Wow. This is the story of a 92-year-old author who has just published her first book, Colouring Outside The Lines: Recollections of a Lifetime. Anne Hill has lived in North Hatley for the last decade, so qualifies as being “from away” as so many of us Townshippers are. She comes to us by way of Vancouver, Shawinigan, Toronto, New Brunswick, and Saint Lambert, and via the metiers of museum animator, teacher, librarian, and artist.
Her book is full of gems: 74 simply brilliant short stories, essays, and a poem, to be exact. The book weighs in at only 169 pages, so that tells you the pieces are mostly short shorts. But each of them glows with “intelligence, wit, and a rare humility,” as noted by Heather Davis in her introduction to the book.

Davis has led a writing group that began in the North Hatley Library a decade ago, and Hill participated in it. Each week, Davis suggested a “prompt” or topic. Hill researched these suggestions in her memory and her soul, and wrote superbly crafted pieces full of honesty and humour, and with depth. Her book gifts them to us.

One of Hill’s paintings graces her book’s cover. I met Anne Hill in a sketching group, and in “Quiet” she describes how one day firemen (yes, men) burst in on the quiet group as the model posed nude. Funny, yes. But also a meditation on that which is “halfway between silence and noise.”
Colouring Outside The Lines is the second book published by Angela Leuck’s new Shoreline Press in the Townships, and it is available at Black Cat Books. I highly recommend it.

ARCHEO-SAGA
I guess you’ve heard the first humans arrived in North America via a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska. Did you know the Townships had a key role in the dispersal of our forebears on the continent, as the glaciers retreated?
That was some 14,000 years ago, and these Palaeoindians are called Clovis, after the name of the town where their fluted stone points, Clovis points, were first discovered in North America. And 13,000 years ago, Clovis descendants came into the Townships area, where Lake Megantic was one of the first locations to be freed from the glacier.
It took a lot of digging for archaeologists to excavate the traces of these earliest human Townshippers. In contrast, it takes just a few clicks to explore a fascinating virtual exhibition at the Sherbrooke Science and Nature Museum. The exhibit explores three archaeological digs in the Townships, two of them in the Haut-Saint-François. The three locations are Lake Megantic, Bromptonville, and Weedon.
You can explore these sites in either French or English with a guide of your choice, depending on whether you are a student, an archeologist or someone looking for fun. The Archeo-Saga virtual exhibition is found at http://archeo.mns2.ca/. Look for the “English” button in the upper right corner. A good activity for a crepuscular afternoon!
POETRY BREAKS
The second of three poetry breaks offered in English via Zoom by Townshippers’ Association is on Thursday, November 26 at 10 a.m. It features “The Peace of Wild Things” by Wendell Berry, “The Little Boy and the Old Man” by Shel Silverstein, “Snow” by Walter de la Mare, and “A Winter Day” by Lucy Maud Montgomery.
The last of the series, on December 10, focuses on “Snow Flakes” by Emily Dickinson, “Winter” by Robert Southey, “Little Tree” by E.E. Cummings, and “Mistletoe” by Walter de la Mare.
All three hour-long discussions are free of charge and open to all – no previous experience with poetry is needed. To register, email Michelle, ml@townshippers.org, and she will share the Zoom link with you.
CHRISTMAS MARKET
The John-Henry-Pope Cultural Centre is offering a one-day Christmas Market on November 29, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It’s at the Victoria Hall, 125 Principale West, Cookshire.
FREE LEGAL INFO
A law student from the Université de Sherbrooke offers a free legal information service at Townshippers’ Association, one day per week during the school term. The service is in English, is easy to access, and is confidential. The student answers legal questions by phone or email. Note that the student is not allowed, by law, to offer advice or opinions, but can give information and referrals to appropriate services. Persons using the service are asked to provide their contact information and details about their question. The student researches the question, and then responds within two weeks, Tuesdays from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. INFO: 819-566-2182, or legalinfo@townshippers.org.
CHURCHES
Baptist. In-person Sunday services continue for 25 or fewer persons with Covid-19 protocols in place (wash hands at the entrance, maintain 2-metre distance from others, use assigned seating, wear masks, do not sing, do not shake hands, and leave via the exit door). The service in French is at 9 a.m., and in English at 11 a.m.
A mask is provided for persons needing one, and a list of all the attendees is kept, in case of infection. Persons with flu symptoms are asked not to attend services. The pastor’s message is also available on YouTube, by invitation only. For the link, contact Pastor Michel Houle: 819-239-8818.
Anglican. Bishop Bruce Myers continues to offer Home Prayers on Sunday mornings at 10:30 a.m. on Facebook, and at quebec.anglican.ca (see Worship Videos). Info: 819-887-6802, or quebec.anglican.ca.
United. Home worship services continue, and will be available for pickup at Sawyerville United Church (box on top of freezer in porch), at Trinity United Church (bag on ramp door at the back of the church), by email, and by post. To receive service mailings, please call 819-889-2838 and leave your contact information on the answering machine, or email Rev Tami Spires at spiresta@hotmail.com. Pastoral care: Rev. Tami, 819-452-3685.
Do you have news to share? Call 819-300-2374 or email rawrites@gmail.com by November 30 for publication December 9, or by December 14 for January 6