Standing on Familiar Ground
Here
Standing on the land of old
Overlooking a meadow of green and gold
Where
Familiar magpies fly around
Above their native ground
Now
Feeling my travel, weary bones unfold
Upon my home’s welcoming threshold
Ivor Steven (c) September 2025
✈️🕰️ Jet lag defeated, regeneration complete. Meet Dr Ivor, freshly restored and ready to roam the cosmos—with Frankie by his side and ‘Itmims’ humming in orbit.
Dr Ivor, My Regeneration
On the fourth day of slumber, down under,
my regeneration did finally materialise.
Every cell in my body has been restored.
Replaced with a new, healthy cell.
Presumably, my DNA has changed as well
The only thing that hasn’t changed
is my quintessential core-
that is me, Ivor the time traveler,
in my rusty spacecraft, Itmims, **
with my trusty companion, Frankie
** Itmims – Ivor’s Time Machine In Micro Space
Ivor Steven (c) September 2025
Circadian Dysrhythmia
Lying under a dreamworld of clover
Feeling like I have been run over
By yesterday’s supersonic jet
But I am not dead yet
Even though my eyes are firmly shut
Inside my head lives a snoring walnut
Ivor Steven (c) September 2025
White Roof
Travelling through the Rocky’s towers
I witnessed living proof
Of Nature’s palatial power
Her white-draped congregation stood
Silent beneath the glacial hood,
Bedazzled by the alpine’s might
Ivor Steven (c) September 2025
Cousin Lynn and Robin with Mungo and Kelly
Cousin Maureen and doggies Z-Z and Co-Co
Cousin Penny, and then Dave, Penny, and Ivor
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Here I am on a Jet Plane, somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. Therefore today’s Throwback Friday poem is a very appropriate finale piece, to coincide with my amazing adventures in Canada over the past 21 days.
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It Was Time To Leave (Revised)
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It’s time to tidy up my mess
Clean up the room and get dressed
It’s time to pack my suitcase
Fill the travel bag and vacate this place
It’s time to put on my famous rocker shoes
And walk away from this dream come true
It’s time to say heartfelt goodbyes
To these wonderful Canadian guys
It’s time for final hugs and kisses
Sad farewells and best wishes
It’s time for my usual emotional tears
Separate myself from these every day cheers
It’s time to flyaway from a land of berries and fairies
Leave this magical world of faraway families
It’s time to say a million thank you’s
For making my stay a Really Real great do
It’s time for me to travel back home
With glorious memories of this magical Astrodome
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Ivor Steven (c) September 2025
The Trestle, one of the few accessible and visible reminders of early mining and logging industries, brings history to life in such a powerful way. At the end of the 19th century, the race was on to build railways so that lumber and minerals could be more easily shipped. Construction of the Kinsol Trestle started in 1911 when a more efficient way to transport huge, old-growth timber was needed.
Designed by engineers but built by local farmers and loggers, the Kinsol Trestle is one of the tallest free-standing and most spectacular timber rail trestle structures in the world. At 614 feet in length and standing 145 feet above the salmon bearing Koksilah River, the Kinsol Trestle is an incredible structure.
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The Kinsol Trestle over Koksilah River
The view from the bridge
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Ivor Steven (c) September 2025
Late Monday morning. After visiting the incredible Kinsol Trestle, it was time to board the Mill Bay to Brentwood Bay ferry, and then drive back to cousin Lynn’s place in North Saanich.
On the ferry from Mill Bay to Brentwood Bay with Penny and Dave
Senanus Island and approaching Brentwood Bay.
After lunch at Lynn’s place in North Saanich, it was a fond farewell to Penny and Dave, who headed back to Duncan and Maple Bay (Mount Tzouhalen) …
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Ivor Steven (c) September 2025
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Sunday we drove up the coast, not too far away, for lunch and live music at the Osborne Bay Pub. And I meet a group of Penny and Dave’s friends, Nancy & Joe, Joy, Jane & David, Pauline & Patrick, and Hermann. (Yep, they all received one of Ivor’s poetry cards)
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The Tourist Has a Rest Day
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Where else would I want to be?
On a rainy Sunday afternoon
But at the rustic Osborne Bay Pub
Overlooking the opal blue bay
For my Canadian tour’s rest day
There, listening to live jazz music
From the talented, Lady O and the O’men
Enjoying the Irish Guinness beer on tap
Then sipping on a Cabernet Sauvignon
From Smoky Bay, South Eastern Australia
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Ivor Steven (c) September 2025
Featured Image Above: A street art mural from the township of ‘Chemainus’ on the way to Nanaimo
Today’s poem below, is the one I gave to ‘Sandra’, my cousin Penny’s, sister-in-law, at our luncheon meet up in Nanaimo
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Above the Mist
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The train of peace and serenity
Has been sliding from futurity to eternity
But now, atop Mount Tzouhalen
Above the misty column of stardom
And above the world’s harbouring problems
I am in another home away from home
Within the Cowichan tribe’s honeycomb
Savouring nature’s harmonious thunderdme
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Ivor Steven (c) September 2025
An awesome day with my Canadian family (cousins) at the incredible Butchart Gardens.
My cousins, Reeny, Lynn, and Penny. The family photo, Maureen, Robin, Lynn, Ivor, Penny, and Dave
Barbara (our travelling companion from Wainwright), Maureen. Me with my tall cousins, Penny, and Lynn
My favourite blooms from the rose garden
The three Sturgeon’s fountain
The spectacular Sunken Garden
Totem poles in the garden
The Italian garden
The jade Japanese Garden
A giant redwood tree
This article is becoming long and “boring”
Leaving the gorgeous Butchart Gardens I walked past a ‘Turbo Snail’
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Ivor Steven (c) Sept 2025
Ivor.Plumber/Poet 