And then they clearly flew

Colour

2010-07-19T13:20:00.001-06:00

Some days I love black and white...other days colour. Today I'm in love with red poppies and a blue, blue sky.

Spare Head One

2010-07-12T19:31:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I like making things...

As William CW says...

2010-07-06T23:08:00.003-06:00

So much depends....

Can you see the wood...

2010-07-01T22:27:00.001-06:00

...or just the trees?

Summer sun, something's begun

2010-06-29T23:20:00.000-06:00

What's beyond?

2010-06-25T07:45:00.000-06:00

More smokey bricks

2010-06-22T23:19:00.003-06:00

Kiln Bricks

2010-06-20T19:29:00.000-06:00

It's the colours!

Flowers

2010-06-20T07:47:00.003-06:00

Flower sellers with blue fingers and the faces of princesses.

Cowboys!

2010-06-17T21:18:00.002-06:00

Animals on Parade

2010-05-24T21:37:00.000-06:00

tree

2010-05-05T23:19:00.001-06:00

Xmas 09 shadow shot!

2009-12-25T20:05:00.001-07:00

...but last week Carin posted some great shopwindow shadows at : http://nirac.blogspot.com/2009/04/shop-window-shadows.html

Now that's handy!

2009-12-18T20:57:00.000-07:00

Reach out and Touch...

2009-12-15T14:05:00.000-07:00

There are Watchers in the Woods

2009-11-03T07:08:00.000-07:00

Black and White Trees

2009-11-01T21:09:00.001-07:00

Retired

2009-10-30T13:39:00.002-06:00

Stumbled upon this old van in the woods.It looks like it's led a long and happy life!

Buoys in a boat

2009-10-29T13:50:00.001-06:00

I love the subtle shades and textures in this picture.

I never saw a purple cow...

2009-10-28T20:27:00.003-06:00

...but I love the colour of this one. It looks like it's wearing a velvet coat!

Night on a Bare Mountain

2009-10-25T20:00:00.001-06:00

Winter is on it's way.

Dark skies and a watcher

2009-10-14T20:09:00.000-06:00

Here's to...

2009-10-07T22:14:00.003-06:00

Tofino on a warm summer evening.

Here's to the summer that's gone,
And here's to the one that's to come,
Fall winds may blow. We're sure to have snow,
But memories and hope linger on.

We live on a stunningly beautiful planet

2009-10-01T23:37:00.001-06:00

Summer Doesn't get much better than this

2009-09-28T19:27:00.002-06:00

Hope yours was great too!

Something to Reflect On

2009-07-11T15:52:00.003-06:00

I'm out of town and out of touch for the next few weeks so I'm leaving a couple of pictures of may part of the world for you to reflect on.

Back in the the Fall - hope to see you then.

Shadow Shot Sunday -Ripples

2009-07-05T10:22:00.006-06:00

I went hiking yesterday and found these watery shadows in a glacier fed lake high in the Rockies. I loved the colours in the rocks and the way the light played with the ripples on the water.

For more fun shadow shots visit Hey Harriets blog at :
http://heyharriet.blogspot.com/
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Colourful Catch

2009-06-29T14:47:00.005-06:00

So here's another colourful shot from the farmers market...I have discovered that it's the place to go for Colour Carnival which is hosted by Martha.

This was the display at one of the seafood stalls and it was actually the beautiful blue-purple of the mussels that caught my eye. But you won't catch me eating mussels any time soon after a very bad mussels experience as a teenager!

To catch more colour to brighten up you life just click here:

http://colorcarnivalmeme.blogspot.com/

Shadow Shot Sunday

2009-06-21T06:54:00.006-06:00

This shadow is cast by one of my favourite pieces of street art...ever.

It's called "The Family of Man" and stands outside the Calgary Board of Education building in downtown Calgary. The scale of this piece is stunning. Each figure is 21 feet tall.
The previous post on this blog shows other shots of this sculpture if you're interested.

For more fun shadow shots visit Hey Harriets blog at :
http://heyharriet.blogspot.com/
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The Family of Man

2009-06-21T00:10:00.002-06:00

I love these statues.

They stand in the heart of downtown Calgary.

Twenty one feet tall, they are austere, imposing and beautiful.

And yet they speak to man's fragility.

They are faceless, nameless, raceless.

And every time I see them I am reminded of how, beneath the skin we are all the same the world over.

For me they are a reminder to walk gently upon this earth and to treat one another with respect.

I love these statues, this piece of street art.

Check out my other blog for more information on these statues.

Balloooooooooooooons!

2009-06-19T19:13:00.003-06:00

Doesn't the kid in all of us love balloons?
I found these bright helium ones at a local farmers market. Something about the tangle of colours, shapes and strings made me think of Colour Carnival hosted by Martha here:

http://colorcarnivalmeme.blogspot.com/

Dreaming of sleep

2009-06-17T20:02:00.003-06:00

Exhaustion.
Lying beneath petals crumpled
like morning sheets,
inhaling poppy dust,
I dream of sleep
that will not come.

Shadow Shot Sunday

2009-06-14T00:19:00.000-06:00

In the post below are a few shots taken on a small island off the West Coast of Canada. There are some carved faces in that posting, all from one pillar on an old bakery building.
I saved this shot for Shadow Shot Sunday.

