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Smithers Lives in Winter Gardener
Hetherington's first book focuses on change
by Ryan Jensen
Smithers Interior News / August 29, 2007
Photo by Ryan Jensen
The Fall Fair is a special time for author and former resident Patricia Hetherington.
“Coming back to Smithers at this time for the Fall Fair reminds me it probably was one of the most important elements in my life,” Hetherington told The Interior News from her home in Gibsons before flying up to Smithers last week.
As a child, Hetherington said she remembers her family members preparing entries of all kinds for the exhibition.
“I have visions of the station wagon with the tailgate down and two days of travelling back and forth to set up the exhibits,” she said.
“Many things I do today evoke memories of Smithers…”
— Patricia Hetherington
“Many things I do today evoke memories of Smithers and the Fall Fair — types of things like baking lemon loaves, sewing and arranging flowers.”
Although not an original member of the Harmonettes, Hetherington took to the Fall Fair stage this past weekend to join old friends in singing songs from their school days.
Hetherington has returned for a visit to the Bulkley Valley as she is celebrating the launch of her first published book, The Winter Gardener — A Woman's Journey from Futile to Fertile.
The book is about Hetherington's life, when, at the age of 46, she is prompted by a dream and a passion for personal growth to return to university to take a degree in counselling.
“The book offers a framework for understanding change which is initiation which is archetypal and is timeless. This isn't me whining and snivelling, this is, in fact, a rite of passage that's essential and important and has relevance through time,” she said.
The book includes snippets of Hetherington's youth in Smithers, including swimming in Lake Kathlyn and eating red river cereal — which is, “the necessity to eat something that will stick to your ribs in the winter that has nothing to do with whether you like it or not.”
Staying true to her roots, there are five pages at the back of the book of Hetherington's original embroideries, which she said she wished she had thought to bring and enter into this year's exhibition.
Hetherington's novel, which is dedicated to her 18-year-old daughter Sarah, is available for purchase at Interior Stationery, and on her website at www.thewintergardener.ca.