Insightful and thought-provoking journal entries, from the 1950s to 2007, on the creative process, art, life, and province of renowned Canadian artist Christopher Pratt. Ordinary Things is laced with astute observations that summarize the artistic process, and the motivations and contemplations of not only an artist, but any man. It contains slices of truth about life and Newfoundland itself, and the dynamic world of the ordinary, on which Pratt has drawn so heavily on in his work. These p...

This celebration of the English countryside does not only focus on the rolling green landscapes and magnificent monuments that set England apart from the rest of the world. Many of the contributors bring their own special touch, presenting a refreshingly eclectic variety of personal icons, from pub signs to seaside piers, from cattle grids to canal boats, and from village cricket to nimbies.First published as a lavish colour coffeetable book, this new expanded paperback edition has...

From the acclaimed author of The Wild Places and Underland, an exploration of walking and thinkingIn this exquisitely written book, Robert Macfarlane sets off from his Cambridge, England, home to follow the ancient tracks, holloways, drove roads, and sea paths that crisscross both the British landscape and its waters and territories beyond. The result is an immersive, enthralling exploration of the ghosts and voices that haunt old paths, of the st...

Who was this skipper, this mother, this writer? These questions motivated Cathy Converse to re-trace the route of famous pacific seafarer M. Wylie Capi Blanchet, and write a biography in the process. Widowed in 1926, Blanchet cruised the coast with her five children and their dog in a 25-foot boat that had been rescued from the seafloor. The Curve of Time, Blanchet's resulting book, remains a bestseller and a classic in the annals of nautical literature, but little is known about ...

Forty years ago, droves of young women migrated away from urban settings and settled in rural areas across North America. Many settled on the north coast of British Columbia, on Haida Gwaii or around Prince Rupert. Gumboot Girls tells the stories of thirty-four women, through their own eyes, as they moved from their comfortable city-dwelling surroundings to the rugged north coast. Part back-to-the-land, part adventure, heartbreak and love, this collection of stories edited by Lou ...

**The bestselling, award-winning author of Bad Land takes us along the Inside Passage, 1,000 miles of often treacherous water, which he navigates solo in a 35-foot sailboat, offering captivating discourses on art, philosophy, and navigation and an unsparing narrative of personal loss."A work of great beauty and inexhaustible fervor." —The Washington Post Book World**With the same rigorous observation (natural and social), invigorating stylishness, and ency...

This is a book of days and moments spent sailing on the east coast of Newfoundland and over the Atlantic to the Azores. Newfoundland is a beautiful cruising ground, one of the best in the world for a short period of the year in July and August, perhaps from late June. Optimistically and romantically, the Bay of Exploits has been called the Caribbean of the north. Many cruising days in summer start from calm in the morning, develop into a strong wind in the afternoon, sometimes as much as 2...

There are still wild places out there on our crowded planet.Through a series of personal journeys, Dan Richards explores the appeal of far-flung outposts in mountains, tundra, forests, oceans and deserts. Following a route from the Cairngorms of Scotland to the fire-watch lookouts of Washington State; from Iceland’s ‘Houses of Joy’ to the Utah desert; frozen ghost towns in Svalbard to shrines in Japan; Roald Dahl’s writing hut to a lighthouse in the North Atlantic, Richards explore...

The author of 100 Things You Don't Know About Atlantic Canada for Kids shares 100 intriguing facts about the Bluenoser Province.Did you know that the Halifax–Dartmouth ferry was once operated by a team of nine horses? Or that Babe Ruth used to visit Yarmouth regularly for hunting and fishing vacations? Enter journalist Sarah Sawler: your guide to discovering 100 fascinating things you don't know about Nova Scotia—from robberies and murders to famous landma...

Tucked away along a shady path towards the north-east edge of Hampstead Heath is a sign: Women Only. This is the Kenwood Ladies' Bathing Pond.Floating in the Pond's silky waters, hidden by a canopy of trees, it's easy to forget that you are in the middle of London. On a hot day, thousands of swimmers from eight to eighty-plus can be found waiting to take a dip before sunbathing in the adjoining meadow. As summer turns to autumn and then winter, the Pond is still visited by a large ...

Wyl Menmuir’s The Draw of the Sea is a beautifully written and deeply moving portrait of the Cornish Coast and the people who make their livings there, examining the ephemeral but universal pull the sea holds over the human imagination.‘A beautiful portrait of lives shaped by the swell of ocean and tide - a powerful salt-thread of connection’ - Raynor Winn, author of The Salt Path

No matter where people live on the BC coast, says Howard White, they have certain shared experiences: frustration with rain and ferries, familiarity with gumboots, bumbershoots, seagull droppings and barnacles in the wrong places. But each little community clings to its own sense of uniqueness and considers itself the true West Coast. As a case in point, White offers fifty funny sketches of life as he has come to know it in sixty-odd years of living along that hundred-mile stretch of monso...