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<\/a>This year, we watch from our rooftop, from every rooftop restaurant we can find. We try different times of morning and evening. Up in the Charco, the wild area northeast of the city where the ibses usually spend their days feeding, the birds are so few we can count them on our fingers and toes. But the dawn and dusk skies are empty.<\/p>\nThen last week, sitting on our terrace with a friend, I jumped up with a whoop.<\/p>\n
\u201cIbises!\u201d I shouted, pointing. \u201cThey\u2019re back!\u201d<\/p>\n
Wave after wave floated down from the Charco, heading west into the sunset. They passed behind the jacaranda trees, seemingly snagged among the purple flowers, until they emerged on the other side, their charcoal arc intact. Dozens in every wave;\u00a0 more than a thousand in all.<\/p>\n
Because we hadn\u2019t seen them, we thought the birds were gone. But they hadn\u2019t stopped their daily migrational habit. They\u2019d simply adjusted their route to accommodate last fall\u2019s flooding, heading slightly upriver to new nesting grounds.<\/p>\n
The Urge to Return<\/strong><\/h3>\nYou haven\u2019t seen me in your inbox for a while\u2014ten months, in fact\u2014but the urge of spring is strong and I return like an ibis to my blogging grounds.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>A year ago, I promised musings about the book I was working on then\u2014Woman, Watching: Louise de Kiriline Lawrence and the Songbirds of Pimisi Bay\u2014<\/em>a biography\/memoir about a woman who, for almost six decades, lived in a log cabin in the bush, watching birds. Now that book is finished, the photographs chosen from her vast holdings at Library and Archives Canada during momentary gaps in the long Covid shut-down.<\/p>\nThe book went to the printer on Friday. Its official publication day is May 24, but it can be ordered now.<\/a><\/p>\nAlready Woman, Watching<\/em> is receiving encouraging reviews:<\/p>\nPublisher\u2019s Weekly,<\/em> in a starred review, wrote, \u201cSimonds\u2019s prose shines and brings the reader into the remarkable moments bird-watchers live for. This brilliant account does justice to a pioneering figure who merits wider recognition.\u201d<\/p>\nIn another starred review, Forewords<\/em> called Woman, Watching,<\/em> \u201cA stellar, adventure-filled biography [that] pays tribute to the indomitable, eccentric woman who once observed a red-eyed vireo for fourteen hours straight as it sang over twenty-two thousand songs.\u201d<\/p>\nI feel a thrill reading such words for a book I\u2019ve written, not because it means fame or fortune, but because it signals that I have somehow communicated the richness of this story to another person. Forty, maybe fifty years ago, when I was just starting out as a writer, I heard W.O. Mitchell interviewed on the radio by Peter Gzowski. I don\u2019t remember Gzowski\u2019s question, but I\u2019ve never forgotten Mitchell\u2019s answer. \u201cI try to set off in the mind of the reader the same explosions the story sets off in me.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/a>That sentence conjures not bombs but fireworks\u2014like the pyrotechnica set off this morning in front of the San Miguel churches to purify the plazas for the new season.<\/p>\nSetting off fireworks in the mind of another person is not easy. I always worry that my enthusiasms are mine alone, a personal tick. And so a reviewer that \u201cgets\u201d a book makes me burst into tears, and sends my husband leaping up the stairs to see what\u2019s wrong.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing,\u201d I sob. \u201cI’m just so happy.\u201d And I hand him what Kyo Maclear, author of Birds, Art, Life<\/em> has written\u2014”Woman, Watching <\/em>is unlike anything I\u2019ve ever read. It\u2019s radical, it\u2019s\u00a0ravishing.” And\u00a0the review from Ian Davidson, Director for the Americas of BirdLife International\u2014”Simonds beautifully weaves together Louise de Kiriline Lawrence\u2019s evolving relationship with people, nature, and birds, and the awakening in her of a sixth sense\u2014the nature \u201csense\u201d\u2014sharing with us the passion, inquisitiveness, and indomitable drive that forged one of Canada\u2019s, and perhaps North America\u2019s, greatest naturalists.\u201d<\/p>\nTo set off such explosions of art and nature simultaneously is the dream of a lifetime.<\/p>\n
On Stage<\/strong><\/h3>\nI hope many of you will join me for one of the four launches for Woman, Watching <\/em>this spring. Not all details are confirmed yet, but enough to save the date!<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/merilynsimonds.com\/books-unpacked-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BC_9952-Helen-and-Merilyn.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