I love the deep shadows that define this ancient face, especially the ones which shade the eyes making it unclear exactly what this man is watching...or what he might be thinking. I love the deep chisel marks and the natural fissures in the wood. This guy has aged beautifully; fierce, strong and proud.
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For more fun shadow shots visit Hey Harriets blog at :
http://heyharriet.blogspot.com/
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A Tisket, a tasket - big, bright baskets!

2009-06-12T22:41:00.004-06:00

I found these baskets piled outside a tiny store on a sunny island on the West Coast of Canada. I have always been a sucker for baskets....almost anything looks better if you put it in a basket...and I would have loved to buy all these! But I didn't! I just feasted my eyes instead!
P.S. They were fair-traded. I asked.
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Want to join in the bright brilliant fun? Go to Colour Carnival hosted by Martha here:

http://colorcarnivalmeme.blogspot.com/

A West Coast Odyssey

2009-06-08T21:47:00.008-06:00

Ferry dock dreaming.
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Ancient faces.
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Beach adventures.
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Thinking and reading.
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And meditating.
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Peace.

Shadow Shot Sunday

2009-06-04T17:30:00.004-06:00

Grape Conversations!

I was at the Farmers Market last weekend and popped into this barn of a wine storm housed in an old aircraft hangar...the site for the market is on what used to be a barracks. Two guys were having an animated discussion on what wine to buy (the place has a lot of choice!) and I whipped out my camera just as they stopped waving their hands around and came to an agreement.

For more fun Shadow Shots visit Hey Harriets blog at :
http://heyharriet.blogspot.com/

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

2009-06-02T17:40:00.000-06:00

Colourful Candies!

2009-05-31T23:20:00.003-06:00

I found these colourful candies in a store in the mountain town of Banff and loved the way they looked...though I didn't really fancy the thought of all that sugar! The store is a big favourite in the town...a tiny space packed with every kind of candy you can imagine!

Want to join in the bright brilliant fun? Go to Colour Carnival hosted by Martha here:

http://colorcarnivalmeme.blogspot.com/

Hang on to that planet!

2009-05-23T04:00:00.000-06:00

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Okay! I admit it! I manipulated this image! I did rotate it through 180 degrees but I couldn't help myself! I liked the way the shadow looks like Superman holding desperately onto planet earth...perhaps to keep it from hurtling out of the solar system!

The young woman doing the handstand in the middle of a downtown green-space was full of the joys of spring. She wasn't really hanging onto the planet in quite the way this photo would have you believe but she did have a firm grip on life!

Hope you are enjoying yourself as much as she was on this Shadow Shot Sunday.

For more fun Shadow Shots visit Hey Harriets blog at : http://heyharriet.blogspot.com/

Colour Carnival - Wanna Come?

2009-05-18T19:27:00.006-06:00

There has to be something for everyone among the colourful flyers posted on this pillar in the Calgary neighbourhood of Kensington. What would you like to see? I fancy "The Raptors" as advertised by the fetching blue dinosaur...though I'm not sure why "The Sheepdogs" are on the the same poster. As a snack perhaps?

Want to join in the bright brilliant fun? Go to Colour Carnival hosted by Martha here:

http://colorcarnivalmeme.blogspot.com/

Watching the Gorillas

2009-05-17T00:37:00.006-06:00

I went to the zoo last weekend and since the weather was glorious and sunny I got some great shadow shots and had a hard time picking just one...but I liked this one.

It's the happy shadows of lots of people leaning against the glass railing to the gorilla enclosure. They are all watching the new baby gorilla enjoying being outside for the first time! You don't get to see the baby but I can see at least two shadows taking photos and a kid swinging on the rail!
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For more fun shadow shots visit Hey Harriets blog at : http://heyharriet.blogspot.com/
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Color Carnival - Every Shade of Pink!

2009-05-12T06:35:00.005-06:00

I went to the zoo this weekend and spent a long time watching the flamingoes! I loved their bright red tail feathers!
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For more great colourful shots of visit the new meme Color Carnival hosted by Martha right here :
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http://meandering-martha.blogspot.com/

Shadow Shot Sunday

2009-05-09T06:43:00.005-06:00

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I went for a bike ride this weekend and stopped on an old bridge to admire the river below...and the shadow. This river's not for swimming though. It's glacial meltwater and cold as all-get-out!
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For more fun shadow shots visit Hey Harriets blog at :
http://heyharriet.blogspot.com/
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A True Story of Many Moons

2009-05-05T23:26:00.016-06:00

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Once,
on a summer morning,
I leaned over the side of a ferry.
Peered down into ocean water
hazy with salt,
but calm.
Below me, translucent moon jellies drifted,
pale and milky, they floated with the tide.
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And as far out across the water,
as deep into it's green depths as I could see,
jellies hung like silent ghosts,
thousands upon thousands of them.
Jellyfish like whispers of ocean waves.
Jellyfish like shadows of ancient stars fading into a liquid morning sky.
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And I imagined grey, and green,
speckled, brown and dun coloured fish
resting on the ocean floor,
gazing up into their watery sky,
watching the suspended globes bobbing far above them.
Imagined the quiet jellies as remnants of cold fishy dreams.
Imagined I could remain forever,
my legs pressed against rough metal
my body rocking with the boat.
Imagined I could reach down
to gently press each jelly
and feel the hard kernal of truth at its core.
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I found a picture of these amazing creatures here if you want to see them:
http://www.neaq.org/images/MoonJellies.jpg

Ruby Tuesday

2009-05-04T19:00:00.001-06:00

These fish-bowl lights feature in a downtown cafe that I like to frequent...in fact the whole cafe features splashes of red - but I particularly liked the surreal effect of these lamps against the sunny window (as well as all the complex reflections and shadows).

