Bonjour! Hello again from Scotland, Janice, Marie-Agnès and Jean-Claude! Margaret and I would like to begin this first ‘Letter’ of 2011 by sending you all our very best wishes for the New Year. Janice, we send particular greetings and our kindest thoughts to your dear Papa, Jean-Paul, who’s been quite unwell recently. It’s pleasing to hear, Janice, that our Oscar … Continue reading →
During his journey to Quebec, about thirty years ago, which he relates so unforgettably in The Blue Road, Kenneth White stops at Sept-Îles, a turning point on his road to the most remote and wildest places of Labrador. He lingers some time there, making friends and sharing life with a few Amerindians he has met there. Several chapters of The … Continue reading →
Mairiuna, I have a great Sherlock Holmes detective story to share with you today! To commemorate the 150th Anniversary of Sir Conan Doyle’s birth, (1859-1930), the small island of Alderney, a bailiwick of Guernsey, issued a mystery set of 6 postage stamps beautifully illustrated by Keith Robinson. The mystery case, written by Keith Robinson, starts with the theft of an Alderney bull, a breed … Continue reading →
A colder spell had set in. It had been a summery Autumn, but now suddenly there was a sharp Winter’s bite in the air. ‘November chill blaws lood wi’ angry sugh…’ Funny how a line of Robert Burns should come into my head. Maybe the ghost of some Scotsman who trekked up here before me? I was to come across … Continue reading →
I’ve always delighted in the reading of old geographers and explorers.You feel in their texts the first tentative steps, see the earliest visions, register the initial astonishment at the appearance of the world in all its phenomenal strangeness. (Kenneth White – ‘Along the Atlantic Coast’ – The Wanderer and his Charts – 2004) In the morning, I’m standing at the … Continue reading →
Mairiuna, before the New Year ramps up, why not investigate about our most popular posts to see what are our readers’ favourite subjects? Let’s see what the stats reveal. Suspense…. And the winners are : 1. Rannoch Moor: First Steps Into The Scottish Wilderness People seemed to be energized in the clear and fresh atmosphere of the place and everybody looked happy … Continue reading →
Hi Mairiuna! Hi Jean-Claude! I sincerely hope the weather is fine while you are roaming the roads during this festive season to visit family members and relatives in different parts of your lovely French country. Upon your return, you will have added more than 2,000 kilometers to your car’s km counter and that is quite some mileage! Let us take together a moment to … Continue reading →
After the road, the trees… After the trees, unknown territory… After that, nothing at all. (Louis Ferdinand Celine quoted by Kenneth White in The Blue Road) Hi everybody! I’m very happy to be back with you on our blue road… ages seem to have passed since I have told you about our marvellous whales watching zodiac cruise on the St … Continue reading →
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 →