National Launch<\/strong> by Zoom on May 11, at 6 pm EST<\/p>\nWomen in Nature: A conversation with readings by myself and Helen Humphreys, author of Field Studies<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Kingston Launch,<\/strong> in person, on May 15, 2-4 pm EST<\/p>\nRefreshments, a short reading at 3 pm, and the official launch of the video, Women, Watching<\/em>, at Coopers\u2019 Croft Barn, 1777 Middle Road, Kingston, a recently and beautifully restored 19th century barn, which will be hung with bird photographs by Richard Cooper.<\/p>\nPEC Launch, <\/strong>in person, on Monday, May 23, 4 pm EST, the closing event of the Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory Spring Birding Festival, at the Half Moon Bay Winery. Ticket price includes a copy of Woman, Watching<\/em>!<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/merilynsimonds.com\/books-unpacked-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/334-Path-to-empty-log-house-nest_MS-photo_not-high-res.-2-225x300.jpg\")
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<\/a>Northern Ontario Launch, <\/strong>in person, on Sunday, June 5,\u00a0 2-4 pm EST, at St. Margaret\u2019s Church in Rutherglen, east of North Bay. Refreshments, a short reading, Woman, Watching<\/em> video, and tours from the church to Louise\u2019s log house.<\/p>\nSeveral talks with pictures are already planned through May and June. Check my website for details<\/a>.<\/p>\n
<\/a>A year ago, I promised musings about the book I was working on then\u2014Woman, Watching: Louise de Kiriline Lawrence and the Songbirds of Pimisi Bay\u2014<\/em>a biography\/memoir about a woman who, for almost six decades, lived in a log cabin in the bush, watching birds. Now that book is finished, the photographs chosen from her vast holdings at Library and Archives Canada during momentary gaps in the long Covid shut-down.<\/p>\nThe book went to the printer on Friday. Its official publication day is May 24, but it can be ordered now.<\/a><\/p>\n Already Woman, Watching<\/em> is receiving encouraging reviews:<\/p>\n Publisher\u2019s Weekly,<\/em> in a starred review, wrote, \u201cSimonds\u2019s prose shines and brings the reader into the remarkable moments bird-watchers live for. This brilliant account does justice to a pioneering figure who merits wider recognition.\u201d<\/p>\n In another starred review, Forewords<\/em> called Woman, Watching,<\/em> \u201cA stellar, adventure-filled biography [that] pays tribute to the indomitable, eccentric woman who once observed a red-eyed vireo for fourteen hours straight as it sang over twenty-two thousand songs.\u201d<\/p>\n I feel a thrill reading such words for a book I\u2019ve written, not because it means fame or fortune, but because it signals that I have somehow communicated the richness of this story to another person. Forty, maybe fifty years ago, when I was just starting out as a writer, I heard W.O. Mitchell interviewed on the radio by Peter Gzowski. I don\u2019t remember Gzowski\u2019s question, but I\u2019ve never forgotten Mitchell\u2019s answer. \u201cI try to set off in the mind of the reader the same explosions the story sets off in me.\u201d<\/p>\n Setting off fireworks in the mind of another person is not easy. I always worry that my enthusiasms are mine alone, a personal tick. And so a reviewer that \u201cgets\u201d a book makes me burst into tears, and sends my husband leaping up the stairs to see what\u2019s wrong.<\/p>\n \u201cNothing,\u201d I sob. \u201cI’m just so happy.\u201d And I hand him what Kyo Maclear, author of Birds, Art, Life<\/em> has written\u2014”Woman, Watching <\/em>is unlike anything I\u2019ve ever read. It\u2019s radical, it\u2019s\u00a0ravishing.” And\u00a0the review from Ian Davidson, Director for the Americas of BirdLife International\u2014”Simonds beautifully weaves together Louise de Kiriline Lawrence\u2019s evolving relationship with people, nature, and birds, and the awakening in her of a sixth sense\u2014the nature \u201csense\u201d\u2014sharing with us the passion, inquisitiveness, and indomitable drive that forged one of Canada\u2019s, and perhaps North America\u2019s, greatest naturalists.\u201d<\/p>\n To set off such explosions of art and nature simultaneously is the dream of a lifetime.<\/p>\n I hope many of you will join me for one of the four launches for Woman, Watching <\/em>this spring. Not all details are confirmed yet, but enough to save the date!<\/p>\n National Launch<\/strong> by Zoom on May 11, at 6 pm EST<\/p>\n Women in Nature: A conversation with readings by myself and Helen Humphreys, author of Field Studies<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Kingston Launch,<\/strong> in person, on May 15, 2-4 pm EST<\/p>\n Refreshments, a short reading at 3 pm, and the official launch of the video, Women, Watching<\/em>, at Coopers\u2019 Croft Barn, 1777 Middle Road, Kingston, a recently and beautifully restored 19th century barn, which will be hung with bird photographs by Richard Cooper.<\/p>\n PEC Launch, <\/strong>in person, on Monday, May 23, 4 pm EST, the closing event of the Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory Spring Birding Festival, at the Half Moon Bay Winery. Ticket price includes a copy of Woman, Watching<\/em>!<\/p>\n Several talks with pictures are already planned through May and June. Check my website for details<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/a>That sentence conjures not bombs but fireworks\u2014like the pyrotechnica set off this morning in front of the San Miguel churches to purify the plazas for the new season.<\/p>\nOn Stage<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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