snow shoeing

the old wooden snowshoes allow a natural gate.... 

because they were not designed with manufacturing 

and profit as priorities

the maples continue to relinquish maple keys at measured interval for mice, squirrels, chickadees and rabbits   

it's not just the wind that triggers release, as i had suspected. 

the lane was covered again after the -25ºc february full moon dead calm cold snap

if we humans got our heads out of our asses ("smart" phones) we might see just how intelligent and interconnected the rest of the biosphere is.

i've lived here in the woods for over 30 years and this seems like the most relentless winter and this is the first time the maples have metered the release of their keys

i listened with interest to Mavis Gallant for insight when asked about loneliness- the solution,

exile to a place of respect for writers.

while the intervening decades have improved the lot for writers and musicians in canada

the same can't be said for the  visual arts.Tom Wolf's "the painted word" describes the particular as

Orwell's 1984 describes the broad view.

even the threat that "beauty will save the world" has been thoroughly countered... 

the word "beauty'' has been banned from the state sanctioned art world

and the natural world has been re-prioritized from a source wonder beauty to  

resources for extraction

it's as if there is an internationally coordinated effort to make the earth uninhabitable but

that would require cooperation.... so the engine of destruction must be as simple and limitless

 as human greed and envy