Category: biographical sketch

I received a phone call from Pam Ellis at the Bridgetown library. Last time I was there, I noticed a commemorative shelf of Ernest Buckler books and medals. The librarian encouraged me to request Gregory Cook’s (ed.) Ernest Buckler: Critical Views on Canadian Writers, published in 1972 through inter-library loan. It arrived this week.

The collection of criticism addresses all three of Buckler’s books: The Mountain and the Valley (1952), The Cruelest Month (1963) and Ox Bells and Fireflies (1968).

The copy on the shelf was donated by John Montgomerie, dated 1975. John is also a member of EBLES (Ernest Buckler Literary Event Society). Only after reading Cook’s book did I fully appreciate that Buckler only wrote three books.

This serves to illustrate common values, plus illustrate alternative use relationships to the Acadian forest landscape.

Afterthought.

Peter, my brother, sent me this audio link from the BBC. Hope you enjoy it, as much as I did.
Sacred Cows and Sushi Rolls

Postscript

Congratulations to Lunn’s Mill beer company on their fourth birthday. It’s good to support local.

Acknowledgements

Pam Ellis at Bridgetown library. Unknown staffer at Gaspereau Press. Peter for the BBC4 point of view. Edward for his artistry. Heather travelled with me to Kentville.

References

Gregory Cook (Ed.), 1972, Ernest Buckler: Critical Views of Canadian Writers, McGraw Hill.

Harold Horwood, 2003, Cycle of the Sun, Gaspereau Press.

Robert Somerville, 2021, Barn Club: a tale of forgotten elm trees, traditional craft and community spirit, Chelsea Green Publishing.

This week, I was listening to Shelagh Rogers on CBC, The Next Chapter. She was interviewing Bruce Kirkby about his book, Blue Sky Kingdom. This coincided with a stop at the Odd Book store. Heather found a copy of Chogyam Trungpa, Born in Tibet.

In the Blue Sky Kingdon, Kirkby and his family spend time at a Buddhist monastery in Tibet. Trungpa describes their daring escape from Tibet into India, fleeing the Chinese communists.

Certainly, I remember well the trip that Heather and I made to Gampo Abbey at Pleasant Bay, Cape Breton.

Wednesday was a cross-country ski day. Rick and Kathy invited us to their property on the Perotte Road. South Mountain gave us deep powder snow after Monday’s storm. En route, we stopped at the old Post Office for treats, and take out coffee at Lola’s Café, before turning onto the West Dalhousie Road at Lequille.

Postscript

Thinking about Annapolis County. Reading the works of Steve Skafte on Abandoned Roads of Nova Scotia, leads to questions about the history of our landscape. Is that part of the attraction?

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Rick for the skiing invitation. Kathy, Angela and Jan for the lunch snacks. Edward provided graphics support; Heather for her Shambhala library.

References

Bruce Kirkby, 2020, Blue Sky Kingdom, Simon and Schuster.

David Swick, 1996, Thunder and Ocean: Shambhala and Buddhism in Nova Scotia, Pottersfield Press.

Chogyam Trungpa, 1966, Born in Tibet, Shambhala Publications.

This week, I listened to a Zoom presentation on Redefining Retirement by Joel Stoddart, Acadia Entrepreneurship Centre.

It was an overview of a set of three hour workshops to be offered in February. Afterwards I decided that I could pursue my retirement activities without the Zoom workshops. But I did learn about the Japanese concept of Ikigai, that means ‘ reason for being’.

Meanwhile, I dropped off a thumb drive to Integrity Printing in Bridgetown. It contains the text of my blogs for 2020. In total, one hundred and five. Some of which were contributed by Edward Wedler.

I wanted to ensure that all was not lost, if for some reason, we suffered an electronic meltdown. The year, 2020 constituted Volume 5. Volume 1 contains blogs for Go-Geomatics before 2017; Volume 2, 2017, Volume 3, 2018, and Volume 4, 2019.

This week saw the return of the Bridgetown Reader after their Christmas break. It includes updates on the relationship between the municipality and Gordonstoun, as well as a report on the Public Health Care Clinic in Middleton.

Health care in rural Nova Scotia remains a topic worthy of comment. For example, see Ralph Surette’s column in the weekend Chronicle Herald. ‘COVID crisis papers over Health bureaucracy fiasco“.

