The Fallen Four

Posted on by

fallen-fourTonight in Mayerthorpe, Alberta the tears will be flowing freely.

Again.

I’m sure you remember last March, when we lost four of our Mounties in a tragic event that gripped the entire country with disbelief and despair. Months have passed since that terrible day, but time has not lessened our thoughts of those involved.

The RCMP Musical Ride is making a special appearance in Mayerthorpe to honour not only the Fallen Four, but the town and its citizens, as well.

In times of grief, words are trite, but to the town, to the families of the men who died, to the men themselves…Peter Schiemann, Leo Johnston, Anthony Gordon, and Brock Myrol, and to the men and women to continue to serve our country, my heartfelt gratitude.

UPDATE: An interesting twist, our neighbour in Yellowknife turned out to be one of these fine officers pictured above chosen to honour the fallen four.

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (or a painted green pony)

Posted on by

So recently my children attended horseback riding lessons.

My youngest child was quite disappointed on the first day as she was saddled with Lucy, the Shetland Pony.

Being a thoughtful and well mannered child (most of the time ;) she whispered in my ear (I’m assuming so Lucy wouldn’t hear and have hurt feelings),

“I don’t want to ride Lucy. I want a real horse.”

However, it wasn’t to be and she was stuck with Lucy, who it turns out is a bit cantankerous, but with good reason as she’s pushing 25.

Fast forward to Day Three of horseback riding lessons and by this time my youngest is quite enamored with her four legged equine buddy and *today* is horse painting day.

My youngest approaches me and again whispers in my ear.

“I don’t think Lucy is a very good horse.”

“Why?” I ask, puzzled.

“She tried to bite me.”

Painted LucyI walked over with my youngest to see if we could put the situation to rights and discovered Lucy’s biting melee was well-founded.

It seems DD was trying to paint a lovely green circle around Lucy’s eye. However, she quite often got too close to Lucy’s eye and Lucy, somehow, didn’t like green paint smeared across her eyeball.

Imagine that.

I suppose I’d have tried to bite her, too.

Lucy, the Shetland Pony and please take note of her the beeeeeaauuutiful green hoofs. She’s going to the horse ball, you know. ;)

My Good Friend Jenny

Posted on by

JENNY AND HER BEST FRIEND 2cropSo as soon as I found out I was heading to the RWA conference this year, I checked to see if my most favorite author was going to be in attendance, you know…Jennifer Crusie? My good friend, Jenny?

Turns out she was, so you can imagine what that did to my heartrate. I was going to have a chance to meet her!

As it turns out, I met her several times over the course of the conference and after she signed my book for the literacy booksigning and remembered me from the night before, I knew I was going to have to play it cool.

Cooler than I’d ever been before. Waaaaaaay cool because she’s one forthright lady with a huge personality presence.

By the third time we’d met (in what will forever be known in my memory as the “studies have shown” incident ;) I knew in my heart Jenny and I probably weren’t going to be best of friends after all (especially since it seems there was a long waiting list ahead of me and she seems content with the number of friends she has already).

And besides, I’m too low-key and she’s too exuberant. She’d have exhausted me within the first 5 minutes of any real friendship and I probably would have bored her to tears. I’m not writing it off completely, mind you. Just not pinning any hopes on it. There’s always next year in Atlanta, I figure. :)

Regardless, she’s a great writer and there’s no one in my opinion that can nail down characters and dialogue like she can. The lady knows her craft and is always a stellar read.

She’s got a new book due out in 2006. A collaboration with the YEC (yucky emotional crap) hating Bob Mayer called Don’t Look Down. It sounds terrific and I can hardly wait to hold it my hot little hands. :) 

This was my first JC book. My favorite, I think, but then they’re all great so it’s hard to choose just one.

Kiss of Death Tour RWA 2005

Posted on by

The photograph is of Franny, a brave and fellow KOD’er climbing a 100 foot rescue ladder provided by the good members of the local fire department in Reno, Nevada.

Right below her, to make sure she didn’t fall or to catch her if she did, was one of the department’s hunky fireguys. You’ve got to wonder why the line up to climb the ladder was so long, hmmm? ;)

Kidding aside though, they were a great bunch of guys and were more than willing to answer our many varied questions about the life and career of a firefighter, as well as show us their smoke tower, their engines and various equipment including the now famous ladder.

Loreth Anne White

Posted on by

small lorethI’d like to introduce my roommate and friend, Loreth Anne White. She writes for Silhouette Intimate Moments and is fabulous in every sense of the word. I’m so glad to have had the opportunity to meet her.

This is a picture of Loreth at the RWA Readers For Life Literacy Autographing where 450 authors signed and sold their books to countless fans in a 3 hour time frame collecting $58 000 to help fight illiteracy across the United States and Canada.

When they opened the doors to let everyone in you should have felt the floor shake!

