A Place by the Sea

overcast, rain, now mostly sunny and warm, temps 25

We're in British Columbia, in Sechelt, on the Sunshine Coast.
This picture was taken this morning - when the rain was just about to begin. They get a lot of rain in Vancouver, but not much here...the name is meant to be description, apparently, not ironic! It was sunny and hot all july. Too sunny and hot. Forest fires broke out. In fact, when we arrived in Vancouver yesterday Lonnie and Susan (the amazing Sunshine Coast Lit Fest volunteers who met the plane) pointed out the what we thought was mist was in fact smoke from the fires.

They've had rain the last couple of days, so that's a blessing. But after this morning's rain it has cleared and now it's a lovely day. We're sitting on the verandah looking out over the sound. The small boats, the warf, the island where the float planes circle after take off and before landing. It really is magical.

Our B and B is called A Place by the Sea. We're staying in the Sea Breeze Suite. Two hour massage this afternoon. Then dinner in front of the fire place, relaxing and reading. We were going to go on a six hour private cruise of the coastline but the weather's looking a bit dodgy so we've delayed until Thursday. Tomorrow and Wednesday just quiet days. I'll read my manuscript. Michael will sketch, and read his book. While we look over the sea, at the cranes, and sea gulls and huge numbers of eagles. So different from home.

Had a terrific flight from Toronto. About 5 hours, very easy. The lovely festival people plumped for the upgraded seats at the emergency exits so we had scads of space. One of the flight attendants sat beside us during take off and we got to chatting. Her name's Mimi. Young - works the long hauls, married to a pilot, two small children, and she's writing the music and lyrics for her first album - to be recorded in October!! We felt like slugs. But what a lovely young woman.

And, her mother-in-law has written her first book and gotten it published! Her name is Carolyn Muir Helfenstein and the book is called 'Why Not? A memoir In Black and White'. It sounds terrific. I plan to ask Danny and Lucy, at Brome Lake Books to order it for us.

Tomorrow the only thing on our agenda is a salmon barbeque for the volunteers at the Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts. The organizor of the fest - Jane Davidson - has kindly invited us. We're so looking forward to it.

I'll tell you, when I was writing Still Life all alone it never occurred to me Gamache, Clara et al would take us around the world, including a salmon barbeque on the edge of British Columbia.

How lucky are we? Speak to you tomorrow! And if you ever plan to come to BC you must consider the Sunshine Coast - and stay at A Place by the Sea. If an exhale had walls and view, this would be it.

boarding gate

partly cloudy, muggy, temps 26

Had a fabulous time at Stratford. A little nerve-wracking before - but often is. Nerves. Wracking. The theatre was sold out - which always feels great. it was decided I'd go first - and Giles Blunt would go second. I'm happy with that - get it out of the way, then I can just sit and enjoy. I relaxed about halfway through the first reading. Basically, Giles and I were each given 20 minutes to read - then there' be 20 minutes for questions from the audience. And then a signing.

I decided to do a theme - of setting. The fact I deliberately chose to set my books in Canada, and mostly in Quebec. And that I wanted a very keen sense of place, so there could be no doubt. I chose three short readings. The very beginning of STILL LIFE, Gamache's arrival on the Queen Charlotte Islands from THE BRUTAL TELLING and finally a reading from BURY YOUR DEAD, describing the bitter cold, and standing in front of the Chateau Frontenac, with the massive statue of Champlain surveying old Quebec City.

It was fun.

Giles was wonderful, as always, and the audience very receptive and relaxed. Good questions too.

And then the signing, and getting to meet a lot of strangers, but - what joy - getting to meet a few of you. How terrific that was! I know many of you drove a long way to be there, and I'm very, very grateful for your effort! It was a joy to shake your hand, give and receive a hug.

Then Michael, his cousin Marjorie and his sons Vic and Mike and I all went out to the Belfry Restaurant in Stratford for lunch. It's in an old church - marvelous. Had the best dessert ever...Ontario Cherry Soup. Yum.

And now, next morning, Michael and I are at the Toronto airport, ready to head to Vancouver, where Lonnie and Susan, volunteers at the Sunshine Coast literary festival, will pick us up, drive us to the ferry and take us across to the coast. And drive us to our B and B in Sechelt. A long day - but it would have been far longer without Lonnie and Susan! We're taking them out for dinner as a small 'thank you'.

Then - to bed.

So looking forward to seeing this part of the country. If any of you saw the old Canadian TV series, The Beachcombers, it was filmed on the Sunshine Coast. Stunning - gorgeous coast and mountains.

Mostly I'm looking forward to relaxing, walking, enjoying the sea air, and finishing Michael's brilliant manuscript. Might actually finish on the plane.

Will try to blog from there...be well - and hope you enjoy your visit to British Columbia's Sunshine Coast!

En plein coeur

mainly sunny, humid, sticky day. warm temps 29

Exciting day! It started with the most wonderful breakfast with our friend Myrna. A large black woman who is a psychologist in Montreal. Sound familiar? her last name is Lashly. Not Landers. So you can see she absolutely did not inspire me to create the large black woman named Myrna who lives in Three Pines!

