Book & Bramble - January 2024

Image Description: My favorite picture of my Aunt Barbara.

                            January 28, 2024

                Book & Bramble - January 2024

A Letter from Caitlyn Paxson
Dear Reader,
The first letter of a new year ought to be a fresh start full of possibility, but I have to admit that this particular January feels like it has lasted about six months. There have been some incredibly joyful moments but also a lot of horribly sad ones. Most pressing to me is that my beloved Aunt Barbara passed away just over a week ago.      

Image Description: My favorite picture of my Aunt Barbara.  

I’m not ready yet to write at length about her and the impact that she had on my life, but I want you to know that she was an incredible artist, cultural historian, activist, and dear friend to so many interesting people. I will miss her terribly. I hope to share more about her with you in the coming months. One of the last things she and I spoke about was my menagerie of orange cats. I know their antics have been helping my spirits, and I hope they will help yours if your 2024 is also off to a tumultuous start.    

Image Description: The Contessa has a Princess and the Pea moment. Receiving lots of comforting snuggles.

Reading

I’ve mostly been reading to soothe my mind this month, and I was grateful to have preordered the sequel to a book I loved last year: Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries (you can read my review of it here). Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands continues the story of prickly folklorist Emily Wilde and her colleague-turned-beau Wendel Brambleby as they journey into the Alps in search of a doorway to Faerie. I’m not proud to be very fussy and proprietary about how other writers use faerie lore, but real talk, I am those things. That’s why it delights me so much to love everything these books do with the material. The characters are extremely loveable and I highly recommend letting these books cast their gentle spell over you this winter.

Image Description:The Emily Wilde books.  

Interpreting
These are the quieter months for me, museum-wise, where I spend lots of time planning all the exciting programs that I run in the summer and fall. I’m also in and out of classrooms, teaching kids about artifacts and introducing them to the various sites where I work. One of the programs that I’m planning at the moment is a new iteration of the Beaconsfield Book Club, which will start up again in February. This time around, we’re focusing on speculative historical fiction written by Black authors, and I’m very excited to chat about these three amazing books with my co-host, culture critic and diversity specialist Evelyn Bradley,  and all the insightful attendees! If you’re local and interested in joining us, check it out here.

Image Description:Our Book Club Picks! 

Crafting
This month’s wreath was mostly made by my amazing mom (check out her pottery shop here). The last time I visited, she made me an assortment of clay mushrooms, which I helped glaze. Now they adorn a dogwood circlet, and I was amused at how the closely the colors match my hair in photos – I swear they’re mostly blue in person! 

Image Description: Mushroom Queen.    

I also made the chemise that I’m wearing as part of a personal initiative to improve my sewing skills this winter. It’s made out of curtains from the thrift store and I love swanning around in it, pretending to be Jane Morris.  

Musing
 All I can say is that if you’re also having a January that feels like it contained multitudes, I am right there with you. Let’s look at some pretty flowers and then hibernate until spring.  

Image Description: Last summer’s blooms. 

 Until next time, 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 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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