Ken starts talking about pushing up… mushrooms Never, in any previous column, have I considered the need to provide a trigger warning. Regular visitors to Geezerville are generally mature, clear-minded and emotionally stable enough to put up with whatever nonsense I spill into this 450-word frame. Nevertheless, I recognize that certain subjects are sensitive for some …
In the right sauce, mine could be a corpus delicious Read More »
It’s quite amazing how many people (if they admit it) have had a potentially near-death experience in the outdoors. It’s rarely a plane crash or a boat-sinking experience. Actually, these situations are often due to inadequate planning or mistakes. It’s just three years ago that four really experienced outdoorsmen went to shore in October to …
I finally found the words to say How long did you intend to stay. I know I’ve wondered now and then How close your love was to the end. I think it’s only fair that I should know That one day you’ll have to go. But I’ll always cherish our precious memories ‘Cause you gave …
Winter Child, the first novel by Virginia Pésémapéo Bordeleau to be translated to English, is a lyrical journey through a mother’s grief of losing and outliving her child.
Anyone who has attended a Kim Beggs concert, or listened to one of her CDs, knows that the subject of death often shows up in her lyrics. It certainly did on October 12, during the sixth of 41 stops on her current two-month marathon tour. Earlier that day, the Whitehorse singer-songwriter and her tour partner, …
Destiny Clennett is a young Vuntut Gwich’in. She is passionate about her people and connecting to the land.
Vurt (Jeff Noon, 1993) A mad romp through a Trainspotting-like drug culture, Vurt features virtual-reality ‘feathers’ that take you to bizarre and forbidden worlds, shadow-creatures that exist in between this world and the virtual who can slip in and out of your mind at will, slobbering man-dog hybrids and cybernetic implants that can render a …
There’s a warm glow as soon as you step inside the front doors of Hospice Yukon – a feeling of being held, as if inside a cozy cocoon. Afternoon sunlight streams in through a southern facing window and a heart-shaped pillow makes a loveseat more loveable. Rows of neatly arranged book spines line shelves edging …
At the Northern Front Studio this January, you can visit a variety of inner worlds in Whitehorse resident Claire Strauss’ exhibition of face-based wall sculptures, called The Mask Within. While this art show is part memorial for Strauss’ father, each piece creates its own whimsical world, incorporating a joy beyond the bounds of grief. Many …
The first time I saw the iconic Canadian funnyman, Dave Broadfoot, was during a tour of the musical-comedy revue, Spring Thaw, sometime in the 1960s. Later, I would get to know him much better through his delicious character profiles on CBC’s Royal Canadian Air Farce. Who could forget the hilariously-stunned Big Bobby Clobber, who clearly took …
A few weeks ago, in a light-hearted piece about bucket lists, I mentioned a trip to England with my father 20 years ago this month. I’m a little hesitant about writing a sequel some readers may find a bit too personal, or even disturbing, but you know what they say about rushing in where angels …
They didn’t know the Caribou Hotel in Carcross was haunted when they bought it. “We’re pretty aware of it now, though,”
Yes, a new form of torture has been developed, involving an unrelenting repetition of a single passage from the Myth of Sisyphus – what? C-A-M-A-S? So, not Albert? Oh…sorry about that. Let’s begin again. I love the flowers of death-camas. I love their Dr. Seussian protuberances, like false noses in bizarre and marvelous shapes. This …
When I first began eating wild mushrooms, I was studying squirrels. I watched which mushrooms they picked to stash in trees, and figured that whichever ones they ate were probably not (or not very) poisonous. These days I know a little more and am glad I didn’t base my entire wild diet on this type …
Even if you’re famous. Even if you’re rich. Even if you’re healthy. Even if you’re educated. Even if you’re strong. Even if you’re lucky. Even if you’re young. Even if you’re sexy. Even if you’re free. Even if you’re law abiding. Even if you’re fast. Even if you’re friendly. Even if you’re careful. Even if …
Yukon birds, and its birding community, have lost a true friend. When he died last month, at 75, Helmut Grünberg had spent over 40 years promoting the enjoyment, study, and conservation of Yukon’s bird life. He found his way to Whitehorse in the early ‘70s when, en route to climb Denali in Alaska, he was …
I pulled out the flat, round, ceramic piece, which looked like a patterned cookie, and held it in my hand. Under glorious sun, I surveyed the stony shoreline and calm waters of Stewart River. This spot, off the Klondike Highway and linked to the Yukon River, was the perfect confluence of history, adventure, and wilderness …
I’d like to be shot into space. Allow me to clarify: when I shuffle off my mortal coil, I’d like that coil to be shoved into whatever receptacle is handy and then I would like that container sent off into the cosmos. Likely some of you are wondering: “Say chum, the scuttlebutt about town is …
He Wants to Leave This World When He Leaves This World Read More »
So I went on this website to see when I’d die. The Internet, being the general purveyor of naked people and random crotch shots, can also tell you how long you’ll have to live. You simply enter a little personal data. You type in your age, history of disease in your family and, generally, how …
I was in my hotel room in The Pas, Manitoba, when I heard the news. Michael Jackson had passed away. Rather than conveying any sign of shock, I merely muttered a “Really?” to the image of CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, working his way through a never-ending parade of commentators. Feel free to attribute to me any …
