Write With Me In the Woods!

A few weeks ago, J. and I went to the boreal. We traveled east, out of the Prairies, until we hit shield country, then drove north to Black Lake in Nopiming Provincial Park. The landscape was perfect: just like home with rocky granite outcrops, water tinted a tannic red, red pines twisted in the wind. […]

House Hunting

Last week, J. and I went south to shop for a new house. After a long day of driving, we backed our tent trailer into what could have been the worst car camping site we’ve ever occupied: zero shade, edging the trail to the beach, and monitored by two bored children on bikes who alternated […]

Change in the Air

So, spring. Change in the air. Our backyard a sudden chaos of birdsong: the chattering boat-tailed grackles, the red-winged blackbirds shrieking as they puff out their red patches, the sweet chirping of the robins. Yesterday, I took Mowat for a run on a dyke further up Rahl’s Island and heard the frogs, happily chanting on […]

A Poem for Solstice

Winter Solstice, 3:34 p.m.    Outside, I notice the light spread on white snow, like buttercup   petals on the skin of your chin, those childhood   games that pass so quickly by.   Night is coming and all day   I’ve been thinking of the boats you used to carve,   of the one […]

Come Visit Like a Local

This August, J. and I returned home from our canoe trip to hear the bad news about The Pas. At the library, where I work part-time, the staff – two of whom have husbands who work at the mill – were reeling. In such a small town, when the main employer leaves, everyone is hurt. […]