The World around a Campfire

   This is official publication week for Bears in the Birdfeeders, my new book of recollections and reflections of the huge joys and little agonies of cottaging.
   I signed copies of the new work for interested folks attending the Cottage Life Show last weekend. It was enlightening to hear what time at the cottage means to them, their friends and their families. Everyone I spoke with agreed that cottages, whether owned, rented, or visited, are places where we just might find the keys to making the world a better place.
   It’s hard to imagine North Korea’s Kim Jong-un spending an evening around a cottage campfire with other world leaders and still wanting to unleash his nuclear missiles.
   Also it’s hard to imagine sitting by a forested lake for a few days, then returning to the city to vote in favour of filling in part of Lake Ontario to accommodate more air traffic along Toronto’s downtown waterfront.   Cottage country is a vital component of the Canadian psyche. Bears in the Birdfeeders is an attempt to share an understanding of that psyche.   Cottage Life Magazine and its related enterprises has been sharing that understanding with the rest of us for many years. Thanks to them for that, and for being so accommodating to me during the show.
   For more details on the new book, click the Bears in the Birdfeeders tab at the top of this blog.