Alberta did not vote to join Canada. Canada created the province of Alberta. But the province wasn’t empty. Americans had moved in wanting to escape American government. If they had been asked for becoming a province of Canada, there is no answer to give. They were there and they weren’t going to leave. On July…
Is Canada Broken?
For a few years, a mantra has been “Canada is broken.” I am a Canadian and I have family from coast to coast, literally. More than that, my family has been on Canadian soil since the late 1600’s. I was born in Ottawa, and I have a French-Canadian name. A part of Canada, not just…
Well, It Is National Truth and Reconciliation Day In Canada
Why is this important? Well, it is more important than being a national holiday for people to have a day off work or classes. My family, the Longpré clan, arrived from France in the late 1600s. The place wasn’t empty. People were already living here. My European ancestors from both paternal and maternal lines were…
ADD And Getting Older
There is no doubt about it. It is getting harder to focus on a task and finish it. There have been changes made to this site and there are more changes to come. I know that you, as a reader here, deserve to have this site fully functional with a full listing of my books…
The River and the Fisherman
A moment along the Mekong River in Laos They say the Mekong is a river only in the way a body is a body. Those who live along its banks step toward the water with a quietness that borders on reverence, as though approaching an elder who has seen too much to be impressed by…
The Hands of Humanity
This story must be told, not because it is ancient, though it is, and not because it is sacred, though it might be, but because it speaks to something that has always lived quietly inside the human heart. Long before the first cities rose, before the first names were spoken, before the first grief carved…
Three Boats
A Decision Has To Be Made It was small, barely a curve in the coastline, where the water held a stillness that did not belong to weather, I saw three small boats. The sun hesitated to show its face and though a rain threatened, the world stilled. Even the wind seemed to hesitate before crossing…
The First Tree
A Mythic Tale They say that before humans learned to speak, the world was already full of stories which moved through the land like wind through tall grass, unseen and unheard. Yet, the unspoken words were never lost. Some stories settled in stones. Some curled into the bellies of rivers. And one, the oldest story…
Pre-Mexico Winter Sojourn
It has been a busy month since my last post. The biggest news is that I have submitted my latest novel-in-progress to Thistledown Press located in Saskatoon in hopes they will pick it up for publication via the traditional route. Like the Saskatchewan Awards submission, it will be months before I hear anything from them…
This Site Is Evolving And Improving
The sky, a Saskatchewan sky as dawn breaks, is always breath-taking. Each day is filled with potential. My life as a writer is in constant change as I get older [not necessarily any wiser] likely due to the fact that my best-before date is approaching. I took this photo this morning while waiting for the…