A Day at the Lake

Our reading group spent a relaxing afternoon at the cottage on Washamedoak Lake, thanks to by one of our members. Continuing our focus on Canadian novels, our theme was novels of rural Canada. Deborah provided a definition of rural Canada, from a book of essays edited by Wayne Grady, former editor of Harrowsmith.

Books presented and reviewed were:
Since Daisy Creek W. O. Mitchell
The Rhinestone Button Gail Anderson-Dargatz
Relative Happiness Leslie Crewe
The Birth House Ami McKay
Red Dog, Red Dog Patrick Lane

Not completed but also discussed were Thomas H. Raddall's The Nymph and the Lamp, and River of the Brokenhearted by David Adams Richards. Made available for loan were Luna and Gates of the Sun by Sharon Butala, as well as Broken Ground by Jack Hodgins.

Several poems from the vegetable series in Lorna Crozier's The Garden Going On Without Us were shared.

Radishes

Radishes flip their skirts in the wind
like a line of chorus girls
throw them over their heads.

If they were singers
they'd be the Andrews sisters.
If they had jobs
they'd be nurses who drive
red sports cars after work.

Every spring you put up with
their flirtations
for the crunch between your teeth
the quick surprise
of rain and fire
they've saved all season
just for you.

A delicious lunch was shared and an eagle spotted overhead. (There were no further bird sightings once I remembered that I'd brought binoculars.) Comet greatly enjoyed the outing, which included almost sufficient stick throwing.

Next month's theme - Canadian novels related to bodies of water. Reading suggestions welcome.

Wendy