boring.

Thank you for reading! If you have feedback or suggestions on The Sunday Spark, please share them in the comments section below.

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Three highlights of the week

It’s important to celebrate big milestones and simple pleasures in life. Keeping the trend going, here are three highlights and simple pleasures of the week gone by:

• Last weekend, my husband and I took advantage of a sunny afternoon to go for a 5 kilometre hike at a local conservation area. It felt good to get outside.
• On Wednesday, my daughter Colleen left for a work trip to Prince Edward Island. She’ll be gone for a few weeks, so I made a special “last supper” of roast turkey with all the trimmings.
• We’re in the early stages of planning a bathroom renovation, so we’ve spent this week researching and picking out paint colours, fixtures and accessories. Some people have a talent for that kind of thing, but I always find it difficult. I wish I could just blink my eyes and have it all done!

Things I learned this week

Life is all about learning. Here are three things I learned this week:

Inspiring young people to pursue meaningful careers

The Daily Difference email from The Carbon Almanac often gives me inspiration and positive news from around the world.

Earlier this week, the email introduced a Canadian youth-led nonprofit that is empowering the next generation of leaders to rethink how the economy can better serve human and ecological well-being. The re-generation.ca website calls on young people to expect more from their employers, specifically to:

• RAISE support for clean energy
• REDUCE emissions
• RESPECT Indigenous rights and sovereignty
• RESTORE nature and respect biodiversity

This gives me hope. I will be watching this organization. 

The world’s most sustainable companies

Something good to come out of the economic uncertainty resulting from the U.S. threat of tariffs on Canadian goods is an increased awareness of where our money goes. I’ve seen many lists of Canadian companies to support, and also lists of American companies that support Trump. 

If you’d like to be more intentional about how you spend, save, and invest your money, check out Corporate Knights’ list of the world’s most sustainable companies. I was delighted to see my former employer, Manulife, made the list.

Fighting food waste and poverty with gleaning

Food waste is a significant social and environmental issue around the world. This week I learned of organizations in the U.K. that are doing something about it through gleaning—an ancient practice that involves gathering crops that are left in the field after the harvest.

Outlawed for the last couple of centuries, gleaning is making a comeback due to food insecurity and rising prices. Gleaning groups across the U.K. are gathering tons of fruits and vegetables and distributing them to people who need them the most.

(Source: The Progress Playbook)

This week’s simple living challenge – Organize your morning before bed

Simplifying life is a big part of living more intentionally. With that in mind, I kicked off the year with 52 ways to simplify your life this year, including a downloadable checklist of weekly tasks.

This week’s challenge is to take a few minutes before you go to bed to organize things for the next morning. This includes laying out clothes and breakfast items. (Find out what’s in my breakfast basket in this post.)

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I’d love to hear what you think about any of this week’s topics. Drop me a comment below and let me know your thoughts and ideas.