Inviting you to my new site

 

 

After a wonderful start at this site, I have secured my own domain at storygal.ca. 

I hope you’ll come and see my posts at my new site too. Since then, I’ve published two new books and continue to blog and put out my newsletter FineTuned. Also my website has seen a whole new overhaul at a new website domain.

Blessings to you this New Year of 2020.

Another garden

This year we had opportunity to rent another garden space. I called it a plot and my friend Doris laughed at that, thinking quite the opposite of living and gardening. Oh, well.

how the new space looked a couple of weeks ago

At last our garden looks like one. Most things are emerging from under the soil and some look quite at home. I worry a little though since the promised fence is not yet erected. The hardware and wire are certainly there. It only needs strong backs of available volunteers to get it together. Not a place I can help.

all the hardware is present

The mulch has been spread around the garden boxes and many of the boxes sport tomato plants and lettuce and beans among other things. There are even some flowers.

Last week when our granddaughters, 7 & 9, were going to be with us overnight, we stopped at the community garden space on our way home. One helped me fill a pail with water and held the watering can while I poured it in. The nozzle on the tank is quite large and water comes out pretty fast. We’re trying our best not to waste water.  Once we’d watered the plants,  we put our own watering can in the car and I retrieved my cell phone for a couple of photos.

Our garden is still quite young here, compared to the others planted earlier, but it took a bit of time to assign boxes and get some of the things in place for the enlarged community garden.

At the church there are two boxes assigned for their community cupboard, which is generous. People from the congregation may be tending those.

how it looks now

I have back-up help for the time we’ll be away, to make sure the garden is tended, the weeds are pulled and produce harvested. We’ll have beans, onions and cucumbers here. And a few marigolds to help keep bugs away.

Perhaps the girls can come again with me to pick things from this garden as well as our garden at home, which is coming along quite nicely, protected from small animals.

 

home garden raised beds

 

The rain last evening certainly refreshed the soil. The grass is damp but the sun is shining and that helps the gardens along too.

 

a mix of herbs, tomatoes and veggies

parsley and basil in an extra space

Author Afternoons– I’m on!

I’m pleased to announce that I’ll be part of Author Afternoons. On Saturday, June 29th, from 1:00-3:30 pm,  I’ll be at the Waterloo Visitor and Heritage Information Centre on 10 Father David Bauer Drive, Waterloo.

I’ll be giving a workshop titled Begin to Write Your Memories. The workshop will be hands on, as in you get to write, so bring paper and pen or  your laptop and be prepared to participate.

This is a new initiative by the City of Waterloo Arts and Culture to introduce residents and visitors to the authors in the area. It’s exciting to be part of it.

See you there!

https://www.carolynwilker.ca/

Upcoming event for Piece by Piece

 

I’ve received some amazing reviews, personal notes and kind words about my new book, Piece by Piece, from fellow writers and readers thus far. I am grateful for their sincere and generous comments.

My official launch happens this Saturday, May 11th, in my hometown of Tavistock, ON, at the Tavistock Public Library, 40 Woodstock Street South and begins at 11 am.

Come and join us, and get your signed copy.  I look forward to seeing you there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For those who cannot make it to the launch, my book is also available at Words Worth Books in Waterloo  and from me.

For more information on my book, and to contact me, here’s my website https://www.carolynwilker.ca/books/

 

 

Off to Palmerston today

Today I’ll be in Palmerston for a book signing, featuring my newest book, Piece by Piece, and I’ll have copies of my other books along too.

This book makes a great gift for a mother, grandmother or friend. You can treat yourself to a new book to read as well.

Glynis Belec, from Angel Hope Publishing, will be joining me for this event at Family Home Health Centre on 237 Main Street West in Palmerston. From 11 am-3 pm.

We have small treats and a draw prize, and you can get your book signed too.

Time to get ready, hope to see you there.

The things we do as grandmothers

 

 

on holiday outings together

 

First I’ll declare outright that I am a grandmother. Have been for awhile and our count is up to five. I don’t have to raise them or pay attention to their financial keep. But I can spend time with them and I enjoy being with them.

We bake cookies together, plant garden in season. We play, read and do puzzles together. Those things I like. And recently we had a cookie decorating session, with plenty of icing and add-on decorations.

 

Decorating Christmas cookies with all the trimmings

supervise their play

Enjoy the out of doors, even the shadows the sun makes in our paths

join in their make believe

When we dare to sit with our small grandchildren, we learn a little about what they’re thinking. When we engage with their play, they learn too.

We have no guarantee how much time we’ll have to enjoy these young ones and so it’s a good thing to build the relationships at an early stage. It builds trust too.

There’s no doubt that it takes energy to play with them, especially the smallest ones, but the time we spend together and the smiles make it worthwhile.

Looking after the garden we planted together

checking on the fairy garden and building the path for fairies

climbing into his car

I’m grateful that my grandchildren all live in the same city. It takes only minutes to get there. We get together for dinner, for play and special celebrations.

I look forward to spending time with them at Christmas, to see the delight on their faces as they open their gifts from us, for the hugs too. And today we will go to the older grandchildrens’ school for the holiday assembly. We sit back and watch them perform and then see their surprise when they see us on the way out. Blessed beyond measure.

 

 

 

 

All photos on this site, unless otherwise noted © C. Wilker

Kawartha Settlers’ Village

 

Search page given to our granddaughters on paying the entry fee

On one of our days away, we went with our host family to Kawartha Settlers’ Village that’s located just outside of Bobcaygeon.

