Book & Bramble - April 2022

Image Description: Sunset over the bay.

                May 2, 2022

            Book & Bramble - April 2022

A Letter from Caitlyn Paxson
Dear Reader,

April. Stuck between the icy majesty of winter and the long-awaited arrival of spring, it has fluctuated between surprise snowstorms and days where it feels like everything ought to be green but isn’t. All my landscapes from this month are a dreary brown and grey, so here’s a sunset instead. 

Image Description: Sunset over the bay.  

Writing
April’s review allowed me a foray into adult fantasy rather than my usual YA content, and I really enjoyed delving into Nettle & Bone. 

Reading
 I have been anticipating this book's release with all my heart: Saint Death’s Daughter by C.S.E. Cooney. I first read and adored this book back when it was a darling wee draft of the epic wonder it ultimately became, and honestly, holding the hardcover copy in my hands makes me feel as proud as if it was my own book. 

Image Description: Saint Death's Daughter, cover up, on a pillow. 

 I’m frequently quoted in blurbs on book jackets, but always as “NPR Books” rather than by name. This was my first time having a named blurb, and it made my heart very happy. 

Image Description: The title page of Saint Death's Daughter with my blurb visible. 

 Here's the full promotional blurb I wrote for the publisher: C.S.E. Cooney has more creative ideas before breakfast than most writers have in a lifetime, and Saint Death's Daughter is chock full of them. A tantalizing hint at a fabulous backstory is followed by a mind-spinningly original bit of worldbuilding, and then that is in turn chased by an emotional arc so moving that I cried like a baby while reading at an airport gate, and never mind all the people staring. Reading Saint Death's Daughter is like slipping on a velvet wizard's cloak you discovered hidden away in a trunk. It's got a million pockets, and each time you stick your hand in one, you pull out some jewel-encrusted, enchanted wonder. The only trouble is, you'll never want to take it off... 

Crafting
If March was a struggle for Wreath of the Month, April was a real debacle. I wandered the fields, poking at various scraggly twigs and lamenting. I contemplated trying to make a crown out of very thorny wild rose bushes, because at least they were red! But better sense prevailed. Finally, I came upon a birch tree who had lost a branch in a winter storm. Thinking she might not mind donating a bit of her fallen bark, The Birch Queen was born: 

Image Description:  Me, wearing a circlet of birch bark and the birch tree it came from.   

The crown is very simple – just pieces of bark stapled together! I was going for a sort of Queen of Hearts vibe. The final result is less lush and intricate than usual, but I think she suits the spirit of April. May next month bring more lavish materials!  

Growing
The only things flowering outside as I write this are the brave little crocuses (bless them!) but that doesn’t mean we aren’t growing things! 

Image Description:  A shelf with lights and seedlings growing.    

People who live in warmer climates have been starting seeds all winter, but here on the Island, it isn’t wise to start anything before mid April. Our last frost date (after which it’s safe to plant things that will die in the cold) isn’t until June 6 this year, so I had to be patient! On April 9, I was able to start all the seeds that need more time being coddled inside before moving out to the garden: tomatoes, peppers, nasturtiums, marigolds, snapdragons, strawflowers, asters, celosia, scabiosa, and rudbeckia. Three weeks later and they’re all getting big! 

Image Description:  Tomatoes, peppers, and flowers under the grow lights!   

Last weekend I started broccolini, kale, peas, and sweet peas in trays outside. They all prefer the colder temps, but tend to get eaten by mice if I direct sow them. I’ve also been busily prepping my garden beds and creating a whole new bed for a cut flower garden (and to feed our bees). I created it using the no dig method, where you layer down cardboard to smother the weeds and put compost on top of that to plant into. The weeds underneath will die, and the cardboard will decompose gradually, creating a (hopefully) weedless garden bed without disturbing the soil and all the tiny little creatures that live in it. If you want to know more about this method, I recommend this video. It worked like a charm when I created my three sisters bed last year, so I’m excited to try it again.

Image Description:  Cardboard layered on the ground to create a garden bed, then covered in compost, then with paths added.   

Watching
I've been eagerly anticipating season two of Gentleman Jack, and three episodes in, I'm really enjoying it. It’s based on the journals of real-life woman ahead of her time, Anne Lister, who ran an estate in 19th century England and seduced more than a few ladies around the neighborhood in the process. This show’s attention to detail is immaculate, and it’s well worth watching for the costumes – the 1830’s were truly one of the most unhinged decades for fashion. Suranne Jones as Anne Lister is a powerhouse of charisma and complexity, and I'm already intrigued about where season two is headed.

Image Description: The women of Gentleman Jack Season Two. 

Interpreting
Museum season is back! When it’s not the dead of winter, I work for the PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation as a historical interpreter, site manager, programming assistant, etc., and this month I got to spend some time at Beaconsfield House in Charlottetown (all the views and sentiments expressed in this newsletter are my own and do not represent the Foundation).
Beaconsfield was built in 1877, and is an absolutely stunning, William Morris wallpaper encrusted example of the height of architectural fashion in Charlottetown at the time. It’s first owner, James Peake, was a shipbuilding baron eager to show off his family’s new wealth – which he then lost as the shipbuilding industry rapidly collapsed on the Island in the 1880’s. The bank foreclosed on Beaconsfield not five years after it was built and Peake died penniless, working in a pool hall out west. Truly a tale of riches to rags.

Image Description:  A huge, yellow Victorian house with me standing in front of it in my 1890’s costume. 

The house went on to have several lives after the Peakes, and now you can come and tour it. I love it for all its little details. 

Image Description:  The pantry, featuring one of Charlottetown’s first sinks with hot and cold running water. Penelope Cundall’s desk, one of the only pieces of furniture original to the house (it apparently has a secret compartment). The tiny ornate door to the controls for the gas lighting.    

I leave you with a picture of me looking wistfully out of James Peake’s very fancy painted glass window, trying to catch a glimpse of true spring. Surely it will be here soon, and when we meet again at the end of May, I will be able to offer you a bouquet of blooms at last! 

Image Description: Me, sitting on the stairs by the painted glass window at Beaconsfield.  

Wishing you the best books and the most berry-full brambles,
Caitlyn

I write this from the traditional unceded territory known as Mi’kma’ki. Two books by Indigenous authors that I really enjoyed recently are Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley and Mi’kmaq Campfire Stories of Prince Edward Island by Julie Pellissier-Lush. 

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