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.

So, This Happened

Leave a Comment / Inspiration

So, This Happened So, after Christmas, this happened. And I am still at a loss to explain to you why it happened. Nevertheless, I have to confess that the completely unreasonable arrival of the yellow Kitchenaid mixer on my kitchen makes me very happy. Even still, though, this shocks me. In fact, this mixer is …

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Still Life With Chickadees

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Still Life With Chickadees Courtesy of Mel Shaw It’s almost four o’clock, and on this startlingly cold winter day, the sun is already sinking towards the western hills. When I carry my steaming tea, in my favourite pink mug, towards the dining room couch I am savouring simplicity. My great pleasure will …

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Christmas Wishes

Leave a Comment / Animals, Nature

Deer at Singing Meadow, courtesy of Sharon Derragh Wishing You the Joys of the Season I look forward to sharing more of the thoughts closest to my heart in my blog Small With Great Love starting early in the new year. Your thoughts and comments are what keep me going. Please be in touch as …

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Gathering Moss
Gathering Moss This year we are celebrating the publication of a new book by distinguished author Robin Wall Kimmerer, Potawatomi botanist, mother, plant ecologist, and the director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Kimmerer is already honored for her […]
Revisiting
Revisiting Last week I treated myself to a return to a special, lesser-known walk at Foley Mountain. (There are so many memories from my 30 years of living within the park, so many places I need to revisit.) Today’s walk, on what is called The Wildflower Trail, part of the Rideau Trail, is easily reached, […]
Beauty and Truth
BEAUTY AND TRUTH Last week was the anniversary of my mother, the artist Marie Cecilia Guard’s, birthday, which brought me back to appreciating her lifelong pursuit of beauty and her unfailing dedication to mastering her art. As the daughter of professional Canadian artist parents who shared a lifelong passion for art, [see also my father […]
Our Green Heart
Our Green Heart: The Soul and Science of Forests The Web of Life Scientist, poet, generous teacher, story-teller and visionary Diana Beresford-Kroeger is a national treasure and we should be celebrating her as such. Her newly published book Our Green Heart: The Soul and Science of Forests is a summation of her life work. I […]
Still Singing
Still Singing It is the first day of my new year and I am still singing. In the decade following what one doctor called “the catastrophic death” of my beloved husband after 47 years of an exceptional marriage, I am still learning to walk alone. Walking on with big steps and little ones, (and occasionally […]