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A Letter from Caitlyn Paxson
Dear Reader,
July passed in a haze of sun, work, and flowers. Going through my photos for the month, it’s pretty obvious that my heart has been in the garden. I hope you like flowers!
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Image Description: A collage of nine flowers in shades of pink and orange – roses, poppies, echinacea, and rudbeckia.
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Writing
This month was so busy that I've decided thinking about my novel-in-progress while driving to work counts as writing.
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Reading
It’s been another slower month for reading, but I do have a few things to recommend.
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Image Description: A book surrounded by pink and yellow and orange flowers.
Last year, Silvia Moreno-Garcia became a must-read author for me when I ripped through Mexican Gothic, Gods of Jade and Shadow, and The Beautiful Ones. All of her books have a speculative or fantastical element, but otherwise explore different genres, so I was very excited to see what she’d do when reimagining the H. G. Wells scifi classic, The Island of Doctor Moreau. Rather than focusing on the Doctor, The Daughter of Doctor Moreau tells the story of Carlota Moreau and her struggle to protect the only home and family she has ever known. In this version of the tale, the outsider comes in the form of Montgomery Laughton, a broken man trying to repay his debts by running the estate where Doctor Moreau does his… research. All of Moreno-Garcia’s books are page-turners, and this is no exception. She creates deeply relatable characters and then really puts them through it, all while dismantling the horrors of colonialism, without ever sacrificing pacing or plot. I highly recommend all her books!
A new author for me this month was Olivia Atwater, whose Regency fantasy Half a Soul really enchanted me. It’s about a young lady named Dora whose mother bartered her firstborn’s soul to a lord of Faerie – but when he comes to collect, Dora manages to get away with half of her soul intact. Unfortunately for her, it’s not enough soul to allow her to behave in the way that people expect, but it is enough to make her feel her perceived shortcomings keenly. She resigns herself to her role as helpful spinster companion to her beautiful best friend. But then she meets the King’s own magician, the Lord Sorcier. He works hard to scandalize everyone he meets, so when he meets a young lady who’s half soulless state renders her immune to his antics, he takes note.
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Image Description: A book surrounded by white flowers.
I’m generally very picky about depictions of faerie lords and bargains, and I was impressed by how elegantly this book made use of familiar tropes. And I loved Dora – the uncertainty and awkwardness caused by her half soulless state was very relatable to me as someone who lives with anxiety and OCD. The author never blatantly draws a line between Dora’s situation and neurodivergence, but it ended up speaking to me on that level nonetheless, and the conclusion to Dora’s tale felt especially moving to me for that reason.
And lest you think I’ve moved on from my recent infatuation with T. Kingfisher’s romance novels, think again! This month I listened to the audiobook of her novel Swordheart, which is the tale of a widow in need of an escape from her horrible in-laws and the man trapped in a magic sword who helps her save herself. I’ve always been a fan of talking sword stories, but it never occurred to me that the magic sword could be the love interest. T. Kingfisher is just clever like that.
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Crafting
When nature gives you flowers like these, you really just have to show up.
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Image Description: A rainbow of flowers. Zinnia and snapdragon closeups.
I used florist tape to create a circlet of these glorious blooms. The crown includes snapdragons, zinnias, rudbeckia, cosmos, queen anne’s lace, bee balm, and yarrow. You can kind of see the method I used to wrap the flowers in this amusing reinterpretation of Midsommar:
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Image Description: Me holding the wreath in front of my face and peering through the center with a goofy expression.
It kind of boggles my mind that four months ago, these flowers were just tiny seeds in the palm of my hand.
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Image Description: Me, looking dramatic in a colorful flower crown. The crown, hanging on a fence post. Me again, now with a basket.
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Growing
July is when things really start to happen in the garden here on Prince Edward Island. We spent the month eating peas, lettuce, broccolini, kale, and the first of the new potatoes. I always used to think that growing potatoes was silly because it takes a lot of space and you have to hand pick the (super gross) potato bugs and potatoes are cheap anyway. But let me tell you, having had new potatoes right out of the garden I can guarantee they will always be at the top of my growing list from now on. Truly a perfect food.
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Image Description: The veggie garden in her glory.
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The three sisters garden has gone from sprouts to mini forest of corn, pumpkins, and one lone amaranth (beans, the actual third sister, are growing elsewhere because last year they broke my corn stalks with their enthusiasm). And the cutting garden is bursting with blooms! Sweet peas and snapdragons were the stars this month, but now the zinnias, strawflowers, cosmos, and rudbeckia are catching up. A garden this size is so much work, but it feels so worth it when I bring in an armful of flowers and a basket of all the fixings for dinner.
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Image Description: Pumpkins and corn. Veggie harvest collage. The cut flower garden. A month of Sunday Bouquets.
It’s Sunday as I write this, and today there was a whole bucket full of flowers ready to cut, which was a true dream of mine from deep in the winter when I was obsessing over all my garden plans. It was enough for six bouquets, and I love all of them.
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Image Description: Six colorful bouquets.
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Interpreting
The CBC did a feature video on the ghost tour that I created – check it out here!
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Musing
I’m extremely aware of how lucky I am to live in such a beautiful place, and I know how bucolic this newsletter makes my life look. And my life is bucolic! But I want you to know that if you’re having a hard time this summer – um, same! I took on a lot more than I could handle, and I got to the point last week where I had to admit that I needed to rest. I have a really hard time asking for accommodation, but ask I did. And it helped. I hope that if you need rest, you can ask for it and find some respite.
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Image Description: Sunset over the ocean.
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Until next month, 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 The Summer of Bitter and Sweet by Jen Ferguson and Mi’kmaq Campfire Stories of Prince Edward Island by Julie Pellissier-Lush.
(All opinions expressed in this newsletter are my own and do not represent my employer.)
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