Something lost, something found…on a recent trip to Nova Scotia Shelley and I reconnected with two long lost friends. We had met Harry and Cathy Thurston in Guelph, Ontario in the mid ’70’s when Cathy and I were in grad school together. Life happened and we lost touch for more than 40 years–until now. And […]
Musings
Taking care: Indigenous carver John Spence creating a moon mask and wolf plaques
If Shelley and I had never purchased a float home on traditional lands of the Squamish First Nation in North Vancouver we never would have thought to seek out a local carver to create a moon mask–and I wouldn’t have met John Spence. John, or ‘JP’, was born and raised on the Capilano Reserve […]
Reflections on Aid to Africa; Good Intentions, Unintended Consequences
Since January of 2000 I’ve traveled to Sierra Leone on six or seven occasions. Whereas my first few visits were for the purpose of researching a novel, my recent travels have been to assist friends in establishing businesses, a medical clinic for a birthing room, and schools for providing school fees for several high school students. […]
To my friends in Sierra Leone
In March of this year I was in an airport lounge in Brussels, getting caught up on world news after my most recent trip to Sierra Leone, when I first read that ebola had entered the country through neighbouring Guinea. I’ve logged many calls with my Sierra Leonean friends since then. I am fully aware […]
The girls and boys kidnapped by Boko Haram…
By now anyone who can read or watch the evening news is aware of the kidnapping of hundreds of girls in Nigeria by the extremist Islamist group, Boko Haram. Celebrities tweeted their disgust, members of the Nigerian diaspora marched in cities around the world and politicians expressed their support for the government of Goodluck Johnathan. […]
I loved this book…
I started reading Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being while on the island of Kauai. Being in the middle of the Pacific Ocean seemed an appropriate place to read a novel set in Japan and the west coast of British Columbia. I finished the novel on a foggy winter day in Victoria. If […]