For more great shots of red visit Ruby Tuesday hosted by Marytheteach right here : .

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http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com/

While my guitar gently sleeps

2009-05-02T17:43:00.005-06:00

I crept up on this guitar whilst it was snoozing quietly in the spring sunshine and snapped this picture. I loved its electric blue colour!
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For more funky shadow shots visit Hey Harriets blog at :
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http://heyharriet.blogspot.com/
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Contrasts in Life

2009-04-29T18:33:00.001-06:00

So many contrasts in life:

Complexity and simplicity,

Blue skies and grey days,

Winter and spring,

Warmth and cold.

Dualities everywhere.

And the experience of one

depends on our knowledge

of the other.

Life is not life

without death.

So why do we persist in seeing

black as the opposite of white?

Black and white is not a duality

it is a whole.

Ruby Tuesday

2009-04-27T15:37:00.002-06:00

This is the side of an old red barn in Manitoba taken on a warm spring day when the mountains of snow were just beginning to melt.
I loved the faded red paint against the weathered grey wood...and yes, I did redden it up a little in phototshop because I really wanted to bring out the texture of those boards.
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For more great shots of red visit Ruby Tuesday hosted by Marytheteach right here :
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http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com/

Shadow Shot Sunday

2009-04-25T10:35:00.001-06:00

Shadow meets stone
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We have a pile of beautiful pebbles on our table and I was playing around with shadows and I ended up with this shot.

For more funky shadow shots visit Hey Harriets blog at :

http://heyharriet.blogspot.com/

Out of focus isn't always bad

2009-04-22T20:23:00.007-06:00

I know it's out of focus...and blurred...and maybe you can't tell exactly what you're looking at... but for me this photo captures a moment.

A dark, warm cave of a club on a cold winter night.

A glass of red wine.

Great music played with energy.

My head resting against the shoulder of the guy I've loved for ever.

And isn't that what life is like anyway?

It's a little blurred, a little hazy in the memory.

Often not perfect but somehow more interesting because of the imperfections.

I like how life keeps you guessing and then,

from time to time,

once in a while,

it serves up some moments that shine like gold in your memory.

Moments like this one.

P.S. It's a saxaphone! But you knew that...didn't you?

Taking My Chances

2009-04-22T03:13:00.000-06:00

This afternoon,
fingers,
which later tonight,
curled in a tight
mean fist,
just might
(right hook, left hook,)
punch out my lights,
stroke a sweet melody
(oh baby, my heart's on fire)
from these taut strings.

My body.
Your guitar.

Your tender voice
(so dark the night, baby hold me tight),
erodes my soul.
Renders me
more helpless
(softly my soul slips into yours)
than any blow
you'll ever
strike
(dark night delight)
Delight.

Seeing red when commuting

2009-04-20T21:16:00.000-06:00

I guess it's a feature of life in any big modern city - traffic line-ups at rush hour.

On a grey day, I snapped this shot during my commute home.

Red tail-lights in the sunset...or something like that!

For more great shots visit Ruby Tuesday

hosted by Marytheteach right here :

http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com/

If not fossils...

2009-04-20T09:04:00.003-06:00

I'm not eaxctly sure what these giant discs are meant to be. They are cast in bronze and adorn the wall of a local art museum. They are not fossils but since I think fossils are cool...then for me they are going to be fossils.

Shadow Shot Sunday

2009-04-18T18:10:00.006-06:00

I took this picture at a local art gallery. The shadows are spotlights. Once again, the guy looking at the artwork was too absorbed to notice me shooting his shadow.

To see more great Shadow Shots (better than mine!) then visit Harriet's Blog at: http://heyharriet.blogspot.com/

The amazing things you can do with trays!

2009-04-18T13:22:00.005-06:00

I took a simple shot of a pile of plastic trays at a local cafeteria.

The colours were great...

...and isn't it amazing what you can do with a pile of plastic trays.

Deer Hardly There

2009-04-17T13:24:00.003-06:00

I took this shot on the west coast in October. This deer was in an apple orchard and barely visible untill he raised his head...the camoflauge was incredible.

When I played with the photo in Photoshop it was interesting to see how the deer's fur blended with the colour of the dry grass.

Gotta canoe

2009-04-16T12:10:00.003-06:00

This IS one of the things that defines Canadians!

And this photo was taken is in the middle of a big city...

if you're Canadian canoeing is somehow in your blood...

if you're Canadian, you'll canoe just about anywhere.

Wild Blue Skies

2009-04-15T19:49:00.012-06:00

This past weekend we had some more blue sky days.

This past weekend we had some more blue sky days.

On a bike ride down by the river I couldn't resist taking photographs against those skies.ays.

....

...and today I had time to play with the results!

I couldn't decide which of these three was my favourite...so I posted them all!

