Viburnum Opulus is the Latin name of this plant that has been growing by the front gate and is now about ten feet high. I don’t know what the locals call it, but PlantNet tells me it is also called Snowball, Black Haw, Guelder Rose, Red Elder, Gemeiner Schneeball, European Cranberry, and Crampbark. It has […]
Trigger Warning: This essay includes information about the deaths of indigenous students in residential schools in Canada. Canadians are shocked and horrified to learn of the extent of the genocide of indigenous children which took place at residential schools. It is a story that must be retold if there is to be any justice. We […]
After a heavy rainfall a few weeks ago, I noticed that the stucco on the walls by the front steps had started to come away from the wood underneath. On the horizontal ledges, water had gone between the stucco and the wood and caused the stucco to buckle and break open. So, I contacted a […]
Google Maps thinks this bridge is called the Walter Dale Bridge, but they are wrong. It is named after the nearby neighbourhood called Walterdale and it, in turn, is named after John Walter who was among the early settlers here. He operated a ferry across the North Saskatchewan River at this location. The original bridge, […]
This morning, somewhere between sleeping and being awake, I was trying to remember Dolly Parton’s name. I could see her in my mind’s eye, but I couldn’t recall her name. I knew the shape of her first name and that it had two syllables and that it probably ended in “y”, but I couldn’t remember […]
In a recent blog post entitled “Look,” were photos of a wall mural that included some versions of dreamcatchers. Because of the size of the wall and the limitations of the camera used at the time, not all of the objects could be easily seen. As a consequence, today I returned to that wall with […]
I have just discovered Adobe Lightroom and am figuring out how to use it. I wanted to find a way to add a copyright to the metadata on my pictures, and several of the videos I found online seemed to recommend this software. Adobe provides seven days free then it costs $13.49 Cdn a month […]
Across the street from the Edmonton CFL football stadium, and beside the parking lot for the Stadium LRT Station, is a magnificent mural. It runs the full length of the Canadian Linen and Uniform Service building, which is about 66 metres (215 feet). I have not yet identified the artist and will be grateful if […]
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
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 once took a course, many years ago, that required me to write poetry. I have never considered myself a poet or a connoisseur of poetry, but I did as I was asked. That poetry was put into a ring binder and added to a box of miscellany that I recently rediscovered. Here are a […]
