All Our Friends: Simple Rewards of Simple Living begins with a couple's choice to quit their jobs and take up a life of voluntary simplicity. When they buy a rustic property on Mayne Island, one of British Columbia's Southern Gulf Islands, they soon find themselves sharing their yard with an extended family of raccoons.

While exploring the adjustments the couple must make to the limitations of living in a travel trailer and on a fixed income, All Our Friends follows their relationship with the raccoons as they move from the background into the foreground of the couple's lives.

First Bandit appears by making a comical assault on the bird feeder. Shortly after his lady friends, Foxy, Raggedy Ann and Putzi, make themselves at home. When Raggedy and Putzi bring their kits in the summer, the yard turns into a 'garden stage'.

By letting the reader in on the challenges and rewards of simple living in an island setting, of which close contact with wildlife is the ultimate reward, All Our Friends is an experience few are ever lucky to have.

Reviews

"All Our Friends is a slim volume that is well-written ... and goes very quickly for the reader. As the author states, it is not a recipe but an example of a modest lifestyle, and one that will be interesting to many in these times of growing eco-awareness."

Gulf Islands Driftwood

"Faithfully but not sentimentally recounted, the exploits of this merry band [of raccoons] will make you more friend than foe of these creatures. It will also make you yearn for the simple life, at least from your comfy, warm reading spot."

Island Tides

Video readings

D.S. Hartley's readings of condensed versions of two chapters can be seen on You Tube. Chapter 1 The Faery Garden
Chapter 5: Close Encounters

Author's Website

For more contents, reviews, and photo gallery, visit:
www.dshartley.com

Snow sports are usually the first step to learning about snow country wildlife, which is only as safe as knowledgeable people want it to be. Unfortunately knowledge is too often lacking, and skiing is perceived as detrimental too wildlife. Reality is that skiing in all its many forms, from ski lift resorts to far flung Scandinavian style ski touring, holds the keys to wildlife conservation and restoration. No amount of litigation can change this basic fact of life, although the Mineral King Case (from the Supreme Court of the United States) certainly changed the legal landscape for all environmental litigation. Mineral King's near miss at becoming another ski lift avalanche disaster area preceded Early Winters, another almost ski lift area which shares the honor of being a Supreme Court case, and is the last chapter of this book. Olympic National Park is the other ski history explored, so that the National Parks are given equal emphasis with America's National Forests and Canada's Crown Lands.

An extensive bibliography also includes many electronically available sources. The language is not technical and no prior experience with either skiing or wildlife is presumed. The book is primarily written for both skiing and wildlife enthusiasts, who may not know much about each other. It is intended as a peace offering to hopefully prevent future ski wars and unnecessary trips through the legal system. That effort could be better spent restoring wildlife and the life support system of our circumpolar boreal forest.