Posts filed under ‘Travel’
Bringing Robert Frost Home From Newfoundland
A man carried stacks of National Geographic magazines from his truck to a table in the Deer Lake Library. They dated back to the 1950s. One issue caught my eye. The face on the cover was not one I expected to see on a NG cover.
It was the April 1976 issue. Inside, unrelated to the boy’s face, was a feature on Robert Frost, which included excerpts from his poetry, matched with beautiful New England photographs. I began reading the feature on the spot and was encouraged to take it home.
This week I found time to read it. In case it’s been a while since you’ve dipped into Frost, I’d like to share a few of his words:
Oh, give us pleasure
in the flowers today;
And give us not to think
so far away
As the uncertain harvest;
keep us here
All simply in the springing
of the year.
Being November, the piece might more aptly read (with apologies to Robert Frost):
Oh, give us pleasure
in the frost today;
And give us not to think
so far away
As the uncertain crocus;
keep us here
All simply in the falling
of the year.
Or, being a writer, I might remind myself and my writing friends and students:
Oh, give us pleasure
in the flow of words today;
And give us not to think
so far away
As the uncertain kudos;
keep us here
All simply in the writing
of the thing.
How do Frost’s words relate to your life?
And . . . about that boy on the cover (photo by Linda Bartlett). His name is Paudie Boland of Ireland’s Dingle Peninsula. I wonder if he’s still there (he’d be 40 or thereabouts by now). I wonder if his grandfather’s farm is still in the family. Hmm. A writer could talk herself into a trip to Ireland with thoughts like these.
2 comments November 6, 2009
Touring Newfoundland’s West Coast
My travels as a Canadian author have taken me to every province and territory in the country. Last week returned me to the west coast our easternmost province. Readings and writing workshops took me to its northern tip (only one road goes there), south to Port aux Basques and to many gorgeous spots in between. Sandy Chilcote of West Newfoundland-Labrador Public Libraries fame saw to it that I got to see places well off the beaten path, too – among them: Port aux Choix, where we spotted a whale; Phillip’s Garden, a 2200 year old Paleo-Eskimo site, and L’Anse aux Meadows, where the Vikings landed 1000 years ago; and Big Falls, a favourite spot for salmon fishing. We saw sun, rain, snow, rainbows, and fog – I’m tempted to say all in one day, but that MIGHT be an exaggeration. With all the fall colour, it was all fantastic.
Of course I met lots of enthusiastic readers and writers, too. I especially enjoyed the workshops attended by teenagers and seniors (and a few people in between). I’d enjoy doing more of those in any of Canada’s other gorgeous spots.
No matter how beautiful the place, how welcoming and friendly the people, how rewarding the workshops and readings, it is always great to be home again, too. Thanks to Newfoundland Public Libraries and to Canada Council for making this trip possible.
1 comment October 28, 2009
All My Bags AREN’T Packed
But I am ready to go. To Newfoundland. On Saturday. Or I will be when… Never mind.
Talking to a group of Keene teens a few years ago (Keene is near Peterborough, Ontario), I was mentioning how much I enjoy traveling roads I haven’t been on before, as I had that morning, and realized that what I’d said applied to my writing life, too. That’s why I’ve ended up writing such a range of stories, I think. An idea comes to me, I think, ‘I can’t write that. I don’t write…’ Fill in the blank: historical fiction, horror, biography, poetry. But it turns out that a great deal of the pleasure in writing is venturing into territory one hasn’t explored before, in terms of content, style, or genre.
I’ve enjoyed time in Newfoundland before – for National Book Week, for Children’s Book Week, and to present a session at an Eastern Horizons conference. But next week will take me on roads I haven’t yet traveled – from Corner Brook up the west coast to St. Anthony’s – and I’ll make a return trip from Corner Brook down the coast to Port Aux Basques, too. If you live in that part of the country, and our paths happen to cross on those just-waiting-to-be-traveled-by-me roads, please be sure to say hi. Mention that you read about my upcoming trip on my blog. Or, better yet, tell me you’ve been enjoying reading my books!
Add comment October 14, 2009
Facebook Frustrations
My apologies to anyone who has gone in search of my South Africa or Europe photos, only to be asked, annoyingly, for Facebook login information. I specified that I wanted “Everyone” interested to be able to see the photos, but apparently Facebook doesn’t interpret “Everyone” the way I do. (Facebook may soon lose me; it has proven annoying in more ways than one lately.) If I get around to posting them elsewhere, I will let people know. In the meantime, thanks for your interest!
Perhaps my next posting will be about my novel in progress, that is patiently awaiting my return.
2 comments April 15, 2009
More On Africa
I’ve just finished reading The Native Commissioner by Shaun Johnson (winner of the Best Book In Africa Commonwealth Writers’ Prize 2007). I bought it while in South Africa, thinking it might offer me useful insight into the complex world of that beautiful country, and it did, to some extent, though of course there is a lifetime of learning to be done here.
The Native Commissioner is George Jameson, “deeply unsure of the morality of his work [during the early years of apartheid], but unable to escape it”. The novel is the story of his son, eight years old at the time of George’s death, piecing together a picture of his unknown father from papers in a box his mother has passed on to him.
