When a house is built on a grassland hill to lure retirement and holiday property investments (golf membership thrown in, and a “vineyard to age gracefully in” and what a view) and […]
Buddha’s Secret Army
Wild Humans, Tame Horses, Brother Deer
In some ways of thinking, it’s not just humans who are persons. In ways that have worked well during the greater part of the life of our species on this planet, this […]
Accidental Art
A lot of art takes place out of doors. Here, for example, is a lovely spring ritual that can colour up even the windiest day: Springtime Apple Heave Ho Spartans and Granny […]
The Garden and the University
Here’s one of the gardens at the University of British Columbia Okanagan Campus, right smack dab in the middle of the grasslands of Ellison, north of Kelowna. Given that the American half […]
Art & Urban Renewal
Today, an idea that I’ve brought back to the valley from my years in Campbell River, on Vancouver Island, where the sculptor and painter Ken Blackburn has worked for years to free […]
Weird Things People Do to Trees
Trees are ancient creatures. Then humans came along. Somewhere along the way we forgot this: The Green Man An ancient symbol of human origin, the green man remains relatively common in churches […]
Getting Out of Town
History eventually becomes the present. For instance, to look back to the day when the entire Okanagan was a part of Oregon and the only business going was the raising of cattle […]
The Art of Walls (and Citizenship)
In the urban spaces of the valley, walls are vital. These very public spaces are used to enclose very private ones. It is a relationship that doesn’t come without its stresses, as […]
Urban Okanagan
I recently spent two summers in East Germany. I fell in love with the place, partly because of the very public nature of its politics, and how it is conducted through nightly […]
The Problem with Winter
Spring, summer, autumn and winter, the four seasons, right? In the temperate zone, of course. But what about the wet season and the dry season? In Vancouver or Seattle or Reykjavik, for instance, […]
Okanagan Okanogan 