early autumn

a simple early morning gift . . . riding through river fog . . . 

jackson creek near murray and bethune

jackson creek runs through the centre of my city and is often hidden under streets, narrowed into a channel by steep concrete walls and is sadly filled with fast food containers and shopping carts . . .

this little stretch is special to me as it is where my first-born son alan and i used to go and hang out when he lived nearby . . .

magical skies . . . .

totemic beast . . .

good morning oh great beneficent totemic beast!   my morning friend these days - the blue heron on the south shore of little lake . . . .

late summer skies . . .

yard duty . . . duty? ha! it's a gift!

storm line forming

racing back to peterborough after a trip to toronto with a storm following to the south . . . 

trees and clouds . . . .

early evening reflection ....

black-eyed susans . . .

dancing black-eyed susans reflected in a small pool . . .

yard "duty"

yard duty. "duty" oh my. let's call it a gift!!! 

walking in the grass under a super blue sky, bees buzzing, kids laughing . . .

so yeah . . . 

i stopped when i saw these little leaves along the fenceline . . . 

for sure i stopped!

can this be all?

this ... 

this small place . . . 

this brief passing moment . . .

"can this be all? 

can this unfinished thing be called complete?"

helen louise birch

riding north and east . . .

there were two showings of my house this afternoon, so i saddled up my bicycle and headed off into what was little more than occasional drizzle.

the air was soft and sometimes filled with the scent of fallen apples, and then also, the lovely tang of woodsmoke.

the spirit fish

i painted this picture back in 1993 after seeing it in a dream. since that time, it has served as a sort of talisman, and also a kind of pointed stick / guide as it reminds me of what happens when i am not entirely true to myself.

i woke this morning thinking of it - or perhaps it was reaching out to me. i found it in my bin filled with old pieces of my work and wondered if perhaps it was time for fresh eyes to be applied to it and for a new 2015 rendering to emerge.

i'll keep you posted!

colour and light . . .

a cool, rainy morning . . . perhaps i can bring some colour and light into this day with some pictures i took in one of my favourite quiet spots . . .

falling . . . drifting . . .

the leaves are starting to fall and drift downstream . . .

the third commonness . . .

"it is the third commonness with light and air,

a curriculum, a vigor, a local abstraction . . .

call it, one more, a river, an unnamed flowing . . . " 

wallace stevens

thankyou reya . . .

reya mellicker taught me to see into puddles, to see reflections in glass, to see reflections in water . . . other worlds opened up for me because i met her here . . .

thankyou reya . . .

placid . . .

dear readers, if, if you can afford it, if you are at an age and a stage where this is likely, if you are so entirely over-wrought as to be needing my advice . . . then may i suggest that you afford yourself the privilege of a day to be entirely placid, at peace, immersed in something gentle . . . to reflect on reflections . . .

trusting good intentions . . .

ya know that there are days and times of life that squeeze into the simple act of breathing, and even show up in your dreams . . . . i'm learning, learning to like them, or at least . . . at least to trust their good intentions . . .

totem

my dad told me once a very long time ago, that animals cross our paths for a reason. 

the reason . . . well it's up to us to understand.

if you believe as he did that we revibrate through many forms on this plane of existence then you have no idea what force of nature is sharing this small space with you.

and so, they hold properties or qualities that bear consideration . . . . 

one morning, recently, as i was in an especially vulnerable space, 

this great beautiful animal shared a space with me.

this still unfolding . . .

i'm grateful for this still unfolding and sweet day . . . good things happened . . . my body welcomed the cooler air, my eyes were opened a little bit wider . . .

side-by-side ... a flower inside the fullness of its expression and a to-be-becoming flower ...

i'm seeking and seeing, small openings into the silky otherness of reflections of this world in still water . . .

all the threads of existence . . . the weft and warp of the skin of this place . . . the story of its wholeness ...

exposed

i spent some time beside the otonabee river this morning. the water must have been lowered overnight as there was lots of freshly exposed plant life . . .

a day later . . .

a day lightened considerably by visitors including my own beautiful dawsonboy, who spent all afternoon and into the early evening reminiscing, talking up his own futures, and asking the big questions that a twenty year old man can ask of his pre-mature father . . . . .

dawson is very much feeling the empty spaces of his little sister's departure for university pretty powerfully.

but, he was able to let some of that weight go when cat friends, scruff and sid showed up.

miss scruffypants . . . my neighbour linda's cat. her perennially unhappy face masks a truly affectionate loving cat. my home has been her second home.

sid. the king of both the north, and south sidewalks on aberdeen avenue. this year sid gave up smoking, and lightened up "considerably" on the scotch . . .

to uni . . .

how could this be? my daughter was born yesterday and today she is headed to her first classes at university in a different city . . . ?!

i cried when i put her hand in her kindergarten teacher's hand. i cried as she drove away down the road on her way to university . . . .