While Loreth was signing books, I helped people add up their grand totals while they waited patiently in the queues (as Toni would call them). It was a great experience and I had so much fun meeting my fellow RWA members and all the fans that came out to support a truly wonderful cause.

Rendezvoused in Reno

Posted on by

Toni and SuzThis is a picture of my extremely entertaining friend and roommate, Toni sidled up to her most favorite author, Suz Brockmann. Can’t you just see the glee in Toni’s eyes? It’s there for a reason!

Toni and I attended a get together of Suz’s and this was the point in the conference where I had never laughed so hard! It was a great time and we were well entertained, as well as awestruck over how down to earth and likable Suz really is. Not to mention her husband. And her friend Eric. And her mom. And her dad. (Oh yeah, they were there too!)

Suz’s husband is Ed Gaffney and he’s now published too. I’m looking forward to picking up Premeditated Murder and giving it a go. I’m thinking if he’s got Suz for a critique partner, he’s going to do just fine.

Suz & CrewHere’s a picture of Suz and her crew who entertained us with Eric’s spoof skit of Suz’s books to date.
From left to right back row: Eric, Rob Mann (as Sam Starrett), Catherine Mann, Ed and Suz.

From left to right front row: Virginia Kantra, unknown, Alesia Holliday and a lucky audience participant.

Weight Restrictions

Posted on by
All right.Everyone on my writing loops is in a big tizzy about how to get all those free books home from Reno, but I don’t get it.

My airline ticket says I’m allowed to bring 2 checked bags (within standard size requirements which to my back packing self seem *huge*) and that each can weigh up to 70 pounds (OMG that’s more than my eldest child weighs) and that my 2 carry on bags can weigh 22 pounds each. That’s 184 pounds of luggage. That’s a *tremendous* amount.What’s all the guff about?

Now I’ve looked at my little pile of outfits for each day (7 in total) and including shoes (5 pairs — just call me Imelda ;) , make up, etc. I’m probably going to max out at 50 pounds. And believe me, that’s being generous. Very generous.
Is everyone just overpacking, packing normal or am I an underpacking freak? If it’s the underpacking freak thing, I guess I’m going to have a lot of good free reads, aren’t I?
This is me off to pack my suitcase with a bunch of books to just see what all the fuss is about.

Doing What You Love

Posted on by

tropical-magic-flower-arrangement-002Today I’m wearing my good old college T-Shirt.

OLDS COLLEGE it says in gold letters emblazoned on dark green cotton.

All things said, I paid a good bit of money for this T-Shirt, but the money and experience of the year spent there was well worth it and certainly, the lesson I learned will not be forgotten.

I like plants. I like flowers. I like all things dirt related — even worms — something surely instilled in me by my parents who both grew up on farms and were close to the land.

So following that ideal, I went to school to become a florist.

It was fun. I learned a lot and I graduated in the top 3 of my class. I secured employment with a reputable and admired florist shop in Calgary, Alberta where I lived at the time and was well on my way to achieving the goals I had envisioned for myself.

One such goal was to become the youngest Master Florist in Canada acknowledged by Flowers Canada and I had but one testing level to complete when I realized it wasn’t going to happen.

Yes, the work I did was pretty, artistic and admired, but the problem was that I had no creative flow. It didn’t just “come” for me.

The problem seemed to stem from the fact that I had to think. Too much.

I had to review my colors, my theory, my design styles and yes, while I knew practice makes perfect, I realized for me I would never be a true artist in that area, because while rearranging flowers and plants in the dirt was something I enjoyed and liked, they were not something I loved. There was no passion involved.

Words are my passion. My must have and my true artistic medium. They make me complete. They are a necessity in my life and I must write them. Read them. Speak them.

They are every bit as pretty as the loveliest flower I have touched.

And so much more.

Cold Lake…is it cold?

Posted on by

You’ve got to wonder why people ask the obvious, but yes, Cold Lake is cold.

How cold?

So cold you can wade in and your feet go numb within a matter of seconds depending on the capabilities of your circulatory system. Since my circulatory system is rather challenged, you can guess I stay out of the water for the most part. (It has *nothing* to do with how I look in a bathing suit. Honest. ;)

Kids on the other hand don’t seem to care how cold it is (or what they look like in a bathing suit for that matter). They’ll submerge themselves, gasp at the shock of entering truly arctic waters, turn instantaneously blue and have goosebumps the size of small ice floes popping out on their skin and still insist through clacking teeth that they’re “Not Cold. Can’t we stay in for just a few more minutes?”

Invariably though the fun must end before hypothermia sets in or child welfare is called.

Such is summer in Cold Lake.

In actuality, rumor has it that the water is mostly tolerable come August (my tourism board made me say that ;)

Winter is another story all together.

French Bay Cold LakeThe lake in all her deceptive splendor.

Regardless of her coldness, she’s a beauty, isn’t she?