A Magic Portal?

Hag stone necklace 

I’m not in the habit of wearing jewelry. Probably stems from my many years of working outside. But this season, I gave myself some jewelry and I’m actually feeling more comfortable with it on than without it. It’s hag stone, picked up along the west coast of Lake Winnipeg during one of my many beach strolls. I have bigger hag stones but they’d be too heavy to wear around my neck. 

So what is a hag stone?  It’s a ‘holey’ stone and some folklorist theory suggests that the hole is a portal to fairylands. I love that whimsical notion. It’s also suggested that a hag stone can ward off evil spirits, keep bad dreams away and offer protection against sickness. 

Hag stone pen holder?

I like wearing mine mostly because it represents the rocky beach where I found it. It’s solid rock, yet somehow vulnerable enough to become holey. 

Like any stone, it’s ancient like the moon. I like to think that this particular stone was waiting for me to find it. And perhaps someday I’ll figure out how to enter through its fairy portal into another world.  Right now, I'm holding it tight for a secret wish. But my other, not-so-secret wish is HAPPY NEW YEAR of PEACE to our world. 

Hag Stone Beach?

Gaslighting our Memories

The other day, while dog walking I listened to The Eurasian Knot, a podcast discussing Soviet history,  The affable hosts were interviewing Tyler Kirk, an American scholar based in Alaska, about his 2023 release, After the Gulag, A History of Memory in Russia’s Far North. While his book focuses on the Komi region and my relatives were closer to Novasibirsk, nonetheless, I found the discussion fascinating because it made me reflect on the differences between history and memory.

AI quickly sums up the differences as follows: History is an interpretation of facts and depends on multiple points of view. Memory is limited to one point of view and not necessarily accurate. 

Memorial, the international human rights organization dedicated to collecting memories of those repressed under the Stalin regime, is banned in modern Russia. History is being re-written by Putin.  Political gaslighting thrives, making it more important than ever to focus on memories. 

Family get-togethers over the holidays are a great way to hear stories, share memories and to not let them get buried by time and political agendas. Our memories deserve to be the building blocks of our histories— not the other way around.  Happy Holidays. 

Circled area shows where my
grandmother died in transit camp in 1931

Happy Holidays to my Amazing Writing Group

Looking forward to a lively, in-person, holiday celebration with my writers’ group next week. We’ve been meeting mostly online since the pandemic and I know we’re all craving an in-person event. We’re going to eat, drink and be merry … together.

by Marianne Gopalkrishna

Only other writers can empathize with the ups and downs of this arduous profession. We get to hear each other's stories when they're just ideas twinkling from a distance ... not sure of whether they'll turn into a real published story. 

Thanks to each of them for sharing with me this long-distance marathon of words. So proud to consider these creative, determined and talented group of writers my friends. Goodwill wishes to

  Jodi Carmichael, as unique and lively as the protagonist of her most recent middle grade novel, The Unique Lou Fox. She's always got more award-winning stories under construction.

MaryLou Driedger, teacher, traveller, blogger, best-selling author of Lost of the Prairie, and the most energetic person I know. Her most recent middle grade novel Sixties Girl is a multi-generational experience. 

Deb Froese, writer, teacher, and amazing editor. Her editing skills are like those of an empathetic surgeon ... precise and gentle. Author of the young adult novel Out of the Fire, also available in German, along with a more recent picture book. 

Interlake Magic by Christina Janz

Christina Janz, writer, and multi-talented artist. She can refinish furniture into pieces of art.  It's just a matter of time before her adventures of two crazy old women bumbling about rural England find a home. 

Mel Matheson, artist, book designer, author and soon an MFA graduate.  Her picture book, Hokey Dowa Gerda and the Snowflake Girl, received Manitoba's best picture book award back in 2015.

Pat Trottier, teacher, writer and advocate for epilepsy support. Pat's tenacity shines in her non-fiction support book for new teachers, Relationships Make the Difference.

Larry Verstraete, teacher, non-fiction author and middle grade novelist. He's also a dog-lover as his two most recent novels featuring a dachshund named, Coop.

 Coop for Keeps came out in this past spring.  Coop's first adventure story, Coop the Great, got picked up by Germany's Little Tiger Verlag. 

Write on!

Ambivalence

Christmas seems mostly about nostalgia and it’s the traditions that help keep the magic going.  I admit that my Christmas flame is flickering on low this year. Family illnesses and other struggles have kept spirits down. But we have snow, we have darkness and we have cold. All necessary ingredients to let Christmas lights shine. 

I visited a Christkindlmarkt here in Winnipeg last weekend. Our local market is nothing like the European open-air events. It’s simply too cold for outdoor kiosks. This indoor market is basically a craft fair dressed up in Christmas colours. I went to get some holiday necessities … spices to make Glühwein and candles for my Advent centre piece.

I’m sure I’ll perk up as the season progresses. After all, the joy and gratitude that my immigrant friends exude might be contagious. An Iraqi family (Christian Kurds) I hope to share time with spent four years in a Turkish refugee camp. Their young children remind me of how wonderful it is to be in Canada … while my Ukrainian friends show me that home and family, electricity and water, peace not war, must never be assumed. Life itself is a reason to celebrate. 

Here I am, ambivalent about Christmas and yet it is the season of peace and goodwill. How dare I take it for granted?  Perhaps the scent of the Christmas tree will revive me.  Time to go tree-hunting! 

Just jotting down these thoughts has put some of Dickens’ Tiny Tim attitude into my season. “God bless Us, Every One!”