Kohler Road, Just South of Rainham Road

Canadian Drilling Rig MUSEUM ~ A Short Drive Through the Country

One Reason for Writing?

"Of all the ways of acquiring books, writing them oneself is regarded as the most praiseworthy method. . . .Writers are really people who write books not because they are poor, but because they are dissatisfied with the books which they could buy but do not like."  ~ Walter Benjamin* (1892 - 1940)

* Literary critic, philosopher.

Audiobooks ~

The October issue of Fitness magazine has a tip for better sleep:  "The next time you wake up in the middle of the night and can't fall back to sleep, ignore the prevailing wisdom about getting out of bed to read by dim light.  Dr. __ recommends a new strategy:  Quiet your churning mind with an audiobook, preloaded on your phone or music player and at the ready, bedside.  Plug in your earbuds, press "Play" and cover the display to block the glow.  The story shouldn't be too stimulating, so choose a biography or your favorite book from childhood. . ."

by Nancy Gottesman

(Other tips:  Make your bedroom into a spalike sanctuary.  Don't drink a drop of caffeine after 2 p.m.  No laptops.  Don't like sleeping alone?  Get a dog.  "It's fine to break the no-pets-in-bed rule.)

The Avro Arrow A Picture History

This is An Amazing Story!

Many remember the disappointment and shock at the cancellation of the Canadian Avro.  This is the story.  125 pages of photos and text. $9.95.  An exceptional book.

~ Lawrence Miller, Local Author, Lorimer, 2011. 

"When the magnificent new Avro Arrow fighter jet thundered into the sky over Malton, Ontario on a cold March morning in 1958, Canada became a world leader in the aviation industry.  Less than a year later, the Arrow project was dead.  What happened?

The story of the Avro Arrow has been told, retold, and analyzed so often it is fading into myth.  This book brings the Arrow, and the people who made it, back to life through over 100 historical images cataloguing every step of the Arrow's development ~ and its shocking demise."

Indian Summer

by Wilfred Campbell

Along the line of smoky hills

The crimson forest stands,

And all the day the blue jay calls

Throughout the autumn lands.

Now by the brook the maple leans

With all his glory spread,

And all the sumachs on the hills

Have turned their green to red.

Now by great marshes wrapt in mist,

Or past some river's mouth,

Throughout the long, still autumn day

Wild birds are flying south.

~ Wilfred Campbell (1860 - 1918) Canadian, known as a Confederation Poet.

We are grateful to Laurie Miller, author of The Avro Arrow A Picture History for drawing to our attention this beautiful poem by Canadian poet, Wilfred Campbell.

Giller Prize Shortlist ~

Will Ferguson ~ 419
Alix Ohlin ~ Inside
Nancy Richler ~ The Imposter Bride
Kim Thuy ~ Ru
Russel Wangersky ~ Whirl Away

www.scotiabankgillerprize.ca


A gala and the winner announcement will be held on Tuesday, October 30, 2012.  The Scotia Bank Giller Prize Gala will air on CBC at 9:00 p.m.
The prize recognizes excellence in Canadian Fiction ~ long format or short stories.

In a letter from John Keats* ~
"In Poetry I have a few Axioms, and you will see how far I am from their Centre.  [referring to his poem endymion] 1st. I think Poetry should surprise by a fine excess and not by Singularity ~ it should strike the Reader as a wording of his own highest thoughts, and appear almost a Remembrance.

~ 2nd. Its touches of Beauty should never be half way ther[e] by making the reader breathless instead of content:  the rise, the progress, the setting of imagery should like the Sun come natural to him ~ shine over him and set soberly although in magnificence leaving him in the Luxury of twilight ~ but it is easier to think what Poetry should be than to write it ~ and this leads me on to another axiom.  That if Poetry comes not as naturally as the Leaves to a tree it had better not come at all.  However it may be with me I cannot help looking into new countries with 'O for a Muse of fire to ascend!' ~  If Endymion serves me as a Pioneer perhaps I ought to be content."

John Keats by Wm. Hilton.  National Portrait Gallery, London**

* 27 February, 1818, to John Taylor.  John Keats, English Romantic Poet (1795 - 1821)
** Wikipedia

~ Selected Poems and Letters by John Keats, Edited by Douglas Bush, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1959