Spring 2020

"I'm just kinda peeking out of windows these days"

Those are the words of a Nova Scotia woman who lives near Portapique, the area first connected with the killings on the weekend of April 18 and 19. The worst mass murder in Canadian history occurred there at a time when people across the country and most of the world are enduring a pandemic, many under quarantine. That's why her words struck me as a perfect description of how not only she but all Nova Scotians, Canadians and people around the world are feeling this spring. We don't know what's happening or going to happen. We're listening to medical people, scientists and some government leaders, just trying to get a  hint of what's going on and what we should do. But we can't see the big picture. We're all, "...kinda peeking out of windows these days."

Stan Rogers was born in Ontario, but his parents were Nova Scotians and he often spent summers with relatives in Guysborough County, Nova Scotia. If you want to hear what seems to be one of the best songs about the kind of resilience a time like this requires I'm going to try to put his version of, 'The Mary Ellen Carter' on this blog. 

Stan Rogers performs "The Mary Ellen Carter" in One Warm Line documentary

 

Saskatoon blossoms, arrow leaf balsam root and shooting stars on the Anderson Ranch where I usually lead the first VOC ramble of the spring. This year all official things are cancelled, but I've walked there a few times with one or two friends.