BOOK: PIP: A Bird Must Fly

[Oscar]

BOOK: PIP: A Bird Must Fly

[ http://www.amazon.ca/Bird-Must-Fly-Eva- ... 1883893984 ]

This inspirational novel traces the life of a young woman from a dysfunctional family who has had to deal with child abuse. She meets and marries a doctor who gives her unconditional love. However their lives are challenged by a series of difficult events that test their faith in themselves and God, and ultimately result in personal growth.

This book explores medical ethics and the role of compassion in the context of Christian lifestyle. The story is set in the context of the Ukrainian immigrant community.

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From the Author

In the automated medical profession of today, there is often little room for spirituality, personal caring and respect for the human being as a complex whole where both physical and emotional components need to be recognized. In this book, I have tried to bring together issues of Christian faith and the importance of sensitivity and understanding in both emotional and physical healing. The book illustrates some of the possibilities for health-care givers and counselors to become more aware of the needs and feelings of those who seek their help. My own background is in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and I have used this cultural context as the setting for my story.

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First Sentence

"In order for you to understand my story, I have to tell you at least a little of the very beginning, of how I came to be, and of the circumstances in which I developed."

Read the first page:
[ http://www.amazon.ca/Bird-Must-Fly-Eva- ... 1883893984 ]

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From: John Fefchak
Sent: Sunday, August 17, 2014 8:48 AM
Subject: EVA PIP-Environmental enclave - Winnipeg Free Press

A champion of Mother Nature has been injured.

I was deeply saddened by the news of this accident, and can only hope and pray that Eva Pip, a true ambassador of stewardship and ethics, will find the courage within herself to face the challenges ahead.

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Environmental enclave

[ http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-a ... 90071.html ]

Scientist's rural property gives her peace and solace

By: Alexandra Paul Posted: 08/16/2014 1:00 AM |

RM of Brokenhead -- Eva Pip gestures toward towering gladiolas and a mullein medicinal plant taller than she is. She sighs.

"This is the worst my garden has ever looked," she says. She means it, but to a visitor, her place looks loved and well-kept.

What the outspoken Pip, an aquatic toxicologist and professor of biology at the University of Winnipeg, really means is she's not able to garden this year. And that troubles her.

This indomitable environmentalist -- some would call her a polarizing crusader -- has a full life beyond her public pronouncements on the state of Lake Winnipeg and Manitoba's waterways.

She doesn't say so, but her home speaks for her: This is a woman who walks her talk.

Pip lives on a 16-hectare property southwest of Beausejour, raises her own food, keep bees for honey, has planted hundreds of trees and registered the former farmland as a provincial heritage preserve.

The land wears a mantle of aspens and berry bushes; it's home to bears and deer. Their flattened nests stand out among the tall prairie grass.

A red-tailed hawk calls out a screech the moment a visitor arrives. A pair of golden eagles come here to raise their chicks, and there's a great horned owl who calls this place home.

After 20 years on this land, Pip relishes a simple life. No Wi-Fi, no cable. Lots of books. Lunch with a visitor was homemade borscht, all organically raised, including cattail hearts from her pond. Dessert was saskatoon pie, with berries from the bush. She's noticed a lot of plants have become infected in the last few years, with all types of diseases. She worries about the future. The farmer next door covets her land.

But this summer, the tiny lady who loves the bush has a more immediate problem.

With classes set to start in three weeks, Pip has spent the summer suffering horribly.

She shattered her left arm June 20, landing on the business end of an idling chainsaw in a fall from her shed roof.

Nearly two months later, she still has no feeling in the middle and ring fingers of her left hand. Where bone joins wrist, the ball joint splintered into 25 pieces. Now out of a cast, Pip wears a brace and chafes at the restraint. She's in near constant pain, and she's tired.

Her injury, on top of a battle she won to beat back esophageal cancer two years ago, hasn't dimmed her ardour as an environmental defender.

"In my line of work, I get threats," she says, adding it would be easier to stay silent, maybe even wiser.

"I have to say what I think. It makes me really unpopular. I can't help myself. Inside yourself, you feel like you have to speak out so you know you've done what you could."

To Pip, everything that stands, grows, walks, runs, slithers and crawls is related. "Everything is a living being... Absolutely everything is connected, so if we hurt one part, eventually we are hurting ourselves," she says.

MORE:

[ http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-a ... 90071.html ]