Did you know that my "Wild Abandon" column has appeared in every single issue of Rural Delivery magazine since 2021? They've been a great supporter of my work, and it's such a pleasure to be involved with them! Their pages contain wonderful stories from the Maritimes.

SKY WON'T CHANGE The unending undulation of trees that grow in boulder country fascinates me. Twisting and curving in ways you'd think they couldn't, the sleepy spine of trunks... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] July 18, 2026 Cherryfield, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6824 of my daily journal.

YOU CAN LIVE The streams drift dry in a hurry, but a trickle provided by underground springs still gives the moss enough to drink. It clings to rocks in the hope of surviving t... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] July 17, 2026 Forest Glade, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6823 of my daily journal.

REST SOME KIND This cool afternoon comes welcoming, yellow flowers wavering like fireflies sparking, summer giving me a break before the next heavy heat draws down. I must be l... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] July 17, 2026 Forest Glade, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6823 of my daily journal.

LAST GASP Hundreds of years after they were first settled, the peninsulas of Annapolis River are still largely dominated by farmland. Probably just as well that so few homes were... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] July 16, 2026 Round Hill, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6822 of my daily journal.

HOPELESS REST Used to worry a lot about what I was feeling, but with the years, it's come clear that feeling anything at all is more important. Dullness of desire is a trait accu... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] July 16, 2026 Round Hill, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6822 of my daily journal.

LAUGHING GHOSTS This sleepy South Mountain creek has no name on any map, a tributary running west of Sturk Road to join with the wider Uhlman Stream. If it ever got a title, the... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] July 15, 2026 Morristown, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6821 of my daily journal.

WIND WON'T REACH There's a striking stillness in the tinder-dry forest, a steady seduction of all who seek out silence. The scattered cabins show themselves as relics of autu... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] July 14, 2026 Parker's Cove, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6820 of my daily journal.

SKELETONS Rusty iron rings all over the rocks, I often spot them close to civilization or far off down the coast. Signs of fishers and boats long gone, ropes gone taut in the sinki... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] July 13, 2026 Bay View, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6819 of my daily journal.

This is one of my very favourite poems I've written, appearing in my 2020 book "Someone in Search of a Story". It's going out of print soon, and on sale for 50% off! Only two copies are left, both signed. etsy.com/shop/SteveSkafte

LITTLE WEATHER Someone took the doors off this derelict seaside cottage. I think the scattered feathers of a dead bird underfoot is why. Animals often find their way into abandon... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] July 12, 2026 Litchfield, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6818 of my daily journal.

FROM THE BREACH Milky blue twilight and warm asphalt under bare feet. These are the things at the soul of my summer evenings. This slow hill from home holds a lot of heart for... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] July 11, 2026 Beaconsfield, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6817 of my daily journal.

TO BE AWARE It's been five years or so since this sign was last applicable. The child it warned of moved away with their family, and others have taken their place. That bunch w... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] July 11, 2026 Beaconsfield, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6817 of my daily journal.

WOE UNTO THEM I have a short attention span, always did, long before the dominant days of smart phones and social media came around. Growing up in the 1990s, the main driving focus... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] July 10, 2026 Paradise, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6816 of my daily journal.

DETOURS DRAWING I end up most places most years, a wide array of familiar sights seen in different weather and shifting seasons. I seek the safe harbour of old haunts between days d... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] July 9, 2026 Roxville, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6815 of my daily journal.

LAKE OF HURRY The laminar flow of creek water over moss fascinates me. A steady trickle with no start or end, earth connecting to earth. It's a strange ribbon, an intimate touch, a... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] July 9, 2026 Roxville, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6815 of my daily journal.

Here’s 1 favourite movie per year from the past 10 decades, the stories that stick with me most. Since I've seen over 3,200 films, narrowing each year down to one was a fascinating experiment. My version of a cinematic past. letterboxd.com/steveskafte/list/1-movie-per-year-1932-2025/

WATER WEIGHT When culverts turn to caves, you can be sure that something's wrong. It's deeply disconcerting to be looking for the light at the end of a tunnel and seeing only dark... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] July 8, 2026 Burlington, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6814 of my daily journal.

