CV Collective Intro
INSTRUCTIONS FOR LIVING A LIFE: PAY ATTENTION. BE ASTONISHED. TELL ABOUT IT. – MARY OLIVER In the process of editing this magazine, I’m often awestruck by the stories that appear in my email inbox. Each one contains some delightful surprise: an insightful sentence, an elegant metaphor, a deadpan phrase that makes me laugh-snort. Sally Podmore’s […]
Words by Jen GroundwaterPhoto by Ron Pogue
CV Collective Opening Introduction Winter
When I was a kid growing up in the ’70s and ’80s in Montreal, stores were closed on Sundays. Every single store. Every single Sunday. Sure, at the dépanneurs (corner stores) you could get milk, candy, smokes, and maybe some Wonder Bread, but there wasn’t much other opportunity to buy stuff. The Lord’s Day Act […]
Words by Jen GroundwaterPhoto by Jenn Dykstra
CV Collective Fall Opening Introduction
Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. – Søren Kierkegaard, 1843 I don’t usually go around quoting Danish philosophers, but I think Kierkegaard was on to something. The longer version of the quote includes this thought: “Life at any given moment cannot really ever be fully understood.” This creed, if […]
Words by Jen GroundwaterPhoto by Ron Pogue
CV Collective Summer
If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably driven past the community halls north of Courtenay along Highway 19A many times without giving them a second thought. They’ve seen better days, and they’re not architecturally marvellous. They’re just … halls. We go into them for lots of reasons: craft fairs, yoga workshops, watershed presentations, dog-training classes, […]
Words by Jen Groundwater
CV Collective Intro Summer
When LOVE was suggested as our summer theme, I jumped on it. I planned to write an inspiring intro that would bring the whole valley together in shared appreciation for how blessed we are to live here. I would remind every reader that our time on earth is short, we are more similar than we […]
Words by Jen GroundwaterPhoto by Jennifer Brazil
CV Collective Spring
When Kermit the Frog said, “It’s not easy being green,” he wasn’t talking about investing, but he might as well have been. It’s a complicated topic to cover on just one page, especially when our readership runs the gamut from financial experts to people who don’t invest for the future because they need all their […]
Words by Jen GroundwaterPhoto by Jenn Dykstra
CV Collective Intro Spring
If you’ve ever spent time with a toddler, you’ll know they ask “Why?” about seven thousand times a day. When my first son was about two or three, my husband and I called him the “Why Guy” because that was definitely his favourite word. And no matter what our answer was, he’d reply with yet […]
Words by Jen GroundwaterPhoto by Sam Rae Harriss
CV Collective Winter
Imagine noticing smoke in the distance, then, less than ten minutes later, your property is fully consumed by flames and there’s no time to do anything but flee. Imagine watching, helpless, as your home and community burn to the ground in less than an hour. Imagine wondering where your loved ones are, spending days fearful […]
Words by Bevin Clempson& Jenny Deters
CV Collective Intro Winter
Everyone remembers the first time they met Thomas Dunn. He was a rare individual who made an impression—mostly positive, sometimes abrasive, always fun—with people he met. Born in Wigan, England, Thomas came to Canada in 1990 to be a ski bum after serving in the British military for six years. He landed first in Jasper, […]
Words by Jen GroundwaterPhoto by Nik Dunn
CV Collective Fall
Things are changing in the Comox Valley: our population is growing as more people move here in appreciation of the Valley’s natural qualities and lifestyle. And our population is aging: the proportion of seniors here is higher than the provincial, or even the Island, average. In general, Canadians are living longer due largely to the […]
Words by Jen GroundwaterPhoto by Marcie Dumais
CV Collective Fall Intro
I’m so glad you’re here. As many readers know, each issue is part of a cycle with four linked themes. COVID-19 has made the 2021 cycle our most challenging yet. We’ve worked hard to produce four issues with themes that reflect the evolution of the pandemic: Resilience would get us through a dark, uncertain winter. Renewal would come with […]
Words by Jen GroundwaterPhoto by Scott Bell
CV Collective Summer
A few years ago, a fog rolled in on me, gradually placing a dim, grey mist over my view in all directions. I didn’t choose for it to happen, and I didn’t notice as it began to settle in. But eventually, it obscured my life, so that each day seemed long and dreary, like something […]
Words by Jen GroundwaterPhoto by Jarrett Lindal
CV Collective Opening Introduction Summer
After so many months of navigating an ever-changing pandemic landscape of worries, warnings, restrictions, and rules, I think it’s safe to say most of us are feeling pretty damn depleted. The low-battery warnings that lit up in our minds and bodies months ago can’t be easily solved with a charger cord and outlet. So we’ve […]
Words by Jen GroundwaterPhoto by Jenn Dykstra
