Tag Archives: books

Home is Where the Travel Books Live (Photo 101)

Posted on June 8, 2015 | 10 comments

Way back when I was a regular blogger I took up various ‘one a day’ challenges and found the discipline of coming up with a daily post both fun and useful. This month I am busy with a ton of writing assignments, so I thought it might be cool to participate in the WordPress Photography 101 course as, in theory, it might be faster to let those photos speak a thousand words on my behalf. The challenge today is to capture the idea of “Home” in an image.

Books - the cheapest travel tickets around...

Books – the cheapest travel tickets around…

Of course, the minute I started thinking about this theme I realized the answer wasn’t going to be quite as simple as photographing my front door. I currently call Vancouver Island my home, but for many, many years as I was growing up my family was constantly on the move. At some point when I was in  my early 20s Dad and I sat down to try to count up all the addresses where I had lived and we came up with 53. Our homes ranged from a tiny cabin in Banff where a grizzly sow and her cubs went through our garbage every morning to an apartment above a Chinese restaurant in Ontario (by then I had left home and was working as a dog catcher). From England to Australia, Fort McMurray to Vancouver, Fort Lauderdale to Guelph my homes ranged from simple to fancy, in great neighbourhoods and not so great neighbourhoods, on islands, in cities, or in the countryside.

Though the view outside our front door changed on a regular basis (as an artist and a photographer, Dad and Mom were pretty free to live wherever they fancied), some things remained constant. One was our family (we were a remarkably stable lot, considering our wandering ways) and another was our dedication to schlepping boxes of books all over the world.

Whenever we moved into a new place I would feel somewhat ungrounded until I started to unpack my books. I still have one of the very first books I was ever given, the Daily Mail’s Pictorial Animal Book. 

This one still has pride of place on the shelf, though it shares real estate with several thousand other titles...

This one still has pride of place on the shelf, though it shares real estate with several thousand other titles…

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The idea of home and what it is and what it isn’t has long fascinated me and sooner or later, themes like this eventually find their way into my writing. Not long ago my daughter and I wrote a book called Take Shelter about the many different kinds of dwellings people live in all over the world. In the introduction I talk about my books and the way that unpacking them always made me feel at home.

Take Shelter

Ironically, some of my favourite books are those with travel themes because even though a good chunk of my life was somewhat unsettled, I have always loved to be on the move. A well-packed suitcase is a kind of home away from home, the essentials of life neatly organized in a way my life in my actual home rarely is.

These days my suitcase is usually a little lighter than in the past. I no longer have to pack half a dozen books just to be sure I have something on hand to suit my reading mood – the miracle of the modern e-reader means I can travel with a veritable library. But I always pack a paperback of some sort anyway – batteries die, devices get dropped overboard, electronic devices get stolen. Books, in all their clunky, heavy, awkward, prone-to-sogginess-when-read-in-the-bathiness are solid between the fingers. Maybe that’s why I’m so fond of them.

If this post seems a little, um… illogical – that’s perhaps because these two sides of my life and personality are fundamentally incompatible. On the one hand I love, love, love my books – putting them on shelves, reorganizing them, adding to the collection, culling the collection – stacking, dipping, flipping, browsing, reading, delving, devouring those books which are also some of my longtime companions… On the other hand, there are few things I like more than turning my back on my bookshelves, and checking that my passport, my plane ticket, and my comfortable shoes are packed in my bag. And that paperback, of course. Can’t leave home without that…

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D is for Dark Creek

Posted on April 5, 2014 | 11 comments

“So, you have a creek at your farm?”

It’s not an unreasonable question, really, given the name of my farm is Dark Creek Farm. In fact, there is no creek (though seasonal springs burble up each winter as soon as the water table rises and the ground is sufficiently saturated). The place isn’t really that dark, either (though, there are some pretty big trees on the south side of the property, beneath which it’s lovely and shady in the summer).

The name is a strange fusion of fiction and wishful thinking, life imitating art imitating life…

The original 1997 cover for Rebel of Dark Creek. The book went on to be reprinted several times with various new cover designs. It was also published in Sweden and Denmark, where the covers looked completely different to those that came out in North America.

The original 1997 cover for Rebel of Dark Creek. The book went on to be reprinted several times with various new cover designs. It was also published in Sweden and Denmark, where the covers looked completely different to those that came out in North America.

When I wrote my first novel for kids (about some horse-obsessed kids living on Vancouver Island) I needed a name for the farm where the main character boarded her horse. To keep my fictional world anchored in its own reality I based the made up barn and small farm on the place where my daughter and I were riding at the time. That farm didn’t have a creek running through it either, but was an otherwise perfect setting for my fake world. I shifted a nearby creek over a few hundred yards and gave it a new name, “Dark Creek.” I can’t even remember now why I chose that name, but it stuck and became part of the title in several of the books in the StableMates series. Rebel of Dark Creek was the first book to come out back in 1997 and six more books followed over the next several years.

