The Quest

New Reviews

 

 

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http://ojs.lib.umanitoba.ca/prairiefire

New Reviews

My latest book reviews are posted on the Prairie Fire Review of Books website.

http://ojs.lib.umanitoba.ca/prairiefire

Emma LaRocque: When the Other Is Me
Lyall Powers: Alien Heart

Christian Riegel: Writing Grief

Eden Robinson: The Sasquatch at Home

Paul Seesequasis: Tobacco Wars

The Cure for Insomnia - 2011 - Seasons

Seasons

As usual, I don't have much to report. But I will attempt a 2011 year-in-review seasonal letter in short spurts, with illustrations, to keep you interacting. I truly believe that my life, or at least reading about my life, is a sure cure for insomnia. So, pleasant dreams.

The Cure for Insomnia - 2011 - Work

Work: Fiction and Non-Fiction

My contract with INAC, the residential schools settlement, ended March 31. I applied for my CPP which does pretty much cover the mortgage now, but I haven't been able to motivate myself to look for more paid work yet. There is too much else I'd rather be doing. The Shaw man came recently and hooked up my free cable Internet for one year. I still use the telephone Internet line upstairs in my office but the TV room hookup to my laptop is wireless. I use the Internet a lot for the work I am doing on my Annotated and Illustrated Morag which I hope to be able to present as the "first" annotated Canadian novel, available world wide to students of CanLit. Perhaps e-self-publishing through Amazon will be the way this thing flies. Of course, all my writer friends understand the convention of not talking about on-going projects. The fear of jinxes; the fear of thieves. I'm still working on my first published fiction, Anything You Say, and the possibly e-publication mentioned above is about my favourite writer, Margaret Laurence. Four of the seven books I am in the process of reviewing for Prairie Fire are about her.

The Cure for Insomnia - 2011 - Midway, Kelowna, Vernon

Kettle Valley, Midway, Greenwood, Kelowna, Vernon

I took a holiday in April. For the first time in sixteen years, I drove east over the mountains to visit my aunts and uncles in Keremeos, Oliver, Midway and cousins in Kelowna and cousins and aunts in Vernon, and then back over the Coquihalla Connector. I worried that my old 94 Hyundai might not make it, but I got home all right. It was different seeing Vernon without my mother living there. Three uncles also used to be there and all are gone. My aunts are in their 90s and in good homes now where there is help and company. I had a good visit with cousins who always seemed "way older" than me when we were kids, Linda, Marge, you know who you are, but now somehow we are the same age? Although my younger cousins, Caroline and Susan, probably don't feel that way.

The Cure for Insomnia - 2011 - Local Touring

Agassiz, Rosedale, Harrison, Bellingham

Brother Harv & Donna drove out from Manitoba for a fast visit in August, on their one weekend without wedding cakes to deliver. We went to Minter Gardens, Harrison, Agassiz to a garlic festival food fair, and went to Bellingham for lunch. It was the first time I had used my new passport which I got two years ago when I was in Winnipeg. It was good to be a tourist for a change. As it was a bit too rushed, Harv says the next time they will use air miles.

The Cure for Insomnia - 2011 - Brigade Days Visitor

Brigade Days Parade

I also had a couple of visits with Roy, #1 nephew, who was out in Chilliwack for weapons training. He is still with Canada Border Services, 11+ years. He came up to Hope on Brigade Days, the weekend of September 11, because he had rented a car to take a group to the Peace Arch commemoration that Sunday. He was staying in the barracks at the RCMP training centre in Chilliwack. I picked him up one other Sunday and we went for coffee at my dad's cousin's, Wilma, who is about my age, and her husband Gord. Wilma's older brother Verne was there; it was the first time I had ever met him. Really, I still have first cousins I have never met. Roy did well on his course but was glad to get home to Manitoba to more hours of work and to Amy, Quinn, Aiden, and Jade. Hope to see them all next time.