Tuesday, November 28, 2017


“It doesn’t do to read too much,’ Widmerpool said. ‘
You get to look at life with a false perspective. By 
all means have some familiarity with the standard authors. 
I should never raise any objection to that. But it is no good 
clogging your mind with a lot of trash from modern novels.” 

from A Question of Upbringing
by Anthony Powell

Sunday, November 19, 2017





"O Winter! bar thine adamantine doors:
The north is thine; there hast thou built thy dark
Deep-founded habitation. Shake not thy roofs,
Nor bend thy pillars with thine iron car.'
He hears me not, but o'er the yawning deep
Rides heavy; his storms are unchain'd, sheathèd
In ribbèd steel; I dare not lift mine eyes,
For he hath rear'd his sceptre o'er the world."

from To Winter
by William Blake

Friday, November 17, 2017


"Polaroid by its nature makes you frugal. You walk
around with maybe two packs of film in your pocket.
 You have 20 shots, so each shot is a world."

Patti Smith


Tuesday, November 14, 2017


"On the high prairie
are only horse and rider

                 
 wind in dry grass
clopping in silence under the toy mountains
dropping sometimes and
                  lost in the dry grass
                  golden oranges of dung"

from The Cariboo Horses
by Al Purdy

Saturday, November 11, 2017


We knew it was coming.


"With a host of furious fancies
Whereof I am commander,
With a burning spear and a horse of air,
To the wilderness I wander.
By a knight of ghosts and shadows
I summoned am to tourney
Ten leagues beyond the wide world's end::
Methinks it is no journey."

from Tom o' Bedlam
 anonymous

Monday, November 6, 2017


“They got up steam and proceeded calmly to the north - 
where there seemed to be no people, but only mountains, 
lakes, reedy snow-filled steppes, and winter gods who played
with storms and stars.” 

from Winter's Tale
by Mark Helprin


Halloween was wet and cold but we had 35-40 kids, a record. 
Winter then came with the turn of the calendar's page.

From Nov. 1 to Nov. 4, Calgary has already officially recorded 
17 centimetres (6.6 inches)  of snow, surpassing the monthly average.



Thursday, November 2, 2017

The Tourist


“It is difficult to speak adequately or justly of London.
It is not a pleasant place; it is not agreeable, or cheerful, 
or easy, or exempt from reproach. It is only magnificent.” 

Henry James