 

 

 

Rebel of Dark Creek - the Swedish edition

Rebel of Dark Creek – the Swedish edition

It wasn’t until 2003, though, that I wound up moving two horses here to our place after the original farm on which Dark Creek Farm in the books was sold. At that point, I didn’t really think of our place having a farm name, per se, but not long after the horses arrived and fences and outbuildings were being built that other animals started materializing… a couple of goats, an ancient pony, some ducks, a few chickens, some bantams, then hogs, turkeys, and more chickens… and sheep. The garden expanded – and then expanded again – and again. More fruit trees were planted, we opened the farm stand, and started a CSA. We produce a whole lot of food now from a very small piece of land (and some fields I lease around the neighbourhood) and at some point in that snowballing process we needed a farm name.

Dark Creek Farm seemed appropriate. It had always been a dream of mine to farm – and since the original Dark Creek Farm didn’t exist except in my imagination, I thought it entirely appropriate I steal the name back and use it for my new farm reality. I’m not sure if I’ll write any more Dark Creek Farm books in the original StableMates series – probably not. That world was before cell phones. Before google. Before email and the internet and ipads and all that stuff that is impossible to ignore when writing contemporary fiction set in the here and now. There were more stories planned, but I got a bit distracted with other books and series and projects and, of course, the growing farm and I suspect that Jessa and Rebel and all the other kids and ponies in those books are stuck without a season finale. Though, if I wait long enough, I could add another couple of installments and those books would come out as quaint historical fiction from back in the day before all that Internet stuff took over the world.

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Boxes of Books from the Barn

Posted on April 3, 2014 | 3 comments
The Illustrator's Notebook by Mohieddin Ellabbad

The Illustrator’s Notebook by Mohieddin Ellabbad

After the Big Steel Box was moved over, we were able to bring the last of the stuff from the neighbour’s barn where it has been patiently waiting to be retrieved. One of the items in the barn was a large counter with drawers and shelving (part of the kitchen in the old house) and this heavy item was destined for the front end of the shipping container where it will be used in the temporary workshop.

Imagine my surprise/horror/delight when I discovered more boxes of books hidden away behind the counter! I have been culling, culling, culling (I know that’s a ‘C’ word, but there is no ‘B’ equivalent) my library for nearly two years and still have not got to the end of what has been an absolute monster project.

Here are a few of the titles from the most recent boxes and why I’ll be keeping them…

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The Illustrator’s Notebook by Mohieddin Ellabbad is on the keeper list because it provides a peek into another culture and another way of seeing the world. The author/illustrator is from Egypt and has won numerous prizes for his work. I love the integration of text and illustration, his gentle musings on the creative process, and the use of ephemera (as a collector of bits and pieces myself, I appreciate the way he honours the things we hang onto as a way of preserving our past…)

Bloody Moments: Highlights from the Astonishing History of Medicine by Gael Jennings with illustrations by Roland Harvey

Bloody Moments: Highlights from the Astonishing History of Medicine, by Gael Jennings with illustrations by Roland Harvey

This book is deliciously gross and quite informative. I sort of collect medical books, so this one sort of fits into that category… Mostly, though, I’m keeping it because it makes me smile every time I open it up. I particularly like the page describing the world’s sickest man, Thomas Smith (1352 A.D.).

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A while back I read a farm memoir called Hit By a Farm, by Catherine Friend (also a keeper – it’s in my books-that-in-some-way-relate-to-farms collection). Turns out Ms Friend also writes books for children and since her book, The Perfect Nest is a picture book (I have quite a few of those), about farming (see previous sentence) AND features poultry, well, no brainer. That one has to stay, too. Bonus points: cute story, nice sense of humour. Humor (she’s American).

The Perfect Nest by Catherine Friend with illustrations by John Manders

The Perfect Nest by Catherine Friend with illustrations by John Manders

One of the larger sub-categories in my library is books about horses (including some 20 editions of Black Beauty, the first real book I ever read and which, I suppose, was responsible for all kinds of things…). No surprise, then, that this book had to stay:

IMG_9019[1] Right on the front cover it says it’s the BEST-EVER book about horses and, really, who wouldn’t want a horse book that includes a fantastic fold-out stable? Obviously, the most excellent cover suckered me in as this one has settled in nicely right between Wind Rider by Susan Williams and Cross-Country Masterclass with Leslie Law, by Debby Sly.

