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Showing posts from January, 2021

Snowy Speculations

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If I could paint, I would have tried to replicate the landscape very early this morning. Illuminated by the faintest hints of light and hours before sunrise, the cold, stark landscape lay completely still in its snowy blanket. Naked trees stood proudly and quietly against this backdrop, this palate of pure white an unforgiving place for any creature, big or small, to attempt to cross without drawing attention to its existence at this time. Even our ancient tire swing looked sleepy and droopy, suspended precariously close to the ground, as if the effort of hanging from a tree limb was too much for it. To the east, the only rays of light visible were the ones coming from the across the river, and even those seem hushed and muffled, like a child tired and murmuring not to wake them up just yet.  The young families down the road have gone all out with Christmas lights this year. Bright colours adorn the night skies and my neighbours even have a Christmas Cat and a Christmas Dinosaur that i

The S.S. Willy

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                                                                                  The S.S. Willy   I frequently pass by  Four Mile Creek and this week, as I looked out over the grey water, I was thrown down memory lane for a few moments.  The creek and ravine were our backyard when we were growing up. We literally spent hours stomping through the marshy undergrowth, splashing around in the creek and the pond that formed close to the embankment. Every spring, after days of torrential rains, the creek levels would rise and spill over the banks. After the waters receded, we kids would go hunt to see what treasures had been left behind. The usual tangled fishing lines would be wrapped around tree trunks and rogue branches like spider webs on steroids. Lures and bobbers would dangle like bright, red Christmas ornaments on the lifeless branches.  We found a rusty old can with some Asian coins in it once. But one particular year, the flooding creek gave us the most amazing gift ever! That Sat