It took me some time to wake up out of the shock of the fire, to come out of a numbness. Slowly, I began to connect to survivor’s guilt: the guilt one feels for surviving an event that others did not. Survivor’s guilt can present very much like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) , with similar sy...

A Fort McMurray resident sent this dispatch to Jasperites trying to figure out next steps ​ Dear Jasper: I’m so sorry for your losses. It is very, very difficult. Here are some thoughts that might be helpful at some point…… This is an emotional process. Give yourself room to cry, get upset, feel ove...

Death struck deeply into those who waded ashore on June 6, 1944. Struggling to quickly move from their landing craft to the sand of Normandy beach, burdened by the heavy weight of their equipment and the sights and sounds around them, before them lay a terrifying array of obstacles waiting to trap, ...

Changes will send chills through municipal councils and create a lot of grief for MLAs  It has been very interesting to watch over the past week how Premier  Danielle Smith ’s United Conservative Party government has unrolled its suite of changes to municipal governance and local election laws, and ...

This is the sequel to Poetry in the Snow , from February 9, 2024. Next day we skied  to the alpine and came across fresh grizzly tracks. One of the things I enjoyed about snow camping was the comforting thought that all the bears were tucked up snugly in their dens and I could get a good night's sle...

I was driving on a snowy Maligne Road a number of years ago—one of those crisp winter days that make you glad you live in Jasper—when I spied a set of wolf tracks crossing the road. I stopped for a better look, and I had just crouched down to look at the tracks when I heard howling nearby. In my min...

The sky was mauve, a pale bluish purple. A colour you only see in winter. Mauve, the colour of cold. This was the night the temperature was forecast to hit minus 30 degrees Celsius.  As we struggled up from the valley the forecast seemed spot on.     I caught the smell of woodsmoke and figured our b...

August 31. A blue moon tonight, the second full moon of the month. The weather is not looking good. As I trudge up the summit slope cloud sweeps in as if sucked by a vacuum cleaner. One moment I have a view, the next I'm in a whiteout and flakes of snow splatter on the rocks. I don't know why the he...

Moose are huge! With a dark-brown body, super long legs, large head with an elongated nose, generous lips and big ears...there is just no mistaking a moose.   Males (or bulls) can weigh up to 600 kilograms (1,300 pounds) and grow a heavy set of antlers every year which are shed after the mating seas...

On Remembrance Day, look at the old veterans gathered at your local cenotaph, standing proudly, or seated with a warm blanket on their lap. Try to imagine what they experienced many decades ago when they were young, and the world was at war. The great invasion to kick the Nazis out of France took pl...