The question came for our daughter. “I have an opportunity to spend a semester in Guatemala learning Spanish, studying the history and culture of the Mayan people, doing part of my practicum. Should I go?”

With that Trudy and I thought - maybe we should go to Guatemala for our 30th anniversary trip? We started researching Guatemala.

Small towns incubate creativity. This is one of my not-so-low-stakes hot-takes that I hold.

Factor number one—its lack of proximity to modern entertainment breeds a necessity to create your own amusement. The small town I grew up in had one general store/gas station, a post office, and a small hardware store. There was a 2-room elementary school and three churches.

“In English you have a saying, ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’. Here in Antigua we have a saying, ‘Don’t judge a place by its door.”

Our shuttle driver introduced us to Antigua with these words.

It only happens twice a year.

Prior to the settlement of the prairie provinces in Canada, surveyors divided up the land into sections. The imperial mile was used to create a grid which follows the latitudinal lines. Thus, when roads were being created they tend to follow those straight lines separating the properties.

As I made my way to the middle of the field to capture a bevy of swans feeding in the midst of a gaggle of geese, I heard a noise behind and above me. Coming in to land were two more swans, wings out-stretched, calling out to the others that were on the ground. As they came to rest on the ground, the two swans began the dance.

Telling the story of why this shot was on my bucket list of shots I wanted to create while on our trip to Guatemala.

Story about finding a great horned owl in an abandoned farm yard near Hodgeville, Saskatchewan. We were not sure what we would find when we arrived there but what was evident was the stories around every corner.