Ten years after Big Alex MacDonald leaves his home in Ashdale, Nova Scotia, in the 1880’s to find his fortune, he amasses fabulous wealth almost overnight in the Yukon and becomes known as “The Klondike King”.
Welcome to one of the August 17th stops on the blog tour for Walks by Big Alex’s Pond by Henry Van Berkel with Goddess Fish Promotions. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for more exclusive excerpt spotlights, reviews, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.
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About the Book
Walks by Big Alex’s Pond
by Henry Van berkel
Published 6 December 2019
Tellwell Talent
Genre: Non-Fiction, Autobiography, Nature
Page Count: 366
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Ten years after Big Alex MacDonald leaves his home in Ashdale, Nova Scotia, in the 1880’s to find his fortune, he amasses fabulous wealth almost overnight in the Yukon and becomes known as “the King of the Klondike”. At his death a decade later, there is not enough money in his estate to cover expenses. What happened to his immense riches? A century after Alex’s departure from Nova Scotia, the author purchases “Big Alex’s” family land and finds his own El Dorado amongst the riches of friends, neighbours and family, and the endless fascinations of nature. On hikes along the roads of the historic property he muses about the drama of his own past, and the life journeys of his family members and those of his neighbours.
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Excerpt
Sunday morning, I overslept to make up for Saturday morning. A window on the west side of our bedroom was open just a crack to let in a bit of the fresh, clean spring air. I awoke
suddenly to the honking of geese overhead and jumped out of bed in time to catch sight of the two birds swooping into the pond from the east. They were feeding early in the morning somewhere on a farmer’s field or along a brook. That’s why I hadn’t seen them the day before.
After breakfast, I set out on my walk. As I left the yard, I hardly took notice of the juncos, chickadees, blackbirds and fox sparrows milling around the birdfeeder in the front yard, and the flock of robins already pecking for worms on the sodded portions of our lawn. I was anxious to get to the pond. The geese, paddling leisurely, parallel to the far shore, were not noticeably perturbed as I quietly moved along the road. Good. Overhead clouds were gathering to the northwest, and just before a heavy deluge of cold April rain hit the water, I ducked into David’s cabin on the west side of the pond thirty feet from the water and close to the road. Through the window facing east, I had a clear view of almost the whole pond.
The sun, still shining between the eastern horizon and approaching clouds, combined with the rain to form a brilliant rainbow in the western sky, like a halo over the Keppoch. I stepped outside under the eaves and had a look. It was nothing less than glorious. I wondered how often “Big Alex” might have sat by the pond a century and a half earlier to enjoy such a scene. There would have been little time to snatch such moments on the farm back in his time of youth; or perhaps he too had seen the rainbow in the western sky and hoped someday to follow it to find the proverbial pot of gold.
About the Author
Ten years after Big Alex MacDonald leaves his home in Ashdale, Nova Scotia, in the 1880’s to find his fortune, he amasses fabulous wealth almost overnight in the Yukon and becomes known as “the King of the Klondike”. At his death a decade later, there is not enough money in his estate to cover expenses. What happened to his immense riches? A century after Alex’s departure from Nova Scotia, the author purchases “Big Alex’s” family land and finds his own El Dorado amongst the riches of friends, neighbours and family, and the endless fascinations of nature. On hikes along the roads of the historic property he muses about the drama of his own past, and the life journeys of his family members and those of his neighbours.
Giveaway Alert!
Henry Van Berkel will be awarding a $15 Amazon or B&N gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
a Rafflecopter giveaway| Aug 8 | Rogue’s Angels | Aug 8 | Long and Short Reviews |
| Aug 9 | FUONLYKNEW | Aug 10 | Enchanting Reviews |
| Aug 11 | Momma Says To Read or Not to Read | Aug 12 | All the Ups and Downs |
| Aug 15 | Sandra’s Book Club | Aug 16 | Fabulous and Brunette |
| Aug 17 | Hope. Dreams. Life… Love | Aug 17 | Westveil Publishing |
| Aug 18 | Celticlady’s Reviews | Aug 19 | The Avid Reader |
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Thanks for hosting!
I liked the excerpt.
This sounds like a wonderful book.
I love the beautiful cover and I enjoyed reading the synopsis and excerpt, this autobiography sounds like an interesting read and I am adding it to my TBR
The book sounds like a wonderful read. Love the cover!