From Shaman’s Rock By Jim Poling Sr. And so we enter the time of plenty. Crops ripen in fields. Apple trees hang heavy with fruit. Autumn is the time of plenty of food. The time…
Clowns that aren’t funny
From Shaman’s Rock By Jim Poling Sr. My laptop computer is driving me crazy. It’s like it has been invaded by those evil clowns you see in television commercials. You know, the ones with white…
Apocalypse Today
From Shaman’s RockBy Jim Poling Sr. Scenes of utter devastation from Maui, Hawaii, the Yellowknife, N.W.T. and B.C. wildfire evacuations, plus the Halifax flash flooding bring to mind a single word: Apocalypse. We are living…
Here comes the Brrr?
From Shaman’s RockBy Jim Poling Sr. This summer’s weather has in no way been traditional, and neither was the spring that led into it. Heat and drought brought record wildfires in parts of the country,…
Beauty born in the mud
From Shaman’s Rock By Jim Poling Sr. The best thing about mid-summer are the blooms. Orange day lilies stand wild and bold on the roadsides. Pink and white lilliums and purplish-blue hydrangeas bring an explosion…
Is the world getting happier?
From Shaman’s Rock By Jim Poling Sr. Some good news: Despite weather disasters and war the world apparently has become a happier place. The annual Gallup Global Emotions Report shows people around the world generally…
A time of skim and scan
From Shaman’s RockBy Jim Poling Sr. A very old guy with snow-white hair and snow-white beard fishes the ocean for weeks without catching anything. Finally, he catches a mighty marlin, but sharks eat it before…
An animal uprising
From Shaman’s Rock By Jim Poling Sr. There are signs that the animal kingdom is fed up with us and beginning to rebel. Two-ton killer whales are ramming yachts and fishing boats. A sea otter…
Finding a way to say thank you
From Shaman’s Rock By Jim Poling Sr. Thumbs up to my little sister. She can turn mud pies into chocolate cakes. Or, a bad experience into something helpful to others. She was bike riding with…
Smoke gets in your head
From Shaman’s Rock By Jim Poling Sr. Our spring and summer of smoke is being called abnormal. It’s not. It’s a new normal that scientists predict will become an even more normal part of our…
The right to rest in peace
From Shaman’s RockBy Jim Poling Sr. While ships searched for the submersible lost while visiting the Titanic gravesite, I visited another gravesite. I was back in northwestern Ontario, where I was born and raised. On…
Only in America
From Shaman’s RockBy Jim Poling Sr. No matter what calamity the world suffers, the only really important news in the United States these days is Donald Trump. News networks feverishly report his limo leaving Trump…
Another one gets fried
From Shaman’s RockBy Jim Poling Sr. It’s disturbing to see how intelligent people who get close to Justin Trudeau get burned.The latest scorched victim is David Johnston, the former governor general who Trudeau appointed his…
A nation of contradictions
From Shaman’s RockBy Jim Poling Sr. I don’t get out much, spending most of my time among the birds and squirrels who dance in the woods surrounding my place. So my recent trip to the…
It’s a dogs life?
From Shaman’s Rock By Jim Poling Sr. I’m in California visiting my American granddog Rusty. Rusty has had a rough year or so health wise. Breathing problems and fatigue that appeared during the COVID-19 pandemic.…
Thinking about wildfires
From Shaman’s Rock By Jim Poling Sr. You can smell hints of summer in the air and the promise of sunny, worry-free times. A worrisome thing is present, however, but for now it’s something requiring…
Scoring goals requires passion
From Shaman’s Rock By Jim Poling Sr. I have never been a Toronto Maple Leafs fan. Probably because I was born and raised in Northwestern Ontario, where most folks disliked southern Ontario and anything to…
What’s in store this summer?
From Shaman’s Rock By Jim Poling Sr. So here comes the heat. And, the heavy rains, big thunderstorms and the wild winds that accompany them. That’s what the professional forecasters are telling us. Their climate…
The trees of our lives
From Shaman’s Rock By Jim Poling Sr. ’m in the woods looking for white spots that might be fuzzy pussy willow catkins, a true sign of spring. I see a couple of white spots, but…
Covid on the brain
From Shaman’s Rock By Jim Poling Sr. I’m certain that the Covid virus has infected peoples’ brains, pulling them down to new levels of meanness and stupidity. I don’t have any medical evidence to support…
Yes, it is our business now
From Shaman’s Rock By Jim Poling Sr. There are times when we must risk the consequences and tell a friend that he or she is doing wrong. Canada has reached one of those times. It’s…