CV Collective Opening Introduction Spring
Welcome to the 25th volume of our ongoing love letter to the Comox Valley. In 2014, Ross Bodenmann had the honour of writing the first editor’s introduction, which he closed by saying, “Come in, get comfortable, and welcome to the collective.” Since then, we’ve added dozens of contributors and the invitation still stands. We want […]
Words by Jen GroundwaterPhoto by Jennifer Brazil
CV Collective Winter
It began in a small kitchen on a small island, with peanut butter, honey, and oats. It was 1993 when Trish Vet’s business got, ahem, rolling. After years of refining the recipes, she began selling her homemade Hornby Island Energy Balls, which quickly became a popular item at the bustling Co-op store in the heart […]
Words by Jen GroundwaterPhoto by Josh Dooley
CV Collective Intro Winter
I began to write this letter on a rainy, blustery day in early November—possibly not the best time to reflect on resilience. With the ongoing news about the pandemic, institutional racism, and the American election, not to mention the onset of that familiar seasonal gloom, everything felt pretty dark. To answer the question in the […]
Words by Jen GroundwaterPhoto by Scott Bell
CV Collective Fall
On a sunny Saturday afternoon, Fossil Beach Farm is a-bustle with activity. People are sitting at long picnic tables on a wide lawn, tasting the half-dozen ciders that are made on the premises. Some have dogs at their feet. Kids are running around and bald eagles circle over the cow pasture and open fields. In […]
Words by Jen GroundwaterPhotos by Kali Wexler Photography
CV Collective Fall Intro
Early in 2020, our editorial team envisioned the general look and feel of the covers and themes for the year ahead: four issues, four seasons, four elements. It would be elegant, inspiring, and simple. Of course, COVID-19 blew that up. There was no chance of producing a summer issue as we—along with the rest of […]
Words by Jen GroundwaterPhoto by Allan Sawchuck
CV Collective Fall Intro
When I wrote the last Editor’s Letter, things were still reasonably normal in the Comox Valley. But some time between our spring issue heading off to print and the time it was supposed to launch, the arrival of COVID-19 changed our world forever. We all know how disruptive the pandemic has been in many serious […]
Words by Jen GroundwaterPhoto by Kyle Hansen
CV Collective Spring
Musical wizardry is something I’ve always admired, and after meeting Comox Valley luthier (guitar maker) Wyatt Wilkie, I now understand that the magic of music begins long before any musician plays a single note. In the case of an archtop guitar—Wilkie’s specialty—it begins when an artisan looks at a slab of spruce and sees the […]
Words by Jen GroundwaterPhotos by Sara Kempner
CV Collective Intro Spring
Ah, spring. It’s the time when the light begins to spill over our valley again—a little longer every day—and the air is filled with possibility. April showers bring May flowers? Please. We’ve gotten through a whole winter full of cloudbursts. And the flowers started blooming in February. We’re Islanders. That rule does not apply. My […]
Words by Jen GroundwaterPhoto by Vince Kehn
CV Collective Who Winter
The first thing you need to know about Glen Alwin Farm is that nobody involved is named Glen. Or Alwin. The people who run the show are Joanna (Jo) Smith and her daughter, Helen Nixon—the third and fourth generations of the Smith family. With the same bright, blue-eyed gaze and can-do, no-guff attitude, Jo and […]
Words by Jen GroundwaterPhoto by Jenn Dykstra
CV Collective Intro Winter
Almost all the ancient civilizations identified four similar basic elements: earth, air, fire, and water. I believe there’s a part within all of us—even in our modern times, where many of us are disconnected from the seasons and cycles of the earth—that resonates with this concept. Think about it: earth corresponds to winter and north, […]
Words by Jen GroundwaterPhoto by Dave Prothero
CV Collective Fall
PETER GEE: CONNECTOR If you recently arrived in the Comox Valley and found a family doctor with little trouble, you can thank Dr. Peter Gee. As Site Director of the Strathcona Family Medicine residency site for UBC Vancouver Island, this genial UK-born family physician has had an enormous influence on the area’s patient-care situation. The […]
Words by Jen GroundwaterPhotos by Jenn Dykstra
CV Collective Spring
ERIC RUSH: EXPLORER To put it mildly, Eric Rush is pretty fond of road biking. A member of Courtenay’s Riverway Dental Racing team, he regularly puts in weekly 100-kilometre rides. But in June 2018, he took his habit up a notch by riding across Canada—in three weeks. Leaving home with little fanfare, Rush pedalled more […]
Words by Jen GroundwaterFeatured photo by April Bencze
CV Collective Winter
On a late October day, a pale sun shines through sparse golden leaves, making sparkles on the Orford River. I know there are four grizzly bears just across the water from where I stand, because I saw them seconds ago. They are less than a hundred metres away. Now the bears—one solitary male, plus a […]
Words by Jen GroundwaterPhotos by Jenn Dykstra
