Let it be
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Let it be

When I was a child in Wisconsin, we could see the snow swirling like waves over the bare surface of Harvey Prinsen’s field. It had a certain beauty but it also meant cold. Drifting snow is a common part of almost any Canadian winter. Things are different in the Bulkley Valley of B.C. We have…

Thou shalt not besiege the capital
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Thou shalt not besiege the capital

Freedom. I thought about that word as I was feeding the cows this morning. What is a “freedom rally”? In the Bible, the exodus from Egypt is perhaps the archetype of freedom. Exodus is the story of freedom from slavery, freedom to serve God in the desert. Freedom to forge a new national identity, guided…

In praise of small things
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In praise of small things

In a mega/MAGA world, it is easy to hold up greatness as an ideal. Size matters, we’ve heard, whether it’s the size of our stock portfolio, pickup truck, political rally or congregation. Today I would like to consider the ant. Not, as a guide to industriousness (in Proverbs), but only in terms of its size….

A world of small things
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A world of small things

expanse of rockglacial and basic delicate berriesand hued bloomsgrasses – blue, fescue, and cotton. . . holes in ice(lost at sea)tiny hopes of oneringed by rime   quick time   breath shortbut darker holesin purest whitenow covered creep closer and feed the futureof nanuq generationsstill tiny, womb-boundwaiting to becomesomething greatin a world of small things. Written while…

Dishabille
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Dishabille

Autumn is one of my favourite seasons (the others are winter, spring and summer). In autumn one can harvest potatoes, carrots, late cabbages, painted corn, hemp, beets, winter squash and more. Summer is a fading memory for me. And autumn has its times of glory, to be sure: when the aspen leaves resemble gold coins….

A rare bird, a new word and why I quit my ‘life-list’
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A rare bird, a new word and why I quit my ‘life-list’

Not being from the UK, I wasn’t exactly sure what a “twitch” was, when I came across it in the following caption recently: “The Long-toed Stint generated one of the biggest twitches seen in Britain in years.” The photo was on a Bird News website, part of a post about a rare bird sighting in…

The doctor who invented hand-washing
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The doctor who invented hand-washing

Monday morning and there’s another sad story: a person who vocally opposed vaccinations for COVID-19 has died from the disease. Before dying, the patient tells loved ones, “Get vaccinated.” I doubt that these stories do much to change the minds of people who are firmly against COVID vaccinations. What does bother me, however, is the…

Simple folk

Simple folk

If there’s a list of birds I hate, the house sparrow must be near the top. It’s a bird of farms, McDonald’s (house sparrows love spilled French fries), and city parks. House sparrow plumage is made up of browns and black. No skylark, it chirps monotonously rather than sings. It expels tree swallows and bluebirds…

Drab beauty
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Drab beauty

If you have never lived with bluebirds, you don’t know what you’re missing. Bluebird restoration projects – mostly involving the creation of nesting boxes – are very popular, and for good reason. The bluebird – eastern, western and mountain species – are the hobbits of the songbird nation. When my father “got” a pair of…

Don’t go it alone

Don’t go it alone

In a famous movie called Shenandoah (1965), Jimmy Stewart’s character says grace before he and his family partake of a table heaped with food produced on their farm. Lord, we cleared this land;We plowed it, sowed it and harvested it.We cooked the harvest.It wouldn’t be here – we wouldn’t be eating it – if we…

Psalm 139 Revisited
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Psalm 139 Revisited

Search me not, for dust is what you’ll find.Divinely-made, but dust remains, from whatAn image once contained in flesh and blood. Search me some, for likeness fair – a faceTo nameless fear – still stays inside.A place to hide abides within, amid The Me, the small-fall character once full,Rife with life and love and piety.So…

Eulogy for a creek
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Eulogy for a creek

We didn’t even know how to spell it. Was it Bar Creek, Bahr Creek or Barr Creek? We may not have known the name, but we knew how to enjoy it. What I call the South Branch of the Bar Creek ran through the backyards of people living on Wisconsin Avenue and Center Street in…