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A Letter from Caitlyn Paxson
Dear Reader,
February may now be a week in the past, but it still feels like deep winter here on Prince Edward Island/Epekwitk. I keep telling myself that the cold and the snow will make the greening of summer all the more delicious, but it’s hard to rely on that promise. This photo is from a chilly ramble I took down the road late in the month. I walked until I came to a dead end where snowdrift morphed seamlessly into sea.
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Image Description: A dramatic evening sky with pink and grey clouds over a snowy field.
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Writing
February’s NPR piece was a roundup of three contemporary YA novels, and you can read about them here.
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Reading
This was a busy reading month! Here are a few things I especially enjoyed:
Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman has been a favorite of mine since it came out a few years back, and I am SO EXCITED that the sequel The Serpent’s Wake is finally here. Tess reminded me a lot of another favorite book, Taran Wanderer, in that it’s about a character making their way across the land and just meeting people and trying things and learning how to be useful in the world. The Serpent’s Wake is bigger in scope and asks Tess to do more and be better in a number of ways. Anything Hartman writes will always be a must-read for me.
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Image Description: Book cover featuring a girl with a boat behind her.
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The novel I’m currently writing has a romantic plotline at its center, so (with the guidance of my dear friend C.S.E. Cooney.) I’ve been dipping my toe into the waters of the romance genre. To get me started, she sent me Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade, which is a really charming tale of love and fanfiction. It’s very sweet but also spicy, and I love that the heroine is a zaftig beauty. I really hope someone snaps this one up for a movie romcom treatment.
On my search for historical romance, I stumbled upon The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian and loved it. In it, a retired highwayman is convinced to return to a life of crime by a beautiful nobleman who wants to rob his own father. The highwayman-centric romance is delightful (who doesn't enjoy a good stand-and-deliver moment, amirite) and the politics of it really surprised me and made me rethink what a happily ever after looks like within the context of a socially unjust historical period.
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Image Description: Two book covers with couples canoodling.
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I’ve also been reading tons of picture books because I started doing virtual Storytime with Auntie Caitlyn once a week for a friend’s girls. I’ve discovered a new favorite – author/illustrator Phoebe Whal. Her books Little Witch Hazel and Backyard Fairies are absolutely gorgeous and feature sweet messages that you’ll feel good about sharing with the kiddos in your life.
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Image Description: Two picture book covers featuring fairies and flora.
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Crafting
For February’s Wreath of the Month crown, I was grateful to have another willow circlet that I’d woven before the snow fell. I also had a stash of dried poppy seed pods stashed away from all the breadseed poppies I great last summer, and looking at them, I was taken with how much they look like little pomegranates. Thus was born Persephone in Winter:
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Image Description: A willow circlet laid out on a table with a vase of poppy pods behind it. Me with my face almost in profile, wearing the crown. The willow circlet with poppy pods attached.
Generally, I try to hold my Wreath of the Month creations together as naturally as possible – wire is allowed, but twisting the materials is even better. This month I threw all that to the wind and hot glued the pods onto the crown!
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Growing
I’m going to cheat with this one, because my February garden is still just a giant pile of snow. So let’s turn to fake flowers and MORE CRAFTING! A few years back, I made a flower headpiece by gluing some fabric blooms to a piece of felt. This month, I needed a unicorn headpiece for Storytime with Auntie Caitlyn, so I transformed it by adding felt unicorn ears and a horn.
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Image Description: Unicorn headdress flat on a table. Detail of embroidered horn. The inside of the unicorn headdress with stitches visible.
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The ears were cut out of felt and sewn on. The horn is a cone made of felt and stuffed with cotton batting, then embroidered with a chain stich of gold floss and sewn on. I had a lot of fun lounging around in it like some sort of Baroque My Little Pony fanatic. Does anyone else remember Fashion Star Fillies?
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Image Description: Me wearing the unicorn headdress and a ruffly white blouse, from two angles.
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Watching
I have long been a Florence and the Machine fan, and when I saw she’d dropped a new music video it was a watch instantly sort of situation. It’s gothic and creepy and gorgeous and I’m obsessed with the lyrics. If you need some witchy angst in your life (which of course you do), check it out.
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Image Description: Florence of Florence and the Machine reclines against a stormy sea background with her red hair flowing everywhere.
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Enthusing
February saw the release of Dark Breakers by C.S.E. Cooney. I mentioned C.S.E. Cooney earlier, and not only is she my dear friend, she’s also one of my all-time favorite authors. This mythic Belle Epoque fever dream of a world she’s created feels like it was a present just for me (even if I must jealously admit I am not her only intended reader).
These stories are about artists and writers and the relationship of their work and lives to fairyland, and they are all so very dear to me that seeing this book out in the world feels like making introductions for an old friend at a party. I once told C.S.E. that I wanted all her Dark Breakers stories collected into a big, gold-embossed book, and now I can hold this volume in my happy little hands and sigh contentedly. You can find it here.
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Image Description: A book cover showing golden hands emerging from a mist.
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And with that, we bid February farewell. I hope this letter provided a little bit of coziness and peace and that you are taking care of yourself. Thank you so much for rambling with me.
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Image Description: A snow-covered field with dark trees at the right and blue, cloudy sky overhead.
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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 Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley and Mi’kmaq Campfire Stories of Prince Edward Island by Julie Pellissier-Lush.
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