Edge Seasons by Beth Powning
Knopf Canada 2005, available in paperback by Vintage Canada, September 2006

EXCERPT

THE SAUNA BATH

"Peter and I walk through the pasture. We're going to investigate the sauna bath, long fallen into disrepair. The ground is dry. Goldenrod have become brittle sticks, and their flower heads hold clumps of white fluff. Rather than water, the brook is filled with mint and wild iris. Crickets scurry before our boots.

Behind us, like a flock of sheep, are the buildings of our place: white farmhouse, two grey barns, sheds, the pottery studio. Steel roofs shine in the late afternoon sun. The buildings seem small under the high, autumn sky, dwarfed by the fields that roll up to the forested ridge.

I stop to pick blueberries. It was an extraordinary berry summer -- wet July, hot August. The berries are now puckery, no longer juicy. Their sweetness is edged with fermentation, like wine. The air, too, is like wine. It carries the scent of blackberries, apples, and bruised mint. Subtly, it has changed, become langourous, heavy with memory. It pulls my mind towards summer, yet smells of fruition. Insects spin, wings shining in the southerly light, making the most of days that seem like the long blink of heavy eyelids."
©copyright Beth Powning

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