I’m thrilled to be part of Toronto’s Word on the Street Festival this September 27-8! Come say hello and check out Providence Point at the Tellwell Publishing booth in David Pecaut Square. Let’s celebrate Canadian storytelling together!
Reminiscing about earlier years on the Bay, Mrs. Birmingham tells Rob how his grandparents spent their evenings with his Auntie Lou and Uncle Harry. “What a crew those four made! Harry and Lou built their cottage just across from the Point… It had a nice lookout over the water, but the whole place was crammed..
Robbie and Uncle Harry were fishing a few hundred yards off the shoreline of Évariste Leduc’s farmstead. As they watched the patriarch’s elderly spouse working in the sizeable garden, Harry broke the silence: “Here’s a thought, Robbie. What if, in fact, we were living our lives almost the same as the folks in that house?…..
“As traditional as it might be, Thanksgiving was not the autumn highlight. For Granny and Grandpa, it paled in comparison with Harvest Festival, a kind of lower-key English Thanksgiving three weeks before its Canadian counterpart…. [but] it did have a drawback. Its September date frequently coincided with early frosts that shockingly nipped less hardy vegetables..
One spring day Robbie and his grandmother returned to the cottage from a ramble along the edge of the Wash… “We slipped quietly into the living room. The hearth gave off precisely the right warmth for an early May afternoon. A roll-your-own smouldered between my grandfather’s dozy fingers. On his lap I saw a spreadeagled..
“My grandmother assigned herself the task of setting me on the path towards accomplishments she felt were indispensable for any full-grown man… A case in point was handling snakes deftly and with confidence.” For example, after a little encouragement, “I edged forward and swept my legs through the grass. A telltale ripple slid away, then..
In common with many local men, Dudley Cadieux constructed his own boat, though his “rudimentary woodworking skills forced him to eliminate nearly all curvature from the design. The resulting contours had very much the profile of a slice of pie.” Moreover, the skiff’s colour scheme added to that effect. “Its exterior was painted a warm..
On the family’s return from a day-long outing designed to allow Bébert to complete an odd job without interference, ‘Granny’s voice [could be heard] … from the front of the building. “Robbie. Come see what Bébert left for us.” ‘On the stone base of the flagpole sat a duck decoy. It was unpainted but perfectly..
Already have a copy of Providence Point? No problem, there’s something interesting for you, too; please see below. But if you’re still undecided, you can request a Kindle copy for free (good for first 20 responses). Send your email address and full name to rchighcroft@gmail.com and I’ll send you $4.52 (= $4 plus tax) for..
Exploring the woods behind the cottage was the ideal way to prospect for discoveries to record in Grandpa’s ledger of annual revelations. And Granny and I never missed an opportunity to contribute. “At first, we used to walk side by side along the footpath near the Wash. But our practice … changed … [when] Granny..
“On Friday afternoon, Grandpa was already sitting in the veranda when I reached the top of the steps. He had arrived from the city while I was out fishing. In one hand he held a bottle of Old Vienna. An expertly slanted glass was in the other. Everything looked right, but he shot me a..
“From age seven I was the only anglophone, adult or child, Janine permitted inside the house. Yet extreme poverty was not the cause of her reticence. As I stood awkwardly on her threshold for the first time, she made the situation plain. ‘Outside, we’re polite. We speak English in Port or with city folks. But..