Write! Kitchener 2013 by The Word Guild

On September 28, 2013, I will be giving a workshop at Write! Kitchener on writing Creative Nonfiction for The Word Guild. It’s a great day for a new or intermediate writer.

Place: St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, 54 Queen Street N., Kitchener ON

Time: 9:00 am–4:00 pm

 

Workshops by Mary Ann Benjamins, Lisa Hall-Wilson, Sheryll Loeffler, Jane Ann McLachlan, Carolyn Wilker, R.J. Anderson and Sandra Orchard

Keynote by Donna Fawcett

 

Come! It’s a great opportunity to learn and network with other writers

Check out the details here and register

 

Kitchener-poster-2013

Saturday Snapshot–Tea and Tales in March

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The program and favours for Tea and Tales by Carol Leigh Wehking and Brenda Byers, storytellers from Baden Storytellers’ Guild

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brenda and Carol Leigh, the storytellers, at the Wired-up Pug Cafe and Bistro, Cambridge, Ontario

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A celebration of World Storytelling Day, an international storytelling day for telling stories in many places.

 

Saturday Snapshots, hosted by At Home With Books. Go there to see more pictures and post your link. Photos you or a family member have taken. Keep them clean and appropriate for all eyes.

 

Photos on this blog are by C. Wilker, unless otherwise noted.

Saturday Snapshots–Still Snowing

February photos and here we are in March and though the banks of snow have diminished during some milder weather. Our picnic table had a foot of snow on it and nearly a foot around it, and since it’s in our backyard, we don’t need to shovel it. Today it’s snowing again.

The host of At Home With Books for Saturday Snapshots asks that photos be by the one posting or by a family member and that they be appropriate for all eyes. Go there and link with host and then go on a tour of the world in photos.

Circus theme at the Museum–Science under the Big Top

This week at  the Waterloo Region Museum   many have experienced the Circus theme: Science Under the Big Top. Planning it for February to May was a smart move on the Museum’s part since March Break was in the middle. It gave families something special to do on the March Break.

Staff told me when I arrived, as storyteller for the day, that one  thousand people had already come that day. That was Tuesday. Indeed the theatre filled soon after a staff member announced storytelling time. Eager children awaited the stories, and parents, grandparents and group leaders with a band of children there for a day camp. They participated in the stories that called for actions, and they listened until it was time to move again.

On Wednesday I took a preschooler to the museum. Many activities had been designed for school-age children, but there were activities that even a preschooler could engage in with some assistance.

We read a circus story in the dress-up area and tried on clown hats and shoes. I thought we might stay there a little longer, but there was so much more to see… and hear

What’s behind the curtain? We didn’t find out since there was a group of people around it.

We’re looking down through an upper story glass window.

acrobatics in the air

Walk the high wire (wearing a harness, of course)

Granddaughter wanted to try this, to get dressed for it, but there was no harness small enough.

By pushing buttons and pressing pedals, we could put a circus movie on the screen, complete with music.

We had fun with this one, even seeing a lion tamer at work.

Shooting a ball from the cannon–a combined effort

We enjoyed this activity as well.

What’s holding up the train? Peepholes to look through.

Though no animals were to be found, except on video, it was like being at the circus, with the music, activity and excitement. And soon all good things makes a young one tired and so we concluded our visit with a treat from the concession stand out in the foyer, and we looked out the window at the engine in the village.

You can see more photos of the activities at the museum website.

Photos on this blog are the copyright of C. Wilker.

The Mighty Uke

Fellow editors were talking online about the ukulele band they play in. One posted a video  titled “The Mighty Uke” which was rather intriguing and a bit amusing, because you see I also own a ukulele.

I watched the video this morning and was amazed at the sounds that could come from it, and how it sounds paired with other instruments. Who would have thought that little instrument had such a history… and such possibilities.

My ukulele

We had a  piano in our home as well as my father’s steel guitar that he used when he took lessons during his school days. That guitar stayed in the back of the closet until my sister Bonnie thought she’d prefer it over piano, and took lessons on it.

My cousin Brenda had a ukulele as well as a guitar. I wasn’t so interested in the guitar at that point, but I was intrigued by the smaller instrument and wanted one so I could learn to play it too. My parents bought one for me. Whether it was a birthday or Christmas gift makes no difference now. A book and felt pick came with it and so I practised until I could play the chords and sing songs along with it.

Brenda and Dale, another cousin, and my sister Mary and I got together a little band.  Then someone got the idea that we should play a few songs for an upcoming reunion. I’m not sure which order that happened in, but all four of us practised at my aunt’s house since Dale also played piano. Mary and Dale took turns playing piano, Brenda was on guitar, and me on the ukulele.

We had a lot of fun while learning a variety of pieces, how to play together and getting our timing right. Our songs included the Sloop, John B; Put on Your Old Grey Bonnet (for our grandmother and her sisters) and several others that Brenda, Mary or Dale may remember.