Wild Dancing Tables!

2009-04-14T17:26:00.003-06:00

I guess these tables are not actually dancing...but they look as if they could!

They are at a local cafeteria in front of a wide curving window with huge mountain views.

On a sunny Sunday they glowed with cheerfulness!

Ruby Tuesday

2009-04-14T01:00:00.005-06:00

Ruby Tuesday is hosted by Marytheteach right here :
http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com/

Every Tuesday there are beautiful photo's...with some cheerful red in them. Some have a lot of red...some have a very little. In my picture you get to play 'spot the red'...because it's a very little! I took this picture on a deserted West Coast beach last summer and I don't think I even noticed the little red lady at the time!

Like Some Shoes On a Wire - Sorry Leonard!

2009-04-13T06:35:00.001-06:00

Steffe from Sweden asked me what's with the shoes on the wire on my Buster of a Blue Sky Day.
I didn't know they had a meaning so I asked around. Here's the answers I got:-

They're selling drugs somewhere near here.
It's gang territory.
Someone lost their virginity.
..or my favourite...
Someone didn't like their sneakers!

There's some interesting information (and photo's) on these websites

http://urbansemiotic.com/2005/12/28/shoes-on-a-wire/

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-shoefiti_city_zonejan22,0,7233589.story

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dgbalancesrocks/121887934/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/topsy/100748496/

And here's some more shoes drying out in the weekend's sunshine outside our neighbours house.

Funking Up Those Blue-Sky photos

2009-04-12T11:54:00.011-06:00

So I took all those photo's in Kensington....and then I had fun playing with them!
You can see the some of the originals in the posting - Buster of a Blue Sky Day - here.

http://clearlyflew.blogspot.com/2009/04/buster-of-blue-sky-day.html

Shadow Shot Sunday

2009-04-11T18:44:00.013-06:00

Two shots this week, one taken outside in my local park where a group of birch trees cast their shadows on the snow.

And one taken inside at my local mall.
This patch of light made for some very effective shadows and people don't seem to mind you pointing your camera at their feet. This woman, busy texting, didn't notice me at all.
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To see great Shadow Shots visit Harriet's Blog at: http://heyharriet.blogspot.com/
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A buster of a blue sky day.

2009-04-11T00:03:00.005-06:00

Yesterday was a beautiful, blue-sky, gift of a day.
Alberta specializes in big blue skies and yesterday's was a buster.

I took a walk round the funky neighbourhood of Kensington and stopped for a while in one of my favourite cafes to sip coffee and watch the world go by.

Parts of the city are still wrapped in winter - like these bushes swathed in burlap against the intense cold we had up until a couple of weeks ago. These plants on the shady side of the street probably won't be unwrapped until May - we often get late frosts in May.

The May long weekend is the date that we are (unofficially) allowed to start gardening in this city! Before then you dice with the probable death of your precious seedlings at the hands of fierce winter storms.

But not being able to garden means that there's plenty of time to sit on benches in the sunshine and enjoy chatting with old friends while you watch the last of the river ice melt.

And as soon as there's warmth, a true Canadian's thoughts turn to the great outdoors.

There were plenty of big toys out from their winter hibernation today - urban toys like these bikes...

...and other toys better suited to the wilds - like this canoe.

I must have seen at least eight canoes strapped to cars today - the spring runoff from the mountains makes the rivers fun for confident canoeists right now. Blue Sky Days...I love them.

The ducks are back!

2009-04-10T14:34:00.005-06:00

Spring is here!

The ducks are back!

For the past five years this pair of ducks has turned up in our back yard in Spring. Sometimes they arrive ridiculously early in March. This year they are a little late -but nontheless welcome for that! They nest beside a pond just accross the way from us but the pond never has water before the May long weekend. Every winter the pond is emptied and then, in spring, the Fire Service guys come and fill it up...too much risk of it freezing before May.

These ducks hang around the neighbourhood wandering in and out of yards eating bird seed and waiting for the water. Some years we get big spring snowfalls, wet heavy snow that can be deep. When this happens the ducks waddle around up to their necks in the white stuff looking very surprised. Things always work out though and by June they are wandering down the pathways trailing a necklace of fluffy ducklings. They stop the traffic every time they cross the road from the pond to their residental neighbourhood hangout .

Welcome back guys!

It's good to see you again!

A last look back at winter (I hope!)

2009-04-09T16:53:00.007-06:00

We finally got some real spring temperatures this week. It was 16c today. But reminders of winter are everywhere still. Drifts of snow linger in the shady parts of our yard - it will take at least a week more of these temperatures before it's all gone. The grass revealed by the retreating snow is brown and squashed-looking, tree branches are bare and I have yet to see a crocus or a snowdrop anywhere!
Before winter is finally vanquished, I thought I would just post a couple of pictures taken back in January when it really was cold.
.It was -40c and a week or so after Christmas the day I went for a meal at with friends at a great little cafe in a small town just outside the city. We stopped many times on the drive out to take pictures. The colours were dramatic but it was hard to hold the camera in those temperatures. When we finally made it to our destination we were ready to warm up with steaming bowls of soup. These horses didn't seem to mind the cold but I hope someone gave them some warm mash for their supper.
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Black and Blue...and White

2009-04-08T13:56:00.005-06:00

There are these trees, a line of them, just around the corner from my home. They stand on a little hump in the middle of a school field - silver birches and trees of a kind I don't know with a very dark bark. They're nice trees - welcome shade in the summer, graceful and pretty...but I don't notice them much anymore. Except, occasionally, on a blue sky day when the branches are bare of leaves (as they still are and probably will be until the beginning of May)and the sunlight catches the papery white back of the birch trees making them shine. Then, the contrast of dark and light branches against a bright blue sky makes me catch my breath.

