In the Bridgetown Reader, I noticed an advertisement for MareGold bookstore. However, I had never visited. This time, I checked the web site MareGold.com and discovered both a retreat centre at Victoria Beach, as well as an excellent online bookstore.
This week, I received two books for Christmas from Amazon. Thank you, Patrick. I will savour them in the days ahead.
Zena Hitz 2020, Lost in Thought: the Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life, Princeton University Press.
Lars Mytting, 2015, Norwegian Wood: Chopping, stacking and drying wood the Scandinavian Way, Abrams Image, NY.
On our trip to Kentville, I had time to stop at Shelf Life where I found a copy of Eric Enno Tamm’s Beyond the Outer Shores: the untold story of Ed Ricketts, the pioneering ecologist who inspired John Steinbeck and Joseph Campbell. This is the rediscovery of a book that I reviewed when in Haida Gwaii.
At Chisholm’s, I purchased Donald Savoie’s Thanks for the Business: KC Irving, Arthur Irving and the Story of Irving Oil. This was triggered by my interest in the logging of Southwest Nova by the Irving Woodlands group.
Today (Sunday) Brain Pickings included two noteworthy pieces. From Robinson Jeffers :
“But I would have each person realize that his contribution is not important, it’s success not really a matter for exultation nor its failure for mourning; the beauty of things is sufficient without him”
From Alfred Russell Wallace:
“The struggle for wealth, and its deplorable results (in the human sphere) have been accompanied by a reckless destruction of the stored-up products of nature, which is even more deplorable because more irretrievable.”
Postscript
In Bridgetown, at the pharmacy, we noticed some Christmas cards on the counter drawn by a local high school student. We had to admire both the artistic talent and the entrepreneurship.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Patrick, Heather and Edward. They all contributed to the blog,
References
Zena Hitz, 2020, Lost in Thought: the Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life, Princeton University Press.
Lars Mytting, 2015, Norwegian Wood: Chopping, stacking and drying wood the Scandinavian Way, Abrams Image, NY.
Eric Enno Tamm, 2004, Beyond the Outer Shores: the untold story of Ed Ricketts, the pioneering ecologist who inspired John Steinbeck and Joseph Campbell, Raincoast Books.
Donald Savoie, 2020, Thanks for the Business: K.C. Irving, Arthur Irving, and the Story of Irving Oil, Nimbus Publishing.
Passing by Nuttby Mountain, we remembered the Hermit of Gully Lake, written by Joan Baxter. Further along the Berichan Road, I was reminded of Peter Sanger’s book Spar: Words in Place. We also recalled attending ‘
We found Anemone (
While painting Pillar Rock from Presqu-île, near the southern part of the Cape Breton Highlands National Park, we noted dozens of visitors come for a few minutes to snap photos then move on. Did they see the otters swim the nearby pond? Did they note how the sun lit up the rocky shoreline as it rose above Jerome mountain? Did they hear the high-pitched piping notes of the eagle?
At the other extreme, we were greeted several times by the “
This set the scene, giving us a biography of Buckler’s life. Later in the program, we listened to readings by Ken Maher, Anne Crossman and a play “A Glance in the Mirror‘, featuring Ken Maher, Gordon Keel and Gloria Saesura.
One last story, related to the event. On Friday, Heather and I were in Windsor to pick up a couple of rain barrels. We stopped at the Readers’ Haven, a second-hand bookstore in town. I found a copy of John DeMont’s earlier book 
The sky wasn’t just overcast or sunny. The sky was a mix of Burnt Sienna with a touch of French Ultramarine Blue or was a variegated wash from Cerulean Blue to Cadmium Yellow. We were not just engulfed in fall foliage of colours. Hills became brushstrokes of Alizarin Crimson, Quinacridone Gold (I love that colour) and Prussian Blue.
We divided the landscape into zones (foregrounds, mid-grounds, and backgrounds) and described how we would paint aerial perspective, “treat edges” and change tonal contrasts, to give a sense of distance.
Many times we would identify a focal point in the landscape (almost with “eye-spy-with-my-little-eye enthusiasm) and would suggest ways to direct viewers’ eyes to that point. Would it be the slope of the hills, the line of our winding road, edges of forest stands or the illumination of light breaking through the clouds? How would our favourite artists, or The Group Of Seven treat that focal point?
As we drove, we unpacked our landscape NOT in terms of “things” (such as houses, fence rows, barns, silos or cows) but in terms of shape, line, colour, patterns, gradation and composition. We became exhilarated, as artists, to not only view the landscape but to offer ways to interpret the landscape — whether it be as a realist, impressionist or abstract artist — in oils, acrylics, watercolours or inks.
POSTSCRIPT:
This Christmas, we decided to send 
Last Thursday, it was the Christmas bird count. It was a cold (-15C) windy day. The birds were sparse. In the morning, we walked up the Inglisville Road to the top of the mountain, and then back down through our property for lunch at home. In the afternoon, we went down through Andrew’s property to the Annapolis River. We saw a Golden Crested Kinglet flitting around the upper branches of the poplars. On the river, we spied a Common Merganser.
The Annapolis River was full of floating ice pans. The highlight was to see two river otters who were curious to see two humans on the bank.
In Annapolis Royal at Bainton’s bookstore, I picked up Kent Thompson’s book Getting out of town by book and bike. It is an entertaining read, including the idea: “every now and again, I get on my bike and ride to a small town public library to look for Anna Karenina“. Thompson visits both the towns and writing of Ernest Buckler (Centrelea, West Dalhousie) and Elizabeth Bishop (Great Village). Writing of both EBs is of interest to me, and likely, to Nova Scotia.
In this same spirit, Heather was reading Waterfalls of Nova Scotia. It describes one hundred waterfalls. Number #19 is Eel Weir Brook Falls up behind Lawrencetown on South Mountain. While a short hike, it gave us an excuse to ‘get out of town’.
After a week in the orchard picking apples with ladder, picking bag and hook, I can appreciate the pleasure gained from low hanging fruit. However, it should be recognized that the best apples are found in the top branches of the tree. The low hanging fruit tends to be found on the side branches; smaller apples, more of them, but easily available for hand picking. There is no need for the combination of technology: ladder, picking bag and hook.
At the end of the week, we were able to celebrate ten bins shipped to Brian Boates for juice that will be a component of 
My original intent was to meet my brother for a nostalgic walk throughout our childhood neighbourhood: Twickenham, Whitton, Hounslow, and Hampton. This was abandoned when a winter storm hit England and Europe (the Beast from the East) and he was unable to join me.
These literary digressions have to be put in the context of my time in England. Most days there was the opportunity to walk through the Surrey landscape. This included Windsor Great Park, Richmond Park, the River Wey Navigations. One trigger for me, was the branding of The Royal Landscape. To park your car and go for a walk through Savill Gardens or the Heather Gardens, you could purchase a membership card to The Royal Landscape. Likewise, if you were a polo player, you could do the same.
Ernest Blair Experiment 