Blog - March 2012

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The genius of moss

22 March, 2012

What do you see when you look at these photos?

IMG_0928.jpgBad lumber? Difficult walking terrain?
 
We are conditioned to see places through the lenses of tourism, or industry, or comfort. Where are the vistas, the cozy spaces, the economic opportunity? What is worthwhile here?
 
Places, though, can speak in more subtle and sophisticated ways, if we are able to appreciate them. “If you don’t manage to take in the genius of the place, let it say its piece through you, the place will throw you out,” Tom Lilburn writes in Going Home.
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The power and limitations of documents

16 March, 2012

In my recent post about Charlotte Small, I noted how the absence of written records creates intriguing gaps in our narratives of the past. As a counterpoint, there is no doubting the fascination of written documents when we are digging for an understanding of people and places.

My own research went on a bit of side tangent this week, while working on my memoir of place about the boggy west country of central Alberta. I recall my (deceased) father having said that my grandfather had homesteaded at Blue Rapids, an area on the North Saskatchewan River southwest of Drayton Valley, Alberta.

immigrationdocument.JPGSo I set out seeking documentation. Among the documents I turned up were my grandfather's record of entry into Canada. He crossed the border, as an 18 years old, at Kingsgate (Idaho / British Columbia) on October 11, 1911. The Canada Immigration document also lists who was traveling with him - his father and his brother. Interesting. Neither the father (my great-grandfather) or brother stayed in Canada. Did they just come up here to help my grandfather get his homestead set up?

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Busy like a bookstore should be

11 March, 2012

Bookstores, we hear, are in trouble.

You certainly wouldn't know that if you were among the many who stepped into The Book Man on a rainy Saturday afternoon last weekend.

LorneatBookMan.I was fortunate to have been invited to the Chilliwack, BC, book store to read from Drawing Back to Take a Running Jump. And the place certainly was jumping on this Saturday.

People were browsing the stacks, asking for titles and authors, chatting with one another and the staff, then heading to the checkout with armloads of books.

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Exploring a woman's way west

9 March, 2012
For years I have been working on a manuscript about the boggy bush country of western Alberta. It’s a landscape that is resource rich, at least in terms of resources that were economically important in the 19th century (furs) and the past 100 years (oil). Yet is still a largely unsettled country, one that many enter with profit rather than settlement in mind.
 
statue.jpgPerhaps not surprisingly, the voices that tell the story of western Alberta are mostly male. First Nations elders, fur traders like Alexander Henry, map maker David Thompson, government clerks, oil industry historians – almost all of the speakers and writers are male. The absence of female voices is personified in the character of Charlotte Small Thompson, the Metis wife of David Thompson.
 
I recently had coffee with author Merna Forster, whose books 100 Canadian Heroines and 100 More Canadian Heroines have done much to popularize the stories of Canada’s women. The latter book includes a short profile of Charlotte. As Merna notes, “Charlotte’s knowledge, skills and experience living on the land helped her husband immeasurably.”
 
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Early spring visit: Salt Spring Island

3 March, 2012

This week I scratched the surface of Salt Spring Island. It was my first visit to the popular Salish Sea home for about 10,000 people - many of them artists, musicians, organic farmers, crafts people and independent spirits.

Even on a brief visit, the natural and human-made layers of existence in a place like Salt Spring are apparent. My wife and I were visiting during the early spring 'off-season.' The term seems strange. How could a season be "off?"

It refers, of course, to the currently dominant industry on Salt Spring, tourism. By May and through the summer months, thousands of visitors will stream onto the island via its three ferry terminals to soak up the rolling green vistas, sample fresh goat cheese, buy some hand made clothing at the market, or stop at a roadside stand for some organic free range eggs.

The quiet, at the end of February, suited us just fine.

Eagles.jpgAt Grandma's Beach in Ruckle Park, we were the only human visitors, so the Bald Eagles who initially flew out when we walked in eventually returned.

Sitting still in nature reminds us that there is no stillness, no stasis. Life is moving.

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