The Imperceptible Immigrant · Coming to Canada

Euphoria release

November 5, 2024 in Flotsam and Jetsam | No comments

This news item appeared recently on the Anam Danu website:

Siobhan and Andy of Anam Danu have written, recorded, and self-released three original albums over the past five years. Back in 2023, they decided to focus on growing their creative partnership. They enjoy being in the studio, but like many musicians, they know that performing live is the true test of their music.

They realized that the music they create as a duo often needs more musicians to perform it live. Over the last year and a half, they searched for other artists who could help bring their ambitious work to life. In late 2023, they met Adrienne Dyer, whose beautiful soprano voice added a powerful element to their music. Together they started to create fresh tracks for a new album.

“Euphoria” explores what it means to be a mature adult in today’ s challenging times. It includes songs about storytelling and creativity, the value of long-term friendships, teaching and learning, the search for our roots, and the important choices we make as we grow older.

Most importantly, it highlights the need for joy.

Siobhan, Adrienne and Andy are particularly grateful to Mairéad for her gorgeous and striking cover art, which encapsulates the essence of the album perfectly.

“Euphoria” will be available for streaming and download from November 22nd.

Tags: album, Anam Danu, Euphoria, Music, release date

Falling…

October 28, 2024 in Life in BC | No comments

“Now Autumn’s fire burns slowly along the woods and day by day the dead leaves fall and melt”.

William Allingham

Autumn (Fall) is a time to walk and to talk and to think – and to start to make plans.

It is also a time to take photos of nature’s bounty:

Tags: Autumn, Fall, nature, Photo

Scene from our windows

October 19, 2024 in Life in BC, Photos | No comments

(See what I did there?….)

Having a vista from one’s windows is a huge bonus and a blessing. Some folk prefer to live in the valleys (for protection one assumes) – other folk like to live on the hill (and thus be able to identify approaching threats). Of course, the latter option does also provide the dreamers amongst us with plenty of food for thought!

‘Anywho’ – (defined by the Urban Dictionary as: “An extremely annoying misuse of the word ‘anyhow’. Generally used by people who think they’re being clever“. Naturally, that just makes me want to use it!!) – this is simply a preamble to sharing some recent vistas as viewed from our casements.

You might want to double-click on these to get the full effect…

Enjoy:

Tags: British Columbia, Moon, Photo, rainbow, The sea, Vista

Like a virgin…

October 14, 2024 in Life in BC | No comments

This year saw the ninth anniversary of The Girl’s return to and my arrival in Canada. It further marks the start of my third year as a Canadian citizen.

It hardly seems possible that so much time has passed so quickly!

This week just passed marked yet another milestone; this being the first time that I was eligible to vote in an election here. Back in the UK quite a lot of folks (such as those from Commonwealth countries) are eligible to vote as long as they are residents in the UK. The Girl used to take advantage of this before she was granted her UK citizenship.

In Canada one has to be a citizen before one can vote in federal elections – hence my inability to do so until recently.

Anyway – I can now so do…

This current election is a provincial ballot and we here in British Columbia are – like so many others in the world – struggling to keep the nefarious tories at bay. This means voting!

In our neck of the woods we can vote early, so we trotted down to the polling station a week in advance of the final tally. On arrival I announced to all and sundry that this was my first Canadian election. The jolly lady there immediately sourced me a ‘first time voter’ sticker (just like being a teenager again!) which you can see adorning my voting card in the photo attached to this missive.

Voting here is quite slick. One takes one’s voting card and photo ID to the dude at the desk and one is ticked off the list in the prescribed manner and given a voting slip and a stiff plastic (or card – I forget which) sleeve. Having annotated the slip appropriately one inserts it into the sleeve – so that it can’t be read by others – and feeds it into the tallying machine. The machine sucks the paper out of the sleeve (which can then be recycled) and tallies the vote as it digests the slip.

All done and dusted, counted and ready to go. Most efficient and no loopholes for any possible suggestion of impropriety – though heaven for-fend that any such thing might be though even possible here north of the border.

And that’s how you do it, chaps!

Tags: British Columbia, Canada, citizenship, Immigrant, Politics

The long haul

October 7, 2024 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

I posted this update on progress towards the release of the new Anam Danu album – ‘Euphoria‘ – on the Anam Danu website. For completeness I thought I would reproduce it here:

Progress continues toward the release of the new Anam Danu album – ‘Euphoria’.

