Some Lifting Yesterday Thank Yous

Since presenting my offer for Lifting Yesterday, I have heard from a number of friends and even a couple of strangers, who have subscribe. Thank you, to all who have expressed interest in the book and willingness to wade through the text on the screen. Most subscribers have opted for the “once a month” delivery, but a few intrepid souls have chosen to get the files all in one whoosh. My hope and wish is that my subscribers will enjoy the read and find something of interest and relevance, perhaps even resonance, in the pages.

My intention over the next year is to post some additional, hopefully interesting information relating to the particular chapter I am sending out that month. Even though I have already started sending out the Introduction and Chapter One, which is about Great Village in particular and about landscape/place in general, this post is primarily about an important source for the book as a whole – specifically about two people to whom I owe a profound debt of gratitude. Without their support of my work on Bishop, Lifting Yesterday would never have come into being. Both of these people are gone now, and I miss them greatly; but their impact on my life endures.

I am speaking of Elizabeth Bishop’s first cousin Phyllis Sutherland, and Phyllis’s daughter, Miriam Sutherland. I met them both in 1991 and they welcomed me into their home and family and through them I learned a great deal about the intriguing Bulmer-Hutchinsons. Phyllis was in possession of a substantial archive of family material (which is now housed at Acadia University Archives), and she gave me ample access to it. Over several years I catalogued it. Miriam and I were almost exactly the same age. She was born three days before me in the same year/month. It always pleased Miriam that she was older than me. Miriam was one of the most special people I have ever met. She had the warmest heart of anyone I know and a phenomenal memory for names, and could remember who the people in those old photographs were better than her mother.

I want to acknowledge their importance in the existence of Lifting Yesterday (Phyllis was one of the handful of people who read the entire manuscript in the late 1990s and accepted my interpretation of Gertrude Bulmer Bishop, which meant a great deal to me). I found a couple of old photographs, which I wanted to share. Thank you Phyllis and Miriam!

(l to r) Wallace (Bud) Bowers, Lois Bowers, Phyllis Sutherland and Maria Lucia Martins, 2010

Miriam Sutherland and Sandra Barry looking at Bulmer family photographs, 1992

I also want to reiterate, if you are interested in Lifting Yesterday, you can subscribe any time. I can accept not only cash or cheque (Canadian and US), but I am also able to accept e-transfers (in Canada only) and overseas wire transfers. The cost is $25.00. Stay tuned for further updates.

Yet another update about the EB House

I visited Great Village the other day to check on the progress of the road/bridge work and its impact on the Elizabeth Bishop House front yard. As you will see from the photos below (taken by yours truly this time -- so not as good as Patti's and Brenda's photos), the site is still somewhat deconstructed, though progress is visible. You can tell from the photo of the front yard that the Department of Transportation has intruded on the small front lawn that was always there, to widen the shoulder of the new section of road. I was a bit disheartened by the mess, but since the work is not yet completed, we must wait to see the final impact. It is clear that we will need to do some landscaping of both sides of the driveway, but this work will not happen until the spring. The front lawn also still has gravel deposits from the flood, so it is not looking its best. We will remedy that next spring. The bridge itself is paved and some sort of elaborate railing is being installed. What a change it will be when the old bridge comes down -- but, I suppose soon everyone will be used to this modern addition to the village.

 

 

I was heartened to see the lovely big Christmas tree in front of the church, put up by the Great Village Garden Club. It is a cheering sight on these dark nights of late fall.

Yesterday morning (Thursday, 4 December 2014), after another day of heavy rain, the sky was clear and the sunrise was beautiful. This view looks out over the back pasture towards the river.

Stay tuned for another update about Lifting Yesterday: Elizabeth Bishop and Nova Scotia, coming sometime next week. As well, the Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova Scotia will be holding "The Elizabeth Bishop Festival" -- a one-day artistic extravaganza in Great Village on 8 August 2015 -- mark that day and stay tuned for announcements of the artists who will be there and the activities that will happen. Exciting!

The story of "Lifting Yesterday" — by Sandra Barry

My first article about Bishop was published in 1991. By the middle of that decade, I was fully immersed in the Bishop world — giving talks and delivering papers at conferences, participating in the EBSNS, taking visitors to Great Village to show them Bishop’s childhood home. I was also actively researching Bishop’s connections to Nova Scotia.

My mother died early in 1997 and later that year, with the generous financial and moral support of Canadian historian Alison Prentice, I was able to devote a stretch of time to writing my most substantial work about Bishop, what I call a biographical study, Lifting Yesterday: Elizabeth Bishop and Nova Scotia. I completed the manuscript sometime in 1998–1999. At the time, I thought it might be possible to publish it.

For a few years I approached publishers and submitted proposals for consideration. I can’t recall how many publishers I approached, but it might have been about half-dozen. All said no. The university presses said it was too long. The trade publishers said it was too scholarly (too many notes). I began to realize that the issues were complex. Initially, Bishop was not a subject of much interest in Canada. She was perceived as a dead American poet, whose Canadian connection was with the peripheral Maritimes. I was told by Penguin Canada that their marketing people didn’t think they could market it. It surprised me to hear that they had so much say, as much or more than editors, about what to publish. I was very new to this whole game and, I suppose, naïve.

