The Author's visit.

Heather met a class of elementary children yesterday and presented her Patti books. She talked first about the different kinds of writing, fiction and non-fiction, and discussed this with the students. Then she pointed out that in the Patti books, which were definitely fiction, the characters and events were often patterned after actual characters and situations that she had met in her life's travels. So things were more complicated than the simple test of 'did this happen?' might appear. She gave the example of a snowy scene in her fictional story, and her sister who shared her life said that she did not remember that extreme a snowfall on the farm in Ontario. “ It is fiction”, she had replied, “I needed that much snow for the story”.

When we tell a true story we select, emphasis, adjust,and then present the facts as we remember them. In a fictional story we can go even further. In the end though we have a story to tell and in the Patti books selected events are changed and elaborated to express an idea more convincingly. Heather’s childhood friend Joan, for example, was someone she knew on the farm and she captured the essence of that personality and her life situation, but from there on the Joan of the books was a development into fiction. A fiction however that revealed the character 'Joan' more fully and thoughtfully than the original fragment of 'reality' could have done.

Heather handled this 3/4 split class very carefully: handling an important subject with a light touch and in a way that would help them with their own writing and then she moved on to a reading from 'Life on the Farm' where Patti meets the quarter horse 'Little Guy' and we begin the transition to the next book in the series.

Joan's Summer. A way through grief.

Barbara Coloroso was interviewed today on CBC about grieving ( her new book is 'Parenting through Crisis') and as I listened I realized that Heather's book 'Joan's Summer', the third in the Patti series, fitted into her list of things to do for children ( and indeed anyone) who were involved in the grieving process.

Heather said that while her book was written as she says, “swept up in the character with no grand teaching scheme in mind”it did seem to hit every point that Coloroso made. “Simply common sense.” Heather says, but as a once family and youth counsellor myself I know that common sense is often in reality crowded out by those other kinds of sense that can create more knots than they untie in personalities, especially during a grieving process. In the past I have used Coloroso's books to help with counselling in a variety of situations.

Twelve year old Joan, the mainstay of her family as her single mother struggles with a serious heart problem is suddenly faced with the death of her mother and freed from her family role of raising her siblings. Her grief is both simple and complicated; complicated because she has not only lost her mother but also her role in life, a very big and unfair role as caregiver for all, but an important part of her identity nonetheless. 'Joan's Summer' deals with grief and presents a way through it. It presents grief as a part of Joan's life, a constructive part that can lead her through and into a new beginning rather than a dark valley of misery with no redeeming features.

Anyone who has read the first two Patti books in this series will recognize Patti's combination of willing helpfulness for Joan with angry feelings of resentment. Patti acts and speaks for us. As we read however we can see the larger picture; through Joan, Patti's parents and brother Jamie and through our own life experience. We read, and think and learn whether as child or adult or as someone who reads the book and leads children through understanding the complexities of human experience. Grief in any form is part of being alive. Joan grieves and leads us all through it in a constructive and realistic way.

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.

This quote from Goethe was an important one in our life. We found it on a plaque on a coastal island while we were struggling with our plan to voyage offshore in our big wooden schooner, Shiriri. At every stage in any great endeavor there are moments when what lies ahead seems too much and we wish for a way out of our commitments. The hardest part of any voyage is casting loose the dock lines. Those words, the favorite quote of a mountain climber who died on K2, were just what we needed to stiffen our resolve.

The Patti Stories partake of the essence of Goethe's words. Patti is just a young girl when the stories begin, but she is a determined creature, she figures things out and makes things happen and changes herself in the process. In the Joan story we see the same process working in her life. Joan wants a home, some stability, and she wants to accomplish this through her own hard work and skill. She succeeds in building her dream, her deepest desire, and is changed too in the process. As Goethe says, “boldness has genius, power, and magic in it”.

Building a log cabin.

The school project model log cabin uses horizontal logs
which are notched to fit at the corners

In 'Joan's Summer' the two girls, with help from the Blackburn family, build a log cabin. This, for couple of twelve year old girls is a big project, but not impossible, but the building process must seem complicated so here is a simple explanation.