Though my parents owned a camera, the selection of photos is limited, and there were certainly none of those practice sessions or playing at the reunion, though I do remember us standing on that old white bandstand at the New Hamburg Park years ago. Someone must have brought a keyboard since we couldn’t transport a piano there.

After that reunion we might have played together a time or two, but we didn’t play for any other event. We were teenagers, after all, with other interests and in summers we were all busy on farms with harvest, milking and cucumber picking. Mary continued playing piano and so did I.

I kept my ukulele and played it sometimes when I taught, loaned it for a class years later at Vacation Bible School. I added an autoharp near the end of my college years, and eventually a violin that’s still in our collection. My sisters tease me sometimes about the humorous little tuning song—My dog has fleas—that I played just for fun. And I’ve never forgotten the tuning notes for it.

Got my uke out this morning, but where’s my book and pick?

Watch this video and see the little ukulele’s possibilities.

A taste of snow and ice

When I looked outdoors this morning, I knew it was a day to take at least a few winter pictures.

The weatherman was indeed right about Wednesday’s storm, yet in town, schools were not cancelled.

Snow on top of slush makes ice. Had to get some help for a push, and throw down some sand too.

Snow weighing down evergreen trees, as in one of my poems:  an old woman carrying a heavy load

A snow picnic, anyone?

Saturday Snapshot–Steckle Farm and Storytelling

In February 2012, I attended the Steckle Farm Family Fun Event as a guest storyteller. Many things were planned: toboganning on the hills around the farm as well as seeing the animals. Only thing, there was little snow last winter. A few days before, we got snow, and those winter events could go ahead. The staff at the farm were delighted.

The sheep came close to the fence so the children could reach out and ruffle their  heavy winter coats.

Two small children I happen to know were attracted to the bunnies in the barn.

The miniature ponies in their heavy winter coats

Staff member, Krista, leading the calf from the shelter

Fun on the hills with tobogans and sleds, then hot chocolate afterwards

And me, in between stories, with my coat on. Families kept coming and going at many intervals and the fireplace kept going out. It was so cold outdoors and in the Honey House

The heritage barn, parts of it date back over 100 years

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday Snapshot meme hosted by At Home With Books. Post a photo, suitable for all eyes, that you or a family member have taken. Link it to the hosting blog and then go and see all the other photos linked there.

Saturday Snapshot–Celebration of Community

 

Waterloo Region Museum, a celebration of community and the many people who make up Waterloo Region

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Conestoga Wagon, pulled by horses, brought many people to our community from the USA, Mennonites, and more

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arrival at Pier 21 in Halifax, and then across country to Ontario and other provinces

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Grand Trunk Railway Line. The intersection in the middle of the hallway, but of course the train does not run through that line anymore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Travelling trunks from many countries around the world

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let’s not forget the Home Children, who were sent here—not by their own choice—but who also make up a  section of our community.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

People settled here and worked together to build a community with those who were already here.

 

The Storytelling Series at the Museum, this winter and spring, feature stories of immigrants coming to any part of Canada

 

This meme hosted by At Home With Books. To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken, then go to the site and connect with the page by our host, Alyce. Happy Saturday, travelling from one blog to another.

To all my readers: A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

“To you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The stable awaits and our hearts prepare for the celebration of a special baby.

May the Christ Child come to you this season and bring you hope and cheer, and may the New Year bring a time of new possibilites.

 

 

Where did summer go?

The last day of August. It prompts some to go on one last holiday, if only for a weekend. It gets others thinking about fall and the cold weather that will surely come.

Like the squirrels that scavenge for food to hide away, like the bears fattening themselves for a long winter snooze. We humans do some interesting things too. We  go to market and buy a load of fresh vegetables and fruit to can and freeze, but not only on the last day of August—in fact all summer long.

Or we grow them ourselves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and preserve them

 

 

 

 

 

 

Farm families harvest their crops in July and August so there will be food for winter and field crops like grain and corn for their cattle, sheep or pigs for the winter.

 

Southampton shoreline and lighthouse tour

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cottage goers might enjoy the last holiday weekend, knowing that the next week will take them back into the fall schedule. Some families may go on one last holiday, even a day or weekend trip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some mothers have their children try on clothes from the closet to see what’s been outgrown or can still be worn. Might be a time for new clothes. That’s what I remember.

 

Back to school

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our new matching dresses.

 

Summer camp is over and the student counsellors are getting ready to return to high school, college or university. Children contemplate their return to school as well.

 

Just one last thought about camp. Some people may remember this song byAllan Sherman, called Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah (1963). If you don’t remember,  you’ll still enjoy its humour:

 

 

 
Whatever you do this holiday weekend and closing of summer, play and drive safe.

 

Photos by C. Wilker

Video from Youtube