What is “behind”? What is the “back country”? What is it back of? What is it behind? “Behind the valley” perhaps? The View from Central on the Keremeous River But that doesn’t […]
The Colonial Back Country
Grassland Tours for the Okanagan?
Grass evolved to thrive in hot fire landscapes. Given that human activity has increased heat and fire … … across the planet … … shouldn’t we stop mowing grass and … … […]
The Invitations of Helen Humphreys’ Beautiful and Troubling Book “The River”
It’s a beautiful book. Designed, by the looks of it, to be sold as a gift shop memento, Victorian perhaps. Note the trompe d’oeil of the bug on the cover, which takes […]
McLaughlin’s Canyon Illustrates the Racist Basics Behind Claims of Climate Change
Climate change, eh. Here at McLaughlin’s Canyon on the Old Trail to the North, the water that undercut the canyon wall is long gone, as is the fire that took the firs […]
Bees of the Earth, Flowers of the Air
The double-flowered plum my father planted to give away to friends has found a home here, while he has gone to sea forever. After two years, she has a visitor! I like […]
Flowing in Place
Isn’t naming great. Why don’t we call the homeland of the Wanapum, the “Wana” “Pu’um”, the water people, a river, and be done with it. But there’s a catch to this, because […]
Human Cartography
Because the mountains recede in waves… … in the Similkameen… … when they don’t, they stand out, even when they are within this language of bodies. Note the cultural markings on this […]
The Earth is Our Teacher, But What Does She Teach?
In school we were taught that a teacher was someone who showed us how things are in the world. Really, it was someone who gave us letters and a means of turning […]
Human and Inhuman Beings in the Grassland
Here is a sumac that has closed off the light to others and opened into the light it keeps to itself. Here is an applied Homo sapiens idea of how this might […]
The Power of Shadows
Butterflies are shadows. Simple to prove. Here’s a leaf shading rock. And a whole flock of shadow butterflies. They’re not the only shadows. The Síya? twigs below are shadows of the past. […]
Okanagan Okanogan 