Rural

Journals have fascinated me all of my life, I've longed to be the kind of person who managed to document their life in words and illustrations...someone creative, and visually inspired Like many things in life, I've had good intentions, although the more practical side of it seems to fall short. Sure, I've started a journal or two, or three....they seem to falter somewhere after day 7...maybe you are like me and you only get a few weeks or months written before real life steps in and distracts you. But a visual journal gives me a chance to share what it feels like to hike the nearby mountains, our breath foggy in the crisp cold air. To capture the sunlight peering through the towering branches of the fir trees. To record the early morning grind of rubber tires during a bike ride down a deserted and dusty country road. Wheels crunching on the gravel left behind by the snowplow, birds chirping in the trees overhead... a glimpse of a coyote a flash of amber dashing...

Dear Winter... I think we need to see other seasons... Yes, I know our love for each other was a deep as the snow that's fallen almost every day since November...but lately you've been smothering me.  I long for green shoots, and branches that are budding, and I need to see the ground once again.  Dear Winter, let's break up It's not as if you weren't faithful in sticking around, it's just that we are spending too much time together...how about we give each other some space. I've started to take you for granted, being with you all this time..and I'm finding my eyes straying towards Spring, dreaming of days outside without your chilly grasp...and I have to wonder what else there is out there for me. Winter, this isn't goodbye I can tell you don't do goodbyes easily...but, maybe we could set up a meeting once again after Autumn comes to visit. I'm looking forward to Spring charming us...

Each morning when I look out the window at the vast coating of white that has been hiding our landscape for too long...I think two things to myself. We have no choice but to outwait Winter It's only going to last as long as it does, and two, I can either complain or do something about it... There's not much we can do to change the weather, it's here for as long as it wishes. Leaving this cold climate for a warmer one isn't an option, but I can look go outside and look for changes in the landscape. T here are subtle signs of spring starting to show up  Fresh alder catkins are springing from previously bare branches, newly littered with melting snowdrops that have fallen from the sky. Fluffy pussy willows, which had burst open from their winter hibernation before retreating  back to dormancy, and sullenly shivering on the bare branches are  once again showing sheer delight over the thought of spring.  In the forest, the t...

A Snow Globe World When you live in a world that looks like a snow globe 5 months of the year, it's almost inconceivable to think that there are people living in places who have never seen the white stuff. People who have never felt the delicious tickle of the first snowflake on their tongue, or been the first to lay in an untouched blanket of white to make a snow angel... Or felt the burning rash of snowy cold on soft childhood wrists when you lost a strung mitten from your hand, the too short string still travelling up your sleeve around the back of your neck, and down the opposite arm to the frozen fingers doing little to keep the mitt on. You Spin Me Right Round Baby Those who were never sent outside as a child so tightly wrapped with bundled layers of hand me down jackets, gloves, toque, and multicoloured scarfs twirled around your neck that you could no longer bend your arms or do much more than waddle slowly towards the door..only to be told to go o...

Today RURAL magazine is reaching a milestone... Not only are we releasing the special   free digital issue of Winter Love  celebrating the beauty of our Wintery season.        We're also cheering about the publication of an introductory  print issue.   Talk about happy dancing.... Having this printed copy in my hands is beyond my wildest dreams...  it's an amazing feeling.  All those hours of sitting at the computer, the emails back and forth with our contributors, the planning, designing, proofreading, the times when the challenge seemed to be more than I had bargained for....was it worth it? Yes, totally and unequivocally YES! It's all contained in these lovely oh so beautiful pages of our special edition called Winter Love.  With gorgeous thick paper pages and a beautiful sturdy cover, it's filled with lush  photography and words. Our contributors are truly amazing, they worked hard t...

Thought we would gather together a few of the shots from our Instagram feed, and other social sites and share a bit of our winter world. It's still deep winter here in the Okanagan, but RURAL magazine's special issue will be available at the end of the month. Check back here for more details to come. Jen @ RURAL magazine

A chill early morning balanced between the time of Autumn's reign and Winter's wrath. The lake sounding it's siren call in the blue hour. Footsteps slipping on frozen shards of grass, as I made my way down the path. Unwelcome  presence announced by echoes of bird alarms, quacks and honks erupting from waterfowl edging the lake. Still cold lake, dampened by slow-moving mist smooth reflection broken by the splashing of feathered wings practicing takeoff and landing skills. Surrounding mountains cradling the new sun before releasing it into the sky... Soul catching moments made into forever memories. Jen @ RURAL magazine About these photos:  Taken  in the early morning at a local Okanagan lake, just before the sun  peaked over the mountains. The migrating Canada Geese, and Trumpeter swans swimming just out of reach of my camera lens, mere small dots on the lakeside.  The time between Au...