Steed of steel

2009-04-07T17:07:00.013-06:00

There is a tiny kids playground near our house.

The equipment is old and worn but very well loved.

One day this play area will probably be replaced. The old swings and climbing frame will be dug up and hauled out to be replaced by some amazing modern plastic and steel contraption. The new equipment might be more fun for the kids to play on...but I like the old playground just as it is. It has charater - just like this swinging horse.

Waiting for the Sun

2009-04-06T17:40:00.005-06:00

It was sunny and warm yesterday for the first time in what seems like months.
Walking around the neighbourhood I began to notice chairs and benches...all of them obviously waiting for the sun. Waiting for the spring warmth to release them from their winter sleep, waiting for the snow to melt, and their wood to warm so that they become once again inviting places for folk to sit and contemplate life for a while.
Here's a few photos of those benches as they start to stir after their long winter hibernation.

Shadow Shot Sunday

2009-04-05T10:22:00.009-06:00

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The days are getting longer, the sun a little warmer and soon the spring thaw will begin. These two girls sitting on a dock by a Saskatchewan lake cast long shadows in the evening sunlight.
Two minutes later a guy wobbled out onto the ice on an ancient motorbike and rode off into the sunset...probably heading home for supper. I wondered how he made the journey in summer when all the ice had gone.

To see some great Shadow Shots, click on this button

or visit Harriet's Blog at: http://heyharriet.blogspot.com/

Artichoke!!

2009-04-04T18:53:00.007-06:00

I've had this artichoke for about three years now. It's all dried and shrivelled and papery but I like it. Like so many things in life it has grown more interesting with age!

When I typed the title for this entry it made me think of that Monty Python sketch - "Albatross!!"

So... in John Cleese' voice please...

"Artichoke!!"

Grand, not so Grand

2009-04-03T23:28:00.008-06:00

I found this old rusting piano frame leaning up against the wall of an old shingled shed in the backyard of a funky coffee house on a West Coast island. I loved the shadows that the wires and pegs cast and the patterns they made. The original picture was a little washed out and I wish I'd taken more than one shot. I played with the original picture in photoshop and loved how this version two turned out. Very abstract.

Clearly not flying!

2009-04-02T20:17:00.005-06:00

I was at an agricultural show today. These little chicks were like tiny bundles of sunshine on a grey, cold day. The weather forecast promised yet more flurries for the evening. I wanted to pick up a chick and tuck it into my shirt pocket. It would be like carrying a little piece of spring with you whereever you went.

Until it grew into a large unwieldy and, no doubt, protesting chicken - when it would be more like carrying your own tornado!

Books I read in March

2009-04-01T22:02:00.034-06:00

Builders of the Pacific Coast - Lloyd Kahn
A beautiful book full of fabulous pictures. There is some writing but it's the pictures that really make this book! The many photos showcase some of the incredible organic buildings that you find along the North American west coast. Many of the homes are on the tiny islands just off the coast of Canada. Built from driftwood, cedar, recycled materials and imagination these are homes to dream about. The neat thing is these dwellings are mostly not the huge fancy houses (though a few are featured) but small homes built by people who love to build and who are not interested in raking in big bucks. And for many of these builders their chief love in life is actually...surfing! Kahn writes in an intimate chatty style that makes you feel you might have met the builders whose work he showcases - probably on a beach somewhere. And his interest in all things quirky and unusual mean that this reads like a book written by a favourite eccentic uncle... one who takes stunning photos. This is a book to dip into and then lie on a beach in the sun and daydream about.
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I Heard the Owl Call My Name - Margaret Craven
I read this in an original beautiful 1967 paperback original version. The cover features iconic artwork in gold and black that reminded me of 1960's Hornsea pottery in the clean simplicity of it's lines.

