Saturday was a dreary wet day. In The Reader, I noticed a book signing at Endless Shores in Bridgetown. It was a good excuse for a short drive. We met Cate Wilding. She lives in Port Lorne and has written three novels.
While at the bookstore, I picked up a flier ‘Great Reading Ideas for the Holidays’. It features Allison Maher’s “The Last of Firsts“, DJ Wiseman’s “Cara Rosa” and Sheila Graham-Smith’s “The View from Errisbeg“.
This set me thinking, about the relationship between authors and landscape and goes back to my abiding interest in Ernest Buckler and ‘The Mountain and the Valley’ (read my post The Mountain and the Valley).
What is the relationship between ‘place’ and our perception of ‘geography’?
Given the physical location of COGS (The Centre of Geographic Sciences) in Annapolis County, would there be merit in a book on ‘The Geography of Annapolis County’? (see earlier post Geobiography and the Annapolis Valley)
How would I define Geography?
Going back to my days at the University of Birmingham, it would include:
Physical Geography: Geomorphology, Biogeography, Climatology.
Economic Geography: Transportation, Settlement Infrastructure, Land Use
Resource Management: Agriculture, Forestry, Mining, Fishing.
Historical Geography, Regional Geography plus the various methodologies: Cartography, GIS, and Remote Sensing.
Saturday evening, I shared my thoughts over a beer with John Wightman. In particular, I was interested in the different trajectories of the towns: Annapolis Royal, Bridgetown, and Middleton, and the lack of a coherent vision.
I was also interested in the definition of the region. What are the real differences between Annapolis County and Kings County? Would it be better to look at the Annapolis Valley as a Bioregional entity? (see also Island of Hope: the Annapolis Valley, Rewilding the Annapolis Valley, A Vision for the Annapolis Region and The Valley Brand)
John, correctly, expressed a concern that today, rather than think in terms of a book, we need to think in terms of an ‘online electronic presence’.
This led me to Bridgetown on a rainy Sunday afternoon. I wanted to photograph the site of the new building at Mountain Lea Lodge.
What are the implications for the economic development of Bridgetown? If the Liberal party was successful in the provincial election, would we see a new hospital in town? Could Bridgetown become a centre of excellence in the long-term care for the elderly and infirmed? Would this attract a new generation of healthcare professionals to the Annapolis Valley? Would they be interested in understanding the Geography of Annapolis County? Would this expand the course offerings and the student population at the Annapolis Campus of the NSCC?
As always, comments welcome.
Ernest Blair Experiment 