In early May in central Alberta we are just beginning to see signs of spring. There are tiny green buds on the birch trees and when the sun shines on them they have a subtle green glow. The signs of beaver activity are everywhere. They have felled a lot of trees that lie near the […]
I am very fortunate to live only half an hour away from Elk Island National Park where there are about 400 plains bison and 300 wood bison. It is the only fully fenced national park in the country, and the fencing is necessary because the bison population is being actively managed. The fence is there […]
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?Thou art more lovely and more temperate.Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,And summer’s lease hath all too short a date. William Shakespeare
A few days ago, I expressed some frustration because I don’t know who is vaccinated. That makes me feel unsafe when I’m among strangers. I was worried about this because Alberta seems to have a high number of people who are vaccine-hesitant or resistant. In response to that blog post, Tildeb provided extensive comments for […]
OK, bear with me. This is a completely unbaked but possibly brilliant idea related to the vaccine-hesitant. I live in an area in which a significant minority of the population is refusing the Covid-19 vaccination. Their justifications are varied and often contradictory, but these vaccine resisters are a part of my community. You probably have […]
This week my eldest son said he had been harassed by someone in the street. He was happily walking along, minding his own business, when a man started taunting him. He asked if my son was sick, if he wasn’t feeling well. He wanted to know what his problem was, and why he was wearing […]
These painted particleboard fence panels have dried out over the years to create these interesting textures. I wanted to take a few pictures just to capture the details in case the home owner decides to take these panels out and build a new fence. It is a little bit of unintentional art in the ordinary.
Now that the news is fairly humdrum compared to the last few years, the time I spend reading newspapers online has reduced considerably. I’m still mostly housebound because of Covid-19 and cold weather, so I have been looking for things to do. I finally finished making a child’s hat and scarf that I began about […]
There are some things that are not immediately obvious and that we cannot know unless someone tells us. Things like having to change the oil in the car occasionally, or to change the furnace filter now and then, or that the earth revolves around the sun. They are things that are either not in plain […]
This is one of many houses near Edmonton city centre that have become old and disused. Some are a hundred years old. They would cost a fortune to renovate and retrofit, so they sit empty. The boards across the doors and windows are an attempt to keep out the homeless, but in a Canadian winter […]
The temperature in Alberta during April is notoriously unreliable. It can change twenty degrees (Celsius) within hours. This week on my Facebook feed, friends in Red Deer showed pictures of snow while some of us in Edmonton had endured only a little rain. I am trying to persuade some vegetables and herbs to grow from […]
In one corner of my living room is an easel holding a blank canvas. It has been there for a couple of weeks. I keep meaning to get out my paints and brushes to actually create something on it, but my lack of imagination holds me back. I have no idea what I want to […]
Here are three more books that I recommend. They all explore the complications around belonging in a variety of circumstances: in a new country; in a small community; as descendants of immigrants; as refugees; in unanticipated roles. Each of these books presents with sensitivity, concern, and brutal honesty the challenges experienced by people we might […]
Today I was delighted to hear from the doll collector who now has my old doll, Nurse Nan. I had written about the doll in a previous blog post and explained how I came to donate her to a local doll collectors’ club. After she had been picked up from my home, Nurse Nan was […]
It has been quite a year, hasn’t it? We have all adjusted to new truths, new living situations, and new restrictions. As I look back on my year, and as I try to stay hopeful, I want to review what has changed in my life and how my life has changed me. I do this […]
I have a fairly new camera and a very new lens which I tried for the first time today. After a walk to Borden Park, I sat down on a bench to get myself sorted out. Much to my dismay, I realized that I had left my camera on after I had used it two […]
