The other day, I picked up a paint swatch chart by Farrow & Ball. My youngest daughter said that we'd been living in our house for nearly three years now and nothing had changed in its interior decor. She's right by the way. Interior design is not my strong point.

I love a good ghost story. Horror not so much. But ghosts, paranormal activity, even the odd UFO encounter here and there, I feel drawn to them. I know. It all sounds so absurd, these things that go bump in the night. And yet.

The sun warms my face while shallow waves lap the shore. The bottle of cold beer I reach for is sweating small beads of condensation as it sits on a table under the dappled shade of a palm tree.

I found some notes I’d written back in February 2018 entitled Things I’ve Noticed Here — a Brit in Canada. As you’ll see, there was no particular order to my thoughts.

When I first started writing this a week ago, the rain was hammering down in vertical sheets filling the house with a dark and gloomy atmosphere. Looking out of the window today the sun is bright, the sky blue and I can see the snow capping the mountains just beyond. 

Pool, puddles and jumping. Here’s one of my favourite family photos. Looking at it again ten years later, I find myself on a thought journey about photography and creativity.