In the introduction to Legacy of Trees: Purposeful Wandering in Vancouver’s Stanley Park, there is a passage that goes like this:

Purposeful Wandering
In the gorgeously colourful fall of 2017, I had a sudden thought: “I live next to Stanley Park, one of the world’s most beloved and best parks. How have I not noticed?” Of course I had noticed, but I hadn’t taken that awareness deep inside. I barely knew the park. I have lived beside this park for twenty-five years. I first saw the crescent beach of English Bay and the storytelling totems in the park in 1961, fifty-nine years ago. Have I been asleep? Can I wake up? Is it time?
If I am going to get to know this park—this Stanley Park—and call it “my park,” I will have to wander it purposefully, path by path, plaque by plaque, monument by monument, rock by rock, tree by tree, trail by trail, blossom by flowering blossom, through every season, and allow its layers of history to seep into me as though it were a living, breathing being.

Actually, it is.

I can now call it my park, as many other people do, because once the book came out, I continued walking Stanley Park and became more and more familiar with it. I now lead tree-identification walks in the park (see Leading Tree Walks). And elsewhere.

This is the complete spread of the front and back cover and the French flaps.

My writing seems to grow from one small idea into a complete book. For instance, Legacy of Trees was spurred into existence by several things, one of them being this western hemlock tree that stands tall on its own roots. It originally began as a seed that fell on a stump. The roots consumed the stump, hence the long roots, and now it stands alone beside Pipeline Road.

When my book came out, it was Covid-19, unfortunately, but I still managed to get some interest in Legacy of Trees, because people were more interested in parks than before, fortunately.

Because of Covid-19, instead of selling the books at my book launch, I sold them at my front door.

The book is still available from Heritage House Publishing, on order from your favourite book store, from Blenz on Denman Street, and from the Lost Lagoon Frames in Denman Place Mall.

And then in 2021, Legacy of Trees received an Honourable Mention, 2021 British Columbia Lieutenant Governor’s Medal for Historical Writing.

Heritage House Publishing says this:

An engaging, informative, and visually stunning tour of the numerous native, introduced, and ornamental tree species found in Vancouver’s Stanley Park, combining a wealth of botanical knowledge with a fascinating social history of the city’s most celebrated landmark.