Category Archives: Uncategorized

  Getting a little bit goofy here with some dog poems.  Many thanks to my daughter, Lyse, who lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia whose sharp observations are reflected in the two “chapters” of  My Daughter Sings of Nova Scotia. My Daughter Sings of Nova Scotia 1. Last night’s moon poured silver on the ocean; AtContinue reading “Dogs”

This sketch was made from the roof of our house looking across Saanich Inlet to Mill Bay. From this vantage point, above the level where we spend most of our time, you might feel more an observer than a participant. That was the situation for the first poem, Beautiful Blue, written in the aftermath ofContinue reading “Earth Day”

The above cartoon illustrates “The Official Community Polka”, a throw-away song I wrote some time ago about Official Community Plans.  The planning process is the important business of negotiating a public agreement as to how a municipality will evolve to meet changing needs while protecting its core values. Part of the process in “normal times”Continue reading “Good Times”

    A waning moon with in the clear western skies these last few days put me in mind of the above January 2008 photo I took of the full moon setting over Mill Bay. This is a good time to post some moon poems.  “Full Moon at Sunrise” was inspired by a bitterly coldContinue reading “The Moon Pulls Us All”

Easter Among the Birds In the cool still air that wraps us all in cleanliness the birds call from all around witnessing the rising sun. I mimic their varied voices and with them say “A new day! A new day!” The man we know as “Saviour” said as much before the others shut him down.Continue reading “Easter Sunday”

  In the 90’s I began writing short prose pieces about what I felt were significant personal experiences. I had no clear idea  as to what purpose these writings might fulfil other than augmenting my enjoyment of stringing words together. These are not stripped down like poems but they might come from the same places.Continue reading “Coquihalla River”

  Sunday, April 5, 2020: Today the first Unitarian Church of Victoria presented an “isolation” service where leaders and congregation alike participated from their homes via the internet conferencing scheme, ZOOM. It was great, technically viable and full of content. One of the questions put out to the congregation with referenced to the pandemic wasContinue reading “The Wisdom of Pets”

    Roderick Haig-Brown is one of my heroes as an articulate naturalist and effective human being. Roderick’s novels, Starbuck Valley Winter and Saltwater Summer, inspired me as a boy; Saltwater Summer is a story about learning responsibility the hard way; I wanted to be a fisherman like its heroes, Don and Tubby. These booksContinue reading “Acknowledgements: Roderick Haig-Brown, E.J. Hughes, Takao Tanabe, R. Restrepo”

    This post is a small tribute to my partner of fifty-five years, Penny.  Most of you will have a mental  picture as she is today, trim, active, very much alive. The drawings bookending the trio of poems are from my sketchbooks of 1979 and 1980 when I was developing my drawing skills atContinue reading “Three Good Things”

Slash Fires If “slash fire” rolls off your tongue Like raindrops from a Woods jacket, There’s every chance you wintered once upon the Island. There blokes with acreage and a cow or two Hacked away at their wooded edges (plots) after a day’s work in the clear-cuts to scratch more pasture for the cows. TheyContinue reading “Fire”