A New Year

With the approach of the New Year, our thoughts go towards travel. Fortunately, the mail strike is over; this week, we received our new passports.

Before Christmas, we stopped by the Middleton library. Heather found three books of interest. This allowed me to start reading, No Place for a Woman: The Life and Newfoundland stories of Ella Manuel, compiled and edited by Antony Berger. Berger, her son, is a Geologist.

Heather and I met Ella Manuel in the early 1970’s. Heather was employed as a seasonal Park Naturalist. I was a Geographer, teaching at Memorial University in St Johns. Conducting field work on the west coast, and leading ten day back-packing trips into the Long Range Mountains for Black Feather Adventures. This was a company, owned by Wally Schaber,operating out of Ottawa.

Ella owned a house in Woody Point. She had been instrumental in community support for the National Park.

From the back cover, by Annie Proulx:

“Newfoundland’s international reputation as a treasure house of remarkable storytellers is enhanced by this rich account of the life and career of the unforgettable Ella Manuel, twentieth century writer and radio personality. Her story is told with wit and affection by her son, Tony Berger.”

For Heather and I this book brings back so many memories of the landscape, our life, and the people of the West coast of Newfoundland.

Acknowledgements

Heather has shared the journey, from the time we met in Gros Morne National Park. Edward is away, hence less images or links.

References (from the Middleton library)

Antony Berger (ed), 2020, No Place for a Woman:The Life and Newfoundland Stories of Ella Manuel, Breakwater Books.

Pamela Mulloy, 2024, Off the Tracks: A meditation on train journeys in the time of no travel, ECW Press. https://ecwpress.com/products/off-the-tracks

Joan Didion, 2021, Let me tell you What I Mean, Alfred Knopf. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/666038/let-me-tell-you-what-i-mean-by-joan-didion/