According to the tour booklet for the village,

In 1990, the dream of establishing a museum to preserve history and the development of the area became a reality when a small group of people calling themselves the Kawartha Region Arts and Heritage Society convinced the village of Bobcaygeon to lease them the land to establish the Kawartha Settlers’ Village.

 

Follow along with me on our tour of some of the buildings. Here’s the map that’s in the program booklet. It’s an easy walk through for visitors of any age.

http://www.settlersvillage.org/tour-the-village

The receptionist at the main building gave each of our granddaughters a card showing pictures of things to look for in the village and a crayon to mark off items as they found them. It became a game for all of us to help them find the items.

Quilters meet regularly in the Wray House to learn their craft. There were many interesting quilts hanging in this home.

A rather colourful and picturesque quilt

 

A child’s room in another home

Our granddaughters interest was limited in some areas due to their ages of 6 and 8, although the adults could have spent more time. Another time perhaps. The girls did enjoy wandering through the village and checking off the items on their card. They awaited a prize at the end.

The firehall housed an old engine and hoses and hats. The building is a replica of the original Bobcaycaygeon Fire Company station.

The Fairbairn Church

a wooden offering plate

Inside the classroom, one modelling the dunce hat and one drawing on the chalkboard

What’s inside this desk?

Outside the trapper’s cabin

A warm rug inside.

If the printer needed a graphic for a newspaper or flyers, he’d have these images…

 

 

or even these images. Not simply drawings but carvings that someone had made.

 

And a bit of fun at the end of the Kawartha Settlers’ Village.

The girls showed their cards at the admission centre and got their little prize and could keep the cards to remember the visit.

If you’re in the area this summer, go to the village and take the self-guided tour. It was well worth the time and price of admission, which was quite reasonable.

The garden produces

tomato blossoms

The plants are maturing and we’re beginning to reap the rewards. One day I went out and picked a cucumber. I sent a message to my daughter. E. will be happy to see cucumbers. “Can you bring the girls one day soon to see the garden?”

Several days later, they came, ready to see how it looked. Sure enough, there was another cucumber waiting to be picked. E loves cucumbers.

“You need to share that.”

And she agreed.

 

happy about the cucumber

 

Her sister, A., didn’t want to be in this picture. She wished for one of her own. Industriously, watering the strawberry plants, she got her wish.

 

 

giving the plants a drink

 

It was a good time of day to water, at early evening. We were having a hot dry spell with no rain so the plants were ready for a drink. We had to fill the small watering bucket again and again. Of course other plants got a drink too while the girls and their Mom were at our place.

The girls might have been surprised to see how the plants had grown. There were even the beginnings of tiny tomatoes. “I saw them, ” E. said. They both love the tiny tomatoes and will be happy to help pick, and eat, them when they’re big enough and ripe.

 

 

zucchinis starting to grow

We could have quite a lot of zucchinis growing, but no worries. Our family likes zucchini and my daughter, Laura, has one of those spiralizer machines that cuts the vegetable very thin.

 

mint in a pot

 

parsley

My parsley plant has seen better days. Here’s hoping I can find another plant to replace it, even this late in the summer. Our granddaughters, even the one with selective taste buds, like to pinch off a piece and eat it right there at the garden

This morning when I went out to take photos of the garden, I saw my neighbour in her yard. After a bit of conversation, I offered her a basil plant and so we got to talking about how to use it.

 

 

 

 

 

Write Canada 2016

Linda Hall, Indie publishing

Next week is Write Canada in Toronto. The committee has been working for months to get it organized and the registrar’s been busy too.

Instead of the intensive like last year, I’ll offering a two-part workshop on writing Creative Nonfiction and another on what you can do Before the Editor Steps In (not the one on your shoulder that taunts you about your writing, but the one who helps get your work ready for publication).

As far as I know registration is still open. Sign up for Professional Day, Saturday, or the whole conference, here.

Looking forward to it and hope you can join us.

Steve Bell performing at the 2015 Awards gala

Fern and Ruth share a table at one of the workshop sessions

NJ Lindquist, ready for gala

Members of the Creative Nonfiction Intensive group last year with my co-leader, Stephanie (left)

Sharing photos at gala, l. to r.: Donna Mann, me and Sara Davison

 

 

photos by C. Wilker and others at 2015 conference

Our Garden Grows

I had some help again this year in planting our vegetable garden. You might say I’m training the next generation, engaging them while they’re eager to help me, but they’re also enjoying it.

At Easter, I bought both girls their own gardening tools, a set in blue and one in green, a shovel and little rake. The girls were excited about finally using their tools and liked digging the holes for the plants and pressing them in the soil very gently.

We planted tomatoes, cucumber, zucchini, a neat specialty lettuce and herbs (basil). And we planted the morning glory seeds too.

 

Of course we posed after the work was done so we could show the results. And we watered the holes and put the plants in after, because it was such a hot afternoon.

The watering bucket is heavy when it’s full, but she’s strong.

 

 

After all that work, we need to sit under the umbrella and have a cold drink.

 

And we’re happy that all this work has been done.

 

Making time for a bit of fun. We love to blow bubbles together.

 

 

A mere few weeks later, with sunshine and rain, our plants and seeds are growing.

Morning glories need thinning. I think every seed sprouted.

 

Transplanted mint is doing well.

Zucchini has blossoms

 

Cucumber plants are doing well too. One little girl will be very happy about that.

 

 

And tomatoes are doing well too, growing straight and tall. One little plant needs setting in some pot yet.

 

Let’s see what a few more weeks of sunshine and rain (or watering) take the garden.