Dave Easby - Author
Dave Easby lives on a hobby farm just outside Fredericton with his wife Anne, his rescue dog Oliver and a small flock of chickens. He spent thirty years in a variety of positions with the Canadian and New Brunswick Governments, retiring in 2005 as an Assistant Deputy Minister with the New Brunswick Department of Family and Community Services. Since much of that time was spent working on speeches and briefing notes for Ministers and other Senior Officials, he decided to try writing non-fiction for a change in his retirement years. Growing up as an army brat and attending more than a half-dozen primary and high schools infected Dave with the travel bug and travel has always been a big part of his life. With neither he nor Anne being big fans of winter, upon retirement they decided to spend their winters in a small village on the Mexican Pacific Coast, before relocating a few years ago to Dunedin, Florida – the spring training home of the Toronto Blue Jays, another of Dave’s passions. Oliver gets to go, but the chickens are required to make alternative winter living arrangements. Dave has written two books of humourous short stories/essays about their travel experiences.
Publications
They Tore Down the Russell Hotel – A Story of Change in Small Town Mexico chronicles the exploits of he and his wife in the small town of La Peñita de Jaltemba, Mexico.
Mystery Monkeys and Unstable Discs- A Snowbird’s Sketches of the Sunshine State (apologies to Stephen Leacock) looks at the peculiarities of life in Florida from a Canadian perspective.
They Tore Down the Russell Hotel
A Story of Change in Small Town Mexico
La Peñita de Jaltemba, Mexico is a community in transition. It’s a town where you still might see a woebegone donkey tied in the back of a rusting pick-up truck right across the street from a ritzy, new Italian Restaurant.
Once a small fishing and farming town, it now lies at the heart of Riviera Nayarit, a picturesque tourist destination the Mexican Government is keen to promote. Dave and Anne, two Canadians with a strong sense of adventure and a very necessary sense of humor choose La Peñita as their retirement home. The people of the town slowly welcome them into their little piece of paradise as the two newcomers gradually adapt to the Mexican way, adopt a beach dog they name ‘Amarillo’ and eventually go from being visiting beach bums to active, and enthusiastic, volunteers in the community.
This collection of funny, and sometimes moving, short stories follows Dave and Anne’s adventures in trying to adapt to a very different way of life. Over their time there it is not just La Peñita that changes, Dave and Anne change too.
What a great story. I admire Dave and Anne’s sense of adventure, envy their new way of life, but most of all I love the humour in this collection of riotous short stories. Such fun to read. … Ann O’Farrell, Author of Norah’s Children and Michael.
Dave captures the essence of our community … fun and poignant… shows how to make retirement meaningful. … Johan Nielsen, Editor, Jaltemba Jalapeño
Mystery Monkeys and Unstable Discs
A Snowbird’s Sketches of the Sunshine State
As the Spring Training home of the Toronto Blue Jays, Dunedin, Florida serves as the seasonal residence for many Canadians. So when Anne and Dave Easby decided to sell their condo in Mexico and escape the Canadian winter in Dunedin instead, they figured it would feel just like home. Minus, of course, the boots and mitts. But they soon encountered many things unique to this part of the world – from BOGO sales to raffles for a free colonoscopy to snow machines on Main Street. This collection of funny, and sometinmes moving, short stories and essays looks at the ‘Sunshine State’ through the lens of a Canadian snowbird. With a few stories from the rest of the Sun Belt thrown in for good measure.
It’s so easy to relate to the insights and reactions of a fellow traveler such as Dave Easby. His anecdotal style of telling a story brings you in—you get it, you feel it. This collection is a companion for all like souls— a pleasure and fun.
Tom Russo— author/artist
Life as a Canadian in Florida has never been described with greater insight and wit. Dave Easby is a true heir to humourist Stephen Leacock."
Brandon Jones – snowbird/author/magazine publisher
