Faith

Lately I’ve been thinking about faith. It’s hard not to when this winter has built itself so tightly around us, with record-breaking cold (-36 with the wind chill today) and a lot of snow for our place in the world. The other night, though, I had a dream that the red-winged blackbirds had returned. I […]

Salt Mine

I’m in the salt mine these days. Not that I’m complaining. How lucky am I to have the luxury to spend hours toiling in the underground caves of my own mind. But this stage is an odd one. Both exciting and irritating. It’s like having a compulsion: the novel simply will not let me go. […]

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 […]

Holes

Ice-fishing is not unlike art-making. You go to your spot, drill down, drop a fine line and wait to haul a gleaming fish from the hidden current. Be careful, though. They’re slippery, these creatures, and you can fumble if you don’t concentrate, if you don’t know what you’re doing. That fine catch can drop with […]

Jam Jars

Somebody on Facebook said that there are robins in Toronto. Really? This is the time of year that totally screws me up. Edging s.l.ow.l.y out of winter down south when up here, the snow has yet to start slumping and this morning it was forty below with the windchill. Should I stop? But the weather […]