isobelmtl

Writing under a Montreal sky

Recent Blog Posts

about

Isobel Cunningham has published short fiction and poetry. Her book, Northern Compass is available on Amazon. She was born in Wales but Montreal is her adopted home. She speaks French, Modern Greek ( it’s a fun story) and a little Spanish…oh, English too, of course. She welcomes comments on her blog and looks forward to chatting with you over cyber-space.

Author: isobel cunningham

Packing

September 4, 2021

In eight days I will start a journey that has been a long time in the planning. I am a little bit excited, a little bit scared and a big bit curious. I wonder what is coming to me on this famous Camino de Santiago. One thing I have already learned is how to discard…
After the Fall

July 31, 2021

The innocent clump of thistle was the cause of my fall. The toboggan hill in the park has become my favorite training zone. I developed the habit of walking up and down as many times as I could. I go down backwards to stretch the backs of my knees. It’s good for my balance too…
Look and learn

July 26, 2021

These pictures were taken after my “training” yesterday in the beautiful early evening light. I found clumps of wildflowers and noticed that some petals of the wild daisies were falling. The white flowers (help me out with a name, readers) were changing into seed pods and that chestnut trees were starting to form their prickly…
The Journey Starts

July 24, 2021

It started a long time ago It started when I began to walk up this toboggan hill in my local park, when I started to stomp around the track using my hiking poles (see them thrown down in the grass?). It started when I saw on Facebook that a friend I had met on a…
Life from Death

June 14, 2021

I have been fortunate over the past few weeks to spend time in the Pacific Northwest on Vancouver Island. Part of my almost daily routine has been walking trails along the beach. The beach here is nothing like the bucket-and-spade golden sands we associate with summer holidays. My path often takes me down through a…
Blessing of the waters…..I never really understood the religious ceremony of blessing water. After all it is water that blesses us. It is us. Our sweat, our blood, our tears, mucus, saliva, our eyes, our sex, our digestion and elimination. Life is moist and blooming, full of sap and dew. Death is dry, barren, the inner desert. Here is water from the high mountain rushing to the salty sea, to temper and dilute it and in time to rise as a rain cloud to fall again on the mountain. Yes, the water blesses us and reminds us of what we are.

May 28, 2021
Favorite Wildflowers

May 23, 2021

One of the unexpected joys of visiting my daughter on Vancouver Island is recognizing wild flowers familiar to me from my childhood in Wales. Among the most spectacular is this golden broom. Real bluebells are growing on my daughter’s lot and this combined with holly made me stop in my tracks. The sweetest memory was…
On the trails of the Pacific North-West

May 22, 2021

There is something so Canadian about this notice. As I prepared for an awe-inspiring hike on the East coast of Vancouver Island this provided a chuckle. Also very Canadian but not so whimsical was the note on the trail-head notice board that zero days had elapsed since the last bear siting in the park. Since…
On the West Coast

May 18, 2021

On Vancouver Island what strikes me as so different from my home in Montreal are the trees, the shrubs in gardens, the whole green vibe of the place. “Vibe” huh? Into this West Coast thing already! I am here visiting my daughter who has just got in under the barbed wire fence that is current…
Young Lady of Spring

May 12, 2021

In the park, one hundred steps from my new home this beauty stands next to a small artificial lake. Today for the first time I saw a heron in that lake but this young tree caught my eye. I think it is a chestnut. All the flowering trees in our town are putting on their…