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So Long North Shore Homestead
My car is packed to capacity with necessities and belongings that help us feel settled in unfamiliar surroundings. I have office supplies, books and writing materials. I have favourite things including my stir-fry pan, pictures of the kids, candles and a fleece throw. At the end of each “temporary life” season, I wonder how I wound up with so much stuff to take home. Here I am, feeling a little cramped in the driver’s seat, waiting for my windshield to defrost so that I can take one final look at the view of Lesser Slave Lake. It’s the view I’ve enjoyed all summer. As excited as I feel to drive…
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Wildflower Colour Explosion
After three seasons in Slave Lake with The Consulant, I was beginning to think I’d seen all there is to see around here. I used to drive with my camera in the passenger seat beside me but I don’t anymore. Last weekend, I was regretting that I’d left it at home on a shelf under the coffee table. As I took my regular walk along Devonshire Beach Road, I noticed this great burst of colour that popped out after all the rain we’ve had lately. Was this something new? Is it possible that I’ve seen this wildflower display before and missed it? Maybe it’s just that these blossoms didn’t…
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Distracted By Beauty III (Always Look Up)
This summer, I spent a lot of time looking up. Before I left for Slave Lake, I’d seen a painting while out for lunch with two of my sisters and my niece. It was hanging there, on a large partition that divides two sections at Van Gogh Grill and Bar. When my niece arrived she remarked that she found it kind of weird because all except about 1/10th of the scene was sky. That’s what I liked about it. It really caught my eye. I think the painter probably thought the sky was particularly beautiful that day and was inspired. It also reminded me of the previous two seasons I’d…
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Around Here (Slave Lake Edition)
Around here – Fog rests on the lake I see each morning, a late sunrise brightens only the treetops and bleaches the waves of Lesser Slave Lake to a glow, the caw of a lone crow echoes, and the humming bird feeder swings idle. When the sun shines on the tree out front it turns shocking yellow. Our sun umbrella is wrapped up tight, yet we hope for enough warmth to play golf one more time. A can of bear deterrent sits beside the vitamin D on the table beside the window, a healthy, young coyote trots along the edge of the tree stand and carries straight on to…
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The Big Trade Up
It feels like we won the lottery. After two summers in Fort McMurray, my husband, The Consultant, has started a new contract in a different town. We are in Slave Lake, Alberta. This is location number two in a series of temporary homes we’ll experience over the next few years. Compared to last season, this is a big trade up. Instead of modern condo living in a downtown centre, we get to try a country lifestyle in a charming cabin on land rich with history. The owner was raised in the house next door. Second generation on this site where his parents were homesteaders in 1930, he raises buffalo and maintains…