OK. I lied. She did. We adore Myrna, and when it came time to create the Three Pines characters I chose Myrna first, because I love her company. But we'd moved to the country and had lost track of her a few years earlier, though when the book first came out I told her about the character and (fortunately!!) she was delighted - and saw it for what it is, a celebration of our friendship. Still, it was very generous of her.

But then I finally wrote her again yesterday, and we emailed back and forth and then decided we needed to have breakfast together. Michael actually knew Myrna before I did - and they adore each other. We've missed Myrna in our lives. And as soon as we saw her again our hearts just filled. We met at 9am and were still yakking away at 11:30, when Michael and I had to scoot across town to meet my French publisher for lunch.

So we said bye to Myrna - but I know now we won't drift apart again. I'm not sure I knew how much I missed her until she was again in my arms...and I saw Michael and Myrna holding each other tight. What a blessing.

then off we rushed, up to Outremont, and lunch at Milos, a magnificent Greek restaurant on Park Ave in Montreal. Renown for its fish. We met Louise Loiselle there to celebrate that copies of STILL LIFE in French had arrived. As we made it to the table Louise was already there, and sitting on the white linen table cloth was the book. I was actually trembling as I held it.

It is beautiful. And deeply meaningful - that the book can now (or as of Sept 2nd) be read by my friends and neighbours. By the majority of people in the place I choose to live. In the language most of my characters speak in.

The book is called: En plein coeur.

With a full heart.

How lovely. And true.

and such fun, to celebrate with this wonderful publisher in one of the finest restaurants in Canada. With Michael. And the book. And the memory of Myrna fresh.

En plein coeur indeed.

The Halo Effect

party cloudy, humid, warm, temps 27

Quiet day in Montreal, spent reading Michael's manuscript - The Halo Effect - on the balcony. Eating ripe mango. What a fabulous book Michael's written, about screening for childhood cancer and the race to cure neuroblastoma. And how what they learned affects us all, whether it's screening for breast cancer, or prostate, or any kind. He manages to take us into the labs, the bedside, the minds of the doctors and researchers, and the hearts of the patients and parents. It's deeply powerful. With this very intricate structure that appears so natural and normal but in in fact very complex.

Fantastic and very exciting. Am halfway through and had to stop to catch my breath.

Water turned off at the apartment for two hours this morning, so we headed out for breakfast, taking each other's manuscripts with us. After breakfast we ordered coffees and just read for two hours. And used their bathroom!

At noon we returned home, to running water, fresh mangos and a lovely hour or so out on the balcony.

Michael finished reading the book I'm currently writing. Says he loves it...with a few notes on clarifications. So I'm thrilled! I'll read it myself when we head out to BC on the weekend.

Michael spoke to Jacques this morning, had a fun chat. Will keep you informed. Thank you for all your support!

Three hours

rain, heavy at times, humid, temps 25

We spent the morning with Jacques and Louise at the Granby Hospital. Funny, but as soon as we walked through the door into the Palliative Care wing we could feel a peace. Not necessarily a personal peace, but it felt like a sigh. The colours were warm and muted, there was no rush, no bright lights and hubbub. Just calm.

We found Jacques' room. He was asleep. Louise had been there earlier and had gone home for a few minutes. It was just past 9am. Jacques woke up, we sat down, and except for a few trips down to the nearby 'living room' for quiet talks with Louise, we were with Jacques for three hours.

We'd fully expected he'd only be able to stand us for 20 minutes. Indeed, he made it clear he'd tell us when he was getting too tired. We were beyond thrilled when the visit just went on - like a really fine dinner party no one wants to end. Oddly, when Louise (his partner) Michael and I left so he could be bathed - we nipped down to the cafeteria - the priest arrived. And gave Jacques the last rites. When we returned Jacques told us about it. And told the priest that he was born, he was about to die, and he was a peace with that and everything that happened between. But the details were none of the priests business. Apparently the priest laughed and agreed. And said as long as Jacques was at peace, so was he.

But I must say, it gave us all a bit of a turn to hear he'd been given the last rites. Louise and I left the guys alone, and went to the lounge to talk. She's amazing...trying to help Jacques do what he needs to do, and not bring her own fears into it. Time for that later, she said.

And this is where One Day at a Time becomes so much more than a cliche (if it ever was one).

Eventually Jacques remarkable energy waned and it was time to leave. We promised to send postcards from British Columbia. Louise said jacques' only regret is that he never saw the coast of British Columbia. jacques echoed that a few minutes later - and paused...then admitted if that was his only regret it wasn't too bad.

We kissed goodbye, and told each other 'I love you.' And made it out into the hall before bursting into tears.

It was a beautiful three hours.

4th Starred Review!!!

mainly sunny, beautiful day, temps 25

jut got out of the pool - refreshing. Sat in the chaise lounge and stared at the clouds. So peaceful.

Beautiful day....went into Sutton this morning to pick up some wine for our guests tonight, and some food. Maigret du canard - on the barbeque. Pat has made a bunch of salads for us...

