Walks by Big Alex's Pond

Walks by Big Alex's Pond

by Henry Van Berkel

 

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GENRE: Autobiography (Nature)

 

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BLURB:

 

Ten years after Big Alex MacDonald leaves his home in Ashdale, Nova Scotia, in the 1880's to find his fortune, he amasses fabulous wealth almost overnight in the Yukon and becomes known as "the King of the Klondike". At his death a decade later, there is not enough money in his estate to cover expenses. What happened to his immense riches? A century after Alex's departure from Nova Scotia, the author purchases "Big Alex's" family land and finds his own El Dorado amongst the riches of friends, neighbours and family, and the endless fascinations of nature. On hikes along the roads of the historic property he muses about the drama of his own past, and the life journeys of his family members and those of his neighbours.

 

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EXCERPT

 

The third day after the arrival of the geese was a Saturday. Sometimes I slept in on Saturdays but not today; I was anxious to get down to the pond to check on my “pets.”

 

They weren’t there. I waited. No sign of geese. Were they hiding in the rushes, in the alders, in the weeds? I waved my arms and hollered. A beaver smashed his tail on the water right in front of me and disappeared under the surface, his path from danger traced by the wake of his route to the lodge on the shore opposite the road. He broke the surface a good eighty metres away, safe from this intruder. The konk-kar-ree, konk-kar-ree of a male red-winged blackbird resounded across the pond from his perch in the cattail swale just offshore, and in a muddy patch on the road, I noticed the tracks of a juvenile raccoon. No geese. I was so distraught I didn’t continue farther on my usual walk.

 

Elaine had made delicious blueberry pancakes for breakfast. The gastronomical delight temporarily took my mind off the missing geese. I spent the rest of the morning in the yard raking rocks, loading them into my wheelbarrow and dumping them for fill along our driveway. Labour is always therapeutic. That afternoon I attended a nomination meeting in St. Andrews to determine a Conservative candidate for the upcoming provincial election.

 

My participation in provincial politics had been limited. My friend and former boss, Bill MacNeil, invited me mostly because of my involvement in federal politics in the 1990s, first as the president of the Reform Party of Canada federal constituency of Cape Breton-Highlands-Canso, then as the Reform candidate in the 1993 national election, member of the Reform party national executive, and finally as the Central Nova Scotia Reform candidate in the 1997 federal election. Of course, a Reform candidate in the Maritimes had no hope of winning. Not all the party policies were praiseworthy but some, I thought, if implemented, would be beneficial to the Canadian federation. I ran to promote those.

 

As long as the two conservative parties formed separate camps, I was not welcome at a PC event. Fortunately for the country, in my opinion, the two parties amalgamated in 1998. I was again in the good graces of my conservative friends.

 

My relationship with the PC’s had been sporadic. Back in high school, St. Andrew Rural High School, in Antigonish, Nova Scotia in 1960, I had the opportunity to participate in a “Model Parliament” as a Progressive Conservative minister on the government side. The experience whetted my interest in politics. I encountered our Member of Parliament at the time, Dr. John B. Stewart, a Liberal, at the Model Parliament. I was most impressed and subsequently switched my party alliance.

 

 

 

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

Ten years after Big Alex MacDonald leaves his home in Ashdale, Nova Scotia, in the 1880's to find his fortune, he amasses fabulous wealth almost overnight in the Yukon and becomes known as "the King of the Klondike". At his death a decade later, there is not enough money in his estate to cover expenses. What happened to his immense riches? A century after Alex's departure from Nova Scotia, the author purchases "Big Alex's" family land and finds his own El Dorado amongst the riches of friends, neighbours and family, and the endless fascinations of nature. On hikes along the roads of the historic property he muses about the drama of his own past, and the life journeys of his family members and those of his neighbours.

 

 

Connect with Henry Van Berkel

 

FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/walksbybigalexspond/ 

 

GOODREADS https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50277404-walks-by-big-alex-s-pond 

 

 

Get a copy of Walk by Big Alex's Pond          

 

AMAZON.COM https://amazon.com/dp/0228816947 

 

AMAZON.CA https://amazon.ca/dp/0228816947 

 

BOOKSHOP https://bookshop.org/books/walks-by-big-alex-s-pond/9780228816942 

 

INDIGO CHAPTERS https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/walks-by-big-alexs-pond/9780228816966-item.html

 

BARNES & NOBLE https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/walks-by-big-alexs-pond-henry-van-berkel/1136006616

 

BOOK DEPOSITORY https://www.bookdepository.com/Walks-by-Big-Alexs-Pond-Henry-van-Berkel/9780228816942

 

KINDLE https://amazon.com/dp/B082FSK87N

 

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION 

Henry Van Berkel will be awarding a $15 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour

 

 

 

  

a Rafflecopter giveaway