I came to realize that another obstacle was the hybrid nature of the manuscript. It is part biography, history, genealogy and literary criticism. Being neither fish nor fowl, publishers didn’t know where to slot it. There were other issues: biography is a niche genre in the small Canadian marketplace; the biographer is almost as important as the subject of the biography. You get the idea. The effort to interest someone, anyone, in it proved futile at that time.

I talked with some friends, colleagues and acquaintances about what to do. Some echoed that it was too long — but from my perspective as someone who loves to read biography, and who has read dozens of FAT ones in my life, I didn’t see how it was possible to write a short biography of anyone, let alone such a complex person as Bishop. The first biography about Bishop, by Brett Millier, was a substantial book.

Some people urged me to do whatever it took (meaning, cut it), but I was resistant to this option because, for me, I had said what I wanted to say about Bishop in the way I wanted to say it. I chose the structure based on how I actually saw Bishop’s life and art: that is, not as a conventional chronological narrative, but thematically, as a quirky non-linear equation. The shape and format of the manuscript reflected my very argument, in the way that form is necessary to create a poem and understand its meaning.

Some people suggested I divide it up and pitch it to publishers as two volumes. If they wouldn’t publish one volume, I couldn’t see them wanting to publish two or three. One person who read it (and I am grateful to the handful of people who read the whole thing) suggested that I present it as a “collective biography” — I thought this a good idea and have since often described it in this way.

After several years of trying, I put the manuscript aside. I continued to research, write and talk about Bishop. Indeed, with each passing year I got deeper into the Bishop world. But I stepped away from the manuscript for some time. As I tell people, Bishop scholarship is not the only thing I have done — or do — and I was involved in a number of other creative and scholarly projects (as well as freelance editing work).

In 2004 my younger sister, Donna, died. With part of the legacy she left me, I decided it was time I had a website. In 2005, my good friend Scott Dickson designed one for me. Part of the content of the site was what I had now taken to calling my “big Bishop book.” Scott put early versions of the introduction, and chapters 1 and 2 on the site (this website is now defunct, thanks to Bell Aliant). I never got around to adding more chapters. Re-engaging the manuscript in this way made me think, again, about the possibility of publishing it — so, in the mid-2000s I took up the effort. Interest in Bishop in Canada had increased somewhat, so I thought the reception of this subject would be more favourable. Again, I don’t remember how many publishers I approached (perhaps three or four — and not the ones I had approached in the late 1990s). My strategy was a combination of cold submissions and approaches based on an introduction by someone (as was the case the first time). Again, all said no, more or less for the same reasons as before.

I did not persist with this round of appeals for as long as I did the first time. I resigned myself to the fact that the manuscript was not publishable. For the most part, I didn’t really care. When I re-read the manuscript in 2005 (after several years of not looking at it), I found that I still liked what I had written. I did some revision and added new information I had come across, but, more or less, I had written what I wanted to write, said what I wanted to say, in the way I wanted to say it, and, truly, there is real satisfaction in doing so.

I had set up my own imprint after my sister died, Joe Heron Press, which I was using for hand-made, limited edition booklets, broadsides, and other formats for my own poetry. Part of the sales of these creations went to causes that mattered to me. It struck me that I might do a similar thing with my big Bishop book: that is, print and bind the manuscript and offer it to the people I knew were interested. I actually spent over a year setting this up: getting estimates for costs, publicizing the project and asking people to subscribe (I got about 100 subscribers – no money changed hands). But, by 2008 I again let the whole thing drop. Part of the reason why was because I and a group of Bishop fans had come together to buy Bishop’s childhood home in Great Village, late in 2004. I took on the administration of the house and the artist retreat that we set up there, and several years into this endeavour, both were consuming a great deal of my time, energy and resources. Also by 2008, I began what became a major project focused on celebrating Elizabeth Bishop’s centenary in 2011. Serious work on EB100 (as we came to call it) was well underway by 2009, and continued into 2013, with several substantial legacy projects.

Part of my personal contribution to EB100 was publishing, through Nimbus Publishing in 2011, an introductory biography about Bishop, Elizabeth Bishop: Nova Scotia’s “Home-Made” Poet. I guess this book proved I could write “brief,” as opposed to “big,” about Bishop. Nimbus refers to this book as a pictorial biography. It is short and filled with images.

I am actually quite pleased with this little book, which is thoughtfully designed and serves the purpose for which it was intended: to introduce Nova Scotians to Bishop and her connections with the province. In some ways, this brief account of her life and work is about as much as most people want to read in this world of rapid, fragmentary and transitory communication; our attention spans having been shaped by the sound byte and the Wikipedia page. I told people that I would buy the book for its photographs. Indeed, in no other book is there collected as many images about Bishop’s life as there are in this little book. This book is still in print.

With all the hype from EB100, friends asked me, “Why don’t you try again to find a publisher?” I no longer have any interest in doing so. When I put part of the manuscript online back in 2005, I saw the value of the online world as a way of reaching a wide audience. I am by no means adept with electronic communication. I do email and blog a bit, c’est tout. With all the “devices” available to us, I still have only a desktop computer, and I feel suspicious of the wholesale immersion in electronic information technologies. However, I saw, in my simple-minded way, even back then, that the internet was an effective way to communicate, to share information. I even saw it as a kind of “publishing” — that is how I saw the creation of my website, which Scott did, by the way, from scratch, writing code. There were no fancy web or blog design sites then like today.

