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.

YOU COME TOO

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YOU COME TOO I’m remembering Barry tonight. One June evening while our house was being built, he said to me “You really need to see what the house looks like from the inside. It’s starting to feel like a real house!” Then he played his best card, “Now the windows are in you can really …

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Rug Hooking

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Late in Life Pleasures I want to tell you about a surprising new pleasure. It wasn’t as if I didn’t have a wealth of fiber interests to pursue in my off moments. Weaving, Knitting, Spinning, Embroidery, Quilting, to name some. Much as I love learning, the thought of taking up a new craft (in this …

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Heaven is Now

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Heaven is Now Little pieces of deep happiness. I am watching the late afternoon of the sweet, tiny phoebe, swaying on a small branch, flashing after insects. In between her darting sorties she is simply resting, abiding in the soft late spring day. Now that she has eggs in a former robin’s nest attached to …

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Walking Blind
Walking Blind On this, my eightieth year, there are no maps for me. I’m walking blind. How long will I be able to continue living at Singing Meadow, my soul place? Where will I go when I no longer can stay here? How would I ever live without the sound of the wind in the […]
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 […]