Book Review: Few and Far by Allison Kydd

Miss Florence Southam of S.Norwood, England, 23 years old, has dared to approach her beau, Mr. Corby, about his intentions. His response is less than favourable leaving Florence quite mystified about what their relationship had actually been. She felt her father did not even notice her; her mother and sister blamed her for the defection of Mr. Corby. Shortly following, she receives an invitation to her cousin Mary’s wedding in Canada. The location? Cannington Manor in the district of Assiniboia on the Canadian Prairies. Feeling quite lost, Florence accepts the invitation and, accompanied by the widow of Cannington Manor’s founder, she boards a ship to this new and strange land. Her ship docked in Halifax, Nova Scotia where she then travels by train and wagon to Moosomin, in the District of 

Assiniboia, where she is met by her cousin Mary and her driver. She is lifted from the wagon by the driver, unknown to her, with what seemed a familiarity not entirely unpleasant.

Allison Kydd has masterfully given us a history of the pioneer prairies, the hard work and dangers. Many had big dreams, some successful, some still works in progress. Pioneers who tried to transplant class distinctions and the finer things of England to the rough and ready land that was Canada in the late 1800’s. Florence Southam was witness and participant on her trip. A trip that was intended to be mere weeks for a June wedding, and was extended almost to winter. Having a small inheritance from an aunt, she was able to do so easily. This author walks Florence through the woods on her own before she is aware of what dangers there may be; has her scrubbing floors on her hands and knees because there is only one maid; listen to and judge town gossip; attend church and community events. And still she is left feeling lonely. The longer she is there, she becomes more attached to this new way of life and to a certain Scottish man with a fine tenor voice. Aware that he is ‘below her station’, as she is reminded by her aunt, she decides it is time to return to England. A letter arrives from her mother, suggesting that she stay for the winter. Mr. Corby, her once beau, is now seeing her sister. Her mother doesn’t wish Florence to disturb that budding relationship. On another lonely walk in the countryside, she gets lost and is rescued…..and that’s all I’ll say about that. 

This was a fascinating read about the culture shock men and women must have experienced on these grand transitions. Especially most women, as regardless their ‘station’ they had to roll up their sleeves without much assistance. Most of her characters were people that lived; Florence Southam and several others are fictitious and become our eye, ear and heart into the past. At the back of the book in A Note on Sources, she details the extensive research into the location of Cannington Manor; all complements of Saskatchewan sources.

“You must be the best judge of your own happiness.”

~ Jane Austen, Emma

**Allison Kydd is a self-professed Jane Austen fan.

Title: Few and Far

Author: Allison Kydd

Copyright: 2017

Publisher: Stonehouse Publishing Inc.

Type: Historical Novel 

Format: Soft Cover 

ISBN: 978-1-988754-01-7

At the Sportplex Fieldhouse

 **“Around and around and around she goes and where she stops no one knows!”

Oh yes she does! 

5 rounds on the track

 Get benched for a breath or two

5 rounds on the track

   Benched for two breaths or three

5 rounds on the track

   Done.

Around and around and around she went 

and when she stopped ~

it was time to go.

“But the beauty is in the walking — we are betrayed by destinations.”

~ Gwyn Thomas

** This was one of the lines from “Major Bowes Original Amateur Hour” which was a radio show that ran from 1934 -1948, when it made the transition to television as the “Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour” and ran until 1970

Spring Thaw ~ I Hope

 

Crunchy crystals of snow 

    thaw, drip and 

drain into muddy puddles.

“Yes, I deserve a spring - I owe nobody nothing.”

