I regularly tune in to CBC Radio’s “Bookends” whose tagline is “when the book ends, the conversation begins.” Clever. This program replaced “Writers & Company,” of which I was a longtime fan, when Eleanor Wachtel retired in 2023 following thirty-three years on the air. The host of this new version […]
Wendi Stewart – Wendi with an ‘eye’
Wendi lives in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley, but the farm on Rainy River in Crozier will always be her home. MEADOWLARK, her debut novel released September 15, is published by NeWest Press of Edmonton. She is the mother of four daughters who did the unforgivable: they grew up. http://wendistewart.writersresidence.com
I have long been a fan of Rebecca Solnit, and her books are prominent on my shelf. Men Explain Things to Me, published in 2014, is dog-eared and read repeatedly. Solnit has a wisdom that comes from having been a witness to and victim of domestic violence as a child. […]
I like ironing. It sounds like a mundane task, but let me explain. My grandmother came to our farm when I was very young, and she stayed for a prolonged visit each time she came. She didn’t do a lot of talking; in fact, in my child memory, I have […]
I met Dr. Vincent Lam in 2006 at a Humber College writing retreat where he was a guest speaker, sharing his experience of having published his first book, Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures. Lam spoke of being a ship’s doctor on an Arctic cruise where he met Margaret Atwood, one of […]
The book Braiding Sweetgrass sits on my shelf, always at the ready. I often pull it down and open it to randomly read any passage that appears on the page. It is that kind of book. I also have the audiobook version, on which Robin Wall Kimmerer’s voice calms any […]
I am the first one to admit I am not a good traveller, certainly not a good air traveller and the reasons are many. I remember an adage from eons ago that went something like “time to spare – go by air” and that certainly is fitting today with the […]
If you are looking for a powerful read, may I recommend Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane, a British writer widely thought of as one of the most influential contemporary voices in nature writing. You may have to wait a few weeks yet, as this book is only available […]
I recently saw an old clip from the Dick Cavett show in 1972, 50 plus years ago. It kept popping up on social media, so I assumed it wanted my attention. I watched it several times, to reacquaint myself with the importance of the message in Lily Tomlin’s significant act […]
If you’re anything like me, you know very little about luffa (or loofah as it is sometimes spelled). I recently attended a talk at our local garden club given by Cindy Lou Oulton, founder and passionate hardworking grower of Annapolis Valley Luffa. I was pleasantly surprised. I was under the […]
Many fascinating animals share this planet with us. I would say they are all fascinating in their own way. I find the one who bears the title of “marvel of the ocean” especially interesting. That would be the octopus. The octopus has many characteristics that make it unique and it […]
The oral histories of Indigenous peoples have long been a record of where and how they lived, the wisdom embedded securely in those messages passed down by mouth generation after generation. The recent finding of the 11,000-year-old Indigenous settlement near Sturgeon Lake First Nation, about five km north of Prince […]
We’ve just come through another seasonal dump of heavy snow here in Nova Scotia as I write this. I managed to dig my way out this morning with snowblower and shovel. I only use my snowblower when desperate times call for desperate measures. I prefer my shovel, telling myself I’m in a fresh […]
