Weekend memories ...

We were lucky to have wonderful weather all weekend long.

On Saturday, it was our Art Show on the beach, and we arrived early, found a beautiful tree and view of the Lake and set up our table. It was wonderful to chat with fellow artists , some I had already met before during the three weekends we participated in Burlington Artscape Leaf Fundraiser for Joseph Brant Hospital.  Lynda Jones who co-ordinated the event, had a multi-generational tent with original art pieces created by herself, her husband Dennis, nephew and daughter Tracy who brought along her guitar and played beautifully throughout the afternoon.

Mid-afternoon my family surprised me with a visit :-)  and we ended the day with Hutch's fish and chips and ice cream for desert, making it a truly beautiful day!

On Sunday, we celebrated a family Birthday at one of our favourite parks.

During Covid, we've been getting very creative and family picnics have been one way we can all be together, keeping a safe distance ... picnic tables ... blankets spread out ,,, all our favourite foods ,,,, 

So lovely to have everyone together ~ our kids, their significant others, and grandsons  ... and of course... grandpups! 

Our newest grandpup who we are lovingly referring to as "baby Archer" melted our heart

Axel is our son Alex's  black labrador retriever and an absolute gem. We even managed to get some time to ourselves with him and went for a little walk through the park! Archer loved this park and most weekends were spent there with him so it holds lots of wonderful memories. We've never had a puppy, all three of our labs were adopted at older ages... but we couldn't help but see all of them in Axel. 

Welcome to the family sweet Axel xxxx

 

Writing the Rollercoaster ...

Back in March, I read about an idea for an upcoming book regarding the impact Covid 19 had in our local community paper. There was a request for submissions of stories and poems, a way to share experiences , and I thought what a fantastic idea this was! 

It was to be called Writing the Rollercoaster and was the brainchild of Lynda Simmons and Sylvia McNicoll. I mentioned it to my daughter Kate who is a wonderful writer and author herself, thinking I too would submit  a story.  I knew exactly what/who I would write about .  At this point it had only been a few weeks since we lost Archer and emotions were raw.

The submission deadline date drew closer, my daughter asked if I had sent mine in yet as she had already sent in her 2 submissions, a story and a haiku.

 I had tried, unsuccessfully,  to get any thought down on paper without breaking into tears and putting the pen down thinking I would try again later. This was very unusual for me. I love to write and my only issue with writing in the past was keeping the word count down as I tend to get too wordy :-) 

My family asked more than a few times "Have you sent in your submission yet Mum?"  They understood of course that I was having a hard time with this one. Remembering those last few months/weeks/days with Archer, his love of life and taking in every last drop of it, well ... it is very hard to write when your eyes are clouded with tears that are dropping on the paper like rain cloud puddles.

In the end, I gave up trying to write anything down on paper and went to the computer, into my email, pressed "compose" and just began clicking the keyboard and before I knew it "Silver Linings" was ready to submit.

This project came at a wonderful time for me as writing Silver Linings was so cathartic.  Being able to put down thoughts was a much needed release.

A few weeks later I received an email saying my story was one of 50 chosen and would be included in the Writing the Rollercoaster anthology.

This past weekend was the book launch party.

Each author received 2 copies of the book in an adorable book bag.

The event was catered with a wonderful Food truck and Ice cream truck, Coffee and Tea bar.

There were snippets of stories from the book scattered all around so you could walk and read ... 

I'm page 65

And such a thrill to share this exciting moment with my daughter!  Both her submissions were included also. Together, Apart told of our strong family bond and everything we do to make sure no matter what, that never changes. 

 And the very last page of the book, is her Haiku :-) 

Thank you so much Lynda & Sylvia for this amazing project & book launch and Congratulations!!