Category: Book Review

On Monday, we had to return to the Opthalmologist in New Minas. This presented a fine excuse to visit The Odd Book store in Wolfville.

The subtitle is ‘Individual and Community Nature Stewardship’. The Old Place is in Canning. Twila Robar-DeCoste is in Aylesford. The book starts with a map of the geography, and then proceeds with the natural history of the different gardens.

Each chapter starts with a message for the reader. For example, Chapter One:

”Locally, there is much that can be done for Nature stewardship begins with individuals and communities. Individuals and communities can protect and restore natural sites, and help ensure the survival of the plants and animals that live in them. An appreciation of nature is a prerequisite to such a goal.” p.9.

One of the pleasures of a visit to the Odd Book store is its collection of authors published by Gaspereau Press. This includes Harry Thurston, Peter Sanger, Soren Bondrup-Nielsen and many others.

This complements a previous purchase from The Xerces Society, Gardening for Butterflies: How you can attract and protect beautiful, beneficial insects.

Postscript

Merritt Gibson (1930-2010) was professor emeritus of Biology at Acadia University.

Acknowledgements

Heather continues to share the pleasures of our ’old place’. Edward contributed the graphics and links.

References

Merritt Gibson, 1997, The Old Place: A Natural History of a Country Garden, Lancelot Press.

James A. Scott, 1986, The Butterflies of North America: A Natural History and Field Guide, Stanford University Press.

The Xerces Society, 2016, Gardening for Butterflies, Timber Press, Oregon.

The second is more philosophical. As a Geographer, we talk a lot about ‘a sense of place’. What does a sense of place mean to a hermit? What was special about Gully Lake? Can any place be a ‘special place’ or hermitage?

Willard Kitchener MacDonald ‘jumped from a troop train to avoid going off to battle in World War II and lived for more than half a century in the woods around Earltown in northern Nova Scotia’ p.7.

At about 2 pm on June 27,2004 they found the remains of a ‘deceased elderly man in a wooded area on the east side of Gully Lake’. p.133.

In her epilogue, Baxter quotes the refrain from a song ‘Let him be’ by Dave Gunning and John Meir. I was able to find it online on their CD Two-bit World.

Checking my bookcase, I rediscovered The True Solitude. selections from the Writings of Thomas Merton. Here is an unspeakable secret writes Father Merton.

See ”Day of a Stranger” a meditation describes his way of life as a hermit “.

Acknowledgements

Edward added the links and graphics. Heather shares the journey.

References

Joan Baxter, 2021, The Hermit of Gully Lake: The Life and Times of Willard Kitchener MacDonald, 2nd. Edition, Pottersfield Press.

Dean Walley selections 1969. From the writings of Thomas Merton. The True Solitude. Hallmark Editions.

Dave Gunning and John Meir, Let Him Be, On their CD Two-bit World.

Postscript

I also unearthed Thomas Raddall The Dreamers published by Pottersfield Press in 1986. More light reading.

Tomorrow is Register-Reader day !

Thursday has become “Register-Reader Day”. It is the day of the week to catch up with our community.

From the Annapolis Valley Register (page 8) in these times of Health Services challenge, we see opinions on Diabetes and Dementia. Meanwhile, the Reader gives us a celebration of the life of Kent Thompson. In particular, I recall his book ‘Getting out of town by book and bike’ published by Gaspereau Press, from the back cover,

”Thompson also investigates the role of bicycle in books by writers ranging from DH Lawrence and HG Wells, to Elizabeth Bishop and Ernest Buckler.”

To survive these challenging times, I found a couple of books. At the Inside Story, I spotted Don Pentz ‘Images of Keji Country’.

”Kejimkujik National Park resonates with the distant forces of the Mi’kmaq ancestors. Those voices are given a visual presence through hundreds of petroglyphs rock engravings, the moss-covered fire rings that dot the Keji shorelines and the stirrings of buried artifacts. These things tie the Mi’kmaq to the bold nature of ‘place’.”

From Henry David Thoreau, Walden.

“Men frequently say to me, “I think you would feel lonesome down there, and want to be nearer folks, rainy and snowy days and nights especially.”

The book is published by Pottersfield Press. I think that I have a copy of the First Edition but have been unable to find it.

Acknowledgements

Edward added the links and graphics. Heather shared a very busy, tumultuous week.

References

The Annapolis Valley Register, Thursday August 19, 2021, p.8, Diabetes: let’s change the conversation, Brooks Roche, Dementia: Twists and turns on the road to awareness, J. Archibald.

Kent Elgin Thompson. 3 February 1936 – 13 August 2021. The Reader August 20, 2021 submitted by David Thompson.

Kent Thompson, 2001, Getting out of town by books and bike, Gaspereau Press.

Donald R. Pentz, 2021, Images of Keji Country, SSP Publishers.