http://hornsea.homestead.com/hornsea.html
I picked the book up for free in a community recycling store on the West Coast but would have paid money just for the artwork. It is very much a book of it's time (1967) but surprisingly perceptive about the negative effects of the white man's incursions on First Nations traditions and culture.
A young priest , terminally ill (though he doesn't know it), is assigned to a remote First Nation's village on the NW coast of Canada. Unlike the school teacher he finds there, Mark Brian makes few judgements or assumptions about the people of the village but tries to be open to their customs and way of life. He discovers that the ancient myths and traditions usually passed from generation to generation are being forgotten because the youth of the village are being lured away by the false glamour of life of the big cities - though what they often find there is only trouble and despair.
The writing is sparse and beautiful transmitting a real flavour of the West Coast. The descriptions of the landscape are haunting and the whole book is infused with a deep sense of melancholy, not only because of it's plot but also because it reads like a lament for something already vanishing forty years ago when the book was written and which is now irretrievable.
As L.P. Hartly said, "the past is a foreign country, they do things differently there".
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The Life of The Skies : Birding at the End of Nature - Jonathan Rosen
I started this one and got about a third of the way through and stalled. I'm going to see if it grabs me again in April and if I finish it I'll review it then.
I'm not a birder (despite the number of birding books in my April reading so far) but my dad is...so I'm reading these books to see if I think he might like them! This way I can get a head start on my Christmas shopping!
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Ja No Man - Richard Poplak
I really liked this book which is an account of a middle-class white boy's childhood and adolescence in 1970's/80's South Africa. Poplak brilliantly steers a line between hilarity and poignancy and recreates just how unlikely and surreal everyday life there could be. He highlights the absurdities of the aparthaid sytem and the politicians who created and perpetuated it, shedding light on the political realities of a brutal regime through his often ridiculous stories of the events of his boyhood. So much of his experience is familiar to anyone who grew up in Western Society in the 1980's (the music, the clothing, the TV shows) and yet the undercurrents of a repressive and psychotic government make his experience oddly alien. This was a fascinating book.
If you like Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton, Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexander Fuller or Disgrace by JM Coetze ...then try this.
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A Raw Mix of Carelessness and Longing - Cecelia Frey
I love road trips. The pavement unwinding beneath the car wheels, unknown towns scrolling past the windows, great music on the radio and someone interesting in the passenger seat to talk to. A Raw Mix of Carelessness and Longing was a road trip of a read - like taking a long journey with an new acquaintance, one you don't know well but are predisposed to like. It is a very Canadian book with its sparse understated writing, subtle but incredibly well observed humour, and fascinating characters that stay with you long after you've slammed the car door, hustled your backpack onto your shoulders and waved goodbye to your travelling companions.
Cecelia Frey tells the story of Lilah Cellini and Jamey Popolowski, the free-spirited musician she has been in love with all her life. Frey has a keen sense of story and a wonderful ear for dialogue (I could listen to Lilah for thousand's of kilometres.) Frey deftly weaves the events of Lilah's unpredictable life with those of the folk she leaves behind in her hometown and the people she meets on the road when she follows Jamey as he chases his dream of making it big in music. As the two young people cross Canada with Jamey's band, Lilah discovers that the choices which must be made in life are never easy. She find's that following someone else's dream can come at significant cost to oneself. As Lilah struggles with the alternatives presented to her she finds an unexpected ally in the enigmatic Zeke (the band's manager) who ultimately helps her find her own voice (both literally and figuratively).
This is a spellbinding tale. It seems so simply conceived when you first turn the key in the ignition but, as with all long road trips, there are unexpected twist and turns on the journey that make it an absorbing read.
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Strange Son - Portia Iverson
I didn't actually read this book...I listened to it on CD whilst driving to and from work each day. It was a fascinating narrative, detailing the life of a 14-year-old autist, Tito, and his mother. Tito was born in India and is severly autistic - as is Iverson's son. Whilst desperatly researching 'cures' for her son, Iverson stumbled across Tito's story and was astounded. Despite limited speech and all the symtoms of severe classic autism Tito's could communicate. His mother, Soma, had somehow been able to teach Tito to read and write, then bombarded him with knowledge from books, broken through his 'aloneness' and encouraged him to communicate. Iverson was stunned, when she bought Tito and his mother to the US, to discover Tito had written poetry and was able to answer questions and provide insights into the inner workings of his mind. The CD was easy to listen to although I am not sure I would have persevered with the book. Reading between the lines, I came to the opinion that Iverson had convinced herself that here was a cure for autism and when this proved not to be the case (because how exactly Soma had achieved her miracle was neither repeatable nor testable) she lost some of her faith in his remarkable story and her own narrative wandered and faltered and lost it's initial drive.
If you are interested there is a good article and some of Tito's poems here:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0503/feature1/online_extra.html
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The Wolves in the Walls - Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman writes wonderful books for children with very sophisticated illustrations that I love! He uses many different art techniques, photo montages, collages, pen-and-ink drawings and painting to render the unsettling and often bizarre world of a child’s imagination. In this book I particularly like the hidden faces of the wolves in the clouds.
The story features Lucy and her cuddly pig who can hear wolves living in the walls of the house. Lucy tries to warn her family, but no one believes her. Her tuba-playing father thinks she has an overactive imagination, her jam-making mother says it’s rats, her brother knows it’s bats but they all tell her that “when the wolves come out of the walls, it's all over.”
Well the wolves do come out of the walls and they are freaky and scary and funny and portrayed with a keen sense of the fantastic. And it is all over - until Lucy comes up with a solution.
This is sold as a children’s book but, as with all Gaiman’s books, the artwork makes it much, much more. It’s scary and quirky and funky and witty. And...a huge visual feast.
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The Only Boy in the World - Michael Blastland
This is a book that examines the life of a very singular individual and in so doing explores major philosophical ideas about what exactly defines humanity - what is it that makes us human.
Blastland writes about his 10-year-old son Joe, who has severe, classic autism. He gives a very clear and moving picture of what daily life is like for someone caring for such an individual. Blastland’ gives us evidence in detailed anecdotes (sometimes moving, sometimes amusing yet heart-wrenching) to support his thesis that to all intents and purposes, Joe is “the only boy in the world” because he is ‘mind-blind’…that is he cannot conceive of other people as having a mind. For Joe, people are no different to other animate and even inanimate objects in his world. Joe’s own mind is the only mind he has ever met. Joe is alone in a very deep sense of the word.
Having tried to understand the terrible isolation Joe lives in, Blastland then asks the following question. If understanding another’s point-of-view, being able to empathise, understand, relate to other individuals makes us human, does this mean Joe is in some sense not human? Blastland explores this painful question whilst painting a moving and always loving portrait of his son.
This is a book rooted in a harsh reality but it asks some deeply spiritual questions and offers alternate viewpoints. It is though-provoking and one of the best books I have read on this subject. It is the book that came closest to helping me understand what life might be like for an autist. Highly recommended.
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The Magic Toyshop - Angela Carter
Angela Carter wrote seriously weird yet truly captivating and intelligent magical realism. This was her second book. It is the heroine Melanie's coming of age story packaged in a fairytale-like sense of unreality.
Melanie and her two siblings are suddenly orphaned at the very beginning of the novel and ripped from their genteel upper-class way of life to live in the slums of a large city with their brutal Uncle Philip (a toymaker) and their silent Aunt Margaret. Melanie finds herself increasingly drawn to the young man Finn who has the bedroom next to hers. He is a quietly subversive, freakish character who sides with Melanie in her growing dislike of Uncle Phillip. The household is full of submerged tension that centres around Aunt Margaret and which comes to a head when Melanie is forced to play the part of Leida in Uncle Phillips dark puppet version of Leida and the Swan. Melanie is metaphorially raped, Finn defies his uncle to come to her rescue and the repressed members of Uncle Phillips swiftly family spiral into chaos.
The ending is a little unexpected (like a train wreck when the rails run out!)and not as well controlled as the rest of the novel but this is a book you read for images, ideas and spectacular use of language as much as for the plot. Carter excelled at writing bizzare details that fascinate at the same time as they repell...and this makes for a compelling read. This is a book I first read in my early twenties and one I re-read every couple of years or so and always find something new.
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Icefields - Thomas Wharton
This is a book I have read more than once. It's not a book you read for the plot (although it does have one) but for the way Wharton uses language and for the images he creates with his words.
This is a book that is more dream than novel. It tells the story of a young man who tumbles into a crevasse in a glacier in the Rocky Mountains. Dangling upside down in an icy bluness waiting to be rescued by his climbing companions he sees an angel (identifiable by the wings) frozen into the ice beside him. He is mesmerized, and after his rescue becomes obsessed with the glacier, spending his life climbing it, waiting for it to move down the valley, to melt...to disgorge the angel so he can study it.
The story spans many years and follows (loosely) the Victorian exploration and opening up of the Canadian Rockies with a tough-minded lady moutaineer, a doctor, moutain guides, hotel managers etc. impinging in a variety of ways on the young mans life as he waits and grows older. There is a love story embedded in the novel but this is really a tale of obsession. The story floats, dreamlike - mirroring the way the angel 'floats' eternally in the ice. It is not a linear read.
I like it but I don't think it's for everyone.

