Sorry Girls

Just a quick entry to acknowledge that yes I did forget a couple of kids from my visit to Lakewood Heights. I forgot to mention Julie and Sophie.Sorry girls! Can't wait to receive the letters the kids wrote to me. I am writing this morning and then have a school visit this afternoon where I have been asked to read the last chapter of Ten Thousand Truths with them.

Turkeys, Planes and Classrooms

I am catching my breath. Since last writing on my blog, I have hardly had a chance to do just that.This morning I sit in my very quiet office with the sound of rain on my tin roof and take a deep breath. Emma has gone home. Echoes of "Monkey, Monkey" are a fading memory and I miss her but Monkey is so happy to be alone. I have a book to finish and writing business to attend to. I took a week to go take Emma home and visit Meg, Cody and Paige. I flew all night Sunday night and arrived home at noon on Monday.Sunday I cooked a turkey dinner for my Alberta family and when I got home I cooked one for my New Brunswick family ,another reason for wanting the family to all live in one place.Tuesday I wrote all day and was thankful for every minute. Wednesday I visited Rothesay Park Middle School. In the morning I presented seven ,half hour sessions seeing I believe every student in the school and repeating myself seven times. Luckily what I say is true so I don't have to worry about keeping my lies straight. The kids were wonderful . In the afternoon I did a writing workshop with about 20 kids.What an impressive group of kids. I was in awe of the writing they did with a prompt and only twenty minutes to write. Very tired at the end of day but I came away having had another extremely rewarding day enjoying the best of what it means to be a teacher and a writer. Thank you RPS!Thursday I got up bright and early again and headed to Lakewood Heights Elementary. Just stepping inside the building took me back to the days of being an elementary school teacher. My former self would be thrilled to be dropped in to that building and become a part of the excitement of each new day there. I would have been pleased to join the staff and take over one of those classrooms as my own. But those days are done and now I enter those buildings as an author. And what a thrill that is. Miss Buckley's Grade five class welcomed me warmly and I set about the task of learning their names. Only one name stumped me but it was the name I kept forgetting not the interesting , dark haired boy, full of personality and wonder that possessed it. I met Andrew ,Stephen, Sharbel,Kyle ,Maddie , Jenna , Coleby,Cole, Lexie, Ryan, Casey,Rebecca, Brooke Jade, and Jadyn. I really hope that I didn't forget anybody. If I did please forgive me and let me know and I will talk just about you in my next blog entry.We had a wonderful morning together.The class had just finished reading Ten Thousand Truths and I was more than happy to answer their questions and hear their comments. I read from my other two books , we did a couple of reading/writing activites and before we knew it the morning was over. I got to see them again for a few minutes at the end of the day. In the afternoon I got to meet the other grade five class and had new names to learn. I believe that class was made up of Mya, Sydney,Isaiah,Jack, Haven,Sarah, Kiara,Heather,Casey, Taylor Kennedy,Tyler, Danielle,Emma,Kaleb,Jessica,Ethan, Ryan,and Alyssa.I apologize if I forgot anyone or mixed any of the students from the two classes up.I had another very good session with the second class They have not read any of my books yet but will hopefully get to do so later in the year and I probably could be convinced to come back for another short visit once they do.The school bought my three books for their library and I left feeling like I had been so welcomed at Lakewood Heights. I now look forward to reading the letters the kids wrote to me. So after this Thanksgiving time I give thanks for family, for turkeys, for schools, kids and teachers and again as I so often do for having a chance to be an author.

Suddenly September is Over

I have not written an entry since the first day of September and here it is the last day. The month has been a bit of a blur, a granddaughter filled blur. I should have counted the times I heard "Monkey !" to give a numerical perspective to the demands of a four year old. She loves it here on the farm and there have certainly been enough special moments to make the demands worthwhile. She loves to run free following Grampie ,her uncles, the dogs and now a gaggle of turkeys roaming freely until they are called up for Christmas dinners. She picked hers out the other night. It was the one that was hollering, a decisive pick in her mind although it seemed to me that was the majority of them as they squawked their way back to the shed.My writing time has been somewhat compromised but I have had enough time to get headed in the direction I want to go to finish telling the story of four generations in my fourth book. Hopefully October will offer up more writing days.Yesterday we said goodbye to September and the lake. Grampie, Emma and I took our last very cold and short lake swim. Our cries of glee could be heard up and down the road as we made ourselves jump in one last time. It was somewhat like what I imagine a polar dip to feel like but I was so glad we did it as a final tribute to the wonderful gift the lake gave to me again this year. Emma waved goodbye and told the lake she would see it next year. Hopefully we will have her and her little sister with us next year and we look forward to it.

