West Coast Umbrella Chic

Enduring day after day of drizzle...for weeks on end...in England years ago...made me
long for a time when...a "brolly"...would be unnecessary. Seeming to forget this...I
moved to the West Coast of Canada at the end of October one year. Talk about nemesis.
Regardless...I understand the function of an umbrella in the rain. My first winter on
the West Coast...finally after long rains...brought one of the infrequent snow falls
out here. That first morning of snow on the coast...I looked out my front window to see
a sight that I'd never seen before...umbrellas bobbing along the sidewalk...as the snow
came tumbling down. For some reason...this sight,,,has always brought me a smile when I
see it...perhaps it is simply because I've never sought the shelter of an umbrella in
the snow...and it feels slightly "foreign" to me. Little did I know...I would also see
another usage of the umbrella...that I'd never known in all my years of living under the hot tropical sun..."brolles" in the sun!...sorry...I forgot...when they are used
that way...they are called "parasols"...literally..."for the sun"!..........Quester.

Poem: Sitting At My Window

Sun...
on grizzled roof tops...
black birds skitter...
people slow shuffle
on melting side walks...
I play "I spy
with my little eye"...
safe inside my window
on the world...
at ease inside
the peaceful house I am...
putting a few marks
on a blank page...
but if the truth be known...
allowing myself...
just to be...
sitting for a while...
at my window..........
..............Quester.

Life With The Television Off

Once wrote a poem called "Night with the television off"...just like right now.
Not too long ago...I cancelled my cable television...then after about nine months...
activated it...mainly for the hockey games...and other occasional program I like.
Letting it go...on the one hand...is always an option. Bringing it back on...is something you can always find reasons for. As a friend of mine used to say..."its a
Catch 23 situation". One of the reasons for having it on...is checking out the news...which I have been in the habit of doing...via news papers...whether I have television...or not. There is a dissonance making aspect that I experience when looking at television sometimes. At times I wonder if it has to do with the metallic edge of the actual sound...but at other times it's clear to me...that it is the crassness of some television commercials...and the overall "saccharine for the camera" approach of so many televison personalities and pitch men and women. There are nights when I surf to see if I can find something that has an authentic ring to it. Sometimes I do...a lot of the time I don't. I have been on-goingly developing my life with the television off...especially in creating things. Perhaps some time up ahead I'll be ready again...to "let my cable go"................Quester.

Writing From A Calm Place

It's been another very productive day...for the second day in a row coming back from an
almost stalemate with my book. To finish a book you have to maintain a strong daily
focus...not letting too much else intrude heavily on what you're doing. While you're
in this place...which is a receptive one...much can come to you that only a day or two
previously was nowhere on the horizon. It's a great feeling when ideas...insights...and remembrances...keep flowing in to you. Another thing I'm noticing about this mode I'm in...is how again and again...I find myself writing from a very calm place...in a
very measured way...with intensity nowhere to be found. I am hoping that this is how
writing will be for me from now on. It has begun to make writing a pleasurable thing so far...rather than one where you're gritting your teeth and straining...to come
up with material. If this peaceful way of writing goes on...it will augur well for future writing projects................Quester/

The Where To Question

Last night I sang at a poetry gathering. It's a strange feeling having written so many poems...to be singing at a poetry gathering. The venue was a place where I'd read my poems before...so I approach engagements in such places with a slight smile...and am often refreshed by representing one...then another of my creative idioms in such places. As of yesterday afternoon...I was at cross roads with my book...having followed a skein of creating the manuscript that flowed quite nicely up to yesterday morning...then had naturally run out...leaving me to figure out how to resume telling my story. Actually...remembering the last song I sang last night called "Many Paths"...provided the key to unlocking the door that had suddenly become closed on this book writing journey...and answering the "where to now" question I nad
scribbled in my journal earlier this morning. One of my songs had once more come to my rescue. It is a mysterious place...this world of creating things...and paying close attention to triggers that might be offered very softly...is one of the attributes needed...along with being very thankful when you are helped through a knot in your story. As a result of noticing the key being offered...today has already been a very productive day...and once again I feel that this tale I'm telling can be finished after all.................Quester.