Joan Baxter, 2021, The Hermit of Gully Lake, The Life and Times of Willard Kitchener MacDonald, Second Edition, Pottersfield Press.

This week, I finished Graham Steele’s book, Nova Scotia Politics, 1945-2020: from MacDonald to McNeil.

I thought it might offer insights as we approach next week’s Provincial Election. In particular, I was looking to understand the relationship between economic development and ecological landscape management.

I did come across Appendix 2: Top 10 Nova Scotia politicians 1945-2020. (p.236-7). This included: ”Peter Nicolson MLA 1956-1978. Finance Minister 1970-78. Set the gold standard for ministers. Smart, respected.”

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I have just started this lengthy tome (584 pages). I am encouraged by the map of Beatrix Potter’s Lakeland 1892-1943. And from the first sentence in the Acknowledgements (p.ix).

”Beatrix Potter was first of all an artist and writer of place who found her personal and intellectual freedom in nature. She later became a conservationist in an effort to preserve the landscape that had inspired her art.”

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To speak to the first topic, we must explore the history of GIS in Canada and elsewhere. For the second, we must visit technological development in Nova Scotia and beyond.

Since the invitation to speak at the workshop in Truro, I have used my blog: ernestblairexperiment.wordpress.com
to reflect on both topics.

After the workshop, I hope to be in a better position to comment on current directions, within the context of the AF Church maps.

Acknowledgements

David Raymond initiated the workshop process and provided the link to “GIS Applications in Human Geography“. Edward Wedler added both his technical expertise and insight into Remote Sensing.

References

Graham Steele, 2021, Nova Scotia Politics, 1945-2020: from MacDonald to McNeil, Pottersfield Press.

Linda Lear, 2007, Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature, St Martin’s Press.

AF Church Historical Maps: Specialist Workshop, August 14, 2021, Truro, NS.

”Watling Street is simultaneously mundane and extraordinary. It facilitates movement, which generates stories, which creates history.”

At Western Park (Chapter 12), hé raises the Lloyd George question:

”Who made 10,000 owners of the land and the rest of us trespassers in the land of our birth?” P.308.

“Many who campaigned to leave the European Union did so because they want to ‘take their country back’“. There is one perspective from which the slogan becomes meaningful and one way it could be achieved.

”When a new system to replace European farming subsidies is debated, the subject of land reform and a Land Value Tax may be finally be exposed to light.”

This presents a parallel to discussion in Nova Scotia about the definition and use of Crown Land.

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David Raymond sent me a paper by Charles Fergusson, published in the Dalhousie Review, on Ambrose F. Church, Map-Maker. Church published a series of topographical township maps between 1865-1888.

He forwarded an electronic copy of the Church map for Cumberland County, which I was able to display on my iMac. I had planned to visit Heather’s family farm (South Victoria and Streets Ridge).

My next step is to obtain a smaller subset of the Church map. Second, from David Raymond, his document for genealogists to add census data from that time period. This will form the basis of my next blog, entitled, Map Stories.

Acknowledgements

David Raymond for creating a digital copy of the Church maps, and for instructions on adding early census data. Heather and John Stewart have expressed an interest in the project. Edward added the graphics.

References

John Higgs, 2017, Watling Street: Travels through Britain and it’s ever-present past, Weidenfeld and Nicholson.

Charles Fergusson, Dalhousie Review, P.505-516, Ambrose F. Church: Map-Maker.

Tuesday morning I went down to Smith’s Cove to visit David Raymond. David, like myself, had taught at the Centre of Geographic Sciences (COGS). In his case, in the Cartography program; in my case in the Department of Computer Programming. David has invited me to be a speaker at an event planned for Truro, August 14th. It is a workshop on the A.F. Church Historical Maps hosted by the Genealogical Association of Nova Scotia.

Clearly, I have much to catch up on, specifically the topic of Historical GIS. As I undertake my background research, I anticipate a series of blogs on the topic.

Roger was instrumental in the development of the Canada Geographic Information System (CGIS) initially designed to handle the Canada Land Inventory (CLI) for the federal government. Roger ran a consulting company, Tomlinson Associates from Ottawa. In the 1980’s, as COGS developed training programs in GIS, our paths crossed on many occasions. In the Maritimes, I recall the competition between the CARIS system from New Brunswick (Sam Masry and YC Lee), the STRINGS system used by MRMS in Amherst and the Arc/Info system from Esri in California.

There was a time when new COGS graduates were a pre-requisite for Esri systems as they were installed across North America.

What was a GIS? It was computer software that managed geographic data, portrayed on maps as points, lines and polygons, their associated attributes, as well as imagery (e.g. aerial photographs and satellite imagery). It allowed for a wide range of analyses of both the geography and the related attributes.