Suddenly it is September

It is the first day of September.I am the keeper of several journals, my summer journal, my writing journal and my regular journal. Every morning I write about the previous day's events in my journal as part of my morning routine. Today I wrote the last entry in my Summer journal for the summer of 2013. When writing I often take the time to look back and read past entries and today I read most of the entries from this summer .Contrary to what most people say we have had a beautiful summer with lots of sunny hot days. My summer was filled with all the things I set out to do,I swam a lot, I kayaked some, I kept a large and fairly weed free garden, I did some signings ,went to the market and sold books,spent time with friends and family, and went to Meg's and brought Em home. I enjoyed most every day at a home that is my favorite place to be in all seasons and is as much like the best summer cottage you could imagine except that I can't walk right out my back door to the lake(but it is only a two minute drive away). Tomorrow I will write in my regular journal under the list of September goals and head into the next season, sorry to see summer go but anxious for the next season's approach. I will harvest and preserve much of the garden, I will take the last few swims as the days become cooler,take my kayak out a couple more times and I will go to my office Tuesday and get back to work.

A Morning at the Market

For the second Saturday in a row I spent the morning selling books at the Kingston Farmer's Market. For anyone that hasn't been there it is a happening place.A wide variety of vendors offer many culinary delights , fresh produce , meat and a varied selection of crafted items. For two weeks I have set up my table beside the Cape Breton Oatcake guy. He is very keen to talk up his oatcakes and does very well selling them . I have developed a fondness for the Skor Toffee ones and highly recommend them. I did very well both weeks and was happy with my sales. It is rewarding to see that I usually sell all three books pretty equally. I was asked yesterday which book was my favourite. That is like asking which child is my favourite. I love them all for different reasons and could talk at great length about the qualities of each one but also see the flaws and shortcomings but usually choose not to dwell on that.Each time I let a book go to a new reader I feel such joy as my story connects with theirs. We all carry such a range of story as we live our lives with it's challenges ,joys and sorrows.I love those brief moments when the buyer lets me see a bit of their story while they accept a bit of mine.

August

The first day of August used to give me a feeling of panic as I knew that before the month was done I would be back at school and the glorious freedom of summer would be gone for another year. Now after four years of retirement August holds a much different emotion for me. I still hate to part with July and the special summerness of it's days. Early mornings and late evenings are now holding a trace of fall and the days are getting shorter. The water of the lake feels slightly cooler and we are getting closer to our last swim. My garden has gone from the early stages of growth to large plants some like the peas and beans that demand daily picking which takes time away from weeding. I am obsessed with weeding and hoeing the rows of vegetables and take such pride in a clean weed free garden. If Burton had his way he would cover the entire garden with the rolls of fabric that miraculously keep the weeds away.Not me, I am all about the weeding and hoeing It is like the revising of a piece of writing. It is paying attention and removing what doesn't belong and taking pleasure in what remains and grows each time you look at it.So in this month I will enjoy three more weeks of gardening and swimming. I will go to Meg's to get Emma toward the end of the month and then greet September as I begin the harvest and get back to my writing. Oh the joys of the seasons!(and the gift of being able to ignore those annoying back to school commercials!)

A July Morning

I am writing a short entry this morning probably to avoid the heat of the garden. We have had a run of beautiful ,hot sunny days and it is wonderful but part of me longs for the crisp September days when I can return to my office and begin writing again.Several things are simmering in my writer's mind and I will let them take shape in my thoughts as I carry out the tedious task of weeding.Don't get me wrong I love to weed. I love the transformation of a row once I have removed all the weeds and hoe up the growing plants paying close attention to the miraculous process that takes a small seed to a green plant and an eventual vegetable on our table.Today I will tackle the parsnips. If you have ever seen a parsnip seed you will share my awe that a minute paper thin disc produces a root vegetable of such substance. It is one of the last seeds to germinate and I had to wait until the small leaves got big enough to stay rooted as I pull the weeds out around them. I know I should be out there doing it instead of in here writing about it. That is what writing is like sometimes . More time given to the thinking about it than the actual getting words on the screen.I had a good signing in Fredericton on Saturday and was pleased to meet a woman named Jodi-Ann . She had just finished a session of the Writers Workshop at UNB and was anxious to talk about the challenges of writing. I was happy to share my experience and offer some advice and encouragement. But it does all boil down to doing the work ,just like a successful garden does. I always say I want a Jim and Ida garden. Jim and Ida were my paternal grandparents and every summer they planted and meticulously maintained a huge garden. Perhaps my grandchildren will aspire to having a Burton and Sue garden. OK I'm going and if I can keep the vision of a long clean row of parsnips as my goal and I can get past the heat and the bugs I will have the reward of a lake swim and the joy of accomplishment.