May Day Celebrations

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On Saturday, May 3, I celebrated May Day with back-to-back-to-back activities. The day began with sunshine, warmth, and my morning Heritage Walk in Calgary's Tuxedo Park -- my first time leading a Jane's Walk. Forty-three people turned up at our meeting spot in Balmoral Circus Park, which conveniently provided chairs for half of the attendees. 

After my introduction and a discussion of the intersection's history and recent transformation into a park, we set off to explore the other historical sites in the neighbourhood that I had chosen for the setting of my mystery novel, A Killer Whisky. 

The whole walk took 1.5 hours. Highlights included unexpected contributions by walk participants. A woman who grew up in the neighbourhood recalled that the house in the above photo used to be a Scout Hall. She rang the home's doorbell to see if the owners could confirm this. They said they were newcomers but would contact the previous owners and send her more information. 

At our next stop, a surprise for me was a "Sold" sign in front of the blue house in this picture. 

A few weeks earlier, when I'd researched the walk, no sign was there. I had imagined this 1912 house as the residence of my novel's protagonist. A woman in the walking group Googled the real estate listing and found the description boasted that the home was featured in a Jane's Walk. During my research trip, I'd dropped a flyer in the mailbox advising the owners about the upcoming walk. Evidently their real estate agent viewed this as a selling point. 

Between my morning and afternoon walks, I grabbed a burger and fries at a nearby local landmark, Peter's Drive In. After lunch, I repeated my Jane's Walk for 40 new participants. The afternoon walk featured three guest speakers. 

The first speaker was planned. In front of the 1912 commercial building that once housed a branch of the Calgary Public Library, author and literary historian Shaun Hunter spoke about Elaine Catley, a Canadian writer who lived in Tuxedo Park in the 1920s. 

The two other speakers were spontaneous additions. When we discovered an urban planner from the City of Calgary was in the audience, we asked her explain about Heritage Protection laws, which I wasn't familiar with.  

Asia Walker, Urban Planner, and Shaun Hunter added interest and expertise   

Later, a woman who'd gone to Balmoral Bungalow School shared her memories of attending the school that was built to temporarily house students during Calgary's periods of rapid school enrollment. The school is boarded up now, although an application has been made to make it a daycare centre.  

Balmoral Bungalow School 

From the walk, I drove to the Austrian Canadian Cultural Centre for a dinner/dance to celebrate May Day and the Centre's 70th anniversary. May Day, the halfway point between the spring equinox and the summer solstice, welcomes the summer growing season with the traditional Maypole dance. 

During the day, groups from Western Canada had gathered at the Centre for workshops on Schuhplattler dancing. My sister's German dance club came from Victoria and dressed in dirndl and Lederhosen for the occasion.  

After the workshop presentations, the band continued with polkas. I was tired from my busy day, but couldn't resist hitting the dance floor when the band segued to Elvis' "Blue Suede Shoes." By midnight, I was ready to crash in our hotel room. 

What a fun way to usher in summer. Happy Merry Month of May to you! 

Alphorn players

      

Quilting fast counts as aerobic exercise

https://bookswelove.net/stover-karla/

My parents were the youngest in their respective families, owned their home, and had a big basement. That meant, as various family members downsized, a lot of their I-don't-need-it-right-now items ended up in the basement. Then my parents died, followed by my brother, and that's how I inherited a signature quilt with names I can't identify.

Signature quilts, aka Autograph quilts and Album quilts have a long history.

TIMELINE:

400 BC - 300 BC:  people began making what was known as Gallnut Ink out of Oak Gallnuts (Oak Apples) and Iron Sulphate. 

3400 BCE: when it thought that stitching together of layers of padding and fabric together, may date back to. 

1101 - 1200: when historians think Crusaders introduced quilting in Europe.

1360: In Sicily when one of the earliest existing decorative works, the Tristan Quilt, was made.

The early 19th century was an enormously sentimental time: diaries, scrapbooks, poetry, and sketches, or photographs when they became available, abound. Then, in approximately 1839, the first indelible ink showed up in stationary stores and quilters turn their attention to signature quilts. While back home they often commemorated single events such as a marriage or birth of a child, based, as they were, on friendships and/or family, they became comforting reminders of home during the first western expansion (Massachusetts to Ohio). The women making these quilts sometimes stitched their political and religious beliefs. Baltimore album quilts have sayings, bible verses, and drawings inked on many of the blocks. 

One day in 1856, Adeline Harris, a seventeen-year-old Rhode Island girl, came up with a unique idea, make a quilt in the tumbling block pattern and incorporate hundreds of celebrity autographs. She mailed out small diamonds of white silk to various notables with an explanation of her project and a request that they sign the square and send it back to her signed. 

POSTAGE CHARGES IN 1856:

A Mini Vacation with Gooey Ducks - by Barbara Baker

 

Even though the crocus tried their best to bring colour to the south facing hillsides in Calgary during April, the lingering spring scenery felt drab.

Time for a quick reprieve. Off to Vancouver Island we went. But first we had to drive through the snow-covered mountains and of course wait in numerous road construction line-ups. If it’s not winter in Western Canada, it’s road construction season.

Having spent most of my life around mountains, going to the ocean is somewhat like flying to the moon for me … well, not really but you get what I mean. It’s an entirely different landscape for this mountain gal.

Trees with blossoms lined the streets, and a lazy seal soaked up the sun’s rays while we waited for the ferry. I couldn’t stop smiling.

  

Since it was off-season for tourists, we found a room right on the ocean in one of our favourite places - Parksville.

The tide charts said it starts to recede at 6 AM and is at low tide by noon. Perfect. We spent the mornings exploring forests, waterfalls and toured north on the ocean highway always cognizant that we needed to be at a beach by lunch time.

