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 Long Winter’s Night for Eating With Your Fingers as a Sword Rests in your Lap

| December 24, 2025

My Esteemed Friend Jim Keating recently made a profound utterance in the matter of prevailing flaccid, and annually recurring, expressions of what’s branded to be in the “Spirit” of the “Season”, saying in part … “… How about songs, words, images which convey strength, power, confidence and faith in this time of Yule? Why not […]

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 […]

The Fencing Lesson of the Leaning Hemlock

| April 13, 2025

This poem was inspired by two utterances of Wisdom from wellsprings I drink from routinely. The first is this segment from Maestro Adam Crown‘s exquisite Swordmastery YouTube channel, being a four minute video titled The Law of Conservation of Combat — Bogart’s Fencing Lesson. The other is a story from the website of the Ronin […]

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 […]