Thanks to the multi-talented Sandra Alland, I can post some photos of my recent east coast tour. It was my first visit to the Maritimes and a lot of fun. Now you, lucky reader, can experience it for yourself. I read from Iron-on Constellations (before it was actually a book) and A Girl Like Sugar. Sandra read from her book of poetry, Proof of a Tongue. Here we are (at right).

Day 1

I arrived in Halifax and stowed my stuff at the hostel Sandra found for us. (It looks nicer than it really was–I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of a man puking his guts out a couple feet from our bedroom door.)

The reading we did that night was at bookstore/sex shop Venus Envy, the coolest place ever. They’re in Halifax and Ottawa–why not Toronto too? At left is a picture of Maggie, who hosted the event and welcomed us to town. Not too many people turned out, but it was an interesting experience to read a sex scene from AGLS and look up at racks and racks of sex toys.

Here’s a pic of Sandra during her reading. She looks a little funny, but it’s proof we were enjoying ourselves.

Afterward, a few friendly local writers/zinesters took us out to the Old Triangle for dinner. I assumed it was a queer spot, and was psyching myself up for some dancing, but discovered it wasn’t that at all. It’s a traditional Celtic pub.

It’s odd, but in many ways, Halifax reminded me of a much smaller San Francisco, with its absurdly hilly streets and high ratio of cafes and artsy spots to other businesses. Maybe it’s just the downtown area, though, because I didn’t get to see much else.

Day 2
Sandra and I rented a car and set out for Mahone Bay, via Nova Scotia’s south shore and, in particular, Peggy’s Cove. The cove is definitely worth a visit. It was like a moon landscape, if grass grew on the moon. Seriously. Huge rocks plopped down in the middle of nowhere. I think it was a glacier’s fault, way back when. Those wacky glaciers!

Because it was just that beautiful, and I feel the need to convince y’all, here’re two more pictures.

On the left is me wearing my favourite pink Yankees “tourist” cap.

On the right, Sandra’s looking magnificently earthy and yet city at the same time.

We arrived in Mahone Bay, a very cute little tourist town not far from Lunenberg (a larger tourist town) and discovered that we were reading in the most incredible space imaginable, called the Biscuit Eater. It was up this alley off the main drag. (We all know I looooove alleys.) Here’s a view of the poster and article about us they’d posted out front. Inside, they’d set up an entire wall of our books.

Here are two views of the inside. They had so many books that they’d been stacked on the floor all over the place! And homemade organic goodies! And great coffee! And wireless Internet access!

I was basically in heaven.

If you’re an author, doing a reading in Halifax, let me suggest that you also go to Mahone Bay and talk to these fabulous folk: Dawn and Alden. They own the Biscuit Eater and rank up there with the best hosts in the universe! (And their space is worth the drive from Halifax, just to hang out for a while. Trust me.)

Before the reading, Sandra and I went for a walk and shared a blobster (though I had to do the dirty work because she’s mostly vegetarian and couldn’t face his enormity). We’d been talking about eating fresh seafood since arriving even though t lobster season was over… I’m pretty sure I saw the sous-chef ducking out of the restaurant and running over to the big grocery store next door to buy it specially for us.

Here we are reading. About 35-40 people showed up and Sandra was totally on her game. I kind of freaked out after saying one too many dirty words and couldn’t really tell how receptive people were after that. Later Sandra laughingly remarked, “I can’t believe you said the c-word!” Remind me to pick my poems a little more carefully next time I read in a new place.

Day 3

We left bright and early the next day, and enjoyed a leisurely drive back to Halifax, hunting unsuccessfully for smoked fish. In the city, we spent a few hours wandering around the harbour.

We walked a lot and looked at boats, boats, and more boats.

Sandra had already been to the marine museum before I got to town, but next time I’m in Halifax, I’ll be sure to hit it up.

Apparently, they have boats as old as 1665–great fodder for my girl pirate comic!

We bought some delicious french fries at a chip stand and they came on this (hopefully) biodegradable paper plate. Oops!

Tail between my legs, I took off for the bus to Moncton and Sandra caught a shuttle to the airport. I was off for more adventures, while she had to return to work in Toronto.

This is where her awesome photography comes to an end. I’ll try to scrounge up some more photos for the next couple days of my trip…

Day 4

Spent most of Day 4 in my mother’s new trailer in rural New Brunswick, near a town called Bass River. She moved there almost 10 months ago, and this was my first opportunity for a visit.

See how pretty it is? That night, we piled into her car with her friend Margaret and treked back to Moncton for my reading.

We made a brief stop at Champlain Place, the province’s largest mall (sorry about the lame photo–I needed a visual here), where we got hot pretzels and then headed to the bookstore.Attic Owl Bookstore’s a tiny little used and rare shop in downtown Moncton, run by a couple named Edward and Elaine with great taste in books.

They’re connected to the Northrop Frye International Literary Festival. They took some photos, but unfortunately I don’t have them. It was a magical night–well attended and people asked questions for about an hour after I stopped reading.

Conan Tobias, a friend from Toronto and editor of Taddle Creek lit mag, came to the reading with his friend Mike. We drove to St. John, New Brunswick for the final stop of my tour.

Day 5

Conan and Mike showed me their old teenage haunts around St. John in the wee hours of the morning. It was pretty, but foggy and a little sad, because the city’s downtown core is depressed. Here’s the moose that’s right near the docks. Conan pointed out that it’s guarded by a bunch of security cameras.

Later that day, after a snooze, Conan and I went to Saint John High School, his alma mater, where we talked to a couple of classes. By the time we were done, he’d heard my life story and listened to me read so many times he could probably pretend to be me around my best friends and get away with it.

We spent some time at the farmer’s market a few blocks from school and found the issue of Here New Brunswick, an alt-weekly published simultaneously in Moncton, St. John and Fredericton that ran a profile of me. Read it online.

Oh, and one of the students from a class we talked to came up and said he enjoyed the class.

After that, I went back to my mother’s and did a lot of sleeping.

In between naps, we ate veggies from her garden and drove around on dirt roads like this one, bouncing off potholes and keeping an eye out for real live moose, who apparently have a tendency to jump out at cars.

End!