Calgary and area went directly from winter to summer this month. We took full advantage. Some days we worked outside, gardening, sealing the driveway, repairing the garage floor, repairing and painting deck railings or draining, repairing and refilling the hot tub. But we also made plenty of time for outdoor enjoyment, by cycling, walking, bird-watching and geocaching.
I had so many ideas for this month's theme. The most ambitious of them involved taking a new roll of film out of its box and loading an old 35 mm camera to take all of this month's photos. Unfortunately, I have a tendency to let day-to-day responsibilities overwhelm grand plans. As a consequence, I …
Continue reading Photo Blogging Challenge – Out of the Box (May 2016)
One nearby nature practice that I've developed over the past few years is to walk to the nearest grocery store and/or nearest branch of the Calgary public library several times each week. I can get there and back in about 30 minutes (depending on the length of the self checkout line). As I walk, I observe the state of the cultivated and wild flowers, birds, ants, the sky, the colour and length of the grass and whether it's going to seed, the way shadows fall, and anything else that catches my attention.
Like other titles in the very readable manifesto series published by Rocky Mountain Books, Digging the City is an eye-catching, brain-expanding, well-balanced read. The description of our global, price-driven, nutrient-poor, energy-intensive food industry could be overwhelmingly depressing, but Rhona McAdam carefully outlines steps each of us can take to improve food safety and security. Citing …
Continue reading Book Review: Digging the City by Rhona McAdam
After thoroughly enjoying The Beaver Manifesto a couple of weeks back, I placed "hold" requests for several other manifestos published by Rocky Mountain Books. Yesterday I received an email notice that one of my hold requests had been filled, so I stopped in at my local Calgary Public Library branch and signed it out. This …
Continue reading Book Review: The Incomparable Honeybee by Dr. Reese Halter