It’s not a physical thing. Apricot in Her White Gown White is a tricky, racial word. Here’s a small piece of a meditation on it from my book in progress, Commonage: The […]
Where the Mountains Become Water

In my country, the rivers are born in the mountains. Here is born the Missouri, the Columbia, the Fraser and all their ancestors and all their daughters. This particular mother is the Cascades: a […]
Cascadian Dawn

Even in the Okanagan Valley, it dawns water, not light. Rattlesnake Island and Squally Point, looking south. That’s what these deep troughs are for.
The Pacific Northwest is Not the Southwest

Here’s a place. Squeezed in between the United States and Greenland. Canada. Best to stand right-way up. Lately, I’ve heard the strangest thing. I’ve heard that my part of the country… … […]
Thinking of Putting Up a Bird House in Cascadia?

Don’t be so sure! I mean, when there are hungry sharp-shinned hawks around, a squirrel’s gotta do what a squirrel’s gotta do, eh.
Land of Beautiful Water Without Name

Lake, right? Big lake, big fun! Pshaw. 150 metres above that lake. Rocks! Not just any rocks, either. Lake rocks, river rocks, and rocks that have fallen off a cliff, all together. […]
What Crows Know About People in Cascadia

When Coyote trades his eyes for pebbles like Crow’s below, he can’t see a thing. It’s very funny. Each pebble is the world. Hard to choose! Each one really is the world. […]
The Gravity Forests of Cascadia

If the rainforest were heavier, it would look like this … Rialto Beach … because its rain would have found the depths of its gravity. The gravity boundary, where the molecular weight […]
Rivers of Light Among the Stars

In my country, the sun looks like this the long winter through. Garry Oaks, Finlayson Point, Vancouver Island In the coastal savannahs and the throat of the Columbia River, which brings the […]
There Are Only 2 Human Habitats and 1 is Not Human

The colours of sunsets deepen as winter approaches. Here we’re looking west across the north arm of Okanagan Lake. Here’s an unusual view. Here’s that same sunset, five minutes earlier. Notice that all […]