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In one chapter she describes her failed efforts to convince a clematis to grow over a pergola crossbeam. The polite but uncooperative plant reminds her of Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess in Downton Abbey murmuring, \u201cMy dear, I told you so.\u201d<\/p>\n
On another adventure she accidentally sits on a favorite woodland peony bush, squashing it. Consoling herself, she contrasts Giotto\u2019s hovering angels to the necessary destruction caused by humans, who cannot hover but must walk on the ground. From there she\u2019s reminded of Gertrude Jekyll\u2019s boots, now preserved at the home of that famous English gardener. Plants, fine art, a garden icon \u2013 lots of ways to think of a short trip outdoors.<\/p>\n
As in many travel journals, the reader gradually learns the author\u2019s personal history \u2013 Scotland, England, New Brunswick, and eventually Vancouver, BC. In her garden at night, she remembers commuting by bus in the dark to her mindless job in a cornflake factory, when she was a student. That memory leads her to Video Night in Kathmandu,<\/em> a travel book that suggests many cultures now survive only at night and in shadows.<\/p>\n Several chapters deal with animals and birds \u2013 chipmunks, deer, and particularly hummingbirds. A favorite was Alf, an alpha male Anna\u2019s, who ferociously drove interlopers from the author\u2019s garden feeder.<\/p>\n Journeys to the Nearby<\/em> makes a strong case for paying close attention to the neighborhood one happens to live in \u2013 watching, listening, making connections to other parts of one\u2019s life. And not taking any of it too seriously.<\/p>\n Reviewed by Priscilla Grundy<\/p>\n Excerpted from The Leaflet<\/em>, Volume 12, Issue 9, September 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At home, \u201cstuck like a schlump on this recliner,\u201d Elspeth Bradbury read travel books and yearned for the adventures she wasn\u2019t having. Then she \u201chatched a plan\u201d to make small journeys to her back yard, writing about them in the spirit of those travel books. Two- or three-page entries about those mini trips make up Journeys to the Nearby. Bradbury uses a variety of approaches one might find in travel journals, as she explores her yard. She has fun as…<\/p>\n