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A Letter from Caitlyn Paxson
Dear Reader,
This morning, I sat on the front porch and watched summer sidle into fall. We had a very rainy August, but the deluge seems to have passed, making way for an idyllic September.
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Image Description: The view from the front porch: driveway, a field full of haybales, and very distant cows.
It has been such a busy summer, and now that things are slowing down, I feel an exhale summoned from the bottom of my soul. Fall will also have its busy times, but the quiet season is in sight, and I am very ready to welcome it! I’m looking forward to the months of cozying up with the orange bundles of personality also known as my cats and the stack of books I’ve been neglecting!
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Image Description: Bruce and Monty cuddling. The Contessa regards her subjects.
I have several roundups forthcoming at NPR Books, and aside from staying on top of all that, I really haven’t been reading much, except for the audiobook I listen to while driving and cooking. This month, I decided to treat myself to the audio version of a book I already know I love, The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy.
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Image Description: Surrounded by zinnias and cosmos.
I’ve sung the praises of this absolute gem before, but in case you missed it, it’s the story of an undertaker named Mercy who lives at the edge of a strange otherworld that turns people into zombies and a marshal named Hart who patrols it to clean up the zombies and bring them out for a proper burial. They hate each other. And then they don’t. It’s partially epistolary and exists at that perfect intersection of falling in love and grappling with mortality that I especially love in a book. It’s not often that a book makes me laugh, cry, and swoon, but this one fits the bill. I was worried the audiobook couldn’t live up to the experience of reading it, but I need not have worried – the dual narrators absolutely nailed the tenderness necessary for this book’s magic. Highly recommended!
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Interpreting
August was a whirl of work events as the PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation celebrated the 50th anniversaries of three of the sites where I work – Beaconsfield Historic House, Green Park Shipbuilding Museum and Yeo House, and Orwell Corner Historic Village. At the first two events, I served blueberry shrub in costume (as I mentioned in my last letter), and at Orwell, I did spinning demonstrations. Last week I gave the final Haunting of Yeo House tour for the season, and now it’s time to prepare for the Beaconsfield Séance, wherein I moonlight as a fake Victorian spirit medium for the entire month of October!
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Image Description: Inside the Beaconsfield Carriage House. Blueberry shrub. The Yeo House.
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Crafting
Most months I set out to make a wreath specifically for this project, but this time, I just happened to notice that the celosia was looking ready to harvest for drying, and so were some herbs, and next thing I knew I was making a crown. It’s made of celosia, hydrangea, thyme, oregano, basil, sage, and mint, and it smells delicious. I’m hoping it will dry nicely and turn into décor for the winter.
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Image Description: The herb and flower crown in action.
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Someone recently asked me who takes these portraits of me for Wreath of the Month, and the answer is that I do! I use a tripod with a timer. For every image that you see, there are about 50 more, and I look like an absolute goofball in all of them.
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Gardening
Well. The garden is looking absolutely wild. The veggie bed is not entirely as successful as I might have hoped for. Some things aren’t producing much at all (zucchini, cucumbers, corn), other things have taken over and are producing more than I want (beans), and the tomatoes got some kind of blight from all the rain and are basically dead. I have a chaotic sensibility in the garden in general, and sometimes it serves me well, but I think that next year I may have to be a bit more strategic to avert these sorts of disappointments.
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Image Description: The chaotic veggie garden. Sunflowers against sunset. The flower cutting garden by dusk.
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That said, we have absolutely been enjoying the garden’s bounty, and it still looks lovely.
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Image Description: Tomatoes, misshapen cucumbers, so many beans. Harvest at dusk. Flowers, flowers, flowers.
One thing that has comforted me in the wake of the mistakes I made this year is that while the veggie garden may not be feeding us quite to my usual standard, it is definitely feeding mother nature! I’ve never seen more pollinators – hummingbirds, caterpillars, bees – they’re all loving my chaos. And that is reason enough to have a garden, I think. |
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Image Description: A hummingbird visits the bean tree. A swallowtail butterfly caterpillar munches on dill. A wild bee drinks from a zinnia. |
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Travelling
Magill and I managed to sneak away to Nova Scotia for a few days, and we explored the southern end of Cape Breton, winding our way around the Bras d’Or Lake. It’s an absolutely gorgeous spot with mountaintop views, and I especially enjoyed visiting the Highland Village Museum, where I got to make use of the very, very tiny amount of Scots Gaelic that I remember from my time in Scotland!
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Image Description: The Highland Village Museum. A horse with a view. The lighthouse at St. Peters.
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We’ve also had some lovely visits with friends and family this summer, and I’m especially grateful for all the trips to the beach that we might not have made if we weren’t entertaining. One such trip, we stumbled upon this majestic sand citadel!
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Image Description: The Red Sand Citadel in the dying light.
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Wherever you are, I hope you are able to enjoy all the last summer things and get excited about the autumn ones! Until next time, wishing you the best books and the most berry-full brambles,
Caitlyn
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I write this from the traditional unceded territory known as Mi’kma’ki. Two books by Indigenous authors that I really enjoyed recently are To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose and Into the Bright Open by Cherie Dimaline.
(All opinions expressed in this newsletter are my own and do not represent my employer.)
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