CBC Interview a Pinch Me! Moment

Ever since I had my own place, back in the seventies, my kitchen radio has been tuned to CBC.  Early shows like Basic Black, Vinyl Café, Writers and Company … current ones like The Next Chapter, Bookends, Q … and so many more incredible, mind-stretching programs. Not to mention the eclectic range of music and clever comedy. That’s where I was introduced to authors like Alice Munro, Margaret Atwood, Thomas King, Malcolm Gladwell, and so many more. CBC radio made, and continues to make, kitchen chores endlessly enlightening.  I think CBC radio programming has in many ways—for better (some might say for worse)—shaped my view of Canada.  

You can imagine my absolute delight when I had the chance to be interviewed by Nadia Kidwai from CBC Manitoba’s The Weekend Morning Show back in early September. My reasons for writing about shy, imperfect Waltraut got to be aired (and even replayed) on the CBC! It was an emotional experience. Getting some CBC swag just in time for sock season is only a bonus. 

To now have Waltraut included in the CBC’s kids' fall book selection is another one of those pinch me! moments. Who knew that following Nancy Drew’s advice to be curious, kind and brave could give me such opportunity. 

Thunder not bombs

Got caught in a downpour while walking through our local woods yesterday. Wet dog, rolling thunder and warm rain. It was great!  Obviously, I couldn’t take a picture and my words will never do it justice. Let’s just say it was a sensory experience … something to inhale and to savour like fresh bread. The dog, usually terrified of thunder, seemed braver while in the shelter of the gloomy, wet woods. Nevertheless, we didn’t dawdle to smell all those woodsy smells and he very much appreciated the towel rub when we returned home. 

I think of the wars happening on our beautiful earth and how for some that thunder, those stabs of random light, are malicious, angry and filled with hate. When I see an image of another bombing set in our present world … I’m reminded of the past my parents and millions of others experienced. As  survivors of the Second World War pass on, it’s vital we pass on their memories to prevent more war. How did that Patti Smith song go? People have the Power?   A bit of the lyrics: The power to dream, to rule to wrestle the world from fools

Peace on the prairies

Or how about Simon and Garfunkel’s Last Night I had the Strangest Dream.  Taste of lyrics:  Last night  I had the strangest dream, I ever dreamed before. I dreamed the world had all agreed To put an end to war.        

• Why am I so lucky to live in Canada where thunder is only thunder?  In chapter 18 of my new novel, Waltraut, my characters experience a thunderstorm while picnicking in a cemetery. It's a déjà vu moment for Waltraut's mother ... a character inspired by my own mother's fear of stormy weather and of war.

Lake Time

Lake Winnipeg, our inland sea
I should have given Waltraut a photo op here.
Thanks for putting her on Winnipeg's bestseller list!

from Saturday's Winnipeg Free Press

Summer in September is my favourite time of the year … it’s unpredictable and every warm day is now a gift. Storm colours may be moodier and more intense, but nothing beats the blue of September skies, against golden-tinged aspen, with the Canada geese in their v-shaped flocks streaming south filling the air with their squawks of freedom.  Entering the woods is like entering a golden snow globe of scattered leaves.

Tree fungi as colourful as  flowers.

Ha! How can you tell I’m just back my annual fall retreat at Camp Morton? What a place. Totally magical.  Enjoyed chats by the fire, rock hunting along the shoreline, fungal wonders, and, as always, glimpses of another time. Pure magic.

back to school

 

My neighbourhood is filled with schools.  I live close enough to hear the elementary school buzzer.  My kids never had to rely on buses or rides. A ten-minute walk and they’d arrive … whether it was kindergarten, middle years, or senior high. 

While my own children have walked on into adulthood … new kids now pass the house …  I get to witness the body language of young students. Some wear brightly coloured backpacks on their slender backs and skip with absolute glee. “Wait up!” their parents call when they look up from their cell phones. (Yes, it’s a sign of our times).  Other kids, move more slowly, dragging their feet as anxiety weighs them down. 

Middle graders often form small packs … girls quietly talking amongst themselves, boys several feet apart, guffawing and shoving each other along their zigzag way.  Not all of course … there are always the loners, the shufflers, or the ones wearing their headphones, seemingly oblivious to their surroundings. And the cyclists … waving as they pass their friends on the sidewalks. 

Then there’s the senior high crowd. These now are mostly loners. Different start times for different classes. So many ways to drift apart.  Headphones on, unlike their younger counterparts, they don’t joke, they don’t push, and they definitely don’t skip. Cars squeal past driven by older classmates or some, with ‘novice driver’ in the back window, crawl with excess caution towards the overcrowded school parking lot. 

In Waltraut, my protagonist also lives close to a school. A chain link fence surrounds the playground and school patrols lord over a potentially dangerous intersection. You’ll have to read the book to see how she feels about the walk to Riverview Elementary, back in 1965.  In spite of the cell phones, maybe not so much has changed when it comes to getting to school on time.