HERE SIGHS The old wooden cribbing bridges are the last of their kind. You'll only find them now on sporadically maintained dirt lanes, backwoods roads with less traffic and lowe... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] July 7, 2026 Delaps Cove, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6813 of my daily journal.

CHEAP OR FREE Stream season is anytime dry enough to cross anywhere I like. Hopping rocks up the middle or following the banks, switching sides whenever either gets too tangled... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] July 6, 2026 Parker's Cove, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6812 of my daily journal.

MIND MY HEART This tree is hanging desperately to not come crashing into Parker's Cove Brook. But that can't help but happen, as it's too dead to dream of otherwise. I'm intima... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] July 6, 2026 Parker's Cove, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6812 of my daily journal.

GET CURIOUS Under any bridge is a significant sink in summer. It's a draw with dramatic appeal, below the shade of cool concrete, here on the outskirts of sleepy Round Hill. This... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] July 5, 2026 Round Hill, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6811 of my daily journal.

TIRE QUICKLY Abandoned house for a brave bird, hanging over the shores of Spurr Brook. If any gutsy winged creature is seeking temporary shelter, perhaps there's still some purpos... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] July 5, 2026 Round Hill, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6811 of my daily journal.

SENSE ONLY If I can punctuate my human interactions with a degree of isolation, I feel more ready when the time comes. Today was about the peak of my social capacity. First st... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] July 4, 2026 Lockhartville, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6810 of my daily journal.

RELIC REMAINS Usually, when I find a stone culvert line this, it's buried beneath a railway. But here under Bluff Road, between Avonport and Hantsport, this rough and ragged tu... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] July 4, 2026 Lockhartville, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6810 of my daily journal.

I'm attracted to 80s movies more than any other era. I've always felt a pull for the period, born in 1987 and too young for firsthand memories. These lesser-known stories stick with me. Never Cry Wolf (1983) is my favourite film of all time. letterboxd.com/steveskafte/list/1980s-in-obscura/

WHAT WATER HIDES In the story of drought in my homeland, the North Mountain streams fade first. They're only fed from the hilltop down, small lakes and marshes running straight... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] July 3, 2026 Young's Cove, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6809 of my daily journal.

CALM THAT COMES The forest streams have entered their oilslick season early. Thin skin of black water on grey rock, dry natural highway more easy to follow. I've never lost love... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] July 3, 2026 Young's Cove, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6809 of my daily journal.

PRETTY ONES I do what summer always seems to demand from me. Run from the sunlight, hide from the heat, but still go wild where the world is all my own. Drought is marching steadily o... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] July 2, 2026 Outram, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6808 of my daily journal.

Have you spotted this 2025 crime novel on your bookstore's bestseller shelf? If so, you probably had no clue that it's got my photo for the cover art! In case you're curious, that's Washington Street in Bridgetown, Nova Scotia. It's been gratifying to see my work this way, a significant recognition.

GNARLED ROOTS The absurdity of this archway charms me. Just west of where Old Post Road and Highway 1 meet, a bit of the former Roach Brook bridge stands beside the current one... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] July 1, 2026 Smith's Cove, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6807 of my daily journal.

THIS WORLD DOWN Summer sends the streams to a trickle, and I hear the railway culverts calling me back. Tunnels settled deep under the earth of a railbed high ahead, because som... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] July 1, 2026 Smith's Cove, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6807 of my daily journal.

LIKELY SUDDEN Some days in nature are defined by death. I came to the shore same as I often do in early summer, on the run from valley heat. It's a predictable escape, dropping the m... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] June 30, 2026 Morden, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6806 of my daily journal.

EXIST IN CONTRAST It's been one tide at most since this little one fell from the cliffs. We're in that rare and transient rest-in-peace period in nature, before the scavengers of se... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] June 30, 2026 Morden, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6806 of my daily journal.

