Momentous

Yellowknife was amaazzzzing. As it always is :-) I loved getting to know and mixing it up with fellow out-of-towners and new friends Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm, Jay Ingram, John Green, Hayden Trenholm and Joseph Boyden (who is every bit as nice as he is handsome, btw), as well as dear friends Richard Van Camp (an in-towner and out...adored by me and all who know him), Cathy Jewison, Doris McCann, Annelies Pool, Judith Drinnen, Ian Drinnen, Jamie Bastido, David Malcolm, Erica Tesar, Mildred Wilke, Steve Lacey...oh-my-gosh, ALL the NorthWords festival committee, and so many others.

There was an additional, lovely surprise...just after I arrived in Yellowknife, walking across the tarmac to the terminal building, I tapped a woman on the shoulder. "Excuse me...are you Jo?"

"Anita!" she said. "I was going to surprise you!"

It was Saskatchewan children's book author Jo Bannatyne-Cugnet. She was up with her friend, Yvette Moore (also the artist for some of her picture books) for another event. It was SO nice to see her! Jo had toured La Ronge years ago when I still lived there. I was at the very beginnings of my writing career, and after reading a story I'd written Jo encouraged me to hang in there. She said that I was close. And so I did...and so I was :-)

Oh...Yellowknife. Home of my heart. Here is a pic snapped by the lovely and talented Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm, poet and publisher, at Bullocks' Bistro:



Later this week I will be North-bound again as I will join the Junior Canadian Rangers 1 Group at their summer camp just south of Whitehorse, Yukon. The JCRs will make an honest woman of me, as I will rock-climb, kayak, horse-back ride, and do all the things I usually write my characters doing. During the evenings I won't just be resting aching muscles and nursing bruised shins. Okay, I WILL be doing that, but also leading fun and interactive story-telling/writing workshops.

On my last day North I will spend some time back in Whitehorse, leading workshops at the Whitehorse Public library: one for teens, and one for adults.

The title of this blog entry is "Momentous." Yes, it refers to my time North, past and soon to be, but also something else. If you know me you know what it is...but it is personal and so very special, and so I will leave it off the page :-)