A Unique B&B in Bathurst, July 2013

After the Bathurst booksigning, I stayed at a 

unique B&B, Star of the Harbour (L’Etoile du Havre). 

 Must have cost over a million to build.

The Innkeeper, Denis Hachey, is a history buff.

He dreams big... he wants to erect in Bathurst Harbour,

 a huge $2.5 million aluminum sculpture of The Phantom
Ship (which appears in my book #3) the legend known 

all over the Gaspe but especially a favourite in Bathurst. 

See the website www.phantomship.ca

I found my bathroom astonishingly modern...

...and the bedrooms were amazingly decorated.

...all a showcase for the ultra modern, which only 

the two partners, Denis and Benoit Perron, the principal 

of a French high school, would ever be able to create. 

The next day we searched for a cafe latte, 

and found a poster in the foyer...

...of Au Café Gourmet.  

Romain LeClair, another history buff who 

works at the inn, made a terrific turkey 

mushroom loaf, and served us delicious coffee.

Blog #2 at the Smurfit Stone Library in the new Town Hall, July 2013

The Smurfit Stone Library is in the new Town Hall.  Because 

the Council Chamber (where we held last years’ launch)

 was booked, Rev. Blair Lewis of the First United Church 

kindly offered his church hall.

Dayna DeBenedet the Library Director, and 

Librarian Diane Gauthier, both arranged the launch.

The crowd began to gather...

...to buy copies of this fifth book in The Alford Saga: The Chaplain.

Dayna introduced me.

I spoke about the Boer War, and this first romantic 

adventure novel set in the Boer War for over a hundred years

Bathurst, New Brunswick, Smurfit-Stone Library, July 17, 2013

I was invited by the library in Bathurst to come 

and give a presentation on... 

...The Chaplain, the first adventure romance 

novel set in the Boer War for over a hundred years.

Far from being the backwater one always imagines,

 Bathurst was jumping.

The town centre is a charming circle of cream-coloured 

boutiques surrounding a bandstand.

A concert was in progress.

The town boasts a landmark post office, built around 1870. 

It hosts swarms of chimney swifts in the summer, which 

the inhabitants are proud of; about five dozen this year.