I sincerely hope Mairiuna that you are feeling better and wish you a very prompt recovery from this terrible flu that you are both, Jean-Claude and yourself, dealing with. 🙁 To uplift your spirits, let me show you my latest online discovery. It’s about “animated” movies of great poets, a very creative form of virtual animation that I happen to stumble upon this morning. As PoetryAnimations You … Continue reading →
Hi Mairiuna 🙂 I have “giant” news for you today and I’m all excited to tell you about it! You mentioned in your recent article Following the Blue Road on the Steps of Kenneth White in Quebec: Episode 5 , that it was difficult to identify the whale species that came breathing at the surface of the water while we were … Continue reading →
Hi Mairiuna! I have to tell you I had much pleasure reading your article about Robert Louis Stevenson, one of our favourite Scottish writers. Furthermore, it was great to see such a nice variety of beautiful book covers from the many different editions. As we are both on the lookout for new additions to our RLS bookshelf, we will be shortly be … Continue reading →
‘Books!’ said Tuppence. She produced the word rather with the effect of a bad-tempered explosion. ‘What did you say?’ said Tommy. Tuppence looked across the room at him. ‘I said “books”,’ she said. ‘I see what you mean,’ said Thomas Beresford. In front of Tuppence were three large packing cases. From each of them various books had been extracted. … Continue reading →
Bonjour Marie-Agnes, Janice et Jean-Claude! Hello again from Scotland! Please let me begin today, Marie-Agnes et Jean-Claude, by recalling that joyful, sunny day in late summer when Margaret and I met you for the first time, at Biarritz on the Atlantic coast. 🙂 From the deserted street on a quiet Sunday morning, you appeared as if by magic at the … Continue reading →
Herman Melville came North to Canada on his honeymoon trip, when he was twenty-nine years old. In Montreal, he met Captain Coffin, about to leave on a whaling expedition up the norh Coast to Labrador. Maybe that was when the idea of the White Whale started germinating. A few months back, at Stromness, a little port in the … Continue reading →
We’ve been lapping up mile after mile in the clear blue light of an October afternoon. There were a few passengers when we left Chicoutimi, but the bus emptied at Tadoussac (…) Walt Whitman visited the ‘savage Saguenay country’ around 1880. Wrote a little piece about it, saying that the Saguenay is different from all other rivers; ‘a more vehement … Continue reading →
Those who follow the North Road, trying to get into the clear, beyond all the fuzz. (The Blue Road – Kenneth White) While Iain and Margaret are flying towards the blue skies of Italy we’re beginning our ‘Blue Road’ towards the North, dreaming of Labrador… From 1st to 3rd October 2010, our travel takes us from Montreal to Grandes Bergeronnes … Continue reading →
That night around midnight – there’s a big round Autumn moon sailing grandly over Montreal (Kenneth White – The Blue Road – Mainstream Publishing Company – Edinburgh – Ltd 1990) It is with great pleasure that I write these few words today about a marvellous journey which Scotiana team (Mairiuna, Jean-Claude and I, Janice) are delighted to embark upon. Flying … Continue reading →
. Pour tous ceux, pour toutes celles que tente le dehors, pour la tribu des voyageurs-voyants, pour le grand fleuve et la côte fracturée, pour le monde multiple retrouvé. (Kenneth White – La route bleue – 1983) For the Great Work Field (Kenneth White – The Blue Road – 1990) Hi everybody, Are you ready to share our new adventure? … Continue reading →
. If you love Scotland, you will certainly also love this part of France, in Berry, where, a long long time ago the Scots came to our rescue to save our country before settling there… many inhabitants can claim Scottish roots in the area and they seem to be very happy about that… After visiting Aubigny-sur Nère, the very picturesque … Continue reading →
We dedicate this post to Iain and Margaret, our Scottish friends who are going to leave France. Both are great admirers of Robert Burns and they’re living in Dumfries & Galloway, not far from the native place of the great Scottish bard. Let’s say them “Ce n’est qu’un au-revoir” in music… AULD LANG SYNE Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And never … Continue reading →
In the heart of France, on the borders of romantic Sologne and Berry, the flowered little town of Aubigny-sur-Nère, with its old church and picturesque half-timbered houses, boasts a rich Scottish heritage on the ‘Route Jacques Coeur’. So don’t be surprised if, on entering the town, as mentioned in my first post about Aubigny, you’re welcomed by a big wrought … Continue reading →
To our dear Ralph, I dedicate this post. I’m sure he’s waiting for us somewhere in greener lands… But we miss him here … I have sometimes thought of the final cause of dogs having such short lives, and I am quite satisfied it is in compassion to the human race; for if we suffer so much in losing a … Continue reading →
. A Scottish piper welcomes the visitor at the entry of the town… Pieces of tartan stretched like sails within bamboo frames flap in the wind … hunting and royal Stuart tartans… On a charming little square, a yellow-harled house, which would not look out of place in Culross, proudly stands across the street, while a Stuart tartan sign invites … Continue reading →
