Growing up to become a librarian seemed like a natural path considering that I was a weird kid, always doing random side-projects at home, researching Ancient China, Horse breeds, Glass-blowing, whatever captured my imagination. And I still need this outlet! Lately, I’ve merged my love of skateboarding with my nerdy-side and gone public with my […]
It’s the end of January and I’m looking outside at a grey rainy day, anticipating spring. There’s already snowdrops blooming, but I’m not quite motivated to prep my garden. I remembered how I had planted mounds of heather last year and native plants like salal and kinnikinnick to spread through a barren section under pines […]
My mother noted that I have not written in this blog for some time, and it’s true. When I worked at the Carnegie library in the Downtown Eastside my days were full of unusual people, their heartbreaking / dramatic stories, and a roller coaster of stress and relief on an hourly basis. It was a […]
When you have thousands of dollars to spend on children’s picture books for the library collection and you’re scrolling through lists upon lists of the latest trendy releases, it’s nice to stumble upon something special, that personally appeals. While I’m not a parent myself I do take note so that I can buy these titles […]
In 2007, Burkhard Bliger wrote a very thorough exploration of the frenzy that surrounds the matsutake mushroom hunt in his article for The New Yorker called “The Mushroom Hunters: an edible-gold rush.” This season I finally got to experience the adrenaline rush that comes with finding your own secret stash! I’ve been slowly expanding my […]
My dad has built two cedar strip canoes – one is hoisted in the air and on display at my brother Greg’s heli-ski lodge (Heather Mountain Lodge), and the other is possibly in a basement or passed along to a neighbour, or used for firewood. The first canoe, after making the skeleton pieces to help […]
If this was a normal world we would have been enjoying the fantastic talent of Olympic skateboarding and celebrating the wrap up of the Tokyo Games. Alas, everything has been upheaved, so I will continue to reminisce about the awesome skateboarding results of 2019. In my previous post, predicting the winners for the *women’s Olympic […]
I suspect everyone is over-saturated in the constant speculation and analysis regarding our global pandemic, and my intention is not to add to that load. And yet the experience has been surreal, disconcerting and prevalent, so it must be acknowledged. For the last few months I was feeling so disappointed in myself that the excess […]
Note: COVID-19 Coronavirus has resulted in the postponement of the Olympics This past summer I stepped up my game by following the footage and results of skateboard contests around the world. I have every reason to believe that Olympic spectators and skateboarders themselves are going to be blown away next summer when the girls and […]
The first half of our summer adventure from Finland to Estonia had been a real delight (see: Baltic Way – travelogue part 1) with a good balance of city, nature, food, history and art / handicraft. There were moments when we wished we were on motorcycles seeking out camping sites and trails, but that would […]
Gasoline Gypsy 