Like many folks fascinated by cinematic history, I saw all the most famous classic films many years ago. But I'm still coming across lesser-known movies from the older eras, like this bunch from the 1950s. A bit different from the old Hollywood norm. letterboxd.com/steveskafte/list/1950s-in-obscura/

IN THE REAL Shade, cloud, or fog is all I want once heat takes hold. But I'm not looking for some kind of chill. Had enough of that the past six months, fighting the forces o... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] June 29, 2026 St. Croix Cove, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6805 of my daily journal.

THE OLD ORDINARY Once the real hot weather starts coming, there's hardly an afternoon that doesn't end me up by the shore. As one of the closest villages to home, Port Lorne is a... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] June 28, 2026 Port Lorne, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6804 of my daily journal.

I'm coming back to Hants County this weekend! Hope to see you. Telling tales from my latest book: "Outskirts of Ordinary". July 4 (Saturday) – 7:00 PM 758 Highway 1, Mount Uniacke Uniacke Estate Museum Park

SHADOW SETTLED In the thin vale of fog between shore and sea, with barely enough visibility to mark their way, a motorboat cut a white line under Port Lorne wharf. It was an afte... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] June 28, 2026 Port Lorne, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6804 of my daily journal.

TRANSIENT CONNECTION I've thought a lot about the meaning of home, and more specifically, homeland. My roots in Nova Scotia are about as shallow as they come. I was born here, ju... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] June 28, 2026 Port Lorne, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6804 of my daily journal.

SECRET GARDEN GATE Deep down in the hollow is stone on stone, a culvert built up from bedrock. Laid and covered with a mountain of soil circa 1889, holding up the Central Rail... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] June 27, 2026 Nictaux South, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6803 of my daily journal.

NO ONE NOTICES Down under the concrete bridge in a pouring rain. I can't think of much more peaceful than this. There's a strange sort of calm that settles, protected from the... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] June 26, 2026 Lawrencetown, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6802 of my daily journal.

EBB IN THE FLOW Hollow Brook never carries much current in even the wettest times. But the start of summer already sends it trickling faintly over sandstone, through a grov... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] June 25, 2026 Granville Centre, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6801 of my daily journal.

CAVE PAINTINGS I often visit this, the most precarious tree I know, checking in on the life it's got left. I've said it before on occasion, but I find all my metaphors for... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] June 25, 2026 Granville Centre, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6801 of my daily journal.

I'm a child of the 90s, but nonetheless disinterested in nostalgia for the era. What fascinates me instead is connecting with stories I missed back then, tales that grew from the same years as me. Little-seen stories I find heartwaking. Full list: letterboxd.com/steveskafte/list/1990s-in-obscura/

NEW OLD-FASHIONED Do you see yourself as the default? If your instinctual answer to the question: "What's your accent?" would be: "I don't have one", then this might well be the c... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] June 24, 2026 Lansdowne, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6800 of my daily journal.

SUBTLY SHIFTED The old Canaan Road was never much use, like a road of dreams more than any factual future, running the South Mountain ridge between South Tremont and North Alt... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] June 23, 2026 South Tremont, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6799 of my daily journal.

THE LOWING The erratic boulders of South Mountain are among my happiest sights. Deposited millennia ago by the glacier that carved my home Valley, they appear at random on my... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] June 23, 2026 South Tremont, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6799 of my daily journal.

GET UNDER Summer comes at the time when the grasses finally get tall enough to swallow me. Coincides with the first haying of the year in this part of the world, depending on weath... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] June 22, 2026 Brickton, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6798 of my daily journal.

WHERE I'M AWARE Not pictured: the dozens of mosquitoes daydreaming of my blood. They love the low water, where the mouth of Burbidge Brook either floods or trickles, depending on t... [Read More: IG, FB, Patreon, Substack] June 22, 2026 Brickton, Nova Scotia Year 19, Day 6798 of my daily journal.