Ravishing Beasts
Reflections on a visit to the Vancouver Museum’s taxidermy exhibit.
Tracing Night
Immersive maze installation by acclaimed visual artist, Ed Pien, comes to Museum of Vancouver.
Not quite Walden Pond
Ever since I was quite young, I have both enjoyed and suffered the incongruity of wanting to be out of the city while wanting to be in it.
Not quite a car-free city
Last weekend in Vancouver, two events took place that sought to advance the idea of the car-free city. One I attended, the other I tried to avoid, with limited success.
I Have a Dream (Part 1)
The introduction to a series of newly un-stifled imaginings from the recesses of desire.
Cattlecars of the Sky, redux
Flying New York to Vancouver, with a stopover in Hell.
Ranch Undressing
I spent the past weekend at a ranch, fifteen kilometres south-east of Spences Bridge, that belongs to a couple of gentleman farmers of my acquaintance. The ranch, a small orchard operation, is a peach-shaped property near a sharp bend in the Nicola River, a tributary of the Thompson, which in turn feeds the Fraser, the [...]
Spring Break in San Francisco
I’ve just returned from a quick trip to San Francisco, a week by the bay, where I was satisfyingly warmed by the California sun after months of (relative) freezing in Vancouver. Either I’m getting old and soft, or spending much of last winter in Costa Rica has removed my usual winter hardiness. Or both. Whatever. [...]
Boil me in my own pudding!
“Why does Scrooge love Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer?
Because every buck is dear to him”. — Unknown
As is well known among those who have long felt an inexplicable desire to suffer my company during the darker months, I am not an enthusiast of the holiday in which we are currently immersed. I don’t erect [...]
Coping with Adversity
For the past week, I have been suffering from flu-like conditions that I apparently picked up secondhand from the current consort of my roommate. Such misery! My throat feels like ground glass when I cough or sneeze – not an infrequent occurrence – and I have plenty of aches of the head, neck, shoulders and, [...]
Alabama
The nudist gathering finished up, mercifully, with one sunny, warm day on which to actually remove one’s clothes comfortably. Though the overall event wasn’t really my scene, fundamentally, I had some fun and met some good people. Among these was Paul, who most people considered my body double though we didn’t think we looked like [...]
Where’s the hypothermia prevention workshop?
I spent the better part of the night freezing and huddled in the foetal position beneath the thin gruel of my $48 linens, enhanced by the meager weight of all my clothes (how many could I have brought to a nudist camp?). The wind was howling and banging doors and windows. I was somewhat surprised [...]
Off with the clothes!
As I may have mentioned previously, I have a commission to produce a couple of articles about an annual nudist gathering for gay men in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania. To that end, I picked up a charter bus outside of Fordham University in Manhattan, next to Lincoln Centre, on Friday afternoon. Rather than observe [...]
At least my carpal tunnel is getting better
After almost three weeks at Easton, I’m back on the road again. However, I’m not on the road as originally planned.
The other day, I took a test ride to the local town of Greenwich (that the locals pronounce “GREEN-witch”), not a particularly hilly route, and I did it with no luggage. The round trip is [...]
Rediscovering Community
I arrived at Easton Mountain on the afternoon on Saturday, July 28, after a very pleasant and scenic ride from Albany, northward up the Hudson River valley. Easton Mountain is an “intentional community”, of sorts with an integrated operation that serves to generate income for, and participation in, the community, as well as to promote [...]
Off to an unstellar beginning
Day one of my trip, yesterday, brought me to the dumpy-but-sterile Howard Johnson’s in Jamaica, New York, chosen for the fact that it’s just a mile from Kennedy airport. Here’s the $125 view:
Today, I cycled north through Queens toward the Bronx. On the way, the bumpy Queens streets (rural Saskatchewan backroads are smoother) broke the [...]
It was either this or the Raelians
Despite being overly guarded about being seduced by cults, I have cast aside my principles and willingly signed up for what may be the biggest modern cult of them all: Facebook. I resisted for quite a while, but the number of friends and acquaintances who have opted to join have reached a critical mass of [...]
La Manzana Grande
I arrived in New York as scheduled on Tuesday shortly before midnight.
I am staying at a hostel that has 624 beds, but fortunately, they aren’t all in one room. It’s one of the few places in New York that has rates that I am willing to pay, as even dumpy hotels rent for $150. The [...]
Celsius 232.78
232.78 degrees is the celsius equivalent to, according to Ray Bradbury, “the temperature at which book-paper catches fire, and burns …“. It is assumed that that was the temperature at which my journals burst into flame when I applied a match (and a quantity of corn oil) to them during a late-night beach bonfire last [...]
Back to the coast (for a bit)
After ten days of travel, I arrived back in Puerto Viejo on Monday afternoon.
My meditation retreat went well. It was a retreat organised by a local Brahma Kumaris group and took place in the small mountain town of San Cristobal Norte. The facility used was an old school building operated by a catholic church, which [...]