Pictures For All Seasons

Just came back from a walk and some pictures taking. Seeing more closely than I did
pre=digital camera...has helped simple seeming things produce intriguing pictures. One
of the things that has caught my attention recently...is the way mottled leaves can be turned into pictures...albeit sith some cropping and adjusting...into pictures of interesting patterns. Given my fondness for the buds and flowers of spring...I had wondered what I would be taking pictures of as other seasons unfolded. I know now...that there will always be pictures for all seasons...and all i have to do with the coming of each new one...is to adjust my seeing. Can't wait to see what the coming of the snow will do to my pictures. Of course...with the warming that's been going on...and the fact that snow can be somewhat scarce in the lower regions of the west coast...there is no guarantee that there will be any in the season after this one...regardless...I know there will be pictures waiting to be taken. ................Quester.

Autumn Song

[Words from Autumn Song-from cd My Kind of Song
Copyright-SOCAN]
Autumn never smiles...
at those who face the wind...
there are no favours taken...
given this time...
This time is for the wind...
this time is for the stone...
this time is for the one...
who can catch fire...
And what will become of you...
when the swimmers come back to shore?
You can't put off any more...your life...
.................................Quester.

My Mountains

Once wrote a song called "My Mountain"...it might as well have been called "My Mountains". I might have said it before here,,,but having such a wide and brilliant view of several of them from my front windows...is a great consolation in my life.
When the ugliness in my world shows its hoary head...a pretty well daily
occurrence...I only have to look at my mountains to be reminded...there is also...
simultaneously available...the beautiful and the timeless. When I look lower down
at the sidewalk...I see people bustling by...seemingly embedded in their drama...and I hope that they too...step out of that state long enough...not only to smell the roses...but to look at the mountains. Aggression...pettiness...crass opportunism...blind ambition...grubbing and grasping...insincerity...and saccharine which sometimes seems to take the place of expressions from the core of real sweetness I know we all carry in us...disappear into the caves where they belong...and my mountains tell me...see...you too can keep your dignity...despite the calls to surrender it...from an over commercial world. Know that I will always be here to remind you of these important things.......
...............Quester.

Things Anecdotal

I've just finished at home...a piece of writing started at my favourite neighbourhood Chinese restaurant...where I had lunch today. It was one of those times when the writing just flows forward...with nothing barring the way...in a lean and hopefully telling way. Perhaps...it is no coincidence...that the writing drew on what could be called..."things anecdotal"...i.e. tiny stories about people in my world...or bits of my own life experience...rather than "things abstract". I think it's a well known aspect of human communication...that stories about things...otherwise known as "the concrete"...will tend to keep your own or anyone else's interest...usually...better than a lot of dry ideas. I've learnt over the years as an artist...to identify a good
story...even when it's actually happening...or to record things people say...or I
experience...that can later be fleshed out into strong stories. Sometimes...in the fleshing out...a bit of "poetic" license becomes necessary...given that most of us do not have photographic recall...of events in our lives. The good story teller...also...gets inot a bit of dramatization...i.e. finding the most effective way of sequencing bits and pieces...so that an effective story results. Perhaps today's post falls a bit into the "abstract things" trap...but...at the moment I'm not ready to divulge...what I wrote about today................Quester.

Pacific Dream 2

[Verse & Chorus from song: Pacific Dream
Copyright SOCAN]
It's late in the summer time
and I feel the cold winds blow...
sending me where November roses grow...
And I just can't wait to see
the February flowers bloom...
West of the Rockies
spring time comes so soon...
And one more time
I'll fly beyond the snow line...
Fly to the sea
where only friends can find me...
Pacific dream I'll turn you to a new day...
This time no one will take it all away.....
...................................Quester.

