Mather

People sometimes complain about the troubles of gardening with clay. Some complain about sandy soil. I would be happy with either — just try gardening on bedrock! Then last summer, I discovered the crack in the bedrock just 10 feet from the house.

The older we get, the more interesting history becomes. Allan has taken a keen interest in the historic logging camps of the North. Whenever we are canoeing along a wilderness lake, he is on the lookout for those long-ago dwellings.

Last June, I attended a kayaking symposium. The Friday evening speaker was Mike McIntosh, who operates Bear With Us. At first, I figured I didn’t need to go to the lecture. After all, I’ve been living in the bush for 40 years.

The first time I camped in winter was in Grand Teton National Park. Travelling by myself, as I often did in my 20s, I decided to see the stars up close. I skied a whole kilometre from where I parked the car. Packed the snow and put up my tent.

The snowshoeing has been great this winter. There is just enough snow to make it worthwhile putting the 'shoes on, but not so much as to make it hard to get around. This is the very best way to see the world of winter.

It is not easy to make a garden on the Canadian Shield. Yet for the past 30 years I have been giving it a try.

It is not easy to make a garden on the Canadian Shield. Yet for the past 30 years I have been giving it a try.

My neighbour came by to tell me about a great crop of big beautiful mushrooms in his yard. Are they good to eat? I walked over to have a look. They were indeed beautiful! A dozen or so big white mushrooms were scattered under an old white pine.

The fourth day out on our trip, we tied the canoe to one of the many logs that had jammed up by the ancient dam.

Bears are scary, no doubt about that. They are big and strong. They have sharp teeth and claws. They can run faster than I can. They make scary sounds. They can see in the dark, and they know what I had for dinner.