Today is the longest of the year in the northern hemisphere, the summer solstice. When I stepped out onto my deck, a small sun greeted me in the form of a Zinnia flower. I have been watching it for several days as it tried to open its bright face to the world. What a perfect […]
Landscapes
Reversing Rivers and the mystery of Cones
Near the end of 2016, I rolled La Tortue into a nearly deserted campground at the mouth of San Simeon Creek, near Cambria, on the central coast of California. Surrounded by the undeveloped landscape of the Hearst Ranch, this place harkens back to a long-ago sort of California: uncrowded, more sparsely populated and filled with […]
How I do love you, Nelson
This week, I interrupted my coastal California research to rush home to Nelson, B.C., where I received the honour of Cultural Ambassador for 2017. It was a rude climatic shift – from 60 f. to 0 f. (about 15 c. to -12 c.!) It was also a reminder of the wonder and beauty of the […]
Exploring the Chaparral
The ranch where my mom grew up backs onto Los Padres National Forest, nearly two million acres of oak, pine, redwood and chaparral, stretching from near Santa Barbara to Big Sur. While these mountains are older and softer than the recently glaciated peaks of my home in Nelson, British Columbia, they offer abundant beauty and […]
Shifting Sands
Winter has chased me south to the Pacific Coast near Los Angeles as 2016 draws to a close. Here, I encounter the bright light etched across my childhood memories. Everything looks bleached and a little faded, except for the magical bougainvillia vine, spilling magenta and blood red blooms across chain-link fences and cement walls. On […]
River Love, Part 1
The importance of wild rivers hits home to me again on a rainy September weekend as I explore my way deep into a notch valley of the Incomappleux River. I am searching for one of the last remaining stands of old growth cedar and hemlock in the upper Columbia Basin. It’s the last stop on […]