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First there was Incident With a Fish Head . Then there was this. What is that dog doing, you may ask. She's chasing tiny fish. She did this for two hours . Two hours!!! We brought treats to practice recall, but I didn't remember to make them high-value treats. No way this dog is leaving her mad fishing fun for a crunchy cracker, even it is poutine flavoured ! We tried everything, but Cooks was in her own world. Her own fishing universe. The tide came in, so she was no longer in a tide pool. Just out there in water up to her neck, trying to catch tiny fish. After about two hours, she finally started slowing down. Some other dogs came over to say hi, and while she was distracted, I was able to grab her collar. It starts out as funny and adorable. It ends in frustration and exhaustion. We live so close to this beautiful beach, we could pop down there to give the pups a good run any time. Several times a week for sure! But if it takes 90 minutes to get Cookie back in the car, then ...

Your library is STEAM-powered. STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math. But STEAM is much more than those five subjects. It’s an approach to education and learning. STEAM is a way of looking at the world around us, discovering how things work, and working together to create. STEAM activities use Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math to promote discovery. A STEAM program doesn’t ask you to memorize a list or a chart. STEAM learning happens by doing – tinkering, working with others, problem-solving, tapping into our own creativity. Whether we realize it or not, STEAM learning is all around us. LEGO and other building kits are STEAM activities. There’s no step-by-step guide requiring us to join LEGO pieces in a certain way, no directions to follow. When we build with LEGO, we use our imaginations and creativity, and experiment to see what works. STEAM learning is growing a plant inside a jar, using a telescope to see the night sky – then using the interne...

I thought it would be fun for my mom to see a different part of Vancouver Island. I didn't want her going home thinking the whole island is a sparsely populated rain forest! Plus it's more fun stuff to do together. I booked an Airbnb in Royston -- just south of the town of Courtenay -- and we did some exploring from there. Saturday: driving and eating First there was the drive down-island, which included our obligatory stop at Ideal Cafe . We contrive to eat there whenever we go to Campbell River or beyond -- which means anytime we go anywhere out of the North Island. After another great breakfast, we found the Airbnb, a two-bedroom cottage with a patio, surrounded by pear trees and blackberry bushes, and steps away from the water. Courtenay sits on an estuary, directly across from the town of Comox, and the cottage was only steps away from trails along the water. Estuaries are supposed to be paradise for birders: there was a bench hidden in tall grass, and our host leaves bino...

This week's day trip with my Mom was the town of Sointula. One of my libraries is located in Sointula, so I've been there a couple of times, but had never had an opportunity to explore the town or surrounding Malcolm Island. Sointula has a fascinating history: it was founded as a socialist, Utopian community by dissident Finnish coal miners! Their vision was equality, community, and self-sufficiency. You can read more about this at a wonderful site that documents Utopian societies in Canada: Canadian Utopias Project . Allan and I always find it interesting that Vancouver Island tourism info about Sointula omits the words strike and socialism . The radical history of this proud little village is diluted to "people who were searching for a better life" -- which is true, but not quite accurate. And boring! It's as if the very mention of the word strike is enough to incite anger -- or longing, perhaps? -- in potential tourists. In this way and a million others, rad...

I was so shocked and saddened to learn of Toni Morrison's death. I've been reading her work since a university creative writing teacher recommended The Bluest Eye in 1979. I've read all her novels. Although Beloved is her masterpiece, most of her work is phenomenal, and every book is worth reading. Morrison's work is a window into the African American experience. But what sets Morrison apart is her language. The New York Times obituary mentions: Ms. Morrison animated that reality in a style resembling that of no other writer in English. Her prose, often luminous and incantatory, rings with the cadences of black oral tradition. Her plots are dreamlike and nonlinear, spooling backward and forward in time as though characters bring the entire weight of history to bear on their every act. That's a beautiful description, and it echoes my feeling that Morrison's style was -- literally -- unique. Her work has been compared to that of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, but I h...

My mother is visiting from Oregon. That visiting from Oregon part still looks weird to me, since for my entire life -- and her entire life until a few years ago -- my mother has lived in the New York/New Jersey metro area. After her first great-grandchild (my great-niece) was born in 2015, my mom sold her apartment and moved to the other side of the continent. She now lives in a retirement community in southern Oregon, minutes away from her son, daughter-in-law, grandson, and the lovely Sophia , plus a few hours away from two other adult grandchildren and their partners. She is loving west-coast life. Mom, whose name is Connie, arrived in Port Hardy last week, on July 22. Allan and I had a week of vacation planned. The weather was uncooperative, but we spent a lot of time getting more settled into the new place, talking walks, and driving around. On July 25, we celebrated Connie's 88th birthday at Cluxewe Waterfront Bistro -- the best food on the North Island. (Sadly, or perhaps ...

These biographies are taking me a very long time to read. The list of books I want to read continues to grow, as always, and it feels wrong to use so much time on just one title. I wish I read faster. I wish I spent more time reading. I wish I had a parallel life in which all I did was read. Back in the real world, in between these massive nonfiction tomes, I need to read something lighter, but my lighter reads still have to be quality. Roddy Doyle, one of my favourite authors, has written an improbable novel. Funny, smart, sweet, compassionate, with all the signature crisp dialogue and perfect understanding of human motivation that we expect from Doyle -- and then you fall off a cliff. The author pushes the reader off a cliff. It's confusing and disorienting. It's shocking. I don't know if it works. I have to read the book again to decide. But one thing: it's a bold choice, a daring and ambitious choice. I can't imagine the Roddy Doyle of The Van or Paula Spencer...