Big Picture and Small

It’s been hot here in Manitoba. Forest fires are already raging north of us and the birds regularly stop by to take sips out of our birdbath. Meanwhile, down in the U.S., the government recently decided to do away with all the regulations that were put in place following the subprime mortgage crisis and subsequent […]

Renewal

Last week, in the woods, I became reacquainted with my brain. I remembered who I am. The paddling was tough. Every time we hit a lake, the wind bore down like a creature, pushing two-foot waves at us, and we had long distances to cover. There were whole days of paddling, when my shoulders smarted […]

Dark Beauty

Last year, I worked for awhile with a guy who grew up in The Pas. We talked often about the danger of the place (not because of the people, but because of the sheer power of the surrounding wilderness). It was taking me awhile, I confessed, to get accustomed to the understanding that all around […]

Firelight Interview Series: Ariel Gordon

Who are you? I’m a forty-one-year-old six-foot-tall smart aleck from Winnipeg. Which is a city that always has a hat in its bag but prefers a bare head and frost-plumped eyelashes. Which is a city that shivers on the threshold between practical and artsy. I write urban/nature poems, mostly, but also creative-non-fiction essays about trees, […]

One Year

It’s been one year plus two days since J. and I arrived in the cold winter of The Pas. To mark the occasion, we made a calendar of our photos to give away to a few people at Christmas. Thought I’d share the images, and details of where they were taken. And, by the way: […]