Poem: Slicer Of Amorphous Time

Mid-afternoon...
on a Wednesday in September...
Grey skies wrapping themselves
over and around my perch in the sky...
The sound of wheels on wet roads...
rising and falling...
with permission granted or denied
by green or red lights...
Perhaps I am fortunate not to have to ask
permission of anyone...
to write a poem or sing a song...
Perhaps I will continue to be made
a strong slicer of amorphous time...
being what I have to be
as a rain drenched and undramatic day...
unfolds...slowly...
perhaps...........perhaps..............
...............Quester

Hockey's Back

Hockey's back!. Right now I have the first exhibition game of the season...between my
team the Vancouver Canucks and the Calgary Flames...on the radio on...it's tied 1-1 right now. You know
that you're a hockey enthusiast...when you're listening to exhibition games...because
the stars of my team are not even playing...it's mainly new comers vying for a spot on the team. Calgary just scored...big deal...it's only an exhibition game. Of course I
wouldn't have said that if Vancouver had scored...but that's how fans are...totally
subjective. I'm listening to hear which of the new guys may have a chance of making the team...there are no points to count from an exhibition game. Calgary just scored again
with slightly over a minute left in the game. Game over Calgary wins...3-1. My rationale is ready to deal with that...it's only pre-season...the best guys on my team
weren't even playing...better luck next game..................Quester.

Poetry And Good People

In a little while I'm heading for a poetry reading. Over the last few years...there are a couple sessions that I...so far...have kept returning to. Why?...because I usually meet people I like there...and I can listen to or read poetry...if I so desire...in a relaxed situation. As with anything else I attend on an ongoing basis...regardless of how many times I might go...it is never an automatic thing for me. Each time...it is a decision I make to attend...leaving the way open to not do so...up ahead. At these events...I tend to try out new...or not previously...or not for a long time...material. It is good for me to go to these sessions without any career moves in mind as I do...but then again...that has tended to be the way I've approached my performances. Sometimes...if anyone can imagine this when it has to do with something like poetry...the "business" side of poetry...is given a forum at these events. Fortunately...for me...the poetry read...and the people I like...being present...so far has counter balanced this aspect...which I personally have no interest in. Hope the reading of poetry...in and of itself...with the good people than coalesce around it...goes on.
.....................Quester.

A Whale Of A Marathon

Writing a book is so different from writing a song or a poem. I've for a long time...
called song and poem creating my "sprint" events. You get a concept for one of those...you start in and put your mind to it...and if you're lucky...given what the old timers called "the muse" doesn't come at your beck and call...in a short space of time...you may have a song or poem. I have always felt at ease sprinting. Creating a book...is definitely not a sprint. It's instead...a whale of a marathon. Getting the concept for it is all well and good...but pecking away at making the pages accrue...for weeks or months on end...is quite another skill. The heat of the flame that sees you through the creation of a song or poem...after a few weeks or less...may be nowhere to be found...and it is without this precious fuel...that you find yourself persevering if indeed you do. There have been some mornings recently...when time comes for my "book" session...that it's all that I can do...not to go instead to my picture editing file to do some work there I know I will enjoy. So far...I've kept the quick sand of book making inertia at bay. Wish me safe passage...if it continues to come near.............Quester.

Poem: Anastasia

Anastasia De Souza...
she of the Portuguese name...
vanishing suddenly...at eighteen...
in a hail of bullete...
a fado born on an early September afternoon...
Turning away from the insistent question...
How could anyone...so young...beautiful...promising...
be cut down so sharply...?
Letting that become one of the mysteries of life...
we vulnerable and limited Earth walkers...
have no way of solving...
Without warning...sent to the place of spirits...
her assassin following only a few minutes after...
having cashed in his membership in the human race
anyway...as he did the cruel deed...
No looking for ryhme or reason here...
knowing all we can do...is shed our tears...
hold the ones we love close...let go of our questions...
and leave our healing to the alchemist of time...
as it unfolds...tomorrow...and tomorrow...
and keep in a special place in our hearts...
the face of Anastasia...smiling...forever young.........
...............Quester.

A Very Consoling Thing

My east end Vancouver neighbourhood...is one full of fine gardens,,,not only full of
a wonderful array of flowers of all shapes and sizes...but of a wide variety of fruit
trees and vegetable and fruit bearing vines...that are right now...heavy with their bearings. In small spaces inventive and knowledgeable home owners...have erected trellisses...and other support mechanisms for certain vines. Since the fruit have appeared on fig and other trees...they have been cocooned in mesh...no doubt to prevent pilfering by birds and other creatures. The grapes are hanging in succulent bunches...and furry kiwi fruit have found their way into the east end gardens...along with pumpkins...and various long hanging vegetables. My hood is a fecund one right now...and in a strange...or not so strange way...I find that to be a very consoling thing...living in a big urban centre.......Quester.

