Andrea McDowell

Hallelujah

I am alive, I swear it. For proof I offer photographs of trout lilies taken on a recent walk, which would be difficult to do if I were posting from beyond the grave. Those of you who know me will know how inordinately happy I was to find these, and in profusion too, all overContinue reading “Hallelujah”

42 Revisited (or, what parents owe their children in an era of environmental collapse, part I)

On Twitter recently the Toronto Star asked people to define the meaning of life. Sure, why not: an endeavour that has eluded philosophers for 10,000 years can be collated from the 140-character submissions of the general public. Not surprisingly, no one agreed. The meaning of life is to love people. To be good. To doContinue reading “42 Revisited (or, what parents owe their children in an era of environmental collapse, part I)”

April is the cruelest month (but it has butterflies)

Or will be, at any rate: I may have over-committed myself. I have a couple of book reviews and a post about Horton Hears a Who in the works, but they’re going to take more than five minutes to get up–so–in the meantime, here is another harbinger of spring: the Mourning Cloak butterfly. Mourning CloaksContinue reading “April is the cruelest month (but it has butterflies)”

Never turn your back on Mother Earth*

Take a look at what the snow melt this year did to the streambank protection on Newtonbrook Creek. Ouch. In case you can’t tell from the picture, the creek flooded and wiped out the gabion baskets on the far bank, digging a new channel, turning the gabion baskets into an island and carving a newContinue reading “Never turn your back on Mother Earth*”

Sprung

Last week, a single robin in the school garden; this week, a flock of them by Newtonbrook Creek, bouncing through the leaf litter. A week or two ago, snow covered the park still, ice preserving footprints like plaster-casts. Snow melt flooded the creek and river. You could see squirrels–that was it. Today, a chorus ofContinue reading “Sprung”

Robin Red-Breast

In one native folktale, Robin and Chickadee chased Bear through the heavens (as stars), armed with bows and arrows. Robin struck the killing shot, and was spattered with Bear’s blood. He managed to shake off most of it; only his breast remained red. The rest of it was cast into the red autumn leaves ofContinue reading “Robin Red-Breast”

Skeptical of the skeptics

My google alert on climate change in Canada has been faithfully telling me now for several days about an emerging global consensus that climate change is all a hoax. It’s all over the papers, apparently: all the scientists at the Heartland conference on climate change would like to assure the global public that there isContinue reading “Skeptical of the skeptics”

Poor Coyotl's all played out

On Wednesday, Frances and I went shopping for a new pair of spring pyjamas, in the course of which we naturally found a lovely new spring dress and a matching pair of spring shoes; we were heading home on the 401 when, out the right-hand passenger window, I saw something well-camoflauged loping along the sideContinue reading “Poor Coyotl's all played out”

It's melting!

Another shot from the little greenspace close to my house, this time of a fantastic icicle in the process of melting in a little stream. They look almost alive, don’t they?

Please have patience

ETA: I think I’ve fixed the pictures. Let me know if you find any that don’t show up, ok? After five or six years as a dedicated Movable Type girl, I’ve given up; I find their latest release nearly impossible to use. So I’m slowly moving everything over to WordPress. While I do some linksContinue reading “Please have patience”