Listening to News from London

2009-04-01T21:31:00.010-06:00

I was listening to news from London - the G20 made the headlines with all the protests.

It seems such a faraway place these days. It's now several years since I've been there. I pulled up some old photo's and liked this one of Trafalgar Square with all the patches of blue. London can look such a beautiful city in photo's yet it always seems so noisy and dirty in reality. It has great art galleries though. I miss the art galleries. The Tate Modern is one of my favourite spaces on the planet.

When I was about nine years old my family took a day trip to London by train. It was summer and a long hot day. We caught a train at 5.30 a.m. and didn't get home until 11.00p.m. We ate soggy cheese and tomato sandwiches and drank warm lemon-barley juice because we didn't have enough money for museums AND restaurant food.

We saw Downing Street and St. James Park, Buckingham Palace and the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum and Madame Tussauds...all in one day! We walked for miles...or so it seemed to me.

At some point I recall standing in Trafalgar Square, my neck stretched back as far as it would go to look at Nelson way up there. While I was absorbing history my brother was busy feeding MY sandwiches to the pigeons. And the day was so hot that all I wanted to do was to paddle in the fountains - but my parents wouldn't allow it (something to do with pigeon poop!)

I still haven't paddled in the fountains in Trafalgar Square.

Maybe one day.

Snail Mail

2009-03-31T16:57:00.002-06:00

I love getting letters - real letters, the kind with interesting stamps on that are delivered by a mailman in a uniform - and today I got two from far away friends. We just have a regular mail box at our house - nothing like this old mailbox I spotted out on the West coast this weekend which would obviously have many stories to tell and secrets to share if only it could talk! Still, it's a real pleasure to come home from a long day at work and find warm thoughts from distant friends waiting to greet me.

So now I'm going to settle down with a cup of tea and these letters to read...and wait for the snow to start falling.

Yes, we have snow forecast again for tonight.

Blowing in the Wind

2009-03-29T00:34:00.004-06:00

Please scroll Down for Shadow Shot Sunday.
I posted a little early!
I was away on the coast this weekend.
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It really is spring there...even if folk who live out there are shaking their heads over the cold, damp late start to the season.
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There were daffodils, crocii and snowdrops.
The trees had buds and everywhere smelled of green.
I took this picture of tattered prayer flags flapping cheerfully in a stiff spring breeze.
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Spring for us looks a little different. We had 10cm of snow delivered in a snowstorm overnight.
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Green? We can only dream!