I have always taken an independent path, operating outside institutions. This independent path has also influenced my thinking about publishing. Some of my work has been published in conventional ways, but, mostly, I have remained on the side of the self-published, which in the 1990s was seen in the wider world as, essentially, failure. I didn’t see it that way, but what did I know?

With the explosion of the internet, with intense economic and social pressures, conventional publishing and book selling are changing rapidly in the twenty-first century. Even if the powers that be in the literary world (e.g., the Writers Union of Canada, the League of Canadian Poets, the many professional editors’ associations) still regard conventional publishing as the marker of true success, many people see this position as increasingly dubious. Even as the internet remains a kind of “wild west” of content, increasingly, there is material of serious intent and substance found only there. The gate-keepers no longer quite know where the gate is, since it is shifting every few years, or few months, or few weeks. I think of the ubiquity of e-books, tablets, smart phones. I think of the many academic journals that are now only available online.

When the intensity of the Elizabeth Bishop Centenary eased late in 2013, I began to think about my big Bishop book again, and decided that I would re-visit and reformat it and make it available electronically as a pdf, or, rather, as a series of pdfs. Personally, I read as little as possible on screens. But I see the value, for example, of having a searchable electronic text, and a way of passing around text that is easier and quicker than the old-fashioned way: loaning out one’s precious books.

Here it is the end of 2014. I have lived with my big Bishop book for so long that now I need to do something with it. I do not believe it is definitive, by any means; but there is information in it that is found no where else in Bishop scholarship. The EB100 blog seemed like the logical place to offer it, as this site has an audience open to learning more about Elizabeth Bishop and her connections to Nova Scotia. When I thought about printing/binding/selling it by subscription, I went to the Bishop estate and explained my plan. I received permission from the estate to proceed. Essentially, the book would not be “published” or “marketed” in any conventional way. A permission fee was paid (kindly by an American Bishop scholar friend of mind), even then beyond my budget. Thus, the estate knows what I have done, so I feel no qualm about sharing this manuscript in this manner.

Modus Operandi

If you are interested in Lifting Yesterday: Elizabeth Bishop and Nova Scotia, and want to receive the pdfs, let me know and I will put your name on a subscription list. My email address is: slbarry@ns.sympatico.ca.

I must charge a fee. I hope that what I am asking is reasonable: $25.00 (no tax) for all pdfs. I need payment first (cheque or cash), before I can send it. My mailing address is: P.O. Box 235, Middleton, Nova Scotia, B0S 1P0, Canada.

I can send you all ten pdfs at once (as well as the “Works Cited”), or I can send one pdf file at the beginning of each month, starting at the time of subscription. Please indicate your preference. You can subscribe any time.

At the beginning of each month, I will post a notice on the EB100 blog to say that a new chapter is ready. I will also offer something additional that relates to the chapter that is available that month.

Thank you kindly for your interest. Sandra Barry

Progress on the new bridge and road in Great Village

I have just now received this photograph from Great Village resident Patti Sharpe, showing another significant development with the new bridge in the village and the shift in trajectory of the road. My plan to hold an Open House at the EB House on Saturday has been deferred, as all the variables that would make it possible have not aligned. At this point, I think I will hold off until the spring, as yet again, Nova Scotia is in the sights of a nor'easter, which is dumping lost of snow in New England and will bring heavy rain and snow to the Great Village area. Winter arrives in earnest. By the spring, all the changes related to the bridge construction and road work will be past. But I thought you would like to see the latest development. Thanks, Patti, for taking this photograph.

"Cousin Elizabeth" and "Field Guide"

On my recent trip to Halifax to attend the Creative Arts Awards, I had the great pleasure of eating at a new restaurant: Field Guide, which had just celebrated its first anniversary the week before I dined there. This delightful new establishment is owned and operated by a lively young couple, Ceilidh Sutherland and Dan Vorstermans. I mention this experience not only because the food was fantastic and I had one of the best cocktails I have ever had in my life, but also because Ceilidh is Elizabeth Bishop's first cousin twice removed. 

Bishop's favourite aunt was Grace Bulmer Bowers. Bishop exchanged hundreds of letters over the decades not only with Grace, but also with Grace's daughter Phyllis Sutherland. When Bishop visited Nova Scotia in the 1970s, she always spent time at Phyllis's home and she knew her children. Phyllis's younger son David was a particular favourite. He recalls that upon meeting Bishop for the first time in the early 1970s, she brought him the new Grateful Dead album (which he still owns, by the way). I first met Phyllis in 1991, which also meant that I met her sons and their children. In particular, I met David Sutherland's little daughter Ceilidh.

Ceilidh and me about 1992 or 1993 at Phyllis Sutherland's home in Balfron, N.S. We are looking at some of the amazing archival material Phyllis had in her possession, which I catalogued and which now forms part of the Bulmer-Bowers-Hutchinson-Sutherland family fonds at Acadia University, Wolfville, N.S.