When Heather and our family moved to Saltspring Island the first thing we built after the pumphouse and the barn was a piece en piece style log cabin. We had cut our lodgepole pine logs in the Okanagan where we had lived previously and brought them with us. Like Patti and Joan our first job was to clear a building space and make foundations. In our case we poured concrete bases on the uneven rocky ground and then placed cedar posts of different lengths on top and levelled their tops. In the girl's project they used some big rocks they found nearby and levelled them by digging the holes to different depths. We cut down some fir trees and rolled and levered these sill logs into position on the cedar posts. The corners were notched to fit together. With dad's help the girls did much the same. Good foundations that keep the bottom logs off the damp ground means that the cabin will not rot from the bottom up!

To work on the walls we really needed to have the cabin floor in place so we could stand on it and work safely. We flattened the inside faces of the sill logs and levelled and then nailed boards to them and then installed the floor joists and the plywood floor. Our cabin was twenty by thirty feet and Joan's cabin was eight by twelve feet ( three sheets of plywood).

The vertical posts are cut to length and the
 vertical slots or mortices are cut with a chain saw

The upright posts had long slots, or mortices cut lengthwise and they were then placed upright on the sill logs, pinned using rebar, and then braced vertically on the corners and along the sides of the cabin.

Unlike the usual log cabin which relies on the stacking of horizontal logs to hold up the roof, a piece and piece style is a post and beam structure and the log walls simply fill the space between the posts. One could use a variety of different materials for this - sticks and mud, adobe, rock masonry, cordwood, glass, hay bales, you name it. In our case and in Joan's cabin the walls could be built of already available, small diameter and short-lengthed, easily lifted logs. Once the logs had the bark skinned off ( no bugs to eat the wood under the bark if they are skinned) they were cut to length and the ends cut into a tenon ( or tongue) that would slide down the mortice ( or groove) in the upright posts. All this cutting could be done in an assembly line sort of way using simple tools, - a saw, a carpenters square, a level and an axe. In our cabin we also scribe-fitted each log to fit the shape of the one below and placed a strip of insulation between them. With Joan's, the girls simply stacked them into a wall and the later dad ran his chainsaw down the gap between each log to get a tighter fit. Later they would use some mortar to chink them some more and make the cabin weather proof.

Each filler log that fits between the
 posts have a tenon cut on the ends

So the work for the girls involved skinning the logs once Little Guy had dragged them to the building site, cutting them to fit between the posts and making tenons on the ends. When Patti was away at the riding stables, Joan could do all this by herself. Together, they could then lift them into position. What might seem like an impossible task for the girls could be broken down into manageable parts.

Once the logs are have their ends tenoned they can be lifted up and
slid down the slots in the upright posts.
 Notice the temporary bracing that holds the posts vertical.

Then the roof and wall top beams were raised and the rafters and roofing nailed into place. Dad had some old pieces of galvanized metal roofing that would do the job even if they look a little rough on top of the beautiful newly skinned logs. The basic frame was up, but of course for any builder that is really just the beginning - all the picky work of finishing still lies ahead! For this simple cabin however, there would be no electricity or plumbing, just the most basic furnishings, a ceiling and a woodstove. Once Joan left for the city, between Jamie and Dad all that could be finished before the snow flew!

Once the walls are completed the roof frame is built.
 The top logs for the walls and the ridge pole
and then the rafters are raised and pined and nailed in place. 

For Joan though, she had already built a visible HOME and had done much of this by herself. A real accomplishment in the midst of her troubled times. And she will be back!

By the time Joan comes back to the farm in the winter,
the ceiling and furniture, the stove, window and door will be ready.
Joan will walk into her warm cabin with an armload of firewood,
shed her outdoor clothes and settle down to enjoy that wonderful feeling
of being HOME!

Writing 'Joan's Summer'.

The first draft of Joan's Summer was written in Australia while our schooner 'Shiriri' was tied up in the yacht basin in Manley, just south of Brisbane. Each day for several months we would spend some time writing and painting before going for a walk or visiting the library.

Joan as a character in the two previous books ( at that time in the process of being published by Penguin in Canada) popped in and out, mostly as an annoying presence for Patti because Joan had little time to play. We visited Joan's little grey house near the crossroads and saw the poor mother with the weak heart and younger children and realized that Joan was the one who played the adult role at home. We saw that Patti's parents and her teacher did their best to support this obviously intelligent girl who came complete with attitude. And what an attitude! Joan, unlike Patti, did not seem to care what people thought of her in her raggedy clothing. She came from an even poorer background than Patti and her school friends and for us readers this is a interesting contrast to the supportive world of caring parents and close knit community that surrounds Patti.