The ten chosen tracks have been polished and given final mixes and the whole sent off to our mastering studio of choice – CPS Mastering in Vancouver. Brock McFarlane (who has mastered all of the Anam Danu albums thus far) has now sent us the first mastered copies and we are in the process of listening intensely in as many environments as we can – preparatory to signing off the album and sending it to our distributors and CD manufacturer.

We also now have the cover art for the release. Those who have followed Anam Danu’s exploits will know that we like to commission local artists to create the cover for each release. In this case the wonderful artwork that can be seen on this page is by Alberta artist – Mairéad – who has, in our view, captured the intent of the album perfectly.

Of Mairéad Siobhan writes:

“Mairéad is a multidisciplinary artist and designer based in Alberta, Canada. She expresses her art in paint and textiles. As a visual artist, she creates vibrant multi-media paintings and collage. Her love of detail, color and texture is evident in her one-of-a-kind unisex handbags, backpacks and wallets. She is an expert knitter whose cable-knit outerwear is beautiful and expertly made. Mairéad creates custom dog sweaters and jackets that are both stylish and playful. She is passionate about interior design and customizes existing pieces through upholstery, refinishing and fabric furnishings”.

Not long to wait now! I will post the release dates for ‘Euphoria’ just as soon as they have been confirmed.

Tags: album, Anam Danu, Euphoria, Music

Dame Maggie Smith

September 30, 2024 in Life as we know it | Permalink

Dame Maggie Smith

1934 – 2024

RIP

The British thespian profession has always punched well above it’s weight – from the secularisation of drama that followed the Reformation onward. This extraordinary tide has shown no sign of abating; long may the trend continue.

In recent times the Brits have furnished the dramatic universe with an abundance of fierce talents, particularly when it comes to those great ladies of the dramatic arts. We have been blessed with more than our fair share of ‘national treasures’.

Sadly, this weekend saw the passing of one of the greatest of those treasures – the brilliant Dame Maggie Smith. I saw her first many decades back in the film adaptation of the Muriel Spark novel – ‘The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie‘ – in which she was, naturally, excellent. That has been the case, of course, with pretty much everything to which she turned her hand.

In the few days since her passing much has already been written in her praise. Rather than re-hash any of these eulogies here I recommend that you search out some such. The Guardian obit would be a good place to start.

Dame Maggie Smith will surely be most sadly missed by us all.

Rest in peace.

Tags: Drama, Loss, Memory, RIP, Theatre

Simpcw Days

September 26, 2024 in Life in BC | Permalink

To the North Thompson last week for the annual gathering of the First Nation of which The Girl is a proud member.

On Thursday last I drove up to the North Thompson to join The Girl (who had flown up a few days earlier) in a long weekend of re-uniting with family, participating in cultural and outdoor activities and gratefully and humbly attending most meaningful traditional ceremonies.

My weekend did not get off to an entirely auspicious start since – having disembarked from the ferry at Tsawwassen at about 10:30 in the morning – what is normally a five hour journey ended up taking seven hours… the which included just two 10-15 minute comfort/food breaks.

With the roads being very busy anyway and the Trans-Canada highway subject to considerable amount of construction work, one (or more) accidents within the road-works caused the highway to be temporarily closed. Three lanes of huge semis (articulated lorries) and pickup trucks (trucks) were filtered down to one lane… before we were booted off the highway altogether, with no helpful signage to guide us to where we might re-join the route. A temperamental sat-nav in The Girl’s Mazda didn’t help and I had to resort to following the biggest truck in the hope that it was going the same way as was I.

By the time I finally reached Barriere I was well and truly ‘toast’…

…all of which was immediately forgotten first thing the next morning when we clambered eagerly aboard an old yellow school bus to head off on a whitewater rafting excursion down the bottom seven kilometres of the Clearwater River. Whitewater rafting has long been on my bucket list and the experience was – as expected – a huge blast. I had hoped that some promised photos of our exploits – taken by the whitewater rafting team – would have arrived by now and could accompany this post. Never mind! Maybe later…

As indicated above I felt greatly honoured to be able to observe the ceremonies and rituals that occupied the last morning of our stay. I have read a fair amount about such things since coming to Canada but to be present at one was really most affecting. The Girl was nominated (thank you to her generous nominator) to be one of those honoured in the blanket ceremony – the which was completely unexpected…

…though well deserved!