I watched Ceilidh grow and go out in the world, travelling like her "Cousin Elizabeth" (which is now Bishop was known in her maternal family). A couple of years ago, Ceilidh and her husband Dan moved to Halifax, N.S., and with their creative, entrepreneurial spirit they opened Field Guide. Elizabeth Bishop would be impressed by the warm hospitality and imaginative menu of this lively eaterie. She would be as impressed as I am by the dedicated work ethic of this young couple. And wouldn't Ceilidh's grandmother be proud. Sadly, Phyllis died in 2011.

If you find yourself in Halifax, N.S., visit this delightful restaurant with its open kitchen concept and its commitment to superb food and leisurely dining. Congratulations Ceilidh and Dan on your first year in business. I'll be back!

An image from the evening when I shared a meal at Field Guide with my friends Mary Ellen Sullivan and Jim Stewart. Ceilidh is standing at the bar on the left, quite grown up from the little girl with blonde curls. Their bar tender is a magician!

Congratulations and Thanks!

Readers of the EB100 Blog will have noticed the absence from the top of our page of the link to our Honorary Patron Suzie LeBlanc's Indigogo campaign to fund a tour of the music of her Christmas CD, Noël de la France à l'Acadie, which had been there for several months.  Set your minds to rest: this is merely a consequence of the project's successful conclusion!   Congratulations to Suzie, and safe journeys to her as she sets off on her travels.

And, most especially: many, MANY thanks to all of you who contributed to making live performances of this beautiful music possible!

Congratulations to Peter Togni and Responsio

Last night Suzie LeBlanc and I attended the Creative Arts Awards in Halifax, Nova Scotia, at which the 2014 Lieutenant-Governor Masterworks Arts Award was announced. On behalf of the Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova Scotia, I would like to congratulate composer and musician Peter Togni, whose astonishing composition "Responsio" was the winner. The EBSNS was nominator for Suzie LeBlanc and her CD "I am in need of music" (settings of Bishop poems by four Canadian composer), and we were, or course, rooting for this "masterwork" to win. But we are delighted to say that our own Suzie LeBlanc, Honorary Patron of the EBSNS, was also involved in Peter's work. Suzie, along with three other singers and the musician extraordinaire Jeff Reilly, toured Peter's work last year. I had the great privilege of seeing/hearing a performance of this glorious work in Wolfville, N.S., and can only agree with the Masterwork Award Jury's praise of it. Below is part of the press release of the Masterwork Arts Award board, describing Peter's "masterwork."

From the Masterworks Arts Award press release:

The orchestral composition, Responsio, by composer Peter-Anthony Togni, has won the 2014 Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia Masterworks Arts Award which carries a cash value of $25,000. The award was presented last night at the Creative Nova Scotia Awards Gala in Halifax. The winner was chosen by an independent jury of five artists including Catherine Banks, Steve Higgins, Gary Markle, Gwen Noah and Lukas Pearse.

The fifty-minute musical work scored for solo bass clarinet and vocal quartet is built upon a pre-existing composition, Guillaume de Machaut’s 1365 Mass the Messe de Nostre Dame. The composer juxtaposes bursts of bass clarinet improvisation against through-composed vocal material, forming a continuous commentary on the relationship of the individual to the collective. This contemporary recomposition of a work of sacred music serves to contrast modern expressions of free will with the certainty and limitations of the feudal order. Fittingly, the work was first performed in 2013 in St. Bernard Church on the French Shore.

The jury commented that the combination of new and ancient musics integrates classical ensemble singing into a new context. Artistically mature and highly original as a composition, Responsio’s impact will spread internationally, independently of its performance in Nova Scotia. The artist’s work Lamentatio Jeremiae Prophetae was a 2010 Masterworks Finalist.The jury identified five works as finalists for the 2014 prize. In addition to Responsio, they also selected the musical program ‘I am in need of music,’ the Elizabeth Bishop Centenary legacy recording by soprano singer Suzie LeBlanc; composers Emily Doolittle, Christos Hatzis, Alasdair MacLean, and John Plant; the sculpture/installation Harmonic Motion, by Toshiko H. MacAdam and Charles MacAdam; The Thundermaker, a multi-media installation by Alan Syliboy; and the play Refuge by Mary Vingoe. All of the finalists were honoured at a reception at Government House on Wednesday. The winner was awarded $25,000; the other four finalists received $3,000 each.

The Award recognizes the excellence of a particular work of art or performance of art, which has made a significant impact in its public presentation, and has contributed to the historical development and contemporary practice of the art form. The work must have had its first public presentation within the past five years.

At Government House to Celebrate the Finalists for the Lieutenant Governor's Masterworks Arts Award

Left to right: John Plant, Jocelyne Fleury, 
Suzie LeBlanc, Sandra Barry

Another update about the EB House is necessary

I thought that the EB House update I posted on 16 November 2014 would be the last for this year, but life being life, developments happen and I want to share a couple of things that have occurred just today. Before I go further, I want to reiterate, THE EB HOUSE IS JUST FINE. And I want to thank the friends of the EB House who came to its defense yesterday, and posted comments on Facebook, assuring that all is well at this dear old place.

The first development to relate is that the work on Highway 2 in front of the Wilson's gas stop and the EB House has begun -- necessitated because of the new bridge. I want to thank Patti Sharpe for the photos I am posting, all taken this morning. The first photo is the view from Station Road. You can see the pavement being removed and a lot of activity. The second photo shows the front of the EB House, showing the very reason why we wanted to wait until spring to finish restoring the front lawn.

