The compiled articles in Where Orioles Nest and Crocuses Bloom track almost 125 years of life in Western Canada, reaching way back to the early 1900s and travelling forward to present-day. The book is divided into four sections: Our Family, Our Area, Our History, and Our Traditions. Each

is populated with short articles and (in some cases) photographs, whose preoccupations range from a renowned paleontologist named Barnum Brown to the pleasures of making Izzy dolls destined for needy children throughout the world.

Where Orioles Nest and Crocuses Bloom celebrates the natural world of one of the most beautiful parts of Canada. Mostly published originally in prairie magazines, this writerly bouquet is the product of the author’s freelance writing after she retired from teaching and began to document life in and around the small Albertan community she calls home. Here she uses careful, lovely words to commemorate the area’s people (particularly those who give their time to volunteering), animals, plants, history, and all the special places that have made this natural setting interesting to her.

Although there is a distinct agricultural community flavour to the book’s contents, the themes explored in Where Orioles Nest and Crocuses Bloom would find comfortable lodging throughout Canada and the United States.

Brenda Dowell is a cheerleader for Central Alberta and all the natural charms that are resident there. Compelled by this love and another—for her family—Dowell decided to compile these articles for her grandchildren, Claire and Gavin. As the collection grew, it seemed an increasingly reasonable idea to share them with a wider audience in the hopes that, by reading about what she cherishes, readers will be sparked to think about their own heritage and surroundings, and those things they cherish in their own lives.

Dowell has been involved in the publication of two prior books—Come to the Shop, in 2009; and A Rainbow Means Hope, which she co-edited in 2004. She lives by herself in Red Deer, Alberta. She and her husband formerly lived and farmed northwest of Trochu, Alberta.