Curious about that fold-out stable? Here it is:

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Versatile Blogger Award

Posted on December 1, 2013 | 8 comments

In November, Wuppenif nominated the Dark Creek Farm blog for a Versatile Blogger Award. I was simultaneously delighted (thank you, Wuppenif!!) and horrified (it turns out there’s quite a list of rules associated with this here award…) Of course, the award landed in my blog comments right when things were getting even more insanely busy around here than usual.

Shock waves shake Dark Creek Farm!

As a result, I haven’t had a minute to even think about compiling a list of my favourite blogs and seven things about myself. With the conclusion of the 30-Day Farm Blog Challenge, I can take a quick breath before launching into my next project, participating in the NaBloPoMo challenge for December. Yes, I think I have officially lost my mind.

Versatile Blogger Award Rules

1. Thank the person who gave you this award. I’ll start with thanking Wuppenif, a blog covering all my favourite things – food, gardening, living lightly on the land…
2. Here’s a link to the blog… So far, not so difficult.
3. Select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly. Sigh. This is where it gets tricky. There are just so many cool blogs out there! I’m not sure that I can do this part in a timely manner…
4. Nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award — you might include a link to this site [I’m not actually a hundred percent sure which site that would be… Is there an official Versatile Blogger website? Must do more research…].
5. Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself.

I’m not actually sure how to do this part officially, so I’ll post the seven things here and then let Wuppenif know I’ve done so over in the comments of that blog… If I missed something obvious, oops!

7 Things About Moi

i. I have way too many books. I used to think it was not possible to have way too many books, but I have discovered I was wrong. I am in the midst of a major cull that will see my collection cut by 75% and that will still leave me with … yes, way too many books. This, I try to remind myself, is why the world has libraries, so one person does not wind up with way too many books.

ii. I love libraries. Which is a bit weird, really, for someone who has way too many books. Why I would ever need to set foot in a library is beyond me because even with my vastly reduced (and still shrinking) collection, I could read all day long, every day and still not get to the end of what I have right here because… I don’t even have to say it… I have way too many… You get the point.

iii. I have way too many library fines. Honestly. There is no hope for someone like me. Obviously, when you have way too many books and you bring home way too many more books from the library, there is no possible way to read all those library books so they sort of sit there, buried in the piles of the books that live here and the next thing I know, the library is sending me pithy notes in my email box saying things like, “Did you know you owe us quite a bit of money? Did you seriously need to take out fourteen books about building tree houses?”

iv. I love tree houses. I would like to live in one. Again. I did spend a lot of time living in a tree house back when I was a teenager. At the time, we lived in Fort McMurray waaaay up in the frosty northern end of Alberta. Each year at about this time I think about how very, very cold it was out in the un-insulated tree house and how I would have to eventually give up and slink back into the actual, real house until after the spring thaw rolled around again. When I build my ultimate dream tree house it will have a cozy wood stove and most excellent insulation. And, it will be located somewhere other than Fort McMurray. Before embarking upon a project like this, one should be prepared. Hence, the need to read many books about tree house construction.

v. The other dwelling I would love to build is a vardo.

Gypsy vardos are, quite simply, gorgeous.

I have a half gypsy cob mare who will pull me and my glorious wagon all over North America. That, I believe, is when my blog will get interesting.

vi. My all-time favourite sweet treat is chocolate-covered macaroons.

It is NOT possible to have too many macaroons...

It is NOT possible to have too many macaroons…

I found the recipe for these chocolate dipped macaroons in, yes, a library book called The Art of the Cookie: Baking up Inspiration by the Dozen, by Shelly Kaldunski.

The book has so many good cookie ideas, in fact, I am going to order myself a copy (you see how easy it is for a total biblioholic to get into trouble?). Until then, fines are adding up as I have renewed this book the maximum number of times allowed but I have not yet reached the end of the Christmas cookie baking season.

vii. And, finally, one place I’d love to go before I die is Outer Mongolia. If anyone has a whole whack of airline points they’d like to get rid of, I’d be happy to help you out. While I’m waiting for those points to be transferred, I will make my way through the shelf or two of books on Mongolia I have been collecting over the years and which have earned an exemption from the Great Cull. Unlike the books about growing cool cactus and succulents, which have found good homes on other bookshelves.

Now, for my nominations for nifty blogs to check out:

Sailor’s Small Farm North of 49 Tilly’s Nest  Our Little Acre  Nature’s Place  The Crowded Acre  Adventures in Natural Beekeeping

Ack… there are so many more! But, the hour is getting very late and I have an early morning tomorrow and a very full day ahead… So, for now, I’ll leave it at that and let the nominees know as soon as I catch my breath and get a teeny bit caught up around here! (Hah!)

**My apologies to the loyal readers who slogged through all that thinking they were reading the farm blog… I just realized there wasn’t much farm content there at all… which is maybe ok given the name of the award is the VERSATILE Blogger Award… We will return to our regularly scheduled farm blogging tomorrow.**

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