Still wearing a scarf, gloves and a parka I held fast at wearing shorts. This was a holiday and darn it all. I was going to wear them.

The beaches were covered with layers of shells that left trails of movement behind them. The gulls, herons and eagles stopped by to search through the tide pools and remains that were scattered about.

  

I squealed when I spotted my first starfish hidden among a rock crevice and the seals swam by barking encouragement as I searched for more treasures.

 

Each day, while the tide was out, we watched people carrying five gallons pails and shovels as they headed out to a sand bar. They spent hours digging. What in the world were they up to?

Curiosity won and I asked around. They were digging for gooey ducks - the world's largest burrowing clams. Geoduck (their real name) means to dig deep.

They use a syphon hose (which can be up to three feet long) to suck in water, plankton and tiny organisms. After they’ve eaten, they spit out cleaner water than they took in via another hole - such environmentally friendly creatures!

The only indication they are far below the surface is if you see a small circular hole in the sand. When you walk over or close to a gooey duck’s burrow, they spit out their water often hitting you - not intentionally of course.

Geoduck facts:      -    some live up to 168 years and often remain in one burrow

-     they can grow up to 8 inches long and weigh between 1 and 3 pounds

-     they’re full of iron, Omega 3 and protein and can be eaten raw, sliced or cooked

-     Geoducks are valued at $150 per pound in some markets and are said to be a sweet, briny, crunchy delicacy  (I cannot verify this)

During one of my beach rambles, Jillian, (the main character in my books), popped into my head. She told me she didn’t like where her new story was going. And then she mentioned she wanted to change the opening scene. Really? Of course I ignored her. Initially. Because what does she know? But she was persistent and she made some great suggestions. When she expanded on her ideas, I could feel myself smile and then I chuckled. What a cheeky character. She certainly keeps me on my toes. Does she realize how much work these changes will be?

 Baker, Barbara - BWL Publishing Inc. (bookswelove.net)

 

Junk Art

 

Have I mentioned I have too many hobbies? These are just a few of the weird and whimsical creations I've put together from scraps piling up around our farm. Wood destined for the bonfire, scrap metal from some ancient tractor project my husband regrets starting, and random pieces broken off of said tractor projects or found in the field and ditches. 

Sure, Pinterest ("the tool of the devil created by women" - as my husband refers to it) helps inspire me, but in the end, when the glue hits the metal, I am the one who makes the final call. Some are not great, others turn out better than I imagined. 

As with most of my artsy, fartsy creative outlets, it's a lot like writing. Regardless of the inspiration, the process, or the outcome, when it's all said and done, my stamp is on it. A little piece of me. One of a kind.

It calls to mind a very brutal yet crucial critique I received from a trusted beta reader. I had tried so hard to polish up the segment I was sending her. I used Grammarly to its fullest. No red lines. No gold lines. No squiggly lines whatsoever. A grammatically edited masterpiece! So the feedback I got was wholly unexpected. 

When my reader said, "It's good, Julie. It's fine," something didn't feel good or fine at all. After a little prodding on my part and a lot of humming and hawing on hers, she finally busted out and spilled what was bugging her. "It's written very well, Julie. But ... it just doesn't sound like you anymore. It's like someone else wrote it." 

Mind blown. Heart crushed. Thoughts whirling. Defenses at the ready.

It took me some time to figure it out. Like weeks. But I could not let it go. Finally, at some point, I got sick of looking all the auto-grammar lines and prompts to upgrade. It was just creating too much screen noise for my already buzzing brain. So I shut it off. I shut it all off. I quit letting it boss me around. 

And guess what. I found my voice again. Just sitting there like a patient friend who'd been sidelined. It never left. Just waited for me to come back. And come back I did, with open arms. Sometimes, it's not perfect. Just like me. Sometimes, it's clever and odd. Just like me. But just like my junk art, it's got MY stamp all over it. 

Oh, not to worry, Grammarly still has a place and a purpose, but it's not the driver. I'll shove it in the backseat and let it visit with me from there. 

Lima beans, furballs, and being a lethal weapon by donalee Moulton

  

I was recently featured on Heather Weidner’s blog This or That. Thought I’d share some of my answers – and my personal quirks – with you. Simply scroll down.

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 1.        Favorite thing to do when you have free time: Absolutely nothing

        The thing you’ll always move to the bottom of your to do list: Vacuuming

 2.        Things you need when you’re in your writing cave: 

        A lovely drink like a decaf mocha and a treat like warm chocolate chip cookies    

       Things that distract you from writing: Usually the doorbell and my husband

 3.        Hardest thing about being a writer: Writing 

        Easiest thing about being a writer: Not writing

 4.        Things you will run to the store for at midnight: Mango ice cream    

        Things you never put on your shopping list: Lima beans

 5.        Favorite snacks: Chester’s corn twists and most anything chocolate    

        Things that make you want to gag: Snails, almonds, furballs

 6.        Something you wanted to be when you were a kid: Lawyer

        Something you do that you never dreamed you’d do: Started my own business

 7.        Something you wish you could do: Be a lethal weapon

        Something you wish you’d never learned to do: Vacuum

 8.        Last best thing you ate: Lemon posset pudding made by my friend George 

        Last thing you regret eating: Vegan lasagna (and that was more than a year ago)

 9.        Things to say to an author: Thank you.

        Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: 

        You made a mistake. 

10.     The most exciting thing about your writing life: Holding the finished product

        The one thing you wish you could do over in your writing life: Start earlier

 11.     The nicest thing a reader said to you: I loved it when… and then they recount a scene. 

        The craziest thing a reader said to you: There’s a typo on page 243.