A big bag of books

...sits on the floor behind me. When Tracy handed it to me in Regina I complained about the weight and asked for a forklift to move it. Some of the books are mine, some Tracy's. Thanks to her I've been reading Anne Compton's Processional while I bike. I've been trying to pedal off everything I ate at La Bodega. While the bag of books might do the trick, I did order some Martian Press titles just to be on the safe side. Tonight I went shopping again. I'm not sure how many books it will take to wear off that cupcake.

I ate up the recognition

...I received at Talking Fresh. Literally. To my great surprise, on Friday after Tim Lilburn and Tim Bowling read and just before intermission and in front of a room full of people, Gerry Hill recognized my perfect Talking Fresh attendance. He awarded me a cupcake. A cupcake with icing and sprinkles.


It doesn't get better than that.

Talking Fresh was better than ever. Hats off to everyone involved in making it happen. The event was seamless. The presenters were fantastic. On Friday they all gave memorable readings from new work. The Saturday sessions were thought provoking. Intense. I really liked how the presenters attended each others sessions and contributed to the dialogue. The sessions were a big topic of conversation at dinner that evening as a group of us passed dishes around the table at the Thai Garden until our bellies were as full as our heads. We talked about it all. Tim Bowling's remarks on making a living. Sharon Butala's comments about small towns. Tim Lilburn's closing list of imponderables. Margaret Sweatman's diagrams. I'm still overflowing with questions. The kind of questions that lead to new things.

Sun, stone, drought, silence and solitude

..."are the five ingredients that, according to Italian folk traditions, create the ideal habitat for the olive tree." I like to think that if I concentrate hard enough I'll be able to taste all five in the oil. Sometimes when I'm dipping warm bread into olive oil and balsamic vinegar I think of Van Gogh's paintings of olive trees. When I looked at my favourite painting of the series a short while ago, I was struck by the accompanying text, especially the last few words of a quote from one of Van Gogh's letters. "Very difficult, very difficult."

This will be my last post for a while. I look forward to seeing some of you at Talking Fresh. I really hope there will be cupcakes. I'll keep an eye out for the signs.

The most enthralling bit

...of this article on time comes in the last paragraph: "Earth's gravity is inextricably entangled with time but the Earth shimmies and shakes unpredictably."

I just filled out

...a questionnaire.

Today eleven motivation stones

...hung around my neck. I felt the weight. As I played with the beads I thought about putting my novel on hold. Then I thought maybe not. It's not like I have all the time in the world. Then I giggled, thinking about all that can happen in a trillion-trillionth of a second, which is nothing compared to the time it takes to spin one bead around.

Imagine Yeats

...as a sentry. I like that and a number of other things in this essay, but the bit about lending myth to poems really got my attention. While Good makes it clear he's not saying that every great poet has to be a giant system-builder, it's kind of fun to think of each and every poet as just that. Giant system-builders.

Then I thought about micro-systems.

Is it possible to feel

...refreshed and exhausted at the same time? I got home a couple hours ago after another full day on the road. I'd like to catch up on the latest lit news, but that's impossible right now. My eyes are still seeing the world at 100 km/hr.

A member

...of The Regina Five has just been awarded a GG.

My mouth may be big

...but it's not that big.


Mind you, I did talk up a storm as we headed east down Highway 3. The windmills were spinning like mad.


The weary car grew a weary beard.


The owl didn't seem too interested in what I had to say.


The antelope, less so.

I had an awesome time

...in the Okanagan and met some fantastic people. On Wednesday afternoon I gave a poetry workshop at Okanagan College in Penticton. After that we were driven to Vernon where I read along with Lila Zais at Gallery Vertigo as part of the Vertigo Voices reading series. Gallery Vertigo is an incredible space and the crowd was great. It was wonderful to finally meet John Lent, the editor of my book More Than Three Feet of Ice.

On the way back to Penticton, I clutched my copy of Joined at the Spine by Lila Zais and Tatiana Krievim. It's a beautifully designed book published by Satjah Projects in Kelowna. I clutched the book not only because its cover felt so nice, but because the road conditions were far from ideal. Parts of BC had some terrible weather that day, Vernon included. When we walked out of Gallery Vertigo, the snowflakes were the size of toonies.

Last night I read at Okanagan College in Penticton as part of Writers West along with Anne Fleming and Rita Moir. It was great to meet them both and to hear them read. They gave fantastic readings. I look forward to reading their books. The event was excellent and the turnout was great. Many thanks to Frances Greenslade, the Okanagan College and the Canada Council.

We left Penticton this morning and headed down Highway 3.


It was a beautiful drive.


Hats off to the people who keep the roads safe and clear.

Met some odd ducks in Penticton

...this morning, right on Main Street.



One was checking out the lineup at Tim Hortons, while the other two were eying up a fancy coffee joint across the street.

It's tough to get any work done

...with a view like this.


But I was trying.

Apparently I misread

...that sign on the highway that I posted about a few days back. Here's the proof. Thanks b-)

Yesterday my dreams of yodeling

...were dashed.



They were prepared for me to break into song.



Even the mere thought of yodeling has consequences.



Sure enough, down the road a crew was working to clear a rock slide that had blocked the highway. There were delays as traffic was down to a single lane. This was taken as we followed the rest over some goat path.

Today

...it was so cold in Hanna, Alberta, the geese were icing up.



These Alberta cattle made me think of Edward Willet's post.



Tracy's recent windshield photography inspired me. This is what I saw at 110 km/hr. I wasn't driving.




I'm thinking of you guys.

Some signs

...beg to be followed, especially those that sit in the middle of nowhere.


If there hadn't been a snowfall warning, I would've followed that arrow to the pancakes. It would've been a different story if it had said cupcake.

March 7 Update:

I'm told I misread the sign. I can't believe it. Thanks b-)


(Photo credit: b-) )

The literary

...recluse.

There's a Pinocchio

...show coming up. This particular sentence stands out from the rest: "The tale seems to demonstrate the consequences of excessive impulsivity, selfishness and pleasure seeking -- all the presumed purview of the artist, incarnated, with mortifying conspicuousness, in Pinocchio's long, phallic nose."

Precipice

If I lived in Vancouver

...I'd attend tonight's Geist-sponsored panel discussion on censorship in publishing.

Anime-loving youngsters in Saskatoon

...are learning Japanese.