Effective November 14th, Heather and I have lived together at Bishop’s Landing on the Halifax waterfront. This means learning a new geography.
The starting point is walking from Pier 21 to Historic Properties along the boardwalk. In Historic Properties, Carrefour Atlantic offers an excellent selection of Atlantic Canada literature. I picked up three books to tide me over my convalescence.
Michael Pacey’s Wild Apples: A dialogue with Thoreau.
Gary Saunders’ Earthkeeping: Love notes for tough times.
Both were reviewed by Erica Butler in the current issue of Atlantic Books Today, No. 96. Under the title, Literary Human and Nature. How our stories help us understand our Place on Earth, p.8-15.
The third book is Daniel Paul’s, We are Not the Savages. This is taking much longer to read and digest.
I was reading Michael Pacey‘s poems based on quotations from Thoreau’s Journal, when Frank, an old friend from the Valley dropped off a gift, The Pocket Richard Jefferies. Passages chosen from the nature writing of Jefferies by AH Hyatt published in 1906. Jefferies’s writing is set in the British landscape. Thoreau’s writing is set in the New England landscape. Afterward, I was keen to see what Gary Saunders had to offer about the Nova Scotia landscape. Saunders lives around Old Barns, outside of Truro.
Given our forced migration into the city of Halifax, I was intrigued to read the following passage:
“The Old House: Honeymoon and after, p.193-197.
”Yet this old house is full of memories. And it has taught me plenty. To sell it now would feel like betrayal”
‘Assuming other rural householders might feel the same way I proposed a householder series to Rural Delivery editor, Dirk van Loon, himself a farmhouse dweller.”
”Make it seasonal and you’re on,” said he.
Clearly, we cannot afford to rent a furnished waterfront condo in Halifax every year. but perhaps we can find a small town, with shops within walking distance, and with good access to health services. That is the challenge ahead of us.
Certainly, other friends and colleagues have found this solution. BTW, I have upgraded my old Samsung for an iPhone. This makes me compatible with my iPad, and Patrick and Laurel for technical advice.
POSTSCRIPT
Meanwhile from Emergence Magazine, I would highly recommend the essay by Robin Wall Kimmerer. The Serviceberry. An Economy of Abundance.
I noted too that my last blog for GoGeomatics, in November 2020, addressed the same issue “A Sense of Place“. Perhaps Jon Murphy would add this blog to the next edition of the online magazine.
References
Michael Pacey, 2022, Wild Apples. A dialogue with Thoreau, Nimbus Publishing
Gary Saunders, 2022, Earthkeeping: Love Notes for Tough Times, Goose Lane Editions
Daniel Paul, 2022, We are Not the Savages, Fernwood Publishing
Robin Wall Kimmerer, 2022, The Serviceberry: An Economy of Abundance.
A .H. Hyatt, 1906, The Pocket Richard Jefferies.
Ernest Blair Experiment 