I was tagged by my friend Julian (@saskajules) to post five photos for five days in a row. Look there. Look right there, in the palm of my hand. What do you see? Nothing Look again. Just dirt, I guess. There in the palm of my hand is promise. There
Continue readingTag: Just for You
centre of the universe: Believe it or not, walking on air
I was tagged by Julian (@saskajules) to post five pictures in five days. Today is #TheNipper’s birthday party. He wanted to come to the giant warehouse full of trampolines. The WAREHOUSE full of TRAMPOLINES. And because the parts of my brain that process fun are stuck in the 90s, I’m
Continue readingcentre of the universe: La Frileuse / Winter
I’ve been challenged to post five pictures in five days by Julian (@saskajules). Jean-Antoine Houdon’s (not HODOR as I muttered under my breath as I read the tag) “La Frileuse/Winter”. This was taken at the Metropolitan Museum of Art when I was in New York last week. I kind of
Continue readingcentre of the universe: It’s been nine long years
Not really. Not really long years. Nine ridiculously short years. Nine years that feels like days. Nine years that passed in the blink of an eye. Your brother was in his stroller. I clutched my go-mug of coffee with one white-knuckled hand and the stroller with the other. We took
Continue readingcentre of the universe: A Gift of the Prairie
THE BOOK THAT MY POEMS ARE IN IS HERE! THE BOOK THAT MY POEMS ARE IN IS HERE!! Extra points if you can name the reference there. It’s called A Gift of the Prairie and it is published by the Last Mountain Lake Cultural Centre. This was a project co-ordinated
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Pale Yellow
She was an energetic child, running ahead of her parents everywhere they went. She was full of laughter and joy and her long golden hair flew behind her as she ran. She was a child of the sun. They tried, one summer, to put her on one of those leashes
Continue readingcentre of the universe: What’s art got to do with it?
I was in Calgary recently. You remember this from such classics as “I lost the King in Yellow” and “damn, that was a good Manhattan, even without the cherries”. Well. Maybe not that last bit. That may have been a *private* experience. At any rate, while being chauffered to the
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Sacrifice?
See, the thing is, when I chose to become a parent, I did not think in terms of “sacrifice”. I did not think in terms of “giving things up”. It wasn’t about not being able to go out partying with my bee eff effs. It wasn’t about not eating hot
Continue readingcentre of the universe: In the Name of
This is something that’s been bothering me for a while. It goes hand-in-hand with the fact that we don’t value art and culture. I mean, as a society. And this isn’t about throwing public money at the arts, so I’m just going to head that whole ridiculous argument off at
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Mr. Grinch
There is an unwritten, often unmentioned social contract that takes place when you do what you think is something selfless. We like to think that we are altruistic. That is, unselfish; showing concern for others. And by and large, I think we are. We can always do more, of course.
Continue readingcentre of the universe: I’d go out on the ocean
The manager of our restaurant is close personal friends with Joe Paopao, the Throwin’ Samoan. He used to come home at lunch bruised and battered from running patterns for him in the street. Our manager drawls his vowels, and flattens them, like the peaks of things threaten him. He lives
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Just an earthbound misfit
Just a wee preview, then. No long-winded stories about Canadian pilots. No jibber-jabber about aeroplanes. Just this: The skellington of the Nieuport 17, covered in tissue paper, shrunk and strengthened. Tomorrow is Painting Day.
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Red Door
I know it’s trite and overdone, but this is pretty much how things are going today:
Continue readingcentre of the universe: David
You always remembered Because one time, in passing, I told you “Irises are my favourite flower”. Every year on my birthday, an Iris from your garden. One year, a drawing of an eyeball. “Here’s your birthday iris,” you’d written. Sometimes – often – I hardly understood what you were talking
Continue readingcentre of the universe: There’s hardly any itch at all
The thing that the Mayans didn’t realize about this whole end of the world thing tomorrow is that today is my and His Nibs’ seven-year anniversary (N.B. We’ve been together for more like 12 years). So I decree that it is impossible for the world to end without my getting
Continue readingcentre of the universe: In Public, Sober.
One night, as I lay in bed…okay, actually, technically, I think it was one morning. But it was still dark. Because it’s frigging winter and the sun is being coquettish. So either it was night time or early morning, and … Continue reading →
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Sometimes, everything works out
There is nothing quite like the feeling of painstakingly hand-knitting a sweater for someone who dies partway through the process, then having to repurpose the sweater for someone else whose arms are longer. I say this only because it’s a … Continue reading →
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Be Strong
Dear Princess Kate Middleton: Let me open this missive by saying I don’t actually give much of a rat’s arse about the social and class structure to which you now belong, and I give even less of a rat’s arse … Continue reading →
Continue readingcentre of the universe: By the sea
I woke this morning keenly aware of the distance between us and sad because of my loneliness for you. I asked myself, was it so very bad? And the answer of course was no. But, as the dude says something … Continue reading →
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Heritage Education
Please consider signing the petition to save educational resources at the Motherwell Homestead, one of Canada’s amazing national parks, here in Saskatchewan, that preserves our provincial heritage. http://www.change.org/petitions/enironment-canada-parks-canada-maintain-the-historical-integrity-of-the-motherwell-n-h-s# Continue reading →
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