COGS was well positioned, with access to survey science, photogrammetry, remote sensing, cartography, planning as well as computer programming.

For a more recent view, I have pulled from my bookshelves three seminal texts.

1. Roger Tomlinson, 2013, Thinking about GIS: Geographic Information System Planning for Managers (5th. Edition), Esri Press.
2. Paul Longley, Michael Goodchild, David Maguire, and David Rhind, 2015, Geographic Information Science and Systems, (4th. Edition), Wiley.
3. Christian Harder (Ed.), 2015, The ArcGIS book: 10 Big Ideas about applying Geography to your world, Esri Press.

From the back cover,

”Extraordinary is the value of this book as a gateway into the Rumsey web site – the chronological listing of all illustrations in the book is carefully referenced to the digital collection on the Internet where users can select their own details”.

David Woodward, Arthur Robinson Professor of Geography Emeritus, University of Wisconsin- Madison,

David Rumsey and Edith Punt, 2004, Cartographica Extraordinaire: The Historical Map Transformed, Esri Press.

Postscript

Please note my references are all before 2015. There have been many new developments in the last six years. Time for more research.

Just returned from the Lawrencetown library, John Higgs’ book, Watling Street, has arrived from the University of Alberta. Travels through Britain and its ever-present past. Recommended by Peter Maher.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to David Raymond for sharing his knowledge and expertise. Edward added the graphics. Edward was Remote Sensing instructor at COGS, contemporary with David and myself.

From the Introduction by Joseph Wood Krutch to Thoreau: Walden and other writings.

Directly from Thoreau:

”Men have an indistinct notion that if they keep up this activity of joint stocks and spades long enough all will at length ride somewhere, in next to no time, and for nothing; but though a crowd rushes to the depot, and the conductor shouts “All aboard!” When the smoke has blown away and the vapor condensed, it will be perceived that a few are riding, but the rest are run over – and it will be called, and will be, ‘a melancholy accident ‘.” p.2.

Next to our bed, Heather has hung on the wall a needlework sampler. Yes, it read ‘Simplify’.

In these COVID times, it is sometimes difficult to accept the government imposed simplification. From my previous blog post, Rocky Hebb noted that The Inside Story bookstore in Greenwood is outside of the municipality. He further raised the question, whether a book is an ‘essential good’?

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Heather LeBlanc responded to my previous blog post with an update on The Mapannapolis Project.

They have announced Mapannapolis 2.0. It started in 2011. Ten years ago. We look forward to the next ten years of progress. It would be wonderful if this initiative became part of a formal relationship between COGS and the community.

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With the sale of Andrew’s farm, we have a new audience for background information on Annapolis County. We look forward to welcoming Sinead, Robert and family (some time later in 2021).

Acknowledgements

Thanks to everyone for their blog feedback. In particular, Rocky Hebb, Heather LeBlanc and Sinead Wills. Heather shares the pleasures of garden and orchard. Edward shares his graphics talent.

References

Joseph Wood Krutch, 1962, Thoreau’s Walden and other writings, Bantam Books.

Mapannapolis Project

Postscript

It appears that Annapolis County along with adjacent municipal units has resolved the Valley Waste Disposal issue. Hopefully, this is the sign of better collaboration, as we go forward.

The Parson’s Pleasure describes a day in the life of Mr. Boggis, an antique collector who masquarades as a country parson. In the story, Dahl describes his approach:

”So Mr Boggis bought maps, large scale maps of all the counties around London, and with a fine pen he divided each of them up into a series of squares. Each of these squares covered an actual area of five miles by five, which was about as much territory, he estimated, as he could cope with on a single Sunday. “

”He didn’t want the towns and the villages. It was the comparatively isolated places, the large farmhouses and the rather dilapidated country mansions, that he was looking for.” p.17.

It is a marvellous story, with a surprising ending. The book has seven short stories.

Roald Dahl is one of the most successful and well-known of all children’s writers.

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Later in the week, I received a notice about the passing of a school friend from Chiswick, Robert Frith. His obituary was found in The Blackmore Vale. The newsletter is yet another example of ‘rural writing’ from the UK.

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PS
My previous blog post on Clacton-on-sea struck a chord with Sandra Barry. Particularly, the link to Elizabeth Bishop’s great uncle, the painter George Wylie Hutchinson who lived there for several years.

Acknowledgements

Andrew Ronay forwarded the link to The Blackmore Vale. Sandra Barry forwarded the link to The Elizabeth Bishop Centenary. Edward added the links and graphics. Heather provided her support.

References

Roald Dahl 1989, Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life: the Country Stories of Roald Dahl, Penguin Books.

Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre: roalddahl.com

The Blackmore Vale link

The Elizabeth Bishop Centre link.

Post Script.

I wonder about a Museum and Story Centre in rural Nova Scotia ?