Blackpoint.

Past the fisherman on the point, casting from in front of their cars into a sea of leaping coho. Cursing at the absurd abundance of the un-responsive fish.
Up the mouth of the river, indian stroking into the quiet roar of fresh water.
A tiny duckling asleep on the shore, head buried in down. He wakes when the canoe is already past, stares bewildered.
A slow arc around the shoreline of the estuary, then back into the saltwater. A descending quiet, the volume of the world turned down.
The sun goes. The sky is now a dark purple, rising overhead into a dome of deep black. A satellite drifts north over Texada, stars fluttering to life in it's wake.
The remaining light compresses to a thin strip on the horizon, pushed down by the darkness. The first bats flutter across the water, the changing of the guard.
The fish have stopped jumping, headlights pull away from the beach.
Now only the sound of the paddle, and the tiny glow of the cabin, like a beacon.

Joerg Colberg's Conscientious, my daily fix of contemporary photography.

Quadra Island, B.C.

"What is Selachophobia Costing You Today?

How many relationships has it destroyed? How much have you lost in earnings? Promotions? Are you even doing the work you love? (Are you able to work at all?).

What will happen to your emotional and physical health and happiness, not to mention your relationships if you don't do something about your selachophobia now. What will happen in one year? Or five?

Are you really prepared to live the rest of your life with selachophobia?

Now… Imagine a world where you are completely free of selachophobia.

Imagine waking up in the morning feeling free, clear, and vital – ready to enjoy your day. Instead of spending your day with selachophobia emotionally paralyzing you, you can focus on the positive and be the real you.

* You know how to relax.
* You're free of the anger, fear and anxiety of selachophobia.
* Work is easier and more satisfying.
* Relationships are easier and more rewarding.

All that energy you used to waste on selachophobia is now available for things that really matter."

Hurricane Katrina.

A week long visit from my friend Jim Affinito has just drawn to a close. We did a two day canoe trip up into Hotham Sound, camped on the Harmony Islands, and searched in vain for the trail to Freil Lake (we found something that looked like it might have been a trailhead, but hit a solid wall of forest about 5 minutes in. If anyone knows the current status of that trail, please let me know.)
Fishing was almost a complete washout. Almost, but not quite. Seven days of fishing yielded one medium sized coho, caught by Jim as the sun was going down on the last day of the visit. Filleted, with a side of potatoes and ciders, it was damn tasty. Thanks Jim.
Over the course of the visit Jim dropped massive amounts of knowledge, on everything from gardening to biology. The best time to plant this, why that won't survive, what this food will do to that organ, why that organ affects this organ.
In a desperate attempt to find something that Jim did not know everything about, I frantically ran through conversational subjects with him, probing for a weakness.
Finally, on the subject of art criticism, I scored a direct hit. Jim had never heard of Robert Hughes.

2137-B Mahood Road.

Finally listened to "The Campfire Headphase", the new album by Boards of Canada, in it's entirety this morning, and while "Geogaddi" held glimmers of hope that the magic was not yet completely gone, "Headphase" really feels like the end.
On their early releases "Hi Scores" and "Music has the Right to Children", there was always a tickling contradiction at work. A sense of rest struggling with a sense of unease. The tension this created was, at times, almost unbearably beautiful.
Well, it seems the battle is over, and the "sense of rest" has come out on top. While this makes for some relaxing driving music, it does not match the wonder and bewilderment of their best work. The punks who made "Hi Scores" and "Music Has the Right to Children" have become studio musicians, and the result sounds a lot like a car commercial.

The essential Boards of Canada tracks, in no particular order:

Whitewater
Sixtyniner
Turquoise Hexagon Sun
Nlogax
Everything You Do is a Balloon
An Eagle in Your Mind
Telephasic Workshop
Aquarius
Roygbiv
Sixtyten
Sunshine Recorder
Happy Cycling

So long, BOC. You changed the way I listened to music.