Most of today, though, has been running around getting ready to head out tomorrow morning. Our friends the Mounts will be moving over from the guest cottage to stay here - so we realized it might be nice if they not only had clean sheets and towels, but space in the closets and bureaus and medicine cabinets. Oh my.

fortunately, Deanna's coming tomorrow morning to do the actual cleaning....we're just doing the laundry and some organizing,,, and packing ourselves, of course.

Fun to have them over for a barbeque. Their friend, Trevor Pinnock, is with them. He's a conductor, specializing in Bach. Lots of recordings, lots of concerts. He's at the guest cottage right now going over a score...he's writing an article on the Unfinish Symphony. I'm sure our thoughts on it over dinner will be illuminating. Or something.

Linda, Bethany and I are heading out in a few minutes. I thought it would be fun if the girls had afternoon tea togther, then we'll come back for a swim, cocktails and dinner.

Woke up to the absurdly wonderful news that BURY YOUR DEAD has received an extremely rare fourth starred review - it's from Publisher's Weekly. There are 4 pre-publication journals that are extremely influential. They're the first to read a book, before it comes out...and their thoughts often set the tone of how a book will be received. All my others have received starred reviews from 3 of the 4 - but this is the first time all four have given a book starred reviews. It's extremely rare in publishing and I'm over the moon.

Here's what they said...as an excerpt...

At the start of Agatha-winner Penny's moving and powerful sixth Chief Insp. Armand Gamache mystery (after 2009's The Brutal Telling), Gamache is recovering from a physical and emotional trauma, the exact nature of which isn't immediately disclosed, in Québec City. When the body of Augustin Renaud, an eccentric who'd spent his life searching for the burial site of Samuel de Champlain, Québec's founder, turns up in the basement of the Literary and Historical Society, Gamache reluctantly gets involved in the murder inquiry.... Few writers in any genre can match Penny's ability to combine heartbreak and hope in the same scene. Increasingly ambitious in her plotting, she continues to create characters readers would want to meet in real life.


Yipppee! (that's my yippee, not PW's) A great day - starting with the news of the fourth star, and ending with dinner with great friends. How kind life can be.

On the other end of it, Michael and I are heading to Granby tomorrow morning, to see jacques and Louise. We have no idea what the future holds, but it seems that for Jacques, it is shorter than he'd hoped. But as I mentioned yesterday, he's a peace, and in palliative care. oddly, Bal Mount, one of our guests tonight, is the doctor who created Palliatve Care in North America. We're looking forward to thanking him.

But it will be difficult, of course, to leave Jacques tomorrow. And say goodbye. Though we all cross that river.

SPCA Tea Time

mainly sunny, warm, temps 24

Well, phew. Yesterday was the SPCA Tea. It was wonderful - thanks, as always, to a huge amount of work by a huge number of volunteers. Congratulations to everyone who helped! And wow, did they work hard! I have to say, My Assistant Lise and her wonderful husband Del saved the day more than once. We needed elecricity out by the pond where the two tents were placed. We needed it for the tea and coffee. Well, most of the plugs didn't work, and the one that did blew a fuse. So everything was tepid, people were pouring up the drive way, and we had no electricity, by the pond or in the refrigerator in the mudroom.

Del!

Del kept plugging extension cords in and finally found one that worked, just in time. Phew.

Lise spent much of the tea up to her elbows in suds, washing tea cups because we were going through them so fast.

But there were really three stars at the event: Lise and her gardens, Trudy - who was fun, and gentle and welcoming - and the four dogs the SPCA brought, most of them saved from puppy mills.

We were all exhausted at the end of the day...just wrung out. And then came the total. We were all hoping to raise 10,000 dollars for medical equipment for the local SPCA Monteregie, a no-kill shelter. We all ended up making more than 12-thousand!!!

A couple of friends, Sharman and Walter, came down from Montreal and stayed the night. We went out to a local italian restaurant, Il Duetto, for dinner. And nose down in the pillows by 10am.

This morning people began arriving to take things away. Oh, did I tell you, we got to talking to the fellow who delivered the Port-a-Potty and it turns out he spent 30 years as a pilot for private corporate jets. And now he drives toilets all over the townships, and loves it.

You just never know who you're going to meet, and what people's backgrounds are.

We spent a couple of lovely, peaceful hours on the porch this morning with Sharman and Walter, drinking coffee and having breakfast - then into Brome Lake Books in Knowlton and lunch at the Cafe Inn with the two of them. Then waved goodbye, and headed home in the beetle, top down. And now doing laundry and preparing to leave on the mini-tour.

Our friend in Granby is very ill. Now in palliative care. Had a call at 6 this morning from his wife and we chatted. Then she called back a few minutes later and we chatted some more.

We're going to see him Tuesday morning. Louise, our friend, said they stayed up all night talking - and she had a chance to tell him all the things she wanted to say, and to thank him. And he had a chance to tell her how grateful he is to have spent his life with her. How sorry he is to be leaving her so soon. And that he's a peace.

Remarkable people. We're also at peace, losing a precious friend. How lucky we are to have him now. And to have known him for as long as we did.