It was in a mirror, at some time, in some place, that the first act of recognition occurred, the point when man stared into the ocean, saw his face in its infinity, grew anxious, and began to ask, ‘Who is that?…’ Sándor Marái, Casanova in Bolzano
Author: philipc
Even if it’s the coldest day of the year (-27 C), the sun is bright. It may not give much warmth, but it still gives a hope that spring will be here!
“There is no one else in this hard world of today who can look upon the trivial with such tender sympathy and wring such a delicate pathos from futility” – W. Somerset Maugham, “The Alien Corn”, 1931 Rereading some of Somerset Maugham’s short stories, I was struck again by his note of life’s futility as..
A winter prairie morning sun, smoothing the blush of first light, has a purifying radiance that chills and freezes. It performs the same task as the burning coals of a smelting fire, or the salty brine of an equatorial coast. It refines all that it touches, preserves and separates all that is essential in the..
Taking time to pause during these challenging days when travel is restricted, I am fortunate to live in a province that combines great and vast prairies with the imposing Rocky Mountains. I have been working on the editing of my second novel, What We May Be. From What We May Be: Bettina and I had..
Ivan the Giant is now available on Goodreads Giveaways. Thanks for registering to receive a free copy (open to US residents only at this time).
Spring arrives late in a northern city. My mother always said one couldn’t plant before the Victoria Day Weekend…the third weekend of May. I miss the wonderful springtime in Bavaria, which lingers between the thick-laden snows and the delicate summer alpine meadows. But it has come at last to my part of the world, and..
Near the end of WWII, when the world was going through a shock of another kind, Charles de Koninck wrote: A society composed of individual persons who esteem their private good above the common good, or who confuse the common good with the private good of each conceived as a sort of singular thing, as..
We’re all waiting for something… for life to start happening or stop hurting; for spring to arrive (well, at least in Edmonton!); for the unexpected to bring a smile; a friend to make a call; or a child to sing. The world seems to have slowed in the age of pandemic: some have lost their..
Blue Monday is today… the “bluest” day of the year. To combat it, I’ve looked up an old friend… Dick Francis and his murder-mysteries. I’m curling up today and reading Odds Against. Slipping into another world from that of the slate-skied, deep winter prairies. Only wish I had a fireplace!