In conclusion, he quotes MacKenzie King in 1927:

‘Where there is little or no public opinion, there is likely to be bad government, which sooner or later becomes autocratic government’
‘Sounds like us’ !

(my exclamation mark) Right on, Ralph.

References

Ralph Surette, Chronicle Herald. January 23, 2021.

Postscript

Check out the latest from Emergence Magazine
Counter Mapping. Emergence Magazine. January 24, 2021.

Acknowledgements

Edward Wedler for his support and collaboration in this adventure. Heather for sharing the journey.

With the bird feeder in the backyard we attract flocks of mourning doves. Last week, we found feathers and blood on the snow. Obviously, the predators find opportunity too.

Meanwhile, south of the border, we have insurrection, generated by Donald Trump. What difficult times.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to the care givers at Arch House. Heather and family for sharing these moments. Edward for his support.

As we approach the end of 2020, it seems appropriate to look for hopeful signs on the horizon for 2021. Two of the signs were forwarded by Anne Crossman.

1. Announcement from the Nova Scotia Forestry Innovation Transition Trust.
2. Hiring of the Founding Principal for Gordonstoun Nova Scotia School

The third sign comes from the quarterly newsletter of Bras d’Or Lake Biosphere Reserve.

The Nova Scotia Forestry Innovation Trust of $50m was announced in February 2020. The NSCC will receive funding for a potentially multi-year project of up to $2m. The Forestry Innovation Voucher program will enable established businesses, new startups, non-profit community groups and Mi’kmaq partners to leverage the college’s infrastructure.

In 2021, we look forward to an official announcement of a Gordonstoun Nova Scotia founding Principal and any opportunity to connect the school’s interests with those at COGS/AGRG.

Rather than complain about the conflict between forestry practices and other values, let’s make sure that all members of the community have the best available information.

These seeds of hope suggest that we can better connect our educational institutions with the community at large, as well as the global community. We can collectively prepare ourselves for changes in our geography: economic, social and physical geography. The values of UNESCO-MAB will stand us in good stead.

Postscript

In New Glasgow, I have had the chance to re-read Dave Whitman’s book on Stephen McNeil. It offers useful insight into the politics of the Annapolis Valley. At the same time, it illustrates why we need to maintain a global perspective.

A video interview with Richard G. Thorne, Pro Tem Principal for Gordonstoun Nova Scotia, gives some insight to the Gordonstoun School background and mindset.

Acknowledgements

Anne Crossman for searching of the web. Edward and Heather for their support.

References

Dave and Paulette Whitman, 2014, Premier Stephen McNeil: a Story of a Nova Scotian Family, Bailey Chase Books

This week, the Applied Geomatics Research Group (AGRG) in Middleton celebrated their twentieth anniversary. It was the first Applied Research unit at the Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC).

In 2011, Chris Hopkinson, Jeff Wentzell and I left the group. Chris went to Alberta and established his own research team. Jeff joined the Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture. I retired and then travelled with Heather on a variety of her Parks Canada assignments, to Baffin Island, Haida Gwaii, Churchill and Sable Island. More recently, I have been writing my blog.

Further to the discussion on clearcutting and spraying on crown land, I can also report that Doug Hickman has offered a very clear response to SNBRA, UNESCO and the provincial government.

“The issues we highlighted are the types of forestry that are being practised and the location on crown lands where they are being practised (in this case within the UNESCO-designated Southwest Nova Biosphere Reserve).”

The engagement of the next generation in mapping our changing communities and the specifics of land use change are both worthy topics for applied Geomatics research. They would showcase the effective use of this technology in Nova Scotia and beyond.

Postscript

At the Great Expectations cafe in Annapolis Royal I found Harold Horwood’s memoir ‘Among the Lions’. Horwood lived for a number of years at Upper Clements, Annapolis County.

“Moreover, I discovered that I had invented a structure: my essays would begin with some local incident or observation, such as paddling a canoe on the Basin, working among bees and clover, examining a pond through glass-clear ice in winter. But following that, they would move from the local to the general, and from the general to the theoretical,” p.224.

Finally, I received Emergence Magazine. It contains an interesting video, Upstream, by Robert MacFarlane entitled Upstream. It follows a river in the Cairngorms to its source.

Acknowledgements

To Rocky and Debby Hebb. Support from Heather and Edward.

Reference.

Harold Horwood, 2000, Among the Lions: a lamb in the literary jungle, Killick Press.