Evening Pictures

What marvellous skies at sunset there have been during the last few weeks. It's caused
me to go out with my camera...in the evening...and point west and click away...
surprising myself with the results I've gotten...after editing on my magic photo
modifying software. Sometimes...the need for a photo taken in low light...is simply
bringing some light to the subject...after the snapping has been done. One evening...
on my way home...I noticed that there was a new candidate in the south-eastern sky requiring my attention...a large yellow gibbous moon. When the pictures first showed on
my computer screen...only the bright moon could be seen...but it didn't take long for
a click and a move or two...to make the muted background over which the fat moon was
shining visible enough to create a fine "moon" atmosphere. In my past years of wielding
my trusty Pentax 35mm camera...I never even attempted night pictures. Now...with my
little digital camera...I know that no part of the day...low lit or not...is off limits
to my almost daily clicking...another thing to be thankful for...........Quester.

Dream Reminder

I don't get into heavy interpretations of dreams...suffice it to say that the torturous one I had last night was what they call in North America...a big "bummer". In it I moved from one town to another where my new digs were decrepit...and my view out of the one window...was of an ugly tall building. I remember feeling intensely the loss of "my mountains"...that I've had a grand view of for over eight years now...along with the feeling of having taken a great leap backwards in my life. It was with great relief that I finally awoke from this great wet blanket of a dream...to find that my beloved mountains...were still standing across the way from my front windows...and with a renewed appreciation of my beautiful apartment...nothing like the hovel in the dream. After breakfast...I began a gradual clearing up of my living space...having been reminded of how lucky I am to have...my perch in the sky...with a view of the mountains.......................Quester.

September On My Mind

It's a beautiful afternoon...outside my window...September bathing streets...trees...and mountains with its muted light. I've written several songs...one
way or another about September. "September rain...falling on my face like a warm wine...you always mark the start of a new time...of a new time I tell myself again...
September rain". Then there was..."In September"..."And though I thought I knew...the
ways of woman...you...taught me of lovers who just bloom in September". Yes...September
has always been a time of starting over...and doing an inventory of my life...and
remembrances of those who were like "the buds of spring"...in past Septembers. This one is zipping by...as I find myself deeply engaged in my book project
and other things. This is the way I want it to be. This time that is the thin edge of
autumn...is one in which I like to be very engaged in one of my projects...knowing well
that it wouldn't do...to let this month that is the other book end of summer...lay
a heavy haunting on me...which I know it is quite capable of doing..........Quester.

September Crocuses

For those living east of the Rockies...it might be hard to believe...that I took this
picture of crocuses in Vanvouver, today. The crocus is only supposed to be a spring
flower...but not out here. I've seen them bloom here before, in October, but this is the first time I've seen them...after spring...before the middle of September. Perhaps
the sunny and warm weather has speeded them up this year. This may be so...but I still
don't think they have simply been fooled by the weather...an explanation often given
to explain their second coming. Sometimes I wonder if when they bloom in. or towards autumn...they may simply be sending out a reminder to those who might be thinking that
one blooming is all that's possible...that a second one is available for the taking. All you have to do...is be open and interested in life...willing to take on new adventures...and keep the September crocus...in some form...as a reminder...that your second coming...is entirely up to you.............Quester.

It's Been A Good Day

It's been a good day...with this afternoon...spending time by the Inukshuk on English
Bay writing. I have found it to be a spot where over the years...insights...poems
...and ideas and even words for songs have come to me. I think I've finally figured
out a way of taking both journal and camera when I leave home...with my journal going
into a zipped pocket on my vest...and a brand new small pouch around my waist holding
my little camera. For a while back there I was getting into an "either/or" situation...
with the camera usually winning. Hopefully...I'll be clear of that from now on. Looks
like there was a write up about my life and art in Guyana's main paper...the Daily
Chronicle today. That's the fourth write up within the last four weeks or so. As kind as it is for people anywhere to write about me...I still think that being an artist is
about doing artist's work...and it wouldn't do to get carried away when people write
about you. Anyway...thanks to those who take the trouble to do so...and may my artist's
work go on...............Quester.

