Oh sure, Canada has maples and larches that do the fall colours thing. But what about the humble trembling aspen?

Oh, Alberta... #freedomofinformation

“We are not, of course, in dire need of roads, transmission towers, dams, reservoirs, and gas pipelines. We are in dire need of courtesy. We are in dire need of a broadly intelligent conversation about human fate.” Barry Lopez wrote that in 1996. If anything, it’s truer today, 29 years later.

Just imagine a “fossil-fuel non-proliferation treaty.”

I missed this in July! The International Court of Justice has ruled in favour of an action led by Vanuatu: countries could be in violation of international law if they fail to take measures to protect the planet from climate change, and those harmed could be entitled to reparations.

Wow. I made peach cobbler and one bite brought me right back to my dad’s lunch breaks from our family store and Hungry Man TV Dinners. You know, the ones with a triangles of meat-like product and instant mashed potatoes. I could almost taste the aluminum foil. What flavour brings you back?

Predawn trail run in Nose Hill Park. I’m eternally grateful to people who have the foresight and fortitude to leave places set aside to let the land be what it is.

What legislated transphobia looks like in Alberta. I’m expected to sign this so my 12-year-old kid (who was born and identifies as female but it’s none of their business) can play school soccer.

Please join me for Oct 23 for this bold new analysis of #mentalhealth research and treatment by Marianne Apostolides. With #Calgary playwright Clem Martini, co-author of the graphic memoir BITTER MEDICINE. @bookhugpress.bsky.social www.eventbrite.com/e/mental-hea...

Bizarre that we’ve come this: a petition for Alberta to remain in Canada.

Well now! Look who gets to cavort with the likes of Marcello Di Cintio and Danielle Groen for a panel on structuring long-format print journalism? Very excited to open the hood on feature-writing with these two for the Alberta Magazines Conference this year, September 25-26 in Calgary.

More smoky day photos, brought to you by the #Pyrocene. #arnicalake #banffnationalpark #climatechange #worldonfire

Found in my mom’s sewing kit. Why yes, those are bullets. This may have to be the cover of my next book of poetry.

Mom passed earlier this year and missed the absolute bounty of apples and crabapples in her back yard.

It’s been a minute since I did any printing, but I was pleased with how this turned out. The text is based on a story I was told many years ago, and the image is from a photo I took in Brigus NL and designed to look like an old newspaper clipping. Handset in Century Schoolbook, 14 pt. #letterpress

I don’t know enough about #beekeeping yet to read all the signs, but the girls seemed to have survived without me for 6 weeks. Nor do I know if there’s enough brood to support a honey super, but here goes nothing!

Running in St. Stephen’s Green in Dublin I spotted a couple of bird nests in weird spots. I stopped to look closely. Art! I learned later the installation was David Tully’s: “I think the long arc of human history was like our childhood. We were playful, cruel, innocent and we believed in magic.”

The Old Library in Dublin’s (16th century) Trinity College is decanting its books for cleaning and restoration. Visiting there means confronting empty bookshelves that should be full. With books in Alberta schools on the chopping block, it all felt a little too real. #banbookbanning

In Galway for a meeting of the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment. Melting permafrost as a place of temporal rupture. Coastal erosion as Gothic. Accretion as a metaphor for hope. Positive tipping points. Brain on fire.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, coastal inundation and erosion are top of mind. Climate messaging around Galway, where the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment's conference (theme: erosion) starts tomorrow. #coastalerosion #sealevelrise

I’m so grateful to the Winterset in Summer literary festival in Eastport, NL to have been able to present my novel The Crane and to hear from the likes of Heather and Arizona O’Neill, Jane Urquhart, Lisa Moore and Jack Whelan. #canlit #literaryfiction @breakwaterbooksltd.bsky.social

You have to respect a place where the official flower is carnivorous. #pitcherplant #newfoundland

Undercutting along our beach. #coastalerosion

The ocean will soon pinch off the path to our cabin at high tide. #coastalerosion #sealevelrise

A meal of mussels, start to finish. #newfoundland #oceantotable

Thank you Lindsay!

Thank you for including The Crane, @49thshelf.bsky.social!

Riches. #newfoundland #notredamebay

The neighbours say hello. #newfoundland #humpback #foodfishery

Thanks to the University of Toronto’s Narrative-Based Medicine Lab for the conversation about writing and medicine. Available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Impromptu book signing! @monicakidd.bsky.social was out for a hike with her family and stopped in to sign copies of her book THE CRANE! You can order it through our website, or stop in to pick up a copy 10:30 - 5 (except Wednesdays)

This bank, where I found a human skull that had tumbled down from the eroding graveyard above and started me on my research into coastal erosion. This time with daughters for scale. This time one of my daughters found a tibia, which we gently covered over with stones. RIP.

Just another Sunday in Newfoundland.

Yay! Lovely to find myself on this list with a whole pile of reporter friends and colleagues. 🗞️ #ampa #journalism

Epic mountain bike ride into Elbow-Little Elbow, and Mountains Forget-Me-Not, Tombstone, and Romulus.

I had a productive (and scenic!) trip to Kitamaat learning about the many layers to the Haisla Nation’s work to protect their shoreline and evolving ways of life while using industry as a tool of reconciliation. Look for the story soon in @thewalrus.ca

Salmon berries, Sitka spruce, totems and a peeping bear cub. Hello from Haisla Nation!

Very excited to see the preliminary program for the Association for the Study of Literature & the Environment meeting in Ireland this summer. The theme: Erosion. See you soon, Galway!

In a box of Mom’s things. So many unstoried photos.

Spring flowers of Kananaskis.

Ship’s Prow. 800m seemingly straight up.

A tremendous event with Kevin Van Tighem, Corb Lund and the luminous Robert Macfarlane. Quote of the night: “Despair is an indulgence; hope is a discipline.”

Toronto friends, save the date!

Thanks Kim!

The bees made all this fresh comb in 10 days. My family prefers to watch from a safe distance. And I caught a glimpse of the queen! #beekeeping

Good night from the prairies. Rest easy, Mom. We’ll all be okay.

Shoe store worker: Are you looking for anything in particular? Me: Well… (hesitates) … Shoes to wear to my Mom’s funeral, in fact. I’m not really seeing anything though. SSW: Oh. My. God. Can I get you a mocktail? I have some in the back. #retailtherapyforreal

Hey Kingston, Ontario! Coming your way on July 9 for a reading at Novel Idea Books.

Mom’s illness brought me back to Alberta before I got to walk across the stage to receive my Master of Fine Arts at University of King’s College in Halifax, but I did make it as far as asking a passerby for a snap in my cap and gown.

“Vivid dialogue, thorough research build this sweeping poetic tale.” New review of The Crane in Atlantic Books Today.