Author Archives: bluemountainchild

I was on a kayak on the open ocean today. The plan was rather premeditated. In fact, it needed to be as the kayak was on property that is rented out to paying vacationers and to show up in the midst of their revelry would not be appropriate at all. I knew that between theContinue reading “Kayaking”

I’m sitting in the air-conditioned library. It’s only about 64 today which, as I learn how to read Fahrenheit, my body tells me is actually quite cool. Yet the air-conditioning is nicely welcomed in the thick humidity of a Maine Summer. Yes, it’s summer now, having reached the June 21st mark with rushing speed. WhatContinue reading “Questions”

Cobbled paths. Buildings on stilts. Wafts of wave petunias framing benches built on bridges. Tall masts reach to foggy haze. Salt, escaping ocean’s grasp, hangs furtively. Unsupported, suspended until massaging deep into alveoli, tickling olfactory bulbs along its path. Standing on haphazardly constructed corners. Gaze steady, covering appearance of directionlessness. Direction is of expansion. DirectionlessnessContinue reading “A Harbour Scene”

For my going away dinner in Nelson my dear and wonderful roommate implemented her culinary expertise in creating a fabulous meal for those of us gathered. Naturally, it had a seafood theme in order to pay homage to the place I have ventured off to. The entree of choice was mussels – steamed in aContinue reading “Hunting For Mussels”

Creeping up on me is an expanding understanding of the differences between Canada and the United States. Some of these differences are rather obvious and have been known by me for an extended period of time. The plethora of American flags, for instance, gracing homes, stores, tops of masts and gardens, or the lower pricesContinue reading “Diversity in Action”

I’m sitting on the porch watching the way the waves swirl around the rocks as the tide comes in. The larger, protruding ones became an island ages ago and now the smaller rocks closer to shore get alternately covered and revealed with each heaving breath of this living mass that is the ocean. I wasContinue reading “Plans”

Where I sat eating dinner last night I could turn out towards the window and see a watercolour of five Belted Galloway cows. They are standing in a meadow with a pond in the background. Of the four resting in the field one is standing. Three have their attention turned to the fifth cow, theContinue reading “Running for Cows”

I was in Alberta for just over a week. Or, about 198 hours if you’re into that kind of thing. If I could sum it up in one word it would be flat. Alberta is decidedly flat. Sure, there were some mountainous parts in the early morning hours on the Greyhound bus from Nelson toContinue reading “Moving On”

I’ve never been laid off from a job before. Luckily I was only planning on working there another day and had known the week I’d been there that the task us general grunt labourers were completing would be finished by week’s end. Still, there was a different sort of attitude amongst the workers. Not aContinue reading “Moving”

I was sitting beside the “Venus de Cello”. There were exactly two loonies and two pieces of bark to weigh down the one piece of paper that had been dropped into my guitar case as it sat in front of me. The “Venus de Cello” is one of the art installations the City of NelsonContinue reading “Busking”