The second matter is slightly distressing. Last night there was more heavy rain in Nova Scotia and the Great Village River flooded again. This flooding was of a more normal nature (though flooding in November is really not the norm -- any more than flooding on the equinox was, but that event was of an exceptional nature -- once in a hundred years, we hope!). The river overflowed this morning, but in a more normal way, along its sides, rather than with a the wall of water that came crashing from upriver in September.

I have been told by people in the village that the river never really went down to a normal level after the September flood, and it caused concern. My hope is that once the cold really settles in, all this rain will ease. I am told by Brazilian Bishop scholar Carmen Oliveira that there are places in Brazil, Sao Paulo, for example, which are suffering drought. Is there a way we can collect this rain and ship it to the southern hemisphere?! The yard at the EB House was not adversely affected, though I suspect that back part of the property is very wet -- but that is not out of the ordinary, either. The photo below shows the view from the old bridge, looking west.

I also want to mention that, weather permitting, it is our intention to hold an Open House at the EB House on Saturday, 29 November. That is a day of much activity in Great Village. There will be a holiday dinner and a Christmas concert at St. James Church that evening. So, I am hoping for a dry, clear day. I will post a more formal notice about this event next week.

The Value of the Elizabeth Bishop House

In today’s online newspaper allnovascotia.com (17 November 2014 issue), there appears an article by Courtney Zwicker about the Elizabeth Bishop House. The menu link title of this piece is: “Bishop House Gets Cheaper.” The main inside title is: “Elizabeth Bishop House Value Washes Away.”

A couple of weeks ago, I spoke with Ms Zwicker about my concern about the impact of the flood of 22 September 2014 on the EB House. I even wrote a letter to the provincial government expressing this concern. The flood had an impact, of course; but the affect on the perceived and actual “value” of the house is a complex matter and must be assessed and understood in context.

My purpose in writing the eight or nine EB House updates that I have posted on this blog since the flood (you can find them by scrolling down this page and going into the archives for September and October) has been to show the impact. The house itself was structurally undamaged and the yard has been restored. I directed Ms Zwicker to these blog posts and assumed she would grasp the context that I presented in them.

I am writing this post to state publicly that I do not agree with the conclusion that the value of the house has “washed away.” This headline is exaggerated, even sensational, and implies a great deal that is not accurate.

There is, of course, the issue of the threat of another exceptional flood (that is what the flood of 22 September was). Perception is a powerful force in the world and the perception that such a threat exists has an impact. BUT the EB House is just fine, as you can see by the update that I posted yesterday (16 November 2014), directly below this post. The perception set up by Ms Zwicker’s piece is distressing and may have its own impact on the value of the house. I feel compelled to state my different view of the matter.

Final Elizabeth Bishop House Update for 2014

Our first hit of real winter in Nova Scotia came on Friday and Saturday: stick on the ground snow and a blast of Arctic air. My most recent visit to the Elizabeth Bishop House was on Saturday, 15 November. I was accompanied by my sister, Brenda Barry, who took the photographs I have included in this post.

First snow in Great Village, 2014. Looking towards the river.

With the arrival of winter weather, we have deferred any further restoration work on the yard until spring 2015, but I am happy to say that the new well pump is installed and purring like a cat. Thanks to Jim Hudson for doing this unexpected job for us.

One of the objects that floated into the yard during the flood, which was deposited there as the water receded, was a large, quite heavy wooden platform. I have no idea where it came from and no one has come by to claim it. It is around 5x3 feet and made of lovely wide boards, in good shape. I decided, since no one has appeared to say they are missing a back stoop, that I would move it to the side of the outhouse (a reminder, this building, decades ago, was literally the last Great Village School outhouse), as a small “deck.” Though it is not the kind of weather to sit and sun one’s self, next summer, it will be a nice spot to put a chair to read.

Sandra on deck.

The work on the bridge is proceeding, but it appears that there is yet much to be done. It seems practical to wait for the spring, when all is said and done to the road, which will need to be reconfigured in some way to accommodate the new trajectory of the bridge.

 View of the new bridge from Station Road.

This post will be the last one I do about the house this year. If something significant happens over the winter, say, for example, we sell the house, I will certainly post any important news; but for now, house updates will take a winter hiatus. So many people have helped set things to rights at the house, and many people at a distance were concerned about the house after the flood, that I wanted to tell our readers what happened there, and to thank all those who have been so supportive.

 Silent remembrance.

Soon, there will be other exciting Bishop news to report about on this blog. For example, on 20 November 2014, we will learn the winner of the Lieutenant-Governor’s Masterwork Arts Award. One of the five finalists is “I am in need of music,” Suzie LeBlanc’s wonderful Elizabeth Bishop legacy recording. As well, I have some news that I will post in December regarding my major work about Elizabeth Bishop, a biographical study that I have called, Lifting Yesterday: Elizabeth Bishop and Nova Scotia. You may notice a new link in the menu of this blog, which is related to this book. Stay tuned for all this important news.

Morning at the EB House, Great Village, 16 November 2014.

 

 Dawn is breaking.

Morning light in the study.

 St. James in the morning light, through the parlour window.

Elizabeth Bishop House Yard Restoration – Update about progress and a heartfelt thank you

It is hard to believe November has now set in, and with it colder weather and the inevitable snow, which is getting closer. This post is by way of an update about the work happening at the EB House.

