Franklin Gardens

On Saturday of Labour Day Weekend, I was slated to perform at Franklin Garden on Centre Island. First I needed to meet up with the other author Gwen Molinar from Edmonton and make sure she was set up properly at the story stage. I knew that we needed some promotion as on the island the author visits are not publicized much. The year before the flyer my daughter Robin had created for me didn't help much. What to do?

Well since the story I wanted to tell was The Biggest Little Dog, I decided to use Mortie as my walking advertisement. I cut up a t shirt of mine and used a permanent marker to write about my reading. Did it work? Well, sure it make me feel like I was doing something. And Mortie always draws a lot of attention. I had a nice crowd at Franklin and I enjoyed talking to them and giving away free books.

Magazine Travel

Finally a perk to working for the magazine. It feels like I have been slaving all summer on it. Hunter, Bob and I went travelling to Bruce Grey County to experience what they have to offer. We visited three museums, two beaches, four lighthouses, four waterfalls and hiked at two caves as well as Baldy's Lookout. I loved swimming at the beach and at the Westin Resort Pool.
Now to write about all that in two thousand words and do it justice.

End of Summer Roundup

Besides making the magazine run, I also wrote a shortstory based on my husband Bob’s adventures at Burlington Animal Shelter. He photographs the animals, mostly cats and helps the shelter upload the photos to their website so that they can be viewed for adoption. My story, called The Unaddoptable Pet, now needs some rewriting to make the character older. By September 19 it will go back for a final looksee. It would be good to say, here’s something new I wrote over the summer.

Just as the summer began with sadness so it ended. My favourite and pretty much the only aunt I have contact with, since the rest of my extended family lives in Germany, died of cancer. Renate Wildenburg in my mind will always be the beautiful 19 year old with the black up do that was so popular in the Elvis years when she came to live with us. Over the past years I have been e-mailing with her mostly about my mother’s condition but in between the lines I could read that Renate was also failing.

A sad thing for me is that I can’t tell my mother. She wouldn’t understand. And yet beyond the sadness it would cause I think it would help my mom release her own life or consciousness as it is with Alzheimers. I’d like to be able to share the news with someone who cared about her too. I’ll try to find an old photo in an album later to load in.

Summer Catchup

Sadly the summer began with a close colleague dying. Helen Keeler was the managing editor of Today’s Parent Toronto. By the time we all heard about her cancer re-occurring she was at peace with her death and let go. We all found it difficult to keep going and yet had to work harder without her sound advice and coaching.

Happily I had my grandson Hunter to distract me. Every morning I would work and in the afternoon we would have excellent adventures, mostly going to the pool. I had forgotten how much swimming puts me into a state of zen.

Mortie Graduates!

Mortie graduated from Puppy Kindergarten. He can now come when you call him if you have treats and nothing distracts him. He also sits, shakes paw and rolls over. Sometimes in anticipation of a treat he’ll bring out all three like party tricks.