Bøker utgitt av Rosemary L Rigsby

In 1956 Alice Marlatt bought a car, packed her suitcase, and drove over 2,000 kilometers to a new life in a Vancouver Island logging camp. She was 53 years old. In Saskatchewan, she had family and friends, she was healthy, energetic, and had a newly updated teaching certificate. She could have worked the remaining years of her middle age in familiar surroundings, close to her children and grandchildren, and close to the prairie homestead that had been the home of her heart since 1906. But she did not. In that isolated logging camp she became the teacher in a one room school, and from 1956 to 1964 she had in her charge up to fifteen minds in which to instill, not just the expected skills, but the attitudes, responsibilities, and obligations of future adults in a swiftly progressing era. She became a valued member of the community, involving herself in camp life, and becoming close friends with many fellow residents. Some might have known her story and the reason for her defection from prairie skies to a mountain clear-cut, but few truly understood. This is Alice's story, from before her birth in Ontario in 1903 until her senior years, and it is also the story of a life in a 50s logging camp, and how Alice's dedication, humour, and convictions made a life-long impression on her students in that one-room school.

Nathan is a teenage boy suddenly aware of the immensity and implications of the visions he has had all his life, which he believes predict the future. But now he sees his own death which terrifies him, and he has nobody to talk to. Until he meets Cait, who also confesses to having disturbing visions, which she so far has successfully denied. It's her job to help Nathan, but she is more sympathetic than others who dismiss Nathan's angst, including his possible intentions of suicide. When he tells her a crow will smash into her window, she realizes that Nathan isn't making things up. Risking her job, Cait insists Nathan isn't acting out or pulling stunts for attention. But she makes a mistake, and loses Nathan's trust. She discovers that Nathan also may be the victim of bullying, which causes her to examine her own position in her working environment, and she takes steps to resolved some conflicts, and take a firm stand on helping Nathan. She believes his visions are connected to something deeper and she too is having visions of Nathan in trouble. When she sees Nathan on a bridge in an apparent suicide attempt, she tries to save him, but finds herself hospitalized from a head injury. Nathan comes to see her, and they reconcile. Much is explained. Before she can return to her job, she is slammed with another vision. Nathan is on the bridge. She knows it. And he his, but not for reasons she believed. Later, when she thinks she has a reason for her visions and that Nathan is able to deal with his, a crow smashes into a window, prompting another vision. Nathan is still in trouble. After the funeral, it becomes clear that Nathan's visions may not have been connected to the person who died because of a crow.

This travel/memoir describes a camping holiday on the Big Island of Hawaii, where a couple went looking for a little slice of paradise. What they discovered was anything but. The economic crisis of 2008 hit Hawaii especially hard. With tourism as its number one industry, Hawaiians suffered more than other states when tourists, mostly US residents, could no longer afford to go. This situation compounded with an increased demand for housing, either permanent or vacation by non-residents, drove the price of housing up and availability of rentals down. Residents, many of whom worked low-paying tourist industry jobs, couldn't find affordable housing. Of course, this wasn't in any brochures. People still flew to Hawaii looking forward to serene beaches to watch sunsets and luxuriate in the tropical paradise. The beaches where the couple camped were not serene. Instead many residents including pensioners, veterans, and families had been forced into tents in campgrounds and on beaches where they struggled to maintain a standard of 'normal' living. This story is a journey of discovery, of not just the volcanoes and beaches of the Big Island, but also an internal journey of growth from intimidation to understanding and acceptance.