We had a lick of brilliant sunlight early in the week, golden trees against a rich blue sky – a day the fauvists and Tom Thomson would have rejoiced in, had they been here to witness it. Since then the lake is has been relentless, grey and broody with the wind whipping off James Bay […]

The sun emerges as I put together the pieces for Wassail!, a Solstice event this December in Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada. My hope is that every one will feel welcome and loved there – it will be a gathering of us around music, respect, laughter and community – just one of many possible sane answers […]

Ah, Dr. Ford, I believe you. In my bones I believe you, and all the other women our age who were used and abused without remorse or acknowledgement. I’m one of them, a few times over. Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, thank you from my heart for speaking your truth; I am humbled. Galvanized, to listen […]

A lovely, gracious wind-down to the green-breathing season this year. I divide my time this week between a lovely old farmhouse where an ancient cat needs my care, and the well-come cabin in the woods, surrounded by my new inter-species kin. Each time I return to the lakeside I’m amazed at how the place is […]

The bowl is close to full with impressions, gathered from this place through me. Loon songs, shore waves and tree frogs singing in alternate – major second, minor third, major fifth, unison. Owl, just after twilight. Snarls of nocturnal hunters as they chase then meet their kill – the unforgettable, intense charge of those screaming […]

I swim in the rain. The lake is now well beyond bracing, but not yet head-achingly cold. It occurs to me as I go in for the third time that this is perhaps what the crows had been trying to tell me, HEY! Time to think about Packing Up! COLD COMES! What I didn’t hear […]

Here among the trees it’s difficult to differentiate between strength and power. But this is a good place to observe from: my human experience of both. In people terms, it’s easier to see: that man has great power but uses up the strength of those around him and wields it abusively; this woman is strong […]

Thanks James, for coaxing this out of me. I heard a rumour you’d moved,  he said. How are you doing? A year ago I read Rebecca Solnit’s A Field Guide to Getting Lost, in which she suggests that artists find places where no one has been, and then find a way to take us there (Scientists do […]

Perhaps a little space for an outdoor kitchen might be good? A place to hang my lantern so I can read. Shelves that make a little more sense. Some clearer idea of protocol, i.e., dishes, garbage, drinking water, coffee and how/when to prepare for dark. A good friend these past forty years comes from afar […]

If the mycorrizhae can do it, so can I. If I can do it, so can we. White filaments just under the surface of a healthy forest floor that connect plant roots to nutrients, and also to one another.  Like the internet, but infinitely more healthy. We do the same thing, we humans, with music. […]

For those of you who have endured the mess described in the past few posts, I salute you. It’s not easy to travel with someone who finds herself on a foggy path of confusion and vulnerability, and stay with it. My pain is no more or less important than anyone’s; we all deal with terrible […]

All’s well that ends well A comforting thought which all too often loses its deeper reference point when used, finger-waggingly, as an I told you so. All situations, human and otherwise, are complex and so fundamentally unknowable. Platitudes and clichés can function as important touchstones that evoke deeper wisdom.  They can also be poorly applied, like […]