This is a land that divides. Or is that upon this land people divide? Here we are on the Colville Indian Reservation, looking south across the Columbia River, as it begins to flow […]
The Power of Two
The Lost Mission of the Manastash
Ah, to be a young Oblate missionary in Washington Territory before the Indian Wars, when you were the only educated man for a thousand miles, and all you wanted was to stop […]
The Snake and the Eel
What is a river, then? It is a stream, a flow, a run, which gives a Rhine, a Rhone, a river and a row. But what is it, when those words aren’t […]
Spirits in the Mountain
So, imagine, if your people lived in the same place for ten thousand years. That means that something like 500 generations of children and parents would wake to the same mountain, overlooking the […]
Reports of Father Pandosy Starving in 1846 Are Greatly Exaggerated
He’s the Boy from Marseilles, the French Oblate Priest who came on the Oregon Trail and started two of the first missions in Washington Territory, singing the whole time. His first was […]
Beautify The World for 2,000 People For $20
Orchard with flax in the ‘hood. Orchard without flax (3 kilometres down the road.) Currently, flax fibre goes for $10 for every 50 grams. Plus, once you’ve made a set of wedding […]
Don’t Mess With the Earth, I Say
Some people look at the flax, that used to keep people clothed in the cold, and think, “My, that makes life worth living.” And other people just whack it down. […]
You Thought I Was Angry Before?
This is a post about this: Just an old building in its last days. Sure. Look more closely at the foreground with me. OK, so now the nitty gritty. I do get it, […]
Weird Canadian Shit
I know, I know, Canada is that nice country at the top of the world, but, um, folks. Look. Here’s an inukshuk, a trail marker from the extreme Arctic (a great spot), […]
Let’s Expand the Notion of “What is Life”
That is alive, I think that’s easy to agree on. We call it a sedum, drawn up out of soil by the sun. This, too. Like the sedum, this one is self-replicating, hence the […]
Okanagan Okanogan 