A Thin Veneer — Mindful Tooling (Part 1)

| February 11, 2026

In maintaining life on the other side of the Thin Veneer, only True Tools, both the hard (technology) and the soft (skills), are carried. Which ones will depend on the environment, the job, the doer of it, alone or in company, and what interval of time and space will inform readiness for “self-rescue”, a now […]

A Recalibration for a Long Winter’s Night

| January 2, 2026

“Normally I would have asked a policeman or a minister of the Church, but finding no one available, I thought it better to consult a man with some professional qualifications, rather than rely on the possibly confused testimony of a passer-by.” ~ In the wake of a bicycle accident due his tire pump having got […]

A Thin Veneer — An Introduction to Knowledge, Methods, and Means

| November 17, 2025

“Everything in Nature is about efficiency and balance, which is why life is, first and foremost, an exercise in energy management. For example, the Way of the Wild demands of each parent that their offspring be made self-sufficient as quickly and efficiently as possible. A tool need not be a physical artifact – rest assured […]

Do Nothing Which is of No Use

| September 20, 2025

“Musashi quite wisely said, ‘Do nothing which is of no use,’ and with that in mind, I prefer a return to first principles — the safety of an enterprise MUST have no bearing on the worthiness of its pursuit. Only upon the manner of its execution. Even then, this will be governed on a sliding scale […]

Now is the Summer of Our Discontent

| September 1, 2025

Further to our last gathering,  I will today revisit some realities that I have trotted out before but will again today on the grounds that I, at least, want to hear them again. The closing of the Nova Scotia woods to all travel of any kind, and the official reasons for doing so, were spoken […]

De Woodz iz Cloze

| August 10, 2025

On 5 August 2025, the Government of Nova Scotia proclaimed: “… a restricted travel zone in any area of the woods upon which no person shall enter for the purpose of travelling, camping, fishing or picnicking, or any other purpose, without a valid travel permit issued by the Minister, a conservation officer or other person […]

Seeing is Believing

| June 14, 2025

“The ‘real world’, as it turns out, is not where most people live, nor are they required to as it is just as possible to live an entire apparently fulfilled life absent any attempts at objectivity or even half-hearted use of critical thinking as it is to work for years with someone whose name you […]

An Agreed Upon Statement of Facts

| June 1, 2025

Image © Amy Baker 2020 (instagram.com/amy_louisebaker) “It’s a beautiful thing to refuse to forget…” ~ Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Fencing Master What ho oh Weary Pilgrim, and welcome to this watch fire hard by the Yawning Rabbit Hole of Confusion. First, something to clarify at least the legal definition of today’s headline: “More than 90 per […]

T’ick o’ Fog (Part 2)

| January 19, 2025

Previously in this series: T’ick o’ Fog (Part 1) Welcome back Goode Reader to this second installment of T’ick o’ Fog. Today we will look at a variety of “fog” that may not be foremost in the mind where atmospheric phenomena normally hold pride of place. I speak, of course, of metaphorical fog, which draws […]

T’ick o’ Fog (Part 1)

| January 8, 2025

2025 blew in over the shore with its own version of the vapours, alleging worldwide envelopment in mystery obscurants portending doom, and offering me an invitation, if not an outright demand, to give the situation a sniff of my own. At first, I was inspired to recall the intro to this episode of Get Smart […]