Photographs from the National Archives of Canada

[Paul_Hochman]

And some more! Check out the poster Shandi discovered that advertises "A Home and Success in Canada"...

[ssizemore]

I found these photographs especially meaningful after I read the first section of the book.  It is difficult in this time to imagine living in "shacks" as these people did and the hardships they endured.

I especially liked the photo of the wheat sheaves--made the book come alive!

[libralady]

Thank you Shandi for sharing the photos with us.  Thank you Paul for posting them.  I find that the pictures are giving me a point of reference as I read the book.  Before seeing the pictures, I was having a hard time coming up with a visual reference for the book.  Thanks again!

[literature]

Thanks so much for sharing all the pictures.  Shandi sure hit it dead on with her descriptions of the land and the weather.   Only 3 more days! 

[bookloverjb85]

Thank you so much for posting these pictures!  They add to my visualization of the story and I realize that I am picturing it about the same.

[Sunltcloud]

Hi Amanda,

I just got back from Victoria last night. What a beautiful place. Your parents are very lucky. Sorry I didn't check these posts before I left, missed the restaurant you mentioned. But I had a full four days anyway. Butchart Gardens, Empress Hotel for High Tea, Emily Carr House (three times), Beacon Hill Park, Royal BC Museum including Imax theatre, Munro's Books, Ferry tour around the harbor, and, according to my pedometer, 54,588 steps (that's around 27 miles) walking everywhere from my hotel except to Butchart Gardens in a heatwave that brought temperatures to the high nineties. The heat made me eat more ice cream than I had anticipated, but I did all the things on my list, and more. Now I have five more books to read on my table and another city to add to my mental journey.

About the mental journey. When I saw the movie "Bucketlist" I found it sad that these two men had waited until they thought they might die, to do the things they wanted to do. I look at my life differently. When I get to the "final" phase I want to be able to lie in my hospital bed (I know it is not in my hands to determine when and how the story ends, so this is just my dream scenario) and take imaginary walks along my most loved routes of travel. There are little country roads and old castles in Germany, wild places along the border of Scotland/England, a coastal walk on Guernsey on the Channel Islands, a sandy path at Abiquiu NM, ruins in Marrakech, the promenade at the top of Quebec, the desert near Dashur, Egypt, the Bund in Shanghai, and many more. And now I can add Victoria's Inner Harbor.

---

Amanda-Louise wrote:

Oh!  My parents live in Victoria and they are very frequent customers at Munro's.  There's a really great restaurant called rebar if you get a chance.

Amanda

---

Sunltcloud wrote:

I am posting this from my hotel room in Victoria, B.C. Tomorrow I will roam Munro's Books

---

Message Edited by Amanda-Louise on 07-28-2009 03:37 PM

---

[joyfull]

Thank you Shandi and Paul for these pictutes. They are much better for my visualization than what has been in my head. Landscapes from episodes of Little House on the Prairie kept flashing past my eyes. I knew that couldn't be right since I think they were filmed in California. 

[ponie]

The personal note from Shandi Mitchell and the photographs greatly enrich the already amazing read, deepening the experience of Under This Unbroken Sky. 

Thanks.

Looking forward to (finally) beginning the discussions (soon)!

[Sheltiemama]

Oh, wow. Not an easy life.

[kittykat59]

Thank you so much for the photos. They took me to a place I never imagined.

[bartzturkeymom]

Under This Unbroken Sky 

Thank you! Now that I've finished the story I see that her words conveyed the truth of the images.

[thebookin]

I agree, seeing the pictures does bring the story "alive" and enhances the  book!

I love looking at them , hope to see more!

Natalie :0)

The Book Inn

[jbnie]

These photos  wonderful ! They really brought a sense of time and place to the story, thanks for sharing them

Jane

---

PaulH wrote:

Hi All,

Shandi was kind enough to share some of the photos she gathered for her research. They really do evoke the time and place of the novel. More to follow. Enjoy!

---

[misslynn]

These photos really put into perspective the sheer amount of work it was to clear the land.  Absolutely beautiful!

[dclement04]

These are fantastic...thanks so much both of you for sharing...this is exactly how i pictured the landscape so far!! 

[nfam]

Wonderful photos. My ancesters are from the US midwest  -- we have similar photos. It was a hard existence -- probably better than starving in Europe!

[ladybug74]

I enjoyed looking at the photographs, but only wish I could click on them and make them larger so I could see them a bit better. They are kind of small on my laptop screen. Thanks for sharing them to give us a real picture of how things were during that time period. I love old photos!

[springermph]

Thank you for sharing the photos. I think they add a nice dimension to the imagary that appeared while I was reading. I thought it interesting that people thought the photos enhanced the way they imagined the characters and settings in the book. I was wondering how this might have changed had we seen photos in the books as opposed to having read about a photo. I feel the same for the recipes, letters, and receipts that were included in the book. They add so much more than if Shandi would have told us about the letters and recipes.

[AIRKNITTER]

Thank you, thank you, thank you. These pictures are just what the reader could use to put a "place" to the story.

Again, thank you.

[Tasses]

Having finished the book and being an antique photo collector myself, I cannot express how much I enjoyed these photographs. They sent some tears welling up!

I'll not spoil it for others, but that family photo (#2 of the original set) just broke my heart.I may ask permission to use it when I write my review (or are they archival copyright-free photos?).