At Home Somewhere: Sandra Phinney

If Anne Can

My guest today is Sandra Phinney, and she has lived many lives, from teaching to social work to owning a music store and farming.
Now in her 70s, Sandra is earning her living as a writer and has no intention of retiring.
She lives off-grid with her husband on the Tusket River outside the town of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada, in a place called Caanan, population eleven.
They built their own home twenty years ago, the roof still stands, and their marriage survived.
One of Sandra's greatest joys is to paddle her canoe in the wilderness.
We talk about her incredible sense of home and her love for her environment and community.

How to find the heavenly invisibles in the heavenly visibles

• Mary Oliver's poetry and looking beyond the obvious.
• The importance of nature
• Using all your senses, not just your eyes.
• Recording things is not enough; empathy is also vital.

Community

• Cultivating the broader community and a sense of family.
• How living in the wilderness does not mean you have to be a hermit.

Finding Interest in your local community.

• Finding fascinating people and activities in your local environment.
• Unexpected and fascinating friendships.

Concern for the environment

• Taking a stance, especially with concern for the waterways and forests.
• The consequence of taking a stance.
• Learning from the community and taking care of each other.

The Building of Bella

• The joy of building a canoe and handing it down to the next generation.

References
Mary Oliver: Poet
The Book I bought for Sandra: Derek Jarman: Modern Nature
You can find out more about Sandra's work here: www.sandraphinney.com
Sandra Phinney Bio
Sandra’s byline has appeared in over 70 publications from regional magazines and newspapers such as The Chronicle Herald and Saltcapes Magazine, to national publications including The Toronto Star, Subaru’s Six Star, The United Church Observer, Canadian Geographic, AAA Living, and The Conservator (Nature Conservancy of Canada.)

Sandra started her freelance career at age 54—twenty-three years ago. She didn’t have a clue; she just knew she had to figure out how to earn a living as a writer. (Her former lives included teaching, social work, owning a music store, and farming.) Now, a septuagenarian, she’s still earning her living as a writer, with no intention of retiring, although she’s also dabbling in the realm of writing personal essays and trying to find markets for those along with her mainstream stories.

She’s penned four non-fiction books:

· Risk Takers and Innovators: Great Canadian Business Ventures since 1950 (Altitude Publishing, 2004)

· Pierre Elliott Trudeau: the prankster who never flinched (Jackfruit Press, 2006)

· Maud Lewis and the “Maudified” House Project (Hawthorne Lane Publishing, 2014)

· Waking Up in My Own Backyard: Explorations in Southwest Nova Scotia (Pottersfield Press, 2018)

To satisfy her craving to teach, Sandra gives writing workshops on various topics such as memoir and travel writing.

She lives off the grid with her husband, Barrie MacGregor, on the Tusket River outside of the town of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, in a place called Canaan (population 11). They built their own home 20 years ago; the roof is still standing, and their marriage survived.

Sandra is a member of The Writer’s Union of Canada (TWUC), Travel Media Association of Canada (