Presenting: a new local author

We invite you to come out to Nolalu Eco Centre on Friday, April 12 to meet local author Raymond Alexander Kukkee. Raymond will be presenting his new book “The Fires of Waterland”, a historical fiction novel. This is his first book in print, but those of you who are curious can read more of his digital works online, on his blog http://incomingbytes.com/fiction/books/ 

Meet and Greet will be from 3 p.m. till 5 p.m. Doors open 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.

About the book:

Fletcher Williams, a boy from a displaced, dysfunctional and broken family, is forced to deal with the complexities of life and tragedy when he is snatched from those he comes to love. Torn away from Livvy, who becomes a lifelong friend, he is plunged into the life of an orphan. The brutal, stark reality of those surrounding him exacerbates the destructive darkness as human nature surfaces in the Fires of Waterland…..

B&B Bonus

One of the bonuses of our Eco Bed & Breakfast is we get to meet these wonderful people without having to go anywhere. This week for instance we had Larissa McLean spend a night here as she was travelling from Calgary to Southern Ontario. Larissa plans to one day build an off-grid straw bale home herself, but also turned out to be an accomplished print maker and water colour artist. A lady of many talents!

A summery stroll through our fields full of flowers produced a gorgeous field bouquet, the perfect subject for two water colour paintings she did that same evening (in about the same time we need to do the dishes).
Here's one of them:

water colour by Larissa McLean, July 2011

Most of our guests share sweet, funny or inspiring stories with us and leave delightful comments in our guest book. Not many leave a piece of artwork behind, a delicate souvenir of summer and a reminder of another wonderful guest.

Nolalu Unplugged

So Nolalu is maybe not the centre of the universe. And maybe you think we don't have easy access to any culturally relevant entertainment (other than watching our amazing starry nights and northern lights).

Well, okay, maybe. But then our friend and neighbour Larry Watson thought: if we can't go to the entertainment, the entertainment shall come to us. And he organized a wonderful concert in his big and acoustically excellent woodworking shop.

And so, between wood planers, band saws and press drills, about 30 people enjoyed an exhilarating evening with the unique and exciting music from BC's Fish and Bird, as they made a stop-over here on their Canada tour.

Fish And Bird performing amidst woodworking equipment (for better acoustics)

Despite the fact that the 5-piece band (plus "road manager") only arrived about an hour before the show started, their performance was tight, musical, absorbing, and a qualified success (click here to hear some samples of their music).

Those in Thunder Bay who would like to enjoy what we in Nolalu enjoyed first, your chance will be May 30th in the Apollo. Highly recommended!
And to give this entry the required green edge: very soon this band will be touring this vast land of ours in a van that runs on vegetable oil!


Thank you to Fish and Bird for a wonderful musical experience in every sense of the word. And a big shout out to Larry and Liz who organized this neighbourhood concert and offered the band meals, beer and a place to spend the night.

Green Fiction and Good Food

A few weeks ago we were pleasantly surprised by a request for a book presentation here at the Eco Centre. Turns out that Kathy Ashby who just published her first novel "Carol, A Woman's Way", was visiting Thunder Bay and in the process of planning a book tour in the area where she grew up. That, together with her book's strong environmental slant, made our location a natural fit.

We felt this was a great opportunity to invite a select number of friends for a "literary potluck" with Kathy as our guest of honour. And that's how this past Saturday afternoon, about 15 people were introduced to Kathy's fictional heroine Carol, and her "one-woman's battle for all she holds dear - her husband, her son, her land and her inner peace" (quoted from the back cover).

The lively discussion that followed proved Kathy had piqued her audience's interest, and it was good to see a number of (autographed) books leave with new owners that evening.

"Carol, A Woman's Way" is published by Dream Catcher Publishing; Kathy can be reached at ashbykathy @ gmail.com (first remove the spaces in the email address - spam protection), or follow her on twitter at http://twitter.com/awomansway.

As for us, we thoroughly enjoyed this format of friendship, food, fun and fabulous fiction and are open for similar intiatives, so stay tuned!

"Befriending the Earth"

Maybe I'm on an art streak after last week's installment (the hand-made necklace out of re-used materials), but I thought I'd share one of our favourite pieces of artwork on our wall. It was made by Marg Janick-Grayston, a United Church minister who works at Calling Lakes, an educational centre in Saskatachewan - but also a gifted textile artist.

"Befriending the Earth" (click to enlarge)

I had the privilege to participate in a 2-year course that Marg taught; she also spent some time with us here at the Eco Centre. That's how we became friends.

One time she brought this wonderful wall hanging she made just for us. It's based on a photograph (taken by her daughter) of a big soap bubble floating in the air, reflecting a peculiar view of the landscape all around it: our environment encapsulated in a fragile bubble. Marg called it "Befriending the Earth".

We love and cherish these very special gifts, they make our lives so rich. Our place has several other personal hand-made mementos, I may bring them up later this year.