Last week, I had the pleasure of joining the CLIPPED Outdoors community for a social gathering. I say ‘pleasure’ with earnest honesty because we were all on our bikes, in the outdoors, and there was food involved. What better combination, honestly, could you ask for? I am not the kind of person who easily partakes…
Author: marialegault
I spend my time hiking in nature and reading great novels.
“The Case for Working With Your Hands” by Matthew B. Crawford [Article Share]
*Note to my readers: Typically I provide only original content for publication on this blog. However, in the case of this article, I simply could not improve on the sentiments, concepts, and writing style of the author. If you are currently reflecting on the nature and value of work, I invite you to read through…
Humour and its Benefits
“I have survivor skills. Some of that is superficial – what I present to people outwardly – but what makes people resilient is the ability to find humour and irony in situations that would otherwise overpower you” – Amy Tan After writing about Kurt Vonnegut and his satiric approach to literature yesterday, I spent some…
Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Vonnegut, Kurt. (1963, 2010). Cat’s Cradle. Dial Press Trade Paperbacks; New York. This novel is not exactly ‘light summer reading’, but if you want to delve into a story that is equal parts satire, analysis, and analogy, then you have come to the right place. The tale will force you to think, and perhaps at…
Summertime Demands Craft Beer
When the sticky-hot weather hits, there is nothing quite so refreshing as sitting under the shade of an umbrella and sipping a relaxing beverage. Craft beer sits high on my personal list of favorite beverages for this activity – creative, fun, and delicious, these beer products are created using traditional brewing methods (includes: brewing in…
Majipoor Chronicles by Robert Silverberg
Silverberg, Robert. (1982). Majipoor Chronicles. Arbor House; New York. This was the lovely little book that I picked up, purely out of curiosity, in the Little Lending Library along Margaret Street in Waterloo. And how glad I am that I happened to select it! It is a fun collection of short stories detailing the history of…
Port Stanley – Elgin County, Ontario
It’s summertime, and that means sunshine, cold drinks, and sandy beaches are on all of our minds. Southwestern Ontario residents are lucky to have a diversity of water bodies accessible to them for single-day or multiple-day excursions. One of my favorite beach spots is Port Stanley in the Municipality of Central Elgin, located on the…
The Little Library with a Lotta Love
I was recently ‘gifted’ with a book from a friend; unfortunately, the author and the plot were really not to my taste. Rather than letting the book sit and molder on my bookshelf, I decided to donate it and complete the cycle of gifting. I knew of many sources which happily accept gently used items…
A Guide for the Perplexed by Dara Horn
Horn, Dara. (2013). A Guide for the Perplexed. W. W. Norton & Company; New York. Before I wrote this review, I resisted reading other people’s interpretations of A Guide for the Perplexed – though I would encourage the reader to make use of additional information sources. I admit that I was myself perplexed at points throughout…
Magazines Stress Me; Music Soothes Me
This morning I was in at Dyn-O-Mite Auto Detailing getting some much-needed work done on the body and interior of my Hyundai Accent. The owner of Dyn-O-Mite, Brian Edwards, was very cheerful and happily gave me an overview of everything that he was doing. During my time spent sitting in the waiting room, however, I…
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Golding, William. (1959). Lord of the Flies. Penguin Group; New York. Perhaps, for the younger generation of readers, this classic novel will be set aside in favor of more recently popular stories – particularly The Hunger Games. I read Lord of the Flies for the first time in high school, wrote some meaningless paper on…
Fallen Beauty by Erika Robuck
Robuck, Erika. (2014). Fallen Beauty. New American Library; New York. When I saw this book featured prominently at my local library, I became quite excited and slipped it into my book bag. “Ah!” I thought. “Here is a writer on my plane of thought – fascinated with the lives of female authors in the 1920s”….
Maria Legault 