Author Archives: Peri McQuay

About Peri McQuay

Peri Phillips McQuay is the author of Singing Meadow: The Adventure of Creating a Country Home, The View From Foley Mountain, a book of nature meditations on her experiences living for 30 years at the Foley Mountain Conservation Area and A Wing in the Door: Life With a Red-tailed Hawk is the story of her adventures with Merak, a human-imprinted hawk, who lived free but saw McQuay and her family as her special people. Also Peri has written numerous essays, articles, book reviews and a weekly column, published in the Kingston Whig-Standard Magazine. Her credits include Country Journal, Harrowsmith, Bird Watcher’s Digest, The Snowy Egret, Seasons, The Fiddlehead, Herizons and Brick.

Coming Back to Life

Posted on April 12, 2019 by Peri McQuay

EASTER 2019 A New Path On a late winter evening three years ago, I was sitting staring at the cascading flames in the window of my well-stoked woodstove. It was a month after my dearly-loved husband Barry died of what … Continue reading →

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Foley Mountain Trees

Posted on March 30, 2015 by Peri McQuay

The Foley Mountain Conservation Area, overlooking Westport, is one of my special places, as it is for so many who visit there. Many of the trees there are landmarks for us, friends which have inspired us for forty years. Yesterday … Continue reading →

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Tableland 2

Posted on December 3, 2014 by Peri McQuay

Today, however, when I reached the part of the trail where I had been stopped, I could follow on until I came to a very different, more pastoral landscape. Here I crossed among rolling hills and strode down into groves, … Continue reading →

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The Table Land

Posted on December 3, 2014 by Peri McQuay

On a bitter, wintry day I walked up onto the Tableland to have a look at the beginnings of things. Any day now, the snow would come. Already there was a dusting in crevices and on a few dark green … Continue reading →

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Witch Hazel

Posted on November 21, 2014 by Peri McQuay

At a time when none of autumn’s brightness remains, I’m loving our witch hazel. Although it’s only a common hamamelis virgininiana, this five foot shrub has history for me. The haunting, pure fragrance, unlike any other, has meant late autumn … Continue reading →

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