For the day, Victorian verse from Canada's Poet by James Gay, self-proclaimed Master of All Poets and Poet Laureate of Canada, of the Royal City of Guelph, Ontario.
Gay was a teetotal.
A Merry Christmas to all!
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25 December 2014
Christmas Verse by Master of All Poets James Gay
For the day, Victorian verse from Canada's Poet by James Gay, self-proclaimed Master of All Poets and Poet Laureate of Canada, of the Royal City of Guelph, Ontario.
Gay was a teetotal.
A Merry Christmas to all!
24 December 2014
Miss Machar's 'The Call of Christmas - 1914'
The title poem from Agnes Maule Machar's "The Call of Christmas – 1914". What can be said about this scarce chapbook? Who published it? When? Where? 'Tis a true Christmas miracle.
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22 December 2014
Comfort in Cans
Vancouver Aquarium Seafood Recipes
Ainley Jackson
Vancouver: Gordon Soules, 1977
No living creature from the aquarium was killed in the making of this book. I'm willing to bet on it.
Vancouver Aquarium Seafood Recipes was a fundraiser; its contributors – 79 by my count – were members and supporters. I was once a member myself, and for a time lived within walking distance.
So, yeah, cans are fine.
The first dish tackled was patron Isabel M. Latta's "Buffet Salmon Casserole".
I wanted to make it just as Ms Latta had, so resisted all temptation to add ingredients. Anyone looking to follow my lead might consider adding a dram or two of milk to the condensed cream of mushroom soup, cutting back a bit on the bread, and, oh… pepper.
Kate Salter's "Tuna Baked in Scallop Shells" was even better.
Again, I'd cut down a bit on the bread.
Though neither was anything like what mother used to make, I recognize both dishes as comfort food. Just the thing as we head into the holidays.
The one quibble I have with this fundraiser is that all measurements are imperial. This made shopping for cans a chore. I mean, really, in 1977 metric wasn't coming to Canada – it had arrived.
As for fresh seafood? For my family, in the 'seventies it wasn't even on the horizon.
Trivia: Ainley Jackson not only put the whole thing together, but contributed over one hundred illustrations.
Object: A 112-page trade-size paperback printed on glossy paper with binding fairly designed to come apart. I purchased my copy for 75¢ at the Salvation Army Thrift Store in Stratford, Ontario.
Access: As of this writing, nine copies are on offer from online booksellers. Prices range from one to five American dollars.
Library and Archives Canada and the Toronto Public Library have copies, as do four of our university libraries. Vancouverites will have to make do with a single reference copy housed in the stacks of the Central Branch.
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19 December 2014
Arthur Stringer Pines for Christmas Past
Seasonal verse found in Arthur Stringer's The Woman in the Rain and Other Poems (Boston: Little, Brown, 1907). The writer was then living in New York with wife Jobyna Howland, 650 kilometres southeast of the London, Ontario, of his youth.
No apologies for the pun. It's brilliant.
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