For over four years I’ve written a monthly column for the Salmon Arm paper Friday AM. Located in the BC interior on Shuswap Lake, Salmon Arm is an attractive small city of about 20,000. I lived in the area for over two decades, and began the column “Shuswap Reflections” while I lived in the community. Then, when I relocated to Victoria in 2020, I kept the column going, under the banner “Shore to Shore.”

Here’s a photo from when I lived in the Shuswap. This is the view from our window, of Salmon Arm Bay of Shuswap Lake. This was taken during low water in September, with only a remnant small wetland visible as the lake recedes every year during summer heat.

During the years I’ve been writing the column, I’ve focussed on environmental topics, especially, how we live in this complicated, messy world of challenging environmental issues.

Here’s a sample column, from the June 2023 All Month Friday AM.

In about half the forty-plus columns I ponder how to protect nature, and develop human-scale cities at the same time. But I also look at things from a personal perspective, as the sample column above shows. How do we keep our well-being in these challenging times? And how do we make a difference?

Now, here’s the news: I’m organizing the columns into a book! It will be slim, perhaps 24,000 words. Even though the columns are already written, I know, from past experience, the job will be more complicated than just stringing them together into one file. There’ll be editing, proofing, perhaps adding some bridging text, and of course, designing a cover. It will take awhile, but it will be worth it!

Stay tuned! As always, I welcome your feedback.