Tell me what balloons know, you asked me yesterday – are they filled with stuff like brains? Do they think like I do, or do they just sleep all the time? I admit I did not know what to say, so said nothing for a bit. Finally, you told me it was okay, that no-one seemed to know; I guess you’ve been asking around, and … Continue reading BLACK AND WHITE BALLOONS – 2015

Known for cowboys and rodeos, calf-roping and horse-back riding…it is always surprising when the skyscrapers spring out of the bald Prairie, and they do. A big city with a small-town feel – you can see the mountains most days if the weather’s good. And downtown is large enough and cosmopolitan enough to be closed down to traffic. It’s an amazing place to shop, dine, and … Continue reading CALGARY IS NOT JUST A STAMPEDE TOWN – 2014

It has been months now that I’ve seen you hopping about that roof over there. You perch on the chimney and then go to the peak…then bounce along the shingles Then off to the tree, back to the roof I wonder where you sleep – do you have a nest over there? Is it under an eave? You don’t seem to make a sound but … Continue reading A BLACKBIRD LIVES ACROSS THE STREET 2015

“I don’t know,” the male says to the female; she hunkers down, great with child, but still they have no nest and she is very put out. He, however, is concerned – snow has been unpredictable and they’ve only just turned brown. They still have bits of white showing. She turns her back on him. Oh well, better get moving or they’ll be splats on … Continue reading HARES NEAR THE GLENORA INN 2015

In a library that’s more cathedral than home for books, extra-high ceilings are painted with scenes right from the Louvre, or the Sistine Chapel. The architecture is Beaux-Art; everything feels old world and authentic (probably because it is). It’s a place to write as well as read, a true reference library, guarded as one enters by intrepid stone lions: Patience and Fortitude. Continue reading FROM THE LIBRARY – IT’S FIFTH AVENUE – NEW YORK CITY – 2013

Sailing down the Seine on Christmas night, the boat scatters the Eiffel tower’s golden reflections that blanket the water like sequins An unexpected treat surfaces near the boat … There were a pair but one dove more quickly than its mate and is almost below the water just as the photo is snapped…can you see the other? It is mid-way down the left side of … Continue reading CHRISTMAS NIGHT, THE SEINE, AND A HIDDEN SURPRISE 2014

Bitter she was that day, the wind, and chill We had to buy hats and gloves at that tiny place across from the cemetery and my feet froze anyhow and blistered to death as we searched in vain for those famous souls reputedly buried here How huge it was…so many graves and crypts and family plots – it was hard to grasp Harder still to … Continue reading PERE LACHAISE ON A WINTER AFTERNOON 2014

The lake near me, my lake, I think, calls to my soul when the Samhain nights are near and I know if I go there,it will possible to slide between the now and then, in my lake that is not the least pelagic but has a demarcation so ill-defined that I am upside-down in another town – one that matches mine so closely,I know not … Continue reading MAYLIEWAN LAKE – 2013