~ Virginia Woolf, A Writer’s Diary

Chapter Two, Episode 128 - Hands on Learning - Situationally Theirs

Abby was nervous. The school librarian had helped her with books about bees. She really wanted ones about being a scientist, but the librarian said she should start with the bees. She would look for a good book about being a scientist for her, but suggested the bees first. Her grandma had told her to talk to Mr. Forrester, but he was scary. Everyone said he wasn’t but he always looked grumpy. Especially when he was working in the garden. She told her brother, Ben that ‘he argues with the plants!’ When he was telling his stories, his face looked different, but she didn’t want to hear his stories. She wanted him to tell her what to do for the bees. Miss Dez just lived right beside them where her grandma used to live before she married grandpa James. But Miss Dez had a boyfriend and he was always there so she had to watch when his truck was gone. She could also write a note to her and put it in her mailbox. Until then she’d just walk out to the orchard. It wasn’t weird for her to go out to the orchard by herself with a book and just read. She could take the book about bees with her. She’d stay on the far side of the orchard so Mr. Forrester couldn’t see her. If she saw Mr. Matt’s truck drive away, she could go to her and see if she had time to talk. She knew the grass was still wet, so put a ground sheet, her bee book, note book, a pencil and a sandwich in her backpack and went to the orchard.

~~~~~

They had had a late morning. Matt had just left for the day. She wouldn’t see him til supper time They were meeting in Hartley for a date night. Every night had seemed like a date night lately, whether they went out or stayed in. But tonight was special. The first day of spring night. Maybe they would set a date for tying the knot. Since they had gotten engaged they hadn’t talked about it. Which made Dez a bit uneasy, but they continued on their way just living together at her home or at his. There’d also been no further plans to build the tiny house in the area she and Samuel had cleared. That was definitely a thing of the past. Those plans had come before she and Matt were finally together. 

Dez heard the metallic flap of the mail box. Seldom any mail came to her but bills and junk mail. She really had to put a sign up saying ‘No Junk mail’ but that had never been a priority for her so she just tossed them all in recycling. Picking up her coffee, she went to the front door. “Shouldn’t be any bills today. I’m pretty sure they’re all in and have been paid. Oh well, I’ll clean out the junk.” Setting her mug down on the little table just outside her door, she took a deep breath of the spring air. Warm sunshine and not even a breath of wind. Lifting the mail flap she couldn’t see anything. Just before she let go of the lid, she saw what looked like a scrap of paper in the corner. “That’s odd. Someone playing a prank?” Reaching in she picked it up. She turned and looked around to see if there was anyone. The only person she could see was little Abby from next door, but she was heading to the orchard. Maybe she had seen someone on her porch. The scrap of paper was in fact a small notebook page folded in half. She turned it over. It was addressed to her in block letters. Opening it, she read. “If you have time to talk with me today, would you come to the orchard and tell me about your bees. I’m supposed to talk to Mr. Forrester too, but I want to talk to you first. Abby, your neighbour.” As she read, a smile spread across her face. “Now what would she want to know about bees? I hardly know anything. Everything I know I learned from Samuel and from Matt. But if she wants to talk to me, I’ll go find her.” Taking her coffee mug into the kitchen, Dez changed her shoes, put her sweater on and followed Abby’s direction to the orchard.

~~~~~

“Hi Samuel, are you busy right now? I guess that’s a question I don’t need an answer to - you’re always busy with something. I have a young lady here who wants to ask you some questions that we both need answers to.” Samuel had just come out of the shed carrying a jar filled with what looked like water. “Well, I’m about to feed the bees but I’m always ready to talk to a young lady with questions. Is that Martha’s granddaughter I see with you?”  Dez looked down at Abby and whispered “It’s ok. You can tell him.”

Abby stepped a bit closer to Dez. “Yes sir, I’m Abby. I need to know about the bees. Are you really feeding them? Don’t they get nectar from the flowers?”

Samuel put his jar back in the shed. Returning, he squatted to Abby’s level and gently said “You call me Samuel and I’ll call you Abby.” He glanced up at Dez. She nodded. “Yes, this year the bees need to be fed. They just didn’t get enough from the flowers last year. Do you want to help me?”

“Yes sir…..I mean Samuel. I really want to be a scientist when I grow up and want to learn how to help the bees so they don’t die. Can Miss Dez help too?” She looked up at her with her big blue eyes. She kind of liked Samuel now, but was still a bit afraid of him. If he could feed bees, he couldn’t be all bad. But she still wanted Miss Dez with her. “Before we help Samuel, I need to know if your mom knows where you are?”

“I told her I was going to the orchard and then if you had time to talk I’d be with you. So I guess she sort of knows where I am.” Dez pulled her cell phone out. “Here. You call your mom and tell her we’re with Samuel at the bee hives.”

~~~~~

Abby had finally found her voice. When she heard Samuel talking about feeding the bees, all sorts of questions popped like firecrackers in her head? This was better than the book she had with her. Miss Dez wanted to help her and Samuel wasn’t scary at all. 

~~~~~

“For the things we have to learn before 

we can do them, we learn by doing them.”

~ Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics

Phase-ology 102

I wrote and posted Phase-ology 101 in November of 2014. I am now in the next phase of a long term writing project. When I wrote the second line ‘not too long…but just long enough’ I had no idea it would almost be 10 years for this next phase. There have been many writing phases since 2014 all with the help of everyone who has read my stories, essays, poems over the years.  Finally arriving at Phase-ology 102, I still have lots of work to do.

