Menu

From the Parking Lot: August 3 – 8, 2025

August 8, 2025 By Uncategorized

Crossing Jervis Inlet on my way to the Tla’Amin lands.

The weekly summary of notes, links and thoughts that passed through my world.

Also I wrote some longer pieces this week including a review of some friends’ play, an invitation to improve your out of office messages, and some thoughts on how building resource megaprojects is not the same thing as strengthening a country and looking after people.

August 8: you are not as old as you seem to be

August 8, 2025 By Notes, Uncategorized

I’ve always thought that my internal age was 23, which puts me younger in my own mind than both of my children are now. Which is a very odd sensation now. At any rate, I haven’t seen such a good set of thoughts on aging as these 27 Notes on Growing Older(er) from Ian Leslie. The sensation of time stopping inside while it continues on elsewhere is almost impossible to capture. Leslie does it.

Lately, becasue I notice these things, I’ve seen different articles about the inner core of the Earth and its interaction with the surface of our planet. This article in Quanta today summarizes the research and the findings from the smart people working on all of this.

Last night we watch Bob Trevino Likes It, a touching film (and a bit of a tear jerker, I’m not afraid to admit) about a woman who is becoming estranged from her father and finds another man with the same name and befriends him. It’s worth watching, and through the film I found myself going down the rabbit hole of facts about co-star John Leguizamo, who I know nothing about. He starred in the 1990s drag film To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar where he looked substantial young than 30 or 24 years old. He has a fascinating bio, as an actor, playwright and activist, and to my eye seems to be one of the really good ones in the world.

One advantage to being actually 57 is that I got to see The Shuffle Demons in their heyday in the late 1980s and early 1990s in Toronto. I’m glad to know that there are still folks out there having maximum fun with energetic jazz traditions in an ensemble context. Go into your weekend grooving along with Dirty Catfish Brass Band.

Make your out of office message better

August 6, 2025 By Featured

The current image has no alternative text. The file name is: IMG_8309-scaled.jpeg

The summer morning light on the east wall of Átl’ka7tsem/Howe Sound.

When I set a vacation responder on my email during times of travel or rest, I try to make it useful. That often means sharing a recipe.

Here’s the current out of office message…it’s a little easter egg for folks who read the automated responses:

While I’m away I am going to be eating salmon, because it is salmon season on the coast and there are Sockeyes and Chinooks to be had. Here’s my go to barbecue recipe.

Get a filet, fresh if possible. Season it with salt and pepper.

Heat your grill so it’s hot, then place the fish skin side down on the grill over minimum indirect heat and let it cook slowly. If you can keep it going at about 250 F you’re good.

Cook it until the fat just begins to render out of the thickest part of the fish. If you cook it too long the fat will all render out and the fish will be too dry. 10 minutes might be all you need.

In the meantime make a gremolata. This is easy:

1 small bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley (about ½ cup chopped)
2 tbsp fresh dill, chopped (or substitute tarragon or add some other herbs if you have them like rosemary and thyme or a bit of basil. You cannot go wrong here.)
1 clove garlic, finely minced (or smashed to a paste)
Zest of 1 lemon
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp capers, rinsed and chopped
3–4 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 tbsp of mustard

When the salmon comes off the grill slather the gremolata on top and serve.

You don’t have to send me an email to get this recipe. Enjoy it.

August 6, 2025: magic and the rain returns

August 6, 2025 By Notes

Sweet rain has fallen over the past day. An atmospheric river has developed over the coast and is dumping healthy amounts of rain on our parched gardens and nearby wildfires. The low is clinging to the mountains, and everything is a beautiful side of grey and dark green. For a pluviophile like me this is manna from heaven. I’m high on petrichor and delighted by the change in palette. Summer is lovely here on the coast and I love the sunshine and calm days, but rain makes me feel alive.

It’s always refreshing to read jazz metaphors for facilitation and leadership from actual jazz musicians. My friend Amy Mervak is both and today she posted a little book of her writings and reflections on learning jazz and developing as a musician and how that relates to leadership. Give it a read.

Have you met Carisa Hendrix yet? She is a Calgary-based magician, who also performs as Lucy Darling. For some reason her shorts creeped into my You Tube recommendations, especially clips of her character Lucy Darling who is the vehicle for her social commentary in what she calls the “slowest moving artistic genre to address the zeitgeist.” Lucy Darling’s crowd work is lovely. It always starts with “What is your name?” followed by “And whhhhhhhhat do you do?” and it goes from there. She is smart and focused and absolutely dedicated to her craft and so thoughtful about what she is doing and why. Check her out.

Another slinky Internet character is Keystone the cat. Keystone lives in Deep Bay, a neighbourhood on Bowen Island near the Cove and he is the most extroverted and beloved cat on the Island. Keystone stories are legion. He loves people intensely, and he cheers up everyone that he meets, so much so that a friend nicknames him “The Seratonin Cat”. He has his own Facebook page. He even has place of pride on the mural of Bowen Island that greets visitors to our island.

August 5, 2025: surviving enshittification

August 5, 2025 By Notes

Everyone’s offering their thoughts on enshittification these days. I notice this phenomenon…seems like there are conversations that go on which I tap into for a bit before the move along. Makes me wonder if I’m just being carried along in the river of thought. Well, Dave Pollard would argue that indeed I am, and today he has a post on the phenomena of eshittification, and true to his character he also has a useful analysis and remedy for it, in the form of some design principles and a recommendation to the excellent search engine, Kagi, which does what search engines used to do.

Every sector is caving to the enshittification. And every sector has its mavericks that are hacking it back to human-centred dignity. Philanthropy and youth sports are like that and Will Cromack is that maverick. Today his post at The Art of Football is a brilliant summation of what he has done to change both of these sectors (and to change them mutually) and it’s a summary of his life’s work. If you know me, you will know why I love this guy so much.

Sometimes we survive it all? To be clear, I think climate collapse is a different beast than the other collapses human beings have visited upon ourselves in our short history on this planet, but this piece by Luke Kemp at least gets me going into my day with a sense of “okay, but, maybe…” Good enough for now.