I am delighted to report that the EB House has a new front step, thanks to our faithful and excellent carpenter Deverne Rushton. It is great to have the front porch fully restored, indeed, even improved thanks to Deverne’s expertise and effort. Thanks to Deverne for supplying this photo of the new steps.

I discovered during a recent visit to the house that the well pump, which seemed to have been unaffected by the flood water in the basement, has in fact been affected and will need to be replaced. As the saying goes, if it isn’t one thing, it's another. This work will be done this week by local plumber Jim Hudson. We are grateful to have such a good person to do the job. It is one sure fact about Great Village, there is always someone good who can do whatever job is needing done, and do it well.

The front lawn is still not back to its pre-flood state, but it is clear that the new bridge will have an affect on the trajectory of the road (Highway 2), which runs right in front of the house. I have been told there will be road work taking place, so we have decided to hold off doing final work on the front lawn (adding fill and re-seeding it) until the spring. I have heard that the powers that be expect the new bridge to be completed in December (the flood having set back that work by a couple of weeks). So, we shall know then what we will have to work with when we complete the yard restoration next year.

Upon my request, Patti Sharpe kindly took photographs of the new bridge from the head of the driveway of the EB House, just so that you can get an idea what I am talking about, get an idea of the change that will happen – though most of us are still not sure just how things will work.

 

We took the house off the market for a month while we did the restoration work, but the listing was re-activated on 30 October 2014. You can see more at:

http://www.novascotiaproperty.info/Truro/Nova_Scotia/Homes/Great_Village/Agent/Listing_125249684.html

To date, the cost of the restoration at the EB House has reached $3,179.00. Our Yard Restoration Appeal was heeded by some of our friends and supporters and to date we have received about $1,811.00 towards this restoration. We want to extend heartfelt thanks and deep gratitude to the people who contributed to the Elizabeth Bishop House Yard Restoration effort (in money and effort). Your support is greatly appreciated and has been a huge help. Muito obrigada to:

Janet Barkhouse
Binnie Brennan

Rosaria Campbell/Darlene MacIvor
Helen/Larry Cannon
Angela Conway
Eleanor Cook

Gwen Davies

Peter Dodge

Linda Rae Dornan

Denise Duhamel

Jane Finlay Young/Jim Williams

Emma FitzGerald
Ilze Folkins

Celeste Goodridge

Shauntay Grant

Kenneth Gross

Laurie Gunn

Elizabeth Jones

Susan Kerslake
Carol Laing
 Truman/Vivian Layton

Sandra MacLachlan/Barb Bell

Jill MacLean

Megan Marshall
Janet Maybee

Thomas/Leslie Moore

Janet O’Brien

Michelle Orange
Maria Clara Paro

Mary Lou Payzant

John Scott

Wendy Scott

Patti Sharpe

Susan Tooke/Richard Rudnicki
Michiru Tsubura

Janet Parker Vaughan

Christl Verduyn

Rita Wilson

Joan/Peter Wood
Donez Xiques/Judith Stark

Elizabeth Bishop House Yard Restoration Progressing Well

I was recently in Great Village to check on the yard restoration at the Elizabeth Bishop House. I am pleased to say that things are progressing well. The porch foundation is reconstructed thanks to Deverne Rushton. We are still awaiting a new front step, but it will be done in the very near future. It was decided to hold off seeding the front lawn because the work on the new bridge in Great Village will have an affect on the roadway right in front of the house. Once that work is done, the front yard, small as it is, can be fully restored.

All the heavy lifting and earth moving are done thanks to Cory Spencer. With the mild fall we have so far enjoyed, many warm summer-like days, the grass is already growing back in the areas that received the tons of gravel. You can see the blush of green emerging in the earth. This part of the lawn needs no re-seeding. Much of the grass may actually return before the snow flies. If we could harvest grass, we'd have a good income! It was so heartening to see the yard starting to look like itself again.

Part of the purpose of my most recent visit was to tend to some more regular yard work (raking leaves, putting gardens to sleep, and setting out material for the Fall Clean Up in Colchester County). There was still flood debris to pick up, but more manageable amounts than that immediately after the event, which Cory dealt with. A few friends came by to help out. I want to thank Rita Wilson, Rosaria Campbell, Darlene MacIvor and Patti Sharpe for bringing their tools and taking time out of a beautiful Saturday. And an extra thank you to Patti for taking the photos I am posting in this entry.

One thinks of William Carlos Williams.

 

I want to thank all those who have contributed to the EB House Yard Restoration Appeal so far. I will be putting up a list of contributors in the near future. Your support has been truly helpful and deeply appreciated.

Elizabeth Bishop House Yard Restoration Appeal

(Photo by Patti Sharpe)

On the morning of 22 September 2014, a sudden and significant flood occurred in Great Village, N.S. The Elizabeth Bishop House was right in the middle of this unexpected event, which was caused by over 100mm of rain falling in a very short period of time. (There is speculation in the village of other external factors that exacerbated this intense rainfall, but that is a debate for another place and time.) The house was surrounded by rushing water, but thanks to forethought by previous owners, it came through the flood just fine. You can see my accounts of the flood and its affects in the posts below.

