Purdy party

These days I am fallen under the spell of Al Purdy - his poetry, his life, his influence, his A-frame mouldering in Ameliasburgh, the passionate efforts of good folk to save this place I am so drawn to. I hear Pinsent's wonderful voice declaiming the boozy lines. Purdy caught the spirit of this area. I can't think of anyone who drew the hard land north of 7, as we say here, so clearly and showed its beauty so defiantly.

 In homage, I say their names aloud - a  litany of hard northern places from 'The Country North of Belleville' : Cashel and Wollaston... Elzevir... McClure and Dungannon, Herschel... Monteagle...Faraday...and post these photos of log buildings from O'Hara Mill Homestead, to honour the folk who conquered these lands on the Canadian shield, while it was conquering them.

My Queensborough friend Katherine has done a fine job of capturing Purdy's work and his spirit in her blog-post.  http://atthemanse.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/al-purdy-and-the-country-north-of-belleville/. A must-read. As is Purdy.