Shadow Shot Sunday

2009-03-28T23:50:00.006-06:00

Click on this button to see more great shadow shots.

Spring Shadows

2009-03-28T23:33:00.012-06:00

I was a little early for Shadow Shot Sunday but thought I'd add some shadow pictures anyway.

Trees that have yet to put on their spring leaves made intricate shadows on some of the old buildings in our neighbourhood when we finally got some sunshine this weekend.

Spring snow - I wish!

2009-03-24T12:30:00.009-06:00

I'm looking out my window at spring snow right now...but it's not this kind. It's the cold, icy kind.

The weather forcast is calling for a north wind and a high of -2 degrees.

Bring on the blossoms I say!

Spring Evening Downtown

2009-03-23T21:00:00.008-06:00

On a blue-sky evening, with the late sun glinting off tall pillars of mirrored glass, even an end-of-winter, dowdy brown, grit-encrusted northern city can be beautiful.

Sunshine and coffee and grapefruit like summer

2009-03-21T23:43:00.007-06:00

This morning the spring sunshine was shining brightly through the window of the family room... very brightly because it was glinting off the fresh snow.

But, hey! You can't have everything in life

...and the coffee was hot and fragrant

...and when we peeled the grapefruit they smelled like summer.

It felt like spring inside even if it looked like winter outside - I'll take that!

The Last Trees

2009-03-18T16:09:00.008-06:00

They point accusingly -
the last trees.
Gnarled, broken fingers
that censure carpenters, loggers,
governments, builders,
buyers of furniture,
readers of newspapers,

and of glossy magazines,
of pamphlets and leaflets

of books.
Their crippled limbs
denounce us all.
Especially those of us who love to read.
Those of us who read so much.
Yet do so little.

Red Barn in Spring

2009-03-13T23:05:00.006-06:00

The colours this old barn against the blue sky and the newly revealed grass blew me away. I felt the earth begin to turn more slowly and stood basking in the warm sun wanting to step back in time.

With Apologies...

2009-03-11T18:52:00.018-06:00

This is just to say...

I have eaten
the apples
that were hanging
from the old apple tree
in the orchard

and which
you were probably
saving to bake
into a pie.

Forgive me,
they were ambrosial.
Dew-covered,
and delicious.

With apologies to William Carlos Williams and his delicious plums.

Crow

2009-03-05T14:47:00.010-07:00

Fall.
Season poised on the edge of winter.
The wind spits ice.
Heady scent of wood smoke mingles
with the sharp taste of the first snowflakes.

In branches high above
a crow swaggers,
struts brazen-black in a white universe,
beak prow-thrust into the wind,
sleek tail feathers streaming.

That crow,
I envy his pizzaz.
Like a pirate king
he sways with the gusts that rock his Lodgepole pine,
Swaggering, wild and mad,
beak tocking a fierce tattoo,
Up here! Look at me!
Teetering at the precipice of the plunge,
perched on the narrow ledge of his madness,
eager to yield to the wind.

Buffeted by eddies, whirlpools, tides of air
Crow loosens his grip.
One black leg swings free,
Crow admires the cruel curve of his black claws,
regards with satisfaction
the glossy sheen
of his deranged plumage.

The whirl of snow is thicker now,
the forest quieter,
the bird a grey smudge my eyes can barely mark.

Then,
Crow lets rip.
A delirious "Caw!"
A lawless hubris that becomes the wind.
His throat - the source of the gale.

And Crow follows his voice.
Crow rattles his dissolute wings.
Crow surrenders/lets go/
Falls/pitches/tumbles/swoops -
Flings himself into the void.

And the wind is a soft mattress to land on.
A dervish kite to dance with.
An endless hillside to roll down.
A crashing wave to ride.

Hours later,
dusk falling,
An inky speck in the blank sky
tosses me a single harsh
"Cah!"
a challenge.

"Coming?"

Dreaming of Summer

2009-03-01T11:54:00.000-07:00

A vast ocean, a shifting sky,

And winds that blow the ghosts of dreams.

To sit on a clifftop, the sun at your back,

Drifting aimlessly,

Rudderless,

Unemcumbered,

Across a steel-blue sea of possiblities

Is one of lifes great pleasures.

Railroads to Nowhere

2009-03-01T11:43:00.014-07:00

On this railroad to emptiness,
the relentless

forward thrust of the tracks

is futile.

The journey to anywhere,
goes nowhere and.

interstices of time

gape open.
Moments when nothing is happening,

and nothing is anticipated.
When the hours shift

like sand beneath your feet.

It is possible

on such a journey
to wander the constellations,

explore a single leaf on sticky insect feet,

open your beak -

drop twigs from the topmost bough.

On such a journey a person might

revist a lost childhood,

float on an empty ocean,

might fly, fall, marry a pirate

sell their soul for peanuts.

Or simply sit,

alone,

in a silent room,

(with whitewashed walls)

watching shadows

of summer leaves

dance.
.
Let me travel nowhere
on rhymthmic wheels
as time unwinds.

Leave me the interstices.
.

You keep the rest.