There are days when the Bear Gods frown upon us. The bears are always one step ahead of us, their favourite feeding zones are disappointingly deserted, and the guests and guides return from a day out bear-spotting empty-handed and just a little glum. And then there are...
It was more than twenty years ago and I was standing near an impromptu checkpoint in northern Albania as the country erupted in chaos and anarchy around me. A few yards away was Ant, a fellow journalist and veteran war reporter I was working with...
I'd never even heard of a snow-blower before I moved to Canada. A strange-looking beast, it has a large hungry mouth with a plethora of curved metal scoops inside, and a small chute that dispenses the white stuff high into the air and at an angle. The...
There's something about a wood fire. Perhaps it's the crackle and spit of the logs as they begin to take. The awesome fury of the main burn. The orange glow of the embers as the chemistry of the fire takes its course. Or maybe it's the pleasing...
It was one of those wilderness moments I live for. I felt my heart rate shoot up with exhilaration. And there was just the slightest tinge of fear that seems to come with all the best types of excitement. Ten yards ahead of me Katya, our 18-month-old...
I'd been looking forward to a weekend away for a while. I love my home in British Columbia and our valley is a place of overwhelming beauty, but the prospect of a couple of days in a small, hip mountain town in the US with a...
It may not look like much fun. A damp garden on a rain-splattered day. But for Kristin and I this morning was a time to do a little jig of excitement. The Weather Gods, even if they had not exactly smiled on us, were at least...
It's never going to be all good news living in the wilderness - and this is one of those weeks we would rather forget. Last Monday, just after we had wrapped up a great spring season with some close-up and personal viewing of wild bears, I...
Even before we bought the 80 acre strip of land across from the ranch a few years back we used to worry about the structure that provides for its only access. An old Bailey bridge designed for getting British tanks across middle European rivers, it had...
It's been more than eleven years since I set out one early spring day, only weeks after we first arrived at the ranch, to try and find a couple of dogs with whom to share our little wilderness paradise. Three hours later, following up on an...