Search:

Wingfield's world / by Needles, Dan.;
Walt Wingfield is a Bay Street stockbroker who quits his job and buys a hundred-acre farm in Persephone Township, Ontario. In a series of letters to the editor of the local newspaper, Walt chronicles his modest successes and spectacular defeats in an age when farming has become difficult for farmers old and new.LSC
Subjects: Epistolary fiction.; Humorous fiction.; Wingfield, Walt (Fictitious character); Farmers; Farm life; Letters to the editor;
© 2011., Vintage Canada,
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

True confessions from the ninth concession / by Needles, Dan,author.;
"In 1988, Needles and his wife left the city to start a family in a country community located two hours north of Toronto. Together they stocked their farm with sheep, cattle, chickens, pigs and, eventually, four children. Needles' charming chronicle unfolds in essays dated from 1997 to 2016, offering homespun advice for successful country living--like whether to wave from the elbow or to merely raise one finger from the steering wheel when passing a neighbour in the car. He cautions on rural superstitions, such as when his neighbour hesitated before selling him weaner pigs because every time he does the wife of the farmer who's buying them becomes pregnant--which turned out to be true. Here too is the tale of an unlikely friendship between a "borderline" collie ("he's never bitten anything in his life and the sheep are catching on") and an odd duck named Ferdinand, as well as other hilarious stories involving an assortment of farm animals, including the weapon of choice to properly dispatch a rooster-gone-bad; the risks of giving a name to a potential Sunday dinner entrée; and how to outsmart a free-range pig. With his witty insight, Needles shares the art of neighbouring in the country--a place made for visits, and "where a figure walking across your field is more of a reason to put the kettle on than to call the police." True Confessions from the Ninth Concession is a sesquicentennial crop of antics and aphorisms by Canada's funniest farmer--one that presents a wonderful escape for world-weary city dwellers, and affirmative reading for anyone who is from, or has moved to, rural Canada."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Needles, Dan.; Farmers; Farm life; Farms, Small; Authors, Canadian (English);
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Finding Larkspur : a return to village life / by Needles, Dan,author.;
"Bestselling chronicler of village life Dan Needles (author of the Wingfield Farm stage plays) leads an insightful and laugh-out-loud tour through the quirks and customs of today's Canadian small town. Modern literature has not been kind to village life. For almost two centuries, small towns have been portrayed as backward, insular places needing to be escaped. But anthropologists tell us that the human species has spent more than 100,000 years living in villages of 100 to 150 people. This is where the oldest part of our brain, the limbic system, grew and adapted to become a very sophisticated instrument for reading other people's emotions and figuring out how we might cooperate to find food, shelter and protection. By comparison, the frontal cortex, which helps us do our taxes, drive a car and download cat videos, is a very recent aftermarket addition, like a sunroof. And it is the village where almost half the world's population still chooses to live. Finding Larkspur takes a walk through the Canadian village of the twenty-first century, observing customs and traditions that endure despite the best efforts of Twitter, Facebook and Amazon. The author looks at the buildings and organizations left over from the old rural community, why they were built in the first place and how they have adapted to the modern day. The post office, the general store, the church, the school and the service club all remain standing, but they operate quite differently than they did for our ancestors. Drawing from his experience working in rural communities across Canada and in other countries, Needles reveals how a national conversation may be driven by urban voices but the national character is often very much a product of its small towns and back roads."-- Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Sociology, Rural; Villages; Villages;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Wingfield's inferno [videorecording] / by Beattie, Douglas,1954-; Beattie, Rod,1948-; Erlich, Alan.; Needles, Dan.; Douglas Beattie Theatrical Productions.;
Music: Stephen Woodjetts.Rod Beattie.Recorded live at Pie in the Sky Studio, Toronto, December 2005.The 6th in a series of plays about stockbroker-turned-farmer. Walt Wingfield features Baby Hope's first word, a racehorse that won't wear a bridle and a scheme to rebuild the community hall in Larkspur.PG.DVD ; full screen presentation.
Subjects: Canadian wit and humor; Television comedies.;
For private home use only.
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

The (mostly) true story of Cleopatra's needle / by Gutman, Dan.;
"Five kids across centuries recount the history of Cleopatra's Needle, from its construction in ancient Egypt to moving it across the ocean to New York city in the 19th century."--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Cleopatra's Needle (New York, N.Y.); Obelisks;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI