2022 Update to My Story by J.Q. Rose #memoir #motherhood #floralshop #lifestory

 

Arranging a Dream: a Memoir by J. Q. Rose
Click here to find JQ's books at BWL Publishing

Hello and welcome to the BWL Publishing Author Insiders Blog. 

in January 2021, BWL Publishing released my memoir, Arranging a Dream: A Memoir. In 2022, there is more to the story.

What is the story? 

Arranging a Dream: A Memoir
by J.Q. Rose

From the back of the book:

In 1975, budding entrepreneurs Ted and Janet purchase a floral shop and greenhouses where they plan to grow their dream. Leaving friends and family behind in Illinois and losing the security of two paychecks, they transplant themselves, their one-year-old daughter, and all their belongings to Fremont, Michigan, where they know no one. 

Will the retiring business owners nurture Ted and Janet as they struggle to develop a blooming business, or will they desert the inexperienced young couple to wither and die in their new environment?

 Most of all, can Ted and Janet grow together as they cultivate a loving marriage, juggle parenting with work and root a thriving business?

Follow Ted and Janet's inspiring story, filled with the joy, triumphs, and obstacles and failures experienced by these blossoming entrepreneurs as they travel the turbulent path of turning dreams into reality.

A snapshot of the flower shop on the first day we saw it in July 1975

We purchased the shop and greenhouse operation and lived out our dream to be entrepreneurs. It was a risky chance, but we were young and innocent enough not to know what we faced in the world of business. 

I remember how thrilled I was when we decided to become shop owners. I remember how frightened I was to move away from Central Illinois where we had a team of supporters in our family and friends and the security of two paychecks. 

The small town in West Michigan was filled with strangers. We knew nothing about the retiring owners. We had to trust and pray they were good people.

Sara, Easter 1976 
16 months old

The most difficult time for me was, after nursing my baby girl for nearly a year, I had to give her up to a daycare worker whom I did not know in order for me to work full time at the shop.

But, come to find out, Jackie, the sweet woman who took care of Sara, was the perfect person to care for her. 

SPOILER AHEAD: 

We sold the business on March 1, 1995. You can imagine a lot transpired during those 19-plus years of working as business owners. 

In 1982, we purchased property about two blocks from the original chalet-style flower shop and greenhouses and erected three greenhouses, each 50' x 150', for growing plants to keep up with the demand from our customers and to house a garden center. In 1986, we opened our new flower shop and garden center facility which was attached to the greenhouses. 

The floral shop, garden center and greenhouses in one location
1988

Imagining the building that was going to be our new flower shop and garden center was one thing, but planning and building it were another. Dreaming of it was thrilling. Building it was frustrating when we couldn't get the builders to show up and get it done as quickly as we wanted to! Decorating the interior and ordering inventory, moving in...all those things and more were exciting and scary all at once. Figuring out how the design room should be set up, managing the shelving for the shop and garden center, decisions on how to create welcoming, but efficient spaces, were just a few of the responsibilities. 

We celebrated our new facilities with the community with a grand opening in November 1986. That day and the excitement of our customers and visitors still swirls in my memory as one of the best days at the flower shop.

The plans for the new facility were birthed during a lunch date. Here's the excerpt from Chapter 29, Another Move, Arranging a Dream: A Memoir.

Within one year of occupying the new location, we were fed up with running back and forth between the shop and greenhouses in two locations and frustrated with the insufficient space in the design room, coolers, storage areas in the chalet building. We decided in 1985 to build an expansive flower shop with a garden center at the new greenhouse location.

We brainstormed on the place to locate the building on the property, but nothing clicked until we met with our beloved salesman, “Ugly Fred.” He called himself that memorable name to distinguish him from other salesmen. When Fred started calling on us, we liked the tall, white-haired Dutchman. He had experience owning a hardware store, and he shared helpful tips on selecting and displaying products our customers needed. Interacting with him through the planning and setting up of the products, he grew to become our trusted friend and mentor.

At one of those lunch meetings at Samuel’s Restaurant, which seemed to be our home away from home, we discussed the idea of moving the shop to the greenhouse property.

“That makes sense to me,” he said. He grabbed a pen from his shirt pocket and began sketching a drawing on a clean, white paper napkin.

“You can place the shop here.” He pointed to his drawing with the building out front and to the side of the greenhouses.

“That would make room for a large area for the entrance and parking.” Ted’s eyes shone with excitement.

“See, place a door into the greenhouses on this side, a door on the east side into the garden center.” Fred sketched in the doors.

“And the entire front of the building would be the gift shop,” I announced.

Fast and furious came more ideas for storage areas, work areas, delivery space. God bless Ugly Fred and his napkin drawing. I wish I had saved it.

At the ground-breaking ceremony in front of the greenhouses, we invited Fred to be in the photo taken by the Fremont Times Indicator for an article on the beginning construction of the flower shop. Our daughters, Ted and I, Ken Frens, Fred and his boss at Mollema Wholesalers, and building contractor Harold Smith smile brightly in the photo captured by the photographer. What an exciting time to see the shop take form and become a reality.

Now, the rest of the story in 2022:

The owners who originally purchased the shop in 1995 are still in business, however, they sold the shop and property to Aldis grocery store last month. Aldis will bring in the wrecking ball soon to knock down that building whose blueprint was first hand-drawn on a white paper napkin. Soon, our beloved facility will be a pile of rubble, then disappear into a landfill. All the evidence that the shop ever existed will be gone. I'm a bit melancholy about that, even if I haven't been working in the shop for 27 years.

I am glad I have wonderful memories of the times and photos of that era of my life because there is no longer any physical proof of those times. The original chalet building was knocked down several years ago. Only a grassy lot with a  For Sale sign remains where the old shop was located. 

Thank goodness, I have the memoir that leaves our legacy stories for our family and friends and future generations to read and learn about how we made our dream come true. It is a testimony to others to know that dreams can come true.

****

My message to you is to consider jotting down memories for your family. Or record them using your phone. Your story could be an important piece to encourage others.

Tell your life story!

ARRANGING A DREAM: A MEMOIR

Janet and Gardener Ted

Click here to connect online with J.Q. Rose

 

Reading and Writing Buddies by Helen Henderson

 

Fire and Amulet by Helen Henderson
Click the cover for purchase information

What is the first thing you think of when you see writing buddy? You might picture a critique partner, face tense in concentration as they hunch over a manuscript. The image could even be detailed enough to include scribbled comments in red. Or maybe your idea is three people chatting online, brainstorming ideas for a collaborative work.

My first image for reading buddies was a group of women in comfortable, upholstered chairs in someone's living room. Side tables hold glasses of wine and plates of chocolate candies or other treats. Next was a book club. Their vibrant discussion takes place in a small cluster of chairs in the corner of a library or local book store. However, this post follows a recent meme trend. The reading and writing buddies varied by gender and age, but all have one thing in common -- four feet. The reading and writing buddies are cats and dogs. 

Meet Pepper, my childhood reading buddy. We sat on the ground in the shade of an ancient willow tree. The books being read were my parents' collections and the piles of books checked out of the county library. The westerns of Zane Gray and Lois L'amour competed with the tales of Cherry Ames. No, it never made me want to be a nurse. That was my mother's dream, at least until she graduated high school too early to be accepted.

Many years later, another four-footed companion kept me company. Tighe curled up next to me on the couch and tolerated being petted as I read. Gentle nudges reminded me he was still there whenever the caresses slowed or stopped. He had more challenging behavior as a writing buddy. Lying on my feet or my lap as I typed didn't interfere with productivity. Until he decided it was time for a snack or to go prowl the yard. Then if I didn't respond quick enough to taps on my hand, a leap and strut across the keyboard challenged me to move him. I refuse to answer who won the stand-off. 

 

I hope you enjoyed meeting my reading and writing buddies.

 

To purchase Fire and Amulet: BWL

~Until next month, stay safe and read.  

Find out more about me and my novels at Journey to Worlds of Imagination.
Follow me online at Facebook, Goodreads or Twitter.

Helen Henderson lives in western Tennessee with her husband. While she doesn’t have any pets in residence at the moment, she often visits a husky who has adopted her as one the pack. 

Alaska Bound by Nancy M Bell

 

Kayla's Cowboy coming September 2022 to find out more click on the cover.

ALASKA BOUND

My husband and I have just celebrated 45 years of marriage. Wow, where did the time go and I must have been a baby when I said I do. LOL  We spent 7 days cruising from Vancouver BC to Alaska and back. It was a lovely time. We saw whales, sea otters, seals, eagles and beautiful scenery. Glacier Bay never fails to inspire me, so timeless and yet always in motion. No matter how we live our lives one thing is certain, time stops for no one and sometimes that is a blessing and sometimes a curse.

We took the White Rail Line to the summit of White Pass, I can't even imagine how the people of the gold rush managed to get there. Steep terrain, snow and cold and they had to carry one ton of provisions in order to enter the Yukon Canada. Three thousand horses and pack animals lost their lives on that treacherous trail. Dead Horse Gulch is a sad sad place on the way up to the summit. 

I hope you enjoy the photos of Alaska below.

Glacier Bay

John Hopkins Glacier   Glacier Bay AK

On the way to White Summit

 

Tell M A Story by Janet Lane Walters #BWLAuthor #MFRWAuthor #amwriting #stories

 

I probably drove my parents and grandparets crazy when I was a child. I had a grandfather with a great Cockney accent. He bgfan reading to me when I was an infant. Around the age of four I discovered library andgot my first card. Then I could read for myself. My cry became, Tell me a story. Of the adults in my life, my grandfather and father were the ones who were best at this. Then I grew up and decided to begin writing my own stories.

Each one of us has their own way of writing, a method that works for us. This became evident on Saturday at our writer's meeting. I watched my friends who read for critique frantically searching through their pages to add notes as well as accept those ones we wrote for them to take home. Most of them said when they arrived hom, said they would immediately rewrite the scene. I shook my head. 

What I had read was rough draft and I said so. One of them made a remark about wishing her rough drafts made sense. All I could think about was they must be pansters. There are also plotters. I don't fit any of these categories. I am a planner. I always ahve my blurb written before I write a word of the book. every night when I go to sleep, I hone in on my world and ilently i shout, Tell me a story.  My characters don't even have names or descriptions. When I do is dream of their adventures whether it's what they do, what's happening and slowly the story unfolds.

Then I write a chapter synopsis. I never now how long a book will be when I begin. My dreams at night tell me what the next event will be. Then I start writing focusing mostly on plot. There are two more written drafts after scribbling notes all over the printed out what ever draft I'm on. After the plot draft, I head to the setting draft and then the character draft. Then comes the final revision and the book is done.

Works for my but it's taken fifty plus eyars of writing to get this down to a system.

My Places

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A watery bridal veil, by J.C. Kavanagh

 

The Twisted Climb - Darkness Descends

Book 2 of the award-winning Twisted Climb series

Where do you find the following: Little Current, Bridal Veil Falls, Chi-Cheemaun (pronounced Chee-Chee-Mawn), hawberries and the Iron Swing bridge? 

Hint: The largest freshwater island in the world.

Another hint: It's on Lake Huron in Ontario, Canada.

Final hint: It's part of the North Channel, also known as the #1 sailing destination in the world.

Did you guess 'Manitoulin Island?' If you did, applause. You're correct.

Satellite image of Manitoulin Island

Manitoulin Island, at almost 2,800 km² or about 1,070 sq miles in size, is the largest freshwater island in the world. The island itself has over 100 freshwater lakes, including Lake Manitou (104 km² or roughly 40 sq miles) which is the largest lake in a freshwater island in the world. And, according to Wikipedia, an island named Treasure Island in Lake Mindemoya is "the largest island in a lake on an island in a lake in the world." Now that's a tongue-twisting bit of trivia you probably didn't know.

The name 'Manitoulin' is the English translation of the Ottawa/Ojibwe name Manidoowaaling, meaning "cave of the spirit," as they believed the island housed a powerful spirit in an underwater cave. In 1951, Paleo-Indian artifacts were discovered in Sheguiandah, an area on the north-east shore, that dated back 10,000 - 30,000 B.C. It was believed that the ancestors of Native American Indians arrived from Asia in three waves, settling in Chile to the south, and north through what is now Mexico, the United States and Canada. 

Manitoulin Island became part of the fur trade route begun by French and English explorers back in the early 17th century. Fur trappers and traders travelled the great lakes in canoes, trading goods for fur pelts. What is now referred to as the 'Beaver Wars' ensued, where the Iroquois battled for control of the fur trade in Manitoulin from the Anishinaabe people. On top of this conflict, explorers and traders brought an onslaught of European infectious diseases which proved catastrophic to the Native Indians. It is said that the Anishinaabe, in order to purify their lands, burned each settlement that they abandoned. For almost 150 years after that, the island had few inhabitants.

When the war of 1812 ended and the island was ceded to the British, native people from the Odawa, Ojibwe and Potawatomi tribes returned. In 1862, the government prepared what is known as the Manitoulin Island Treaty, allowing non-Native people the option to settle there. The Wikwemikong chief refused to sign the treaty and to this day, the Wikwemikong tribe maintains sovereign rights over the south-east section of the island and surrounding waters. As of 2016, the population on the island comprises European-Canadians (60%) and Aboriginal (40%).

There are only two ways to access the island: via land on a one-lane iron swing-bridge, or via water on a passenger ferry.

The swing bridge located at the town of Little Current, is the eastern waterway to the North Channel. 
Erected in 1913, the bridge is the only land access to the mainland.
The bridge swings open on the hour, every hour, for 15 minutes,
between dawn and dusk during spring, summer and fall. 

Bridal Veil Falls, is a popular tourist attraction near the town of Kapawong,
in central Manitoulin. It's 11 metres (35 feet) high and can be reached via a 5 km hiking trail. The concave contour below the waterfall allows tourists to walk behind it. Pictured above, you'll see me waving behind the falls, in a teal and white shirt.

Bridal Veil Falls

A Twisted Climb-type of full moon overlooking Manitoulin Island.

Hawberries are abundant on the island and so are the jams and jellies.

For the last 16 years, my partner and I have sailed to the North Channel, always stopping at the town of Little Current. We sail through the swing bridge and then dock at Little Current for provisions. The name of the town, Little Current, is quite tongue-in-cheek and I'm sure the Ojibwe and Anishinaabe peoples named it with a good belly laugh. You see, the water current across the top of Manitoulin Island and in particular, the town of Little Current, is not 'little.' Quite the opposite, in fact. It's so strong and changes direction so frequently that many a vessel have rammed into the docks or other boats. Holding course while waiting for the swing bridge to open can be quite challenging.

There's a red, boat-shaped buoy in the channel at Little Current.
The bow (forward section) of the little buoy shows you the direction of the current
and the more the buoy tilts, the stronger the current.

The idea of a cave with a spirit named Manitoulin, is intriguing. In Book 3 of my Twisted Climb series, you'll find out why. Yes, more adventures are coming for Jayden, Connor and Max. Stay tuned! Details will follow before publication in October...

Till then, stay safe!

J.C. Kavanagh, author of
The Twisted Climb - Darkness Descends (Book 2)
voted BEST Young Adult Book 2018, Critters Readers Poll and Best YA Book FINALIST at The Word Guild, Canada
AND
The Twisted Climb,
voted BEST Young Adult Book 2016, P&E Readers Poll
Novels for teens, young adults and adults young at heart
Email: author.j.c.kavanagh@gmail.com
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