Tags: ceremonies, Family, First Nations, The Girl, Travel

Sea Fret or Haar

September 13, 2024 in Life in BC | Permalink

On the east coast of the United Kingdom – and particularly in Scotland – it is not uncommon throughout the summer season for otherwise pleasant days to be afflicted (or enhanced, according to your predilection) by dense mists that roll in from the ocean.

Of these phenomena the UK Met Office offers the following explanation:

“Coastal fog is usually a result of advection fog which forms when relatively warm, moist air passes over a cool surface. In the UK, the most common occurrence of coastal fog is when warm air moves over the cool surface of the North Sea towards the east coast of the UK.

When this happens, the cold air just above the sea’s surface cools the warm air above it until it can no longer hold its moisture. This forces the warm air to condense, forming tiny particles of water which forms the fog that we see.”

In Scotland such cold sea fogs go by the name ‘Haar’; in the north of England they are called ‘Sea Frets’.

The west coast of Vancouver Island is well known for its sea fogs in summer, the which lead to the month of August being renamed ‘Fogust’.

Here on the east coast of the island these events are perhaps less common, but they still do take us by surprise from time to time…

…as did this one last weekend.

From our vantage point on the lower slopes of Mount Newton we can see over the top of the fog to Sidney Island and to Pender Island. The sea mist lies in between over the Haro Strait…

…or might that be ‘Haar’ – or ‘Sea Fret’?

Tags: fog, Summer, The sea, Weather

Little Qualicum Falls

September 9, 2024 in Life in BC, Photos | Permalink

For the second day’s excursion on our recent trip to Nanaimo and its environs, The Girl, her mother and I paid a visit to an attraction to which I had not previously been – Little Qualicum Falls.

Our various previous journeys up island – to Tofino, Courtney and other points north and west – have taken us to within a short distance of Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Park, but there are just so many places worth a visit on the island that it comes as no surprise that the ‘still to do’ list is as long as it is. Grateful thanks to The Girl for suggesting on this occasion that we tick this one off the list.

No need of a lengthy screed on my part in this instance. I will let the camera do the work instead:

Tags: Family, Holiday, Little Qualicum Falls, Photo, Travel, Vancouver Island

Good travellers

August 29, 2024 in Life in BC, Photos | Permalink

“A good traveller has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving”.

Lao Tzu

Earlier this summer – some short while after The Girl and I returned from our momentous trip to Scotland – we were sitting in the sun outside the Stone House pub in Canoe Cove, chewing the fat and contemplating the remainder of the season.

We were minded to seek out some culture – in the form of theatre, music… maybe even fireworks… or indeed any combination of the above. We toyed with a visit to Vancouver for ‘Bard on the Beach‘ – particularly for it’s coincidence with the ‘Celebration of Light‘ – though that looked like turning into a somewhat expensive trip…

We also looked at the offerings here in Victoria – but nothing really caught the eye…

Finally The Girl came up with a smart notion. Come mid-August we could head up the island to Nanaimo, just in time for the Nanaimo Fringe Festival – the which fortuitously happened to coincide with the Nanaimo Blues Festival. We could make it a long weekend and avail ourselves of some theatre and some music – as well as paying a visit to The Girl’s mother in the process.

So – we had a fixed plan… the possession of which – according to Lao Tzu – is a ‘no-no’!

…as indeed it turned out to be!

This has been a busy old year – particularly for The Girl. When it came down to it we didn’t spot anything in the Nanaimo Fringe programme that looked unmissable – and she really didn’t fancy getting caught up in the the sort of crowds that the Blues Festival would attract.

We decided that we would make the trip anyway – but that we would modify the itinerary.

For the first of our days around Nanaimo we settled on an excursion to Gabriola island, where once The Girl’s parents had lived (well before I knew her) and the which we had visited with them on an early trip from the UK.

It was good to explore the island again. Here are some photos:

These last images are of the Malaspina Galleries on Gabriola. When I was first taken to this extraordinary geological feature – back in 2006 – The Girl’s mother took a photograph of the two of us which is still pretty much my favourite image of us together. It was lovely to be able to go back and stand in the same spot getting on for two decades later.