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Saturday, August 8, 2026

An Afternoon at the Farm with Jeffrey Straker


Dreading what turn the weather might take, I was very pleasantly surprised. The afternoon was bright and warm with just a cool breeze throughout the afternoon. A modest gathering sat in lawn chairs at a farm just north of Southey where we were entertained by Jeffrey Straker, a Canadian folk/roots singer-songwriter-pianist backed by an instrumentalist on a base cello. His music was lively and covered his Saskatchewan roots from the prairie skies to the demise of the tall grain elevators! He included the song he wrote for King Charles’ coronation, which did reach King Charles, who sent a gracious reply. Jeffrey is quite a story teller as well! 


I attempted to take photos, but the sun was too bright and I was too moved by his music. These lilies were in my photo files that fit the bill. 


“Folk music is the original melody of man; 

it is the musical mirror of the world.”

~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Friday, August 7, 2026

When We Look

Recalling each moment past

is no easier than stopping 

the flow of water whether 

 river, lake or ocean with

trees lining their banks 

  dipping their branches low 

shelters for birds and 

   our memories


Watching clouds in the sky 

 ~ moving vessels of memory 

 golden at sunset 

    or red at sunrise

   clouds of white puffs, 

  storm clouds filled 

    with thunder and lightning

Recalling each yesterday when we look.


“Memory is not frozen it’s very much alive, it moves, it changes.”

~ Louis Malle, film director

(1932~ 1995)

Thursday, August 6, 2026

Always in the Middle

Everything went sideways ~ 

that’s what happened one 

yesterday, or maybe more, 


those sideways days ~ just 

cracks in days planned to flow gentle as a summer river 


interrupted by a summer storm. What are sideways things? In the middle: 


dropping a glass container

      that shatters!

or spilling a dish of water 


(the floor needed washing anyway)

or the dreaded hairballs that must be cleaned up1

There are many little everythings like that 


outside the order of the day’s plan. 

Words coloured violent blue assault the air.

’til everything’s righted with brooms, rags and lysol.


“Anything and everything you can think of can turn your life around.”

~ Nik Halik, astronaut, entrepreneur