Heather wanted to explore who Joan was and where she was going, because in reality many kids from difficult circumstances slide downhill and never get the chance to discover who they can be. And so she began to write.

This is a story of struggle; for Joan after her mother dies, and for Patti when Joan comes to live with her family for the summer ( and shares her bedroom.!) What saves the day is camping in the woodlot and building a log cabin together, a project that involves co-operation, diplomacy and learning new skills. This book could have been subtitled “Building a Life” because the cabin represents for Joan a home of her own. She is literally building her life as she builds the cabin. The personality that Joan brings to the project, her life skills and experience is what is needed to make all this work. We see her blossom as the book progresses and finally understand that building the cabin is secondary to Joan's own development.

This book, like the other two in the series presents us with hard realities; the death of the mother, the dissolution of Joan's family group and responsibilities, and the difficulties for Patti of living with someone who is hurting and lost. We walk in Joan's shoes and that is a good experience to have, for us readers and for Patti who does a lot of maturing over the course of the summer holidays.

Non-critical reading versus the other thing.

A problem with examining the elements that come together to make the Patti Stories work, as I have been doing in the discussion topics, is that the whole effect of the story that we experience as we read uncritically, swept up in the characters and their lives, can be lost. How often in the past have we resisted a critical* approach? These books sparkle, they pass on their attitudes fully contained within the text. So, why think about what they are all about? Surely that requires some difficult double reading?

I think that most of us do read uncritically anyway and we can do this with the Patti Stories so easily because the writing is particularly transparent. But if we wish to discuss the stories with others we have to think more closely if we wish to do more than say “Great book, eh?”

In a school context, (and I think these books lend themselves to classroom study) teaching critical thinking, trying to understand major themes and character motivation and the basic assumptions that the author brings to her writing, is important. We can use these skills in the broader context of our future studies, our work lives and our participation in our societies. For example, we are in the midst of an election here in Canada at the moment and an ability to peer through the verbiage to the broader messages of political parties is an essential skill.

Reading critically to understand the Patti Stories will give us the tools to understand a whole lot more.

* Critical in terms of careful study, not negative.

Writing Little Guy.

Melaque, Mexico. 

While it might have been nice for Heather to have written this book in a lovely pastoral setting such as her characters inhabit, the first draft was written in a rented room in the little Mexican seaside town of Melaque. She had heard that Penguin wished to publish 'Life on the Farm', while our yacht Shiriri was anchored off Monterey, Calif., but they wanted a sequel as well. As we were soon sailing off across the Pacific after a couple of months in Mexico, the only time available for writing was before we left North America.

That is not us in the foreground. The headland gave some shelter from the waves but even so landing through the surf in our rowing dory could be exciting at times. And then there was launching ....

To begin with, we anchored off Melaque, Mexico, and rowed ashore with our daughter Anne through the surf each day to the writing room and laptop. Heather and I would discuss for a while and then I would take a long walk and return later to hear what had been written. Later we moved our schooner into a nearby lagoon and Heather took the bus each day to her room. In this manner a story about a girl and her borrowed horse living in Ontario came to life surrounded by palm trees and bougainvillea and close to the sound of Pacific surf.

This is NOT Heather's writing room!

I re-read the book today and can find no trace of our life in Mexico, but what I do find is an immense amount of interesting detail about horses, both ridden and driven, and an uncanny feel for the landscape of her characters. Heather has a map of this place buried somewhere inside, and this is all the more remarkable because while the first Patti story drew strongly from her own childhood farm life, 'Little Guy' is a blend of that setting and its characters and our life on Saltspring where we had horses, including an injured Little Guy. (As with Patti, horses came to us because they were injured.) Little Guy recovered and was ridden by our daughter Elaine at the Fall fair and carried away the top prize.

The real Little Guy was just as opinionated, just as much a teacher, and a tease, as the fictional little horse is.

We left Mexico, reefed down and headed for the South Seas.

The final manuscript of 'Little Guy' was mailed off to the publisher from a little post office on the island of Moorea near Tahiti.