Yesterday found me speaking at the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria, Oregon. It was a fulfilling moment – sharing the story of the impact of Columbia River Treaty storage dams located in the headwaters region, with people who live at its mouth. After my talk, I drove out to the edge of the continent, […]
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The Generosity of Moss
During a recent writing sabbatical in Seattle, Washington, I spent many hours wandering the streets around Capitol Hill. Within this cultured environment of heritage homes and mature gardens spreads an unobtrusive, still-wild landscape of moss. Fed by the rainy climate, moss softens the hard angles of a staircase. It transforms rock walls into verdant mountains. […]
Planting Seeds
Redfish Creek flows into the West Arm of Kootenay Lake, close to where I live. This aptly named creek has long been a spawning grounds for the region’s kokanee, a sockeye species identical to the ocean version, except that it adapted to live in freshwater only when it was stranded here long ago by melting […]
Thank you, Mr. Sun
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 […]
The Howling Wolf Moon
The moon is full today. I woke early to its light spilling in through La Tortue’s side window. Dellie was happy to rush down to the beach with me to watch the moon set in the west, just as the sun rose in the east. These moments of alignment — when sun-and-moon, yin-and-yang, and light-and-dark […]
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 […]