The Invermere Fog

By Linden Ivey

Two weeks of disconnection.  Two weeks of isolation.  Two weeks at a cottage in the unknown.  Follow Linden Ivey's adventure into the world of psychedelics, spirituality, art, music, and the conflict between chaos and order.  If you enjoy the open minded writing styles of Kerouac, Ginsberg, Thompson, Morrison, and the beat poets, then you will love Linden Ivey's search to the perimeter of life and the mind.  Completely self published and free from corporate maggots, this novel is a breath of fresh air.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Linden Ivey
• Release date: May 11, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393122203

Book preview

- We are not humans having a spiritual experience, rather we are spirits having a human one.

- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

I've been here already two days, two days of silence, two days of laziness, and two days of disconnection - overall an amazing time except for one problem - my music gear and old 1960's era typewriter is as silent as the dead.  Everything hooked up and ready to roll but one thing is missing - the human touch - and unfortunately, I'm still lying on the couch staring at this fucking phone, staring like a priest into the madness of eternity.  Nothing on the other end except the bright light of pixelated hope.  Hope of a connection, hope of a response, hope of a spiritual ignition.

The phone is different out here in the bush.  How?  Well it has been robbed of its usual qualities, no internet, no data, and no assimilation of the mind to the typical societal dopamine bliss.  It literally has been reduced back to a phone.  Only calls and texting as there are no networks or Wi-Fi available.  I tell yah, there's one good thing about the mind sucking phone, it's the 3000 songs on it - all different genres - from classical orchestras to the heaviest headbanging metal you have ever heard. 

I drop that little mind sucker on the coffee table and look around at this old cottage, amazed by the woodworking craftsmanship that made this many years ago.  One of the most amazing things about this cottage is the complete deafening silence.  Not a person, not a city, not a sound of a car, not a plane, nothing except the occasion wisp of wind touching the windows.  I guess that's the reason why I came out here, to disconnect.  I guess that's why I'm in Invermere in the dead of winter. 

- Day 3 -

I wake up early and make a good breakfast consisting of coffee, eggs, and toast with bacon.  The fat from the bacon is what I'm craving, it's what I possibly need or just actually want to lie to myself as the brain can play tricks sometimes.  The mind can create what the soul cannot feel and what the soul can feel is what the mind cannot see.  While I eat, I look outside to the great morning sun as it cascades through the trees.  Damn, it looks like it's going to be a great day.  This is the reason why I came out here, this is the true earth beauty.  I guess it's time to get out there and take a walk - not alone - but with my beautiful companion Zaya.  She's a chocolate lab, 13 years old and still filled with loads of energy and loads of life.  The day is like a painting with a touch of snow mixed with the morning deep blue sky.  I grab her leash and we are out the door and off on an adventure, just the two of us with no neighbors except for an occasional grey squirrel running outside across the deck.

Now that the sun has risen above the thousand-foot peaks that surround this peaceful cottage I see that the only tracks on the road is ours from the last two days.  Such a peaceful image of footprints exiting into the distance, no sign of anything else.  No humans, just empty buildings waiting for the warm summer air, and the city tourists who escape for short weekend getaways.  I now reside outside that society and the society I have left behind.  A few weeks is the goal to be out here, a few weeks away from everything, a few weeks disconnected, and a few weeks with no direction. 

––––––––

The rarely used cottage is owned by my two uncles, and they've owned it for more than thirty years, originally bought in the 90's and never used in the winters, the old 70's a-frame design is built with all wood timbers and planks.  It is located on the outskirts of the quiet town of Invermere and tucked within a small community of similar vacation properties.  In the summer there's a beautiful beach down the road and the winter has a few world class mountain resorts within a 45-minute drive.  For the most part the town is vacant in the winter and crazy busy during the summer, that's why when I was asked on a whim if I want to use it, I immediately thought this is the opportunity I need to get back to music and writing.  This is the spark that I need.  This is the new door I was looking for, a chance to break outside and create.  This is an opportunity I simply could not pass up.

––––––––

After breakfast and a quick walk, I return and take a deep breath and sit down at the typewriter.  I've placed it on the kitchen table for easy access at all times so I can write when inspiration hits, but the words are still vacant, just plain boring text.  Nothing comes to mind.  No ideas, just silence on the paper mimicking the silence in the room mimicking the silence in my mind - the silence of a lost soul.  I stare for about 30 minutes out the window almost falling back asleep and finally just smile and grab my guitar - a Taylor that I purchased about ten years ago.  It cost me a bunch but keeps me going through all those peaks and valleys of life - and it always sounds great.  I wonder who is the better companion, Taylor or Zaya?  Yeah, yeah, I know, it's pretty obvious. All it takes is just one look over to Zaya's big precious brown eyes and it's a huge win by a long shot.

I decide to turn on my old 2008 Studio desktop computer that I brought out and I que up the mic and just start out jamming tunes by some of my favorite artists.  There's a little Pearl Jam, the Doors, Nirvana, Radiohead and then Ben Harper.  Some Ben E. King with Van Morrison and of course a bit of Tragically Hip.  A cottage in Canada and The Hip are a mandatory in these parts and possibly a mandatory for my generation.  Next I sing parts of