Monique Keiran

4 days ago | timescolonist.com | Monique Keiran

The recent turmoil has not only made us reconsider our purchasing patterns, vacation plans and menus, it has also re-ignited the concept of Victory gardens here in the region. Victory gardens were a movement that turned households and communities into backyard farmers. They were implemented during the 20th century’s two world wars to provide fresh produce to local communities, when food was otherwise needed to feed armies and shipping was threatened by U-boats.

2 weeks ago | timescolonist.com | Monique Keiran

Spring is the season of the birds and the bees. Some people may snigger at that statement, but it’s relevant on multiple levels. At this time of year, birds migrate to their summer territories and start building nests, and bees buzz early blossoms. The activity is a prelude to mating and reproducing — the suite of activities that comprise avian and apiarian amorosity, a.k.a. making more birds and bees.

1 month ago | timescolonist.com | Monique Keiran

Tornadoes, high winds, blinding dust storms, floods, fast-moving wildfires — U.S. states from Pennsylvania to Texas to Missouri endured near-apocalyptic weather last weekend. More than 40 people died. Hundreds of homes were destroyed in the fires and tornadoes. Hundreds of thousands remained without power into Monday. Although storms are not uncommon in the U.S. in March, climate change has intensified and broadened their extent and impacts. The irony is extreme.

1 month ago | timescolonist.com | Monique Keiran

Winter is avalanche season in B.C.’s mountains. January’s drought created surface hoar, faceted snow and crusts at the high-mountain snowpack’s surface. February’s snowstorms then deposited a denser, slab-like 30-to-100-centimetre-thick layer of snow atop those older, weakened layers. When parts of those overlying snow slabs unstick from steep slopes, the resulting slides can bulldoze everything in their paths. Avalanche Canada’s Feb.

2 months ago | timescolonist.com | Monique Keiran

Take a deep breath. As the letters published in these pages attest, Donald Trump’s comments about Canada becoming the 51st state are deeply offensive. But rest assured, annexing Canada would be so difficult and so oversetting to the current balance of power in the U.S., it won’t happen. For one thing, forcing a foreign territory to join the U.S. is against the U.S. Constitution.