There is a line in the novel about those white people who don’t seem to get that Africa is not just its wild animals and its dramatic landscapes; Africa is its people. It stood out among many great lines, perhaps in part because I had recently finished sorting through hundreds of photos taken in South Africa into “albums” – Kruger Wildlife, SA Plant Life, SA Scenery – knowing that different people will be interested in looking at different things. There’s also a SA Carver Family Connections album that I’ll send out to family, so maybe I’m not one of “those white people…”. Still, the line did give me pause.
I will go ahead, nonetheless, and offer up my South Africa albums for anyone interested in having a look.
Add comment April 13, 2009
The ABCs of European Travel
Cruising down rivers and canals from Amsterdam to Budapest had its lovely moments, but the experience paled in comparison to our visit to South Africa and to my own time in Liberia in February. Not that I’m ungrateful for a season so rich in travel opportunities, but I do understand why “Another Bloody Castle” is how many sum up travel to a string of cities in Europe. Among low points: cold rainy weather and head colds when the weather improved, stretches of time on buses instead of on the ship because of water levels and ship damage, too much dependence on buses where we thought we’d be free to come and go on foot. Of course these complaints were put in perspective the night we docked unexpectedly so that a sick passenger could be taken to hospital, along with his wife. They were still in Turin, I believe, when we boarded our plane home on Monday.
We bring home good memories, too, though. Meals and conversations enjoyed with a number of Australians on board. Our initial delight at the narrow cobblestone streets lined with old houses. How luxuriously relaxed it was to float along with scenery showing increasing signs of spring passing by. The loveliness of the Rhine Valley vineyards (and yes, castles!) A concert in Vienna. The sight of Budapest at night.
But it’s good to be home – despite the snow and the wind - reconnecting with family and friends, our neighbourhood and our work.
See more photos from this trip.
4 comments April 8, 2009
South Africa
I’d been told to expect elephants, giraffes, zebras, rhinos, and more. And I suspected that if we did, it would be fun. But I had no idea how exciting it would be.
For fifteen years my husband’s cousin John and his wife Veda urged us to visit them in South Africa. When we finally went early in March, they started our “tour” in Kruger National Park. Venturing out in an open bush camp vehicle with our guide, Raymond, we were immediately caught up in scouring the veldt for signs of wildlife. Our granddaughter, back home in Canada, wondered if we would see giraffes and we saw many. Did you know giraffes have the same number of vertebrae in their necks as we humans? We probably won’t tell Claire (who has just turned seven) about the giraffe we saw being devoured by a lion. She’d probably rather hear about the elephants we heard shushing through the grassy riverbed outside our camp one night, or maybe the monkey that stole my toast right off the breakfast table one morning. It was fun, as we went along, trying to guess which animals each of our grandchildren would like best.
When we weren’t busy with animals (including kudu, impala, klipspringer, warthog and others new to us) and various birds (hornbills, rollers, storks, fish eagles, vultures, etc), there were lots of new trees for us to admire and learn about: marula (whose fruit is used in the liqueur amarula), tamboti (the milky sap the tiniest bit of which will burn your skin and blind you), and the buffalo thorn among them.
6 comments March 26, 2009
Good News for Love Every Leaf
When Menelik-Llord Aidoo, one of the writers I worked with in Liberia, wrote a piece about a comic book he’d read as a child, about George Washington and his love of nature, I was glad I’d brought Love Every Leaf with me, to plant the idea with Liberian writers that they might like to consider writing biographies, too. Llord was enchanted by the book - about landscape architect, Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, and the love of nature that she has for many years brought to her profession.
A young student of architecture, Sherrin (I don’t know her last name) is keen to read it when Llord is finished, and I’m delighted that awareness of this remarkable, inspiring Canadian is growing – as far away as Liberia!
I’m also delighted that shortly after I came home from Liberia, I received an invitation to speak this summer at the 75th anniversary conference of the CSLA (Canadian Society of Landscape Architects). As it happens, Cornelia will be delivering their keynote. My late father-in-law, Humphrey Carver, delivered the keynote at the 50th anniversary CSLA conference. What a privilege (and what fun!) it will be to speak to this group of people, many of whom will know Cornelia well, and if they didn’t know Humphrey will know of him, as he was a founding member of the organization. My mind has already started turning over with thoughts…
But right now, I have a bag to go finish packing!
Add comment March 4, 2009
Looking Ahead… And Looking Back
Even as I anticipate heading off with Peter, imminently, on the first winter holiday either of has taken to a warm place, and returning to a basement much transformed during our time away, I feel the need to return once more to moments from my time in Liberia – for my own pleasure in reliving them, and for the pleasure of the many people who have expressed interest in what I was doing there. First apologies to my sister. I think I may have stolen the subject line for this entry from my sister’s blog.
The ride from the airport into Monrovia, music blasting from radio, the honking of the horn every time our driver passed another vehicle on the pitch black narrow road, with people walking along the shoulders, sometimes alone, sometimes in crowds, with no apparent concern for the speeding, swerving vehicles.
My first point of connection with the Liberian people: I grew up in Canada at a time before a body of children’s literature was established here, so I appreciate the importance of what the Reading Liberia program has set out to accomplish.
So much evidence of wartime damage and poverty in the downtown streets, yet what’s quickly apparent are signs of progress in the reclamation of the city. Cleaning up of the beach, no longer being used as a latrine, repaving of pot-holed streets, billboards proclaiming, “Never Again Liberia Let’s Reconcile and Live Together in Peace and Unity”.
7 comments March 3, 2009
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