Seventy-Two Seasons: A Memoir About Noticing by M.A.C. Farrant
by Jackie LaPlante
There is not a book more suited for residents of North Saanich than M.A.C. (Marion) Farrant’s most recent memoir, “Seventy-Two Seasons: A Memoir About Noticing”.
M.A.C. Farrant is a resident of our beautiful municipality. She is also a prodigious writer, crafting fiction, non-fiction, plays, memoirs, and more – all highlighting her insightful and cheekily humorous observations about the seemingly ordinary aspects of life.
Mindfulness is a heavily used word these days, yet it remains one of the most powerful in creating meaning in one’s life. Farrant’s latest memoir brings mindfulness to the minutiae of our daily lives, in our very own neighbourhood. Calling upon the Japanese practice of focusing on just one feature of the natural world for five days, Farrant resolves to pass one year in this way, pondering a new feature every five days.
She begins with the beautiful – thinking about hawthorn trees in blossom – and moving through less lovely flora, and on to fauna, from birds to rats, and to the slightly more esoteric, like weather, and fog on a beach path.
Every five-day period of noticing is a reminder to readers to appreciate their surroundings. With each “noticing” Farrant allows her eclectic thoughts to wander, seeking facts about, for instance, mayflies, with six eyes and the ability to lay more than 3000 eggs. Shifting clouds trigger a philosophical reflection about our time on earth. Noticing mammals mothering inspires a lighthearted detailing of manners for modern mammals, from not texting in crosswalks to considering the implications of keeping a raccoon as a pet.
Farrant maintains a tone that is chatty and fascinated as she provides the reader with researched facts. The descriptions of nature are lovely and especially pertinent to inhabitants of North Saanich, who know exactly what the author is seeing.
“Seventy-Two Seasons” shows readers a new way of paying attention to one’s surroundings, beyond mere observation. Farrant’s latest memoir might serve as a guide to how we can appreciate our astoundingly beautiful and complex neighbourhood.
(N.B. her recipe for a homemade deer-proofing spray may also come in handy.)
