Month: May 2015

At many Vancouver gatherings, members are greeted with a welcome and an acknowledgment that the city sits on Coast Salish traditional land: unceded territory of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. I find it respectful and a good reminder. Dan says it every morning at church. But before our children’s show the other day, our host said something along the lines of “We’d like to acknowledge that the city is on the unceded land of the – Sawlish…native…I can never remember this stuff.” And moved on. Backstage we were a bit aghast and chuckled, “yeah, basically all you red…

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My daughter stumbled back from horse camp so tired she keeps bumping into walls. She’s had a wonderful time, three nights overnight with no parents around. Her whole class went. She rode a horse called Hershey, I’m guessing chocolate brown. She was one of the few city kids who had ridden a horse without the help of a big person before – thanks to Uncle Ed. She was very proud of that. We walked home. We’ve been holding hands since just after three when we passed a significant police blockade at the park up our street. I overheard an eyewitness…

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Dear Readers, I have decided to remove any specifics about Fellow’s child at one of the parent’s request. I have only briefly mentioned this child five times anyway and have never given away any names. I have kept it minimal, not because this child isn’t a beautiful and important part of my life, but because I care deeply about this child’s feelings. I want to honour this child’s privacy and the wishes of both parents. In the past, I have revealed the gender and shared a few precious moments because they were so touching and celebratory of this child. But…

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As I wait for Nora to come back with a straw I peer over the soft checkered shoulder of the elderly man sitting in front of me in the bakery. He is fingering a well worn piece of paper. I recognize it immediately. This is a poem he wrote. Only one other person has seen it. The person he asked to type it out on the computer for him. He doesn’t know how to use a computer and he doesn’t know how to type with more than two fingers. He may as well have stumps for hands, he feels, in…

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Today Fellow and I took possession of our house on Bowen. We drove over on an early morning ferry with one of our children and our general contractor friend, Pete, our vehicles filled with paint samples, tools, tiles, a portable garage and the like. The house was left littered with bad art, old furniture, cobwebs, chipped crockery and black pots, thin linens and a macrame owl. While the men unloaded flooring and I painted possible colours on the wall. One of our kids grabbed a garbage bag and collected everything ugly. We worked all morning and then had our first…

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