When I was a kid, my parents sold their second-hand rusty station wagon for $200 to a blind man and a woman who couldn’t drive. Part of the deal was that they would deliver it to the couple’s home in the village of Spanish. When they got there, my parents found a bungalow surrounded by […]
The Land That’s In Our Blood
My husband remembers his grandmother telling him that when she moved east to northern Ontario from the wide, bald prairie, she would climb trees. I know why now. Born and raised on a farmstead in Saskatchewan, she mustn’t have seen many. Located south of Regina, this is the landscape that Anne Lazurko writes about in […]
Firelight Interview Series: Elizabeth Ruth
Who are you? I’m the author of three critically acclaimed novels: Matadora, Smoke and Ten Good Seconds of Silence. My work has been recognized by the Writer’s Trust of Canada Fiction Prize, The Amazon.ca Best First Novel Award, The City of Toronto Book Award, and CBC Canada Reads. Recently CBC named me one of the […]
Invisible Women
Last Saturday, at the Storytellers Film Festival, a short film called eu-tha-na-sia screened. Made by multidisciplinary artist Jani Lauzon, the film follows the feet of a girl leaving her territory, going to residential school, spending time on urban streets and finally, returning home. While the film has a happy ending, with feet fit once again […]
Frybread and Film
The Cree word for grandmother is kôkom and last Sunday’s full moon was Mikisewipisim, the Eagle Moon, when the eagles return to this territory. These are things I’ve learned living up here, and I’m eager to know more, so I’m excited to attend what I can of the first annual Storytellers Film Festival, an event […]
Making Do
Last July, when J. and I were in Toronto, we took Mowat to an off-leash park on a beach in the east end. Despite the fact that it was about 800 degrees out, there weren’t many people or dogs around, but one woman was hurling a Frisbee into the waves for her docile Golden Retriever. […]
Firelight Interview Series: Stacey Madden
Stacey Madden is the author of Poison Shy, a novel which Quill & Quire described as “a thoroughly enjoyable treat for fans of seedy urban squalor, eccentric characters, and stories as tightly coiled as mattress springs.” He lives in Toronto, where he is at work on his second book. Tell us about yourself: I grew […]
Jam Jars
Somebody on Facebook said that there are robins in Toronto. Really? This is the time of year that totally screws me up. Edging s.l.ow.l.y out of winter down south when up here, the snow has yet to start slumping and this morning it was forty below with the windchill. Should I stop? But the weather […]
Survey Says
A couple weeks ago, several of you answered my request for blog feedback, and I’m so glad you did! Not only was I the recipient of lots of praise (blush!), I also had a few answers that gave me a good laugh (Q: How did you find my blog? A: I dug several thousand metres underground […]
Lila: Off her chain and warm but still needing home
J. and I are animal lovers. Combined we’ve had five dogs, eleven cats, four parakeets, four geckos, two iguanas and a robin with a broken leg that J. spent a summer helping heal before teaching it to catch its own worms and finally, fly off. Our cat came to us two years ago outside the […]