A Break From The Sun

It's been overcast all day today and raining through most of the day...after twenty nine straight days of sunshine...it was overdue. I've been noticing how the grass has
become the colour of hay...for some time now...it'll actually be nice to see it become
its rich "Wet Coast" green once again. Two days ago I heard a waitress in one of my
favourite neighbourhood restaurants saying she was tired of the sunshine every day...
and she wished it would rain. Looks like her prayers have been answered. Guess some people in this part of the world haven't quite known what to do with so much sunshine...and being without one of the mainstays of their conversationa...when they meet on elevators and such. I love the sunny weather...my only regret about it...is that this year I haven't gotten out into it as much as I might have liked. Anyway...
rain or shine...I'm glad that I live on the West Coast of Canada...........Quester.

Turning Of The Colours

My "Early Autumn Blues" posting near the beginning of August...I knew at the time...was a bit premature. Despite the continued brilliant senshine...longer than I've known it to last on this West Coast...there's no mistaking that the "turning of the colours" has started. When the subject of favourite season in Canada comes up...my Canadian born friends usually choose autumn...and I think I know why...with the trees in some parts of Canada...making their dazzling shifting colour displays. The massive Ontario changing leaves show with its yellow...golds...crimsons...and browns...is a bit more muted on the West Coast...but still beautiful. With Fall for many...come new and relished activities...the start of the hockey season...fall fairs...and many indoor happenings. Of these...for me...the return of hockey...is the thing I most look forward to. For me...autumn has been a time to dig in and start new projects...and I...of course...have learnt in life all round..."to work with what I've got"...and not fight it. However...its most likely my tropical shaping...that points me through Fall and Winter...to my "Season of Hope"...Springtime...with the lenghtening of the days...the return of the warmth...leaves...and flowers...and eventually...T-shirt days...living up in the True North......................Quester.

Writing Momentum

Am deeply involved in writing a book. It is at the forefront of my mind all the time.
Much of it has been already written...but today I am stepping back to take the eagle
view of it...preparatory to doing a tough edit of it...to see what gaps are in it...or
what must be told relevant anecdotes or insights...have not been so far included.
Then there is the finalizing of the order...previously written chapters should be in...
that make the most holistic sense. Even something as large as a chapter...in the heat of writing it...can jump the queue...and in your first draft...be included ahead of its
rightful time. So far I have enjoyed working on this book...this time round...I do hope
the writing momentum I've had for some time continues...knowing that I'm very much "a
creature of momentum"...and would prefer not to slip out of it until the job's done. Of
course my writing for this blog...and a new site I've been asked to contribute to...
should keep my writing momentum going...another of the many benefits of blogging.......
................Quester.

Daily Courage

I have often marvelled at the painstaking and endurance through the long hours... from the opening of a family grocery shop...putting out the fruit and flowers...early in the morning...taking them back inside...sometimes late at night...with all the on your feet work in between...and then repeating the same thing the next day...and the next. For me
this is one of many examples of what I call "daily courage" that I salute and respect...in my fellow human beings..............Quester.

Reubenesque Moon

My ears prick up when I hear a word I hadn't honed in on before. Years ago someone used
the term "gibbous moon" in my presence...and it was not long after...I'd written a poem
..."Under the Gibbous Moon". Aparently...a moon thus described...is one past half moon
state...and getting fatter. This picture of the moon was taken last evening. Looks to be an almost full moon...but I'm not sure whether it went past its gibbous stage a few
nights ago or not. Having said that...I am not qoing to quibble about degrees of fatness...being a lover of fat moons...whether they have a little more filling out to do...or not. Just had a thought from the blue...maybe I should start using the term...
"Reubenesque Moon"...and leave any finer definitions of our closest orb in the sky...to
meteorologists...and astrologers...and keep my eye out for the infrequent "blue moon"...they keep talking about..............Quester.

