* I am grateful to walk at a distance with Walking the Land land arts collective, who were walking in Gloucestershire and elsewhere in the world today - Komorebi Walk is their First Friday Walk prompt.

Location: Along the South Saskatchewan River, Medicine Hat, Alberta
Length: 3 km
Companions: none
Date: 4 February, 2022

South Coulee Walk
A warm January day, and quiet. Walking with grasses and rocks and ghosts and sky. The absence of wind is remarkable.

Boardwalk, Marsh and Bridle Trails
Boxing day after the second pandemic Christmas, and just happy to be together for a muddy walk. The chickadees, ducks, and squirrels are all looking for their share of the feast. Darkness sinks into the valley before we get back to the car.

Georgian Bay trail
Our favourite walk to our favourite spot. This time we wore swimsuits and stopped to float in the inlet and lay like seals on the rocks. The most peaceful place I know.

Burlington, Ontario
Summer walk with my father and his walker, three driveways down, three driveways back.

Brantford, Ontario
A long walk through town on a hot day; iced coffee at the Blue Dog, dreaming of our lives in the 100 year old mansions, down along the Grand River, and back home in a thunder shower. So much green, so much love.

Maligne Canyon, Jasper
Deep canyon walk in the mountains, but the most remarkable thing is this was my first trip away since pre-pandemic days.  So grateful to explore, see friends, be introduced to new terrain, and for the black bear sightings.

Summit Lake, Waterton
First mountain walk of the year, and first walk in this part of Waterton since the 2017 Kenow wildfire. Summit Lake was iced in and the snow too deep to get close to it.  The continental divide and the U.S.A. were in sight. The poor burnt trees.

Six-mile Coulee, Lethbridge
An after-work walk in the coulees, down to the river and south, a climb up for the view, and returning along the six-mile coulee creek.  The valley is gradually greening, and wildflowers are blooming close to the ground.  Buffalo beans, prairie smoke, prairie crocus, and bigger plants where there is more moisture - golden current, wolf willow, buffaloberries, Saskatoon bushes. Us walkers are outnumbered by the runners and mountain bikers on the trails, but I think we see more.

Cemetery Circumference, Lethbridge
First Friday walk - we took the trail known as the Boneyard Link along the coulee edge around the cemetery as the sun was going down, and wondered why we don't do this every evening.

Location: Around Mountain View Cemetery, Lethbridge, Alberta
Length: 4 km
Companions: Tom
Date: 7 May, 2021

First Friday walks - a project by Walking the Land arts collective. 
“The potential of an activist art practice that raises consciousness about land, history, culture, and place and is a catalyst for social change cannot be underestimated, even though this promise has yet to be fulfilled.  Artists can make the connections visible.  They can guide us through sensuous, kinaesthetic responses to topography, lead us from archaeology and land based social history into alternative relationships with place.  They can expose the social agendas that have formed the land, bring out multiple readings of places that mean different things to different people at different times.”
Lucy Lippard, 1997, The Lure of the Local: Sense of Place in a Multicentered Society. 

Hardieville
Evening walk through the Hardieville ruins, all colour and crumbling concrete, and out to the bluff above the river.  The pushy wind sent us back along the contours of the hills, sculpted in light and paced by runners.

Medicine Hat Bridges
We threaded our way back and forth across the South Saskatchewan River, stopping downtown at the Station for a coffee on the sunny sidewalk patio.  Chatted with the women at the next table, with chihuahuas on their laps dressed up for the outing - these are the small daily connections that are missing during the pandemic, part of the heart deficit that makes many of these days seem so heavy.

Writing On Stone, Alberta
It was more of an amble and a scramble than a hike. We climbed among the hoodoos and walked along the river, making plans for summer camping and kayak trips, and confirming again and again how good, how important, how sane it is to be away from screens for the day.

Down to the River Again
The blue sky was undeniable. We met on 11th St. and walked the usual neighbourhood to coulees to river and back, having the loveliest conversation. Walking and talking.

Pavan Park, Lethbridge
A slate grey day, with a cold wind, but we were all game for a walk and some art talk. It's a rare pleasure to hang out with people - still at a distance, outside - after a year of pandemic. restrictions. I have always combined walking and socializing, but as the only way to visit in person, walks with people have taken on an importance that is hard to articulate.  I've been trying to, and can't quite name it, but I know this: connection is essential.