A Long Winter’s Night 2016 – Day 6: The Best of Yourself

| December 26, 2016

“Think of your death now. It is at arm’s length. It may tap you any moment, so really you have no time for crappy thoughts and moods. None of us have time for that. The only thing that counts is action, acting instead of talking. “Our death is waiting and this very act we’re performing […]

A Long Winter’s Night 2016 – Day 5: A Toast to the Day

| December 25, 2016

As you might expect, the LFM Household is somewhat engaged today, but not so much as to stop me from reminding you of this snippet of wisdom from the lips of Major Sidney Freedman, sporadically appearing psychiatrist to the 4077th MASH. According to my late Mother, this was a popular toast for any time of […]

A Long Winter’s Night 2016 – Day 2: Commitment

| December 22, 2016

“As long as you have a safety net you act without commitment. You’ll go back to your old habits once you meet a little resistance. You need the samurai’s desperateness and his insanity. Burn the bridge. Nuke the foundation. Back yourself up against a wall. Have an opinion one way or the other, get off […]

Wisdom from the Saga of Kejimkujik

| November 27, 2016

“A Warrior needs a Woman who is powerful, brave, smart, fierce, sensual, creative, and has excellent teeth with which to chew the hide for his moccasins. Most importantly, one who does not do this out of menial obligation but because, knowing she is the finest thing in his world, determines to ensure that everything else […]

You Rascal You

| November 6, 2016

Last Thursday, in response to our recent Dark Sentiments piece titled Exit Music, we were honoured by a quite literally heartfelt comment from trusty LFM reader Julian: “Only tonight have I seen this and the irony is rich and deep. I have suffered the early stages of another heart attack during the night; and a […]

Dark Sentiments Season 7 – Day 24: Good Night Sweet Prince

| October 24, 2016

“Of no surprise to my readers will be the disclosure that my brand of humour veers sharply toward the dark side. My dance card of funeral attendance over the years includes both my parents, four uncles and one aunt, an assortment of friends and the parents of others, and that’s just the humans. If memory […]

Dark Sentiments Season 7 – Day 22: All Deaths Matter

| October 22, 2016

The rangy, solitary Eastern Coyote of my youth was not the animal that bears the name today. Hunted, trapped, poisoned, and otherwise hounded out of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in the 1970’s, there came an interval of Human forgetting while the Nature of the Coyote and Man’s conceit forged something new. For in time […]

Dark Sentiments Season 7 – Day 17: The Spirit of Things

| October 17, 2016

The Wendigo – I will call it that but there are many iterations of its name – is a malevolent forest spirit that comes in winter. It needs human flesh to feed but can only slake its hunger by possessing a human that it then uses to hunt, kill, and devour its prey. The Wendigo […]

Dark Sentiments Season 7 – Day 15: The Traditional and the Tribal

| October 15, 2016

“The way Nature sees it, stress is the motivator for an organism to do something to relieve it. If you’re hungry, find something to eat and eat it. Thirsty? Find water. Too cold? Seek warmth. Too hot? Seek shade or some other method of mitigation. Tired? Find a way to get some rest. Sexually aroused? […]

Dark sentiments Season 7 – Day 13: The Veil Between Worlds

| October 13, 2016

World of Living. World of Dead. A veil that lies between. It bars the Dead from coming back, Except on Hallowe’en. I’m troubled that it’s strong and true A year of days but one, Then weakens with the setting of The last October sun. But all this lies beyond my ken, Or powers to resolve, […]