The yard of the house did not fare so well. The driveway was washed away and a significant amount of gravel was deposited in the yard. The front porch foundation and steps were affected and must be rebuilt. All in all, considering the intensity of the event, this damage is manageable. Even so, restoring the EB House yard, which was always lovely, and repairing the front porch will require significant effort and expense. We have insurance for the house, but it will not cover the yard restoration work. The porch might be covered, but there is a significant deductible.

(Photo by Patti Sharpe)

In the manner of a crowd-funding campaign, the owners of the EB House are launching an appeal for help with the yard restoration work, which is now underway. Any contribution, however small, will be deeply appreciated and will go directly to this project. Giving $20 will help a lot. If you would like to help out, you can send a cheque payable to the Elizabeth Bishop House to Sandra Barry (P.O. Box 235, Middleton, Nova Scotia, B0S 1P0). Unfortunately, we are not able to provide tax receipts.

We will post reports about the progress of the restoration work on this blog and let our kind supporters know how their contributions have helped. The posts below tell the first parts of this story. Thanks to all those who have already helped, especially the folks in Great Village, and to all who have written to express their concern and support. We are most grateful for the community, the family, that surrounds the Elizabeth Bishop House.

(Photo by Brenda Barry)

Elizabeth Bishop House Yard Restoration Underway

Right off the top, I want to thank Cory Spencer and Deverne Rushton for their hard and good work with the yard restoration work at the Elizabeth Bishop House. This restoration began earlier this week and is still underway, but wonderful progress has been made.

Cory is the young man who has kept the EB House yard looking so good during the summer, for the past four years. After the flood, he came by to assess things and earlier this week, he tackled restoring the driveway and removing the huge quantity of gravel that had been deposited in the back yard. Part of this gravel came from the parking lot of Layton’s Store (between the antique shops). Part of it came from the shoulder of the road and the head of the driveway, which washed out completely. Cory returned some of the gravel to the parking lot and used the rest to rebuild the driveway and fill in around the foundation. Cory also righted quite a few trees and shrubs which had been lifted out of the ground, many tilted at strange, Bishop-esque angles (EB was fond of things that were tilted off the vertical or horizontal axis).

Deverne is our steadfast and trusted carpenter/handyman, who can do just about everything else. He took on the task of repairing the foundation of the front port and will be re-building the front step. 

I went up today with my sister, Brenda Barry (who is also one of the owners of the house), to check on the progress and take some photographs, so I could update all those interested.

As you can see by the photographs included here (taken by Brenda, the yard is starting to look more like itself, more normal. There is still work for Cory and Deverne to do, and later in October, we will be organizing a little work party to do some additional clean up (especially to remove debris that was also deposited in the yard); but it was so heartening to see such good progress and to know that things are being set to rights after such a serious flood.

 

One quite curious thing: the patch of roses at the very front of the house, right on the road, had been completely covered by raging water and the shoulder of the road washed out around them, but when the water receded, it was apparent that they seemed to come through just fine. The photo of the rose included here was taken today, their glowing pink contrasting with the brownness all around.

We are relieved and grateful that with some hard work the EB House will be returned to its pleasant state. Thank you, Cory and Deverne for all your support. See the previous two blog post to get a better sense of the progress. In the coming days, the owners of the house will be sending out a crowd-funding appeal for help with this restoration work. Stay tuned for further updates.

Elizabeth Bishop House -- Restoration Efforts

Great Village is starting to repair and restore the damage caused by last Monday's flood, something I have taken to calling the Equinoctial Flood of 2014, invoking Elizabeth Bishop's "equinoctial tears" in "Sestina." There are still a number of signs that something rather dramatic happened, but slowly those properties affected are being tended to. I have been to Great Village a couple of times, including this past weekend, to assess the damage around the Elizabeth Bishop House and to make arrangements for repairs and restoration. As I mentioned in the previous post, the main part of the house is fine, but the front porch needs to be re-secured and the steps rebuilt. Our excellent carpenter, painter, all around handyman Deverne Rushton will be doing this job. The enormous hole at the end of the driveway, seen below, was filled in by the Department of Transportation this past Friday, but there still remains several large holes in the driveway and around the foundation of the house. And there is that large quantity of gravel that was deposited.

Our excellent landscape contractor, Cory Spencer, who has been keeping the lawn looking so lovely all summer, will be restoring the rest of the driveway/foundation and dealing with the gravel.

It appears that our insurance will not cover cleaning up the yard, which while not an enormous task is still quite significant. The owners of the house will be launching a little appeal for help with the yard restoration, in the manner of a crowd-funding campaign, which operates on a give a little, help a lot premise. I'll be posting something about this in the coming days.

Again, we are so grateful to the folks of Great Village for their help. The photos in the previous post were taken by Patti Sharpe the day of the flood. These photos were taken by her, as well, the next day, when the sun had come and and summer had returned. I want to thank her again, for her support through this rather dramatic time. More updates will come. Stay tuned.

Elizabeth Bishop House Is Fine

"There are too many waterfalls here; the crowded streams / hurry too rapidly down to the sea…"

EB, "Questions of Travel"

In about two hours on Monday morning, 22 September 2014 (the first day of autumn), the meteorologists tell us that in parts of Nova Scotia 100mm of rain fell. One of those parts was the Great Village area. This volume of rain in such a short period of time caused the Great Village River to burst its banks, seriously flooding the centre of the village. A torrent of rain-swollen river water inundated the area from Layton’s Store to the bridge, which means that the EB House was in the centre of it all.