Phase-ology 101 

New phases, like the phases of the moon, need breathing space

Not too long….but just long enough

Centering, regrouping but more importantly

….remembering.

Remembering each difficult, or not so difficult, task was accomplished with all the same skills

learned over a life that keeps rolling along,

shifting with changing spaces of time and talent,

carrying the vitality of belief and experience into each new phase.

With belief and creativity in mind and heart ~ 

Deep breath, 

Spread out,

Pull back in

And lean into the work once more.

“There’ll come a writing phase where you have to defend the time,

unplug the phone and put in the hours to get it done.”

~ James Taylor

Phase-ology 102 

New phases, like the phases of the moon, need breathing space

not too long….but just long enough and much longer than imagined

fears, insecurities, self-doubt hovering just out of reach ~

centering, regrouping and more importantly

….remembering.

remembering difficult, or not so difficult, 

tasks were accomplished with skills

learned over a life that keeps rolling along,

shifting with changing spaces of time and talent,

carrying the vitality of belief and experience into each new phase.

always with the support and encouragement

       from everyone, anywhere, 

reaching out when my heart is too full,

my mind feels too empty, or my soul too dry

With belief and creativity in mind, heart and soul ~ 

Deep breath, 

Spread out,

Pull back in

And lean into the work once more.

“There’ll come a writing phase where you have to defend the time,

unplug the phone and put in the hours to get it done.”

~ James Taylor

Spring Welcome

Cascading flowers - a gentle memory 

of the spring of 2019 on Vancouver Island,

while snow and ice slowly, slowly 

recedes on these vast prairies ~

our flowers yet to sprout. Spring arrives 

as our world turns its face to the sun. 

“Nothing ever seems impossible in spring, you know.”

~ L.M. Montgomery

Movie Review: Champions directed by Robert Farrelly; starring Woody Harrelson

Drunk driving, arrogance, community service and a basketball team named Friends. A charming story with deep meaning? Light, full of the joy of living and lots of laughter. Woody Harrelon is Marcus, the assistant coach with a minor league basketball team. At a regular game, in a fit of annoyance at the head coach, Marcus shoves him and is kicked off the court. Believing he has been right, he heads to a local sports bar where that scene is being replayed on the big screen TV. Drunk and grumbling to the bartender, he gets in his car, ploughs into the back of a police car and winds up in a court of law. His choice? 18 months in jail or 90 days of community service as coach of a basketball team. All members mentally challenged adults. Against his better judgment and some prejudice, he accepts the Friends. He has some learning to do about humility and the team is more than willing to teach him. 

One of the early scenes is a lovely woman leaving his bedroom after a one night stand. Turns out that she is the sister of one of the team members. Johnny, played by Kevin Iannucci, is a very central figure in the story and loves Marcus on sight. Later in the movie he gives Marcus the stink-eye for having a relationship with his sister. One of their players and the only girl on the team, is returning to the game after being out with an injury. Constantino, quite a diva, challenges Marcus as soon as she meets him. Anyone for that matter: Marcus, his assistant and the whole team if they don’t meet with her standards.

Each of the team members has their own history. Woody Harrelson, as Marcus, must mold them into a winning team. If they can beat the other local teams, they will go to Winnipeg for the Special Olympics. Getting the money for such a trip is just one more challenge for the Friends. These people have brain injuries, congenital problems, or Down’s syndrome. Darius, for instance, a good player, refuses to be coached by Marcus because his brain injury was caused by a drunk driver.

I’ll not tell you the outcome of the Special Olympics. Suffice it to say it was a satisfactory ending. Laughing out loud at the antics in the movie, our movie group loved the whole story.

“You know the game better than anybody. 

You got to learn to build relationships.”

Coach Phil Peretti,  Champions

Directed by: Robert Farrelly

Based on: Campeones by Javier Fesser David Marqués

Writing Credits:Mark Rizzo

Abbreviated Cast: 

Woody Harrelson - Marcus (Coach of the Friends)

Kaitlin Olson - Alex

Ernie Hudson - Coach Phil Peretti

Alexandra Castillo - Judge Mary Menendez (as Alex Castillo)

Matt Cook - Sonny

Kevin Iannucci - Johnny

Madison Tevlin - Cosentino

James Day Keith - Benny

Matthew Von Der Ahe - Craig

Ashton Gunning - Cody

Casey Metcalfe - Marlon

Cheech Marin - Julio

Joshua Felder - Darius

Tom Sinclair - Blair

Alex Hintz - Arthur

Bradley Edens - Showtime

Mike Smith - Attorney McCurk

Stephanie Sy - Reporter