The Proprietorship Of Our Own Minds

At lunch...seated in my favourite Chinese restaurant...I wrote a poem today. Although
I read newspapers and check out the daily tv news/entertainment shows...I'd like to
think that my approach as a writer...is not to opportunistically write about whatever
happens to be on the front page...but wait until I'm seized by one story or the other. Right now...and for some time...the story of polygamous communities and their prophet[s]...have been strongly to the fore in my mind...and so today's poem was about that...along with a recent posting on this blog. Perhaps my interest here...is because of the struggle I myself had to wage to reclaim what I call "the proprietorship of my own mind". This phrase is not idly used. Any group of people...who have been brain washed not to think for themselves...but to follow...either a prophet...or a book...or any other source...and have been told their only job is to obey or face damnation...not question...get my sympathy and my
best wishes for them reclaiming their minds...or even their beings. I for one...do not believe...that we were each given a mind and an imagination...by a power on high...not to use them. Here's wishing my sisters and brothers of the world...who wish to start reclaiming their minds...a successful journey...along the pathway that leads to enjoying many of the freedoms and riches of life on this Earth...and likely even Beyond...................Quester.

Pictures From The Hood 4

Yes...these sights are seen in my neighbourhood too...sidewalk people...casualties of
a surging society around them...for one reason or another they are not able to keep up with. Perhaps...just someone taking a rest in a culturally disapproved of way...perhaps...a mental patient for whom there is currently no care facility space availlable...perhaps someone who fell into ingesting substances to ease the pain of living...and has found a way of life lived out on the sidewalks of the nation...perhaps
someone who has experienced one heart break too many and has let go of their anchors
to societally approved of life. Who can ever really know the reasons for their presence
in our midst. For me they are a sobering reminder of how fortunate I've been...even
living an unothodox freelance artist's life...and with a home to go to. I am
reminded...also...to keep holding on even when the heavy waves of life beat upon me...
while I still have the faculties...and other pieces of good fortune...to do so. Yes...
our sidewalk people...apart from anything else...are some of the many teachers available to us...in this short walk...through this Garden in the Stars.......Quester.

Oleander

Oleander...one of the central flowers of my childhood in Guyana...South America...along with hibiscus...and frangipani. The sight of it in bloom...in pots that have to be moved inside when the harsh winds of winter blow...in my adopted North country...stir memories of my childhood. The internet dictionary says that there is also white and red oleander...but pink is the colour that I associate with this tropical gift from the East Indies...to Guyana...and other countries by the equator...growing freely under the sun and warmth where there is no winter...and now in places of the North like Canada to be shifted around in pots...come summer...come winter. Although many of us immigrants to Canada are not of the "pink" persuasion...I sense a metaphor blooming...for us free range equatorians...now in the North. Yesterday...on the back balcony of my building...I took this picture of the said bloom...otherwise known as "rose bay". As I was leaving the balcony...most likely...as I had done many times as a southern child...I moved my face closely next to a cluster of pretty pink petals...still fulsome despite the pot they had sprung from...to sniff the fragrance that I once knew well. Strangely...or not so strangely...their tropical scent had vanished with their
transplantation..............Quester,

Pictures of Another Time 7

Talking to a dear friend yesterday...who I was encouraging to put some of his life
photos on to his blog...reminded me that I had not recently returned to my "Pictures of
Another Time" irregular series...on my blog. I was reminded of this picture...because it is the one on the back of my "Sun Wheel" song book...made in Britain...years ago...and a companion piece to my last album over there..."Sun Wheel". I was living in Edinburgh...where this picture was taken...and where the recording sessions for this album was done. What a beautiful city...wonderful for walkers...with its Calton Hill...Princess Street Gardens...and Holyrood mountain...fairly closely clustered.
I dug this song book up...for my work shop in Kamloops last week end...to illustrate
the point that...as the Beatles sang..."there's nothing you can do that can't be done"...i.e. if you can create songs...when time comes to make a song book of some of them...you don't need to read or write music...the book publisher will hire someone to do that for the book. I am glad...especially given we went an hour long with the work shop...that no one had the time to come up after...and ask to see this picture...then take a good look at me now...then ask me..."what happened". Still...pictures can help to remind us of how we "once were"...or should I say "looked"...although in the present...there is no longer any
connection with that.................Quester.