In True North Rising, Whit Fraser describes meeting Mary Simon’s parents in the Arizona Desert (p.138). For nearly twenty years, the in-laws made winter camping trips. Bob May started work for the Hudson Bay Company at Arctic Bay, where he met his wife, Nancy. This story reminds me of the changes in technology, and its relation to elder travel.
We head North, to Iqaluit, with a cell phone and iPad. On arrival, we are reminded that this is ‘old’ technology. Here are smartphones, text messaging and no landline in the house. My iPad only gives me access to email.
In Iqaluit, at the Black Heart Cafe and at the Aquatic Centre, I notice that they have a free book exchange. This allows me to read an essay by Margaret Laurence, ‘My Final Hour’. Laurence was Chancellor at Trent University, living in Lakefield. This connects me with my son, Patrick. They have recently moved their family to Peterborough. We once lived there, when I worked for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.
On our way North, we had a stopover in Ottawa. This was our chance to visit an urban Chapters bookstore. I picked up Dan Rubinstein’s Born to Walk: the transformative power of a pedestrian act. The book contains a reference to a wonderful Ray Bradbury short story, The Pedestrian.
“The year is 2053. Leonard Mead loves to walk. Every night, he strolls alone along the buckling concrete sidewalks of an empty silent city, peering at houses who citizens are riveted to their viewing screens. Suddenly, he is stopped by the city’s lone police car. (There is no more crime, nobody goes outside).
“Business or Profession ?” A metallic voice asks.
“I guess you’d call me a writer.”
“No profession”, says the voice.
“What are you doing out ?”
“Walking” replies Mead.
“Walking !”
“Just walking.”
“Walking, just walking, walking ?”
“Yes Sir”.
“Walking where? For what?”
“Walking for air. Walking to see.”
Mead is told to get into the car. There is no driver. He is taken to the Psychiatric Centre for Research on Regressive Tendencies.
Rubinstein, page 193. Chapter 6. Creativity.
As part of our elder travel, we need to understand the appropriate combination of technology in North America and elsewhere. We also need to make sure that we engage in walking, and have ready access to a variety of printed matter (books).
At the end of our third week up North, I am coming to the end of Sheila Watt-Cloutier’s book, The Right to be Cold. Recently, I became aware of a new blog site — northbooks
Acknowledgements
Heather Stewart, my travel companion, and Edward Wedler, my technology support person down South.
References
Whit Fraser. 2018. True North Rising. Burnstown Publishing House.
Dan Rubinstein. 2015. Born to Walk. ECW Press.
Christl Verduyn (Ed). Margaret Laurence: an appreciation.
Sheila Watt-Cloutier. 2015. The Right to be Cold. Penguin Books.
April 1st. Twenty years ago, 
This week, I visited one of the book/craft stores in Iqaluit and purchased two new books: True North Rising by Whit Fraser (
A final note. There is now a beer store in Iqaluit. Twenty-four 
Click on any numbered site to see details of when paint-out is/was scheduled.
They mentioned the following objectives:
In an earlier blog post (
The next step in my David Manners research has been to track down his writing, after he moved to California, after the second world war. Fortunately, courtesy of Amazon, I am able to order David Morgan Jones (ed) The Wonder within You: From the Metaphysical Journals of David Manners and Awakening from the Dream of Me.
Manners died in Santa Barbara, aged ninety-eight in 1998. I hope to find them in my mailbox when we return from Iqaluit.
Yesterday, we held a meeting of the Ernest Buckler Literary Events Society (EBLES) board over on the Bay of Fundy shore. In preparation for the program design for June 29th, it was necessary to read some of the related literature.
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:
There are several examples of positive outcomes from this relationship e.g. MapAnnapolis, as well as local innovations. This week, I received a copy of Touring Annapolis, Venue guide for Artists produced by 
On the Ernest Buckler front, I want to share a couple of books that crossed my desk this week. Margaret Atwood published Moving Targets, Writing with Intent 1982-2004. It includes two essays that struck a chord.
The second book is Nova Scotia: Window on the Sea. It combines a text by Buckler with photographs by Hans Weber. While the text and photography can stand alone, it would be interesting to see a map of the photo locations. The book was published in 1973 – forty-six years ago. Perhaps we need an updated photographic version for the fiftieth anniversary.
Number #99 was by George Orwell Some Thoughts on the Common Toad. It contained eight essays, including a defence of PG Wodehouse, an examination of Gullivers Travels, and a commentary on Tolstoy and William Shakespeare.
The Orwell essays complemented my reading of Ernest Buckler. I had the opportunity to read Glance in the Mirror. This quotation caught my eye.
Last night at the Centrelea Cinema, there was a showing of 
Ernest Blair Experiment 