I did not witness the flood, but many people in the village did and I was told that around 6:30-7:00 a.m. people noticed some water starting to cross the road, then all of a sudden, a wall of water crashed through. Someone told me that someone remarked, “It was the biggest tidal bore,” they’d seen in some time. It was so bad that the bridge was closed for an hour or so. The rushing water lifted off a large propane tank on the Wilson’s Gas Stop property. After hitting the bridge, causing great concern, it floated down the river and out onto the marsh. A large trailer behind the fire hall was dislodged and moved to the side of the hall. Many photographs and videos were taken of this awesome, shocking sight. The water crested and began to subside as quickly as it had come. As the water drained away, the damage became more visible.

The EB House was in the direct path of this wall of turbulent water and was surrounded. It looked dire. As the water left, what revealed was a great deal of erosion around the foundation of the house. The front step had been taken off and the driveway, from the road to the verandah steps, had been gouged out, along with the shoulder of the road from the EB House to the bridge. Another peculiar thing was that a great quantity (a ton, literally) of earth had been deposited in the backyard of the EB House, a testament to how quickly the water ebbed: that is, it simply dropped large rocks, gravel and mud, as though from a dump truck.

At this point, I want to thank some people for their incredible kindness in checking on the house as soon as it was possible: Meredith Layton, Patti and Harold Sharpe, Deverne and Valerie Rushton. Patti contacted me immediately and told me of the event. She sent me photos, some of which you see in this post. They kept check on the house all day. I went to Great Village on Tuesday morning and all these people, and more (especially Cory Spencer), continued to be truly supportive and helpful. This is the nature of a small community, people care about each other. I know that similar acts of kindness went on for everyone else whose properties were in the path of this vast quantity of water. Bless all the people of Great Village.

I want to say clearly, in spite of the rather awful looking driveway and yard, the Elizabeth Bishop House itself is fine. I attribute this fact to Norman Bowers, who bought the house from Bishop’s maternal family in 1932 (after Bishop’s grandparents had died). One of the things not commonly known about the EB House is that the basement is an amazing place. It has three- and four-foot-thick concrete walls and floor – it looks like Fort Knox. The northeast corner of the floor is open earth because, since it was put on that site, the basement has taken in water from the spring runoff. The water goes in and the water goes out. Additionally, Norman Bowers knew the historic high water mark (the house was surrounded by water during the Great Saxby Gale of 1866, and perhaps once or twice since then – one time in the early 1930s, for example). Nothing has ever been stored there. The furnace is elevated nearly to the ceiling. The well pump and hot water heater are also elevated. I measured the high water mark from this flood: 35 inches. Extreme as that is, the basement took it without much trouble at all. The basement walls go down beyond the external erosion, which means, it was not compromised. The front porch foundation is not part of the main foundation and it will require some work (and a new step), but all in all, the house is secure.

The lovely yard, which is the most visible element, is a mess (besides the gravel, lots of debris floated into it). The clean up of it will begin in earnest as soon as the N.S. Department of Transportation in-fills the shoulder of the road at the beginning of the driveway, a task which needs to be done quickly, because as those who have stayed there know, the corner on which the EB House sits is a busy one.

I am showing you these photos of the height of the event so you can see something of the spectacle. Patti took more photos around the house on Tuesday, after all the water had gone, and I will post some of them as soon as I get them. When the yard is put back to rights, I will post more photos. We are withdrawing the house from market temporarily, but I am writing this post partly to state publicly that the Bishop House is fine. And to thank the community for its caring and concern. There was damage done to other properties and I want to express my heartfelt sympathy to those people and say that I hope the damage is minimal, as it was at the EB House. And I want to thank Norman Bowers, wherever he is in the spheres, for his incredible foresight and action to ensure the EB House is on solid ground (or concrete, as the case may be).

Suzie LeBlanc giving EB presentation in Montreal

On Thursday, 9 October, at 12:30 p.m., at the Atwater Library in Montreal, Suzie LeBlanc will give a presentation about Elizabeth Bishop and will perform some of the songs from "I am in need of music." This presentation is part of the library's "Lunchtime Series" http://www.atwaterlibrary.ca/events/lunchtime-lecture-series. You can find out more about the Atwater Library here: http://www.atwaterlibrary.ca/about-us

Suzie was the final artist in residence at the Elizabeth Bishop House this past weekend, and she spent some time taking photos of the house, village and bay to use in her presentation.

The artist retreat has now closed.

Before her Bishop talk in Montreal, Suzie will be attending a Masterworks Arts Award event. On Monday, 15 September, "the Nova Scotia Masterworks Arts Awards Foundation will host a public panel discussion with the creators of the five works selected as the 2014 Finalists for the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia Masterworks Arts Award. The event will be held in Neptune Theatre’s Scotiabank Studio at 1593 Argyle Street from 12 noon to 1:00 p.m." This event is open to the public.

Suzie also has a new CD, "Suzie LeBlanc La Veillee de Noel de la France a l'Acadie" (apologies for lack of accents) due to launch later this year. She will be giving a performance of this wonderful music in Halifax on 17 December at the Music Room.