The Joys of Snow Days

This hasn’t been a particularly snowy winter here in St. John’s, and the kids (and, OK, some teachers!!) have been complaining that we haven’t had enough snow days.  Mother Nature certainly overcompensated this weekend, though, with a blizzard that not only closed almost everything on Friday, but continued into Saturday morning and kept us home from church.

It was wonderful. I loved every minute of lazing around at home by the fire, reading, getting a (very) little bit of work done Friday, playing games, watching movies.  I don’t want to make it sound too idyllic because anytime you get all four of us cooped up in the house for two days there are bound to be some stresses and strains, like over who gets to use the Wii next or (once we got outside), “Do we really have to help shovel rather than just throwing handfuls of snow at the dog?” But I still enjoyed every minute. January was a very busy month, February hasn’t been much better so far, and a two-day stop was just what I needed.

A Sad Anniversary

I had planned to blog about something totally different today, but a link on Twitter drew my attention to the fact that today is the 10-year anniversary of one of the saddest news stories I’ve ever followed here in Newfoundland.

I so vividly remember the news that 13-year-old Samantha Walsh had gone missing while making the short walk from her grandmother’s home to her own  home in the tiny Newfoundland community of Fleur-de-Lys.  For 17 days we heard the updates and waited and prayed for this little girl who was so close to home she set out walking that February night in her pajama pants instead of dressing for the cold.  Was she a runaway? It didn’t seem to fit with what everyone knew about her.  Had she been kidnapped? Reports of Samantha sightings in various places raised hopes that were dashed when news broke that a sixteen-year-old neighbour had confessed to her murder (and apparent sexual assault).

It was a devastating story as we heard it unfold, and for me, as someone who’s so often reduced to tears by evocative music, the one thing I’ll always associate with Samantha Walsh is that home recording that was so frequently played on the radio at the time, of her singing the song “Saltwater Joys.”  It’s a song that celebrates the simpler life in a small Newfoundland outport, and comments on how she loved that song often accompanied the tale of how Samantha’s parents had moved back to Newfoundland rather than raise their family on the mainland, because a small town in Newfoundland was a better place to grow up.

Faith, Art, Life and an Unforgettable Hour

So the other day I’m reading the Facebook profile of a writer and general smart-person with whom I am vaguely acquainted, and under “Favourite TV Shows” this person has listed: “What’s TV??”

I’m sorry, but this kind of thing makes me want to smack people. If you don’t watch TV, fine, no problem.  You can actually leave out any field on your FB profile and it won’t even show up.  But to use that space for a little snark to demonstrate how you’re too good for TV and everyone else is just a barbarian for even knowing what it is … well, that rubs me the wrong way. I guess I’ve been exposed to too much of that attitude in my life.

I think there’s actually a lot of great writing and acting to be found on TV.  Of course, we all know that I believe reality TV signals the end of western civilization, but even as the worst of TV has been getting so much worse, the best has been getting so much better.  All of which got me thinking about the most unforgettable hour of TV I’ve ever watched.

Bowling Night

Well, nobody responded to my mall nostalgia (I can’t be the only child of the 80s out there who mourns the glory days of malls, can I???) so I guess I’ll tell a little heartfelt personal story.

Last night our church had a bowling night.  We were all going to go as a family, but then Emma got a sore throat.  Chris stil really wanted to go bowling, so Jason volunteered to stay home with Emma while Chris and I went out.

We both had a good time. Actually Chris had a great time with all his friends, and even won the first game and got the highest score for his whole group, and won a little certificate afterwards congratulating him for that.

What was much more unexpected was that I also got the best score on my team, and won a similar certificate.  When I relayed this happy news to both Jason and Emma, separately, they both said in incredulous tones, “WHO were you playing against???” Their surprise clearly implied that they expected to hear I was playing against three blind paraplegics.

Let’s Go to the Mall

I’ve had cause to enter a mall twice in the last week, which is unusual for me.  On Friday I took my kids to get their hair cut at the Avalon Mall, always the biggest mall in St. John’s and, today, the only really thriving, viable mall in the city.  Then last night I went to a movie at the mall formerly known as Sobey’s Square in Mount Pearl, which isn’t even a mall at all anymore. It’s a Dead Mall — now filled with call centres and offices incongruously clustered around the movie theatre.

When I was growing up, people of my parents’ generation complained that the malls had “killed” downtown.  I used to go shopping downtown when I was very small — at Bowring’s or Woolworth’s, always stopping for a snack at Bowring’s cafeteria with its view of the harbour.  Downtown was where I went with Aunt Gertie on the bus, and there was still a lot to see and do there despite its alleged demise.  But the mall was where the real action was.

Still Alive, Still Writing!

A whole week has gone by since I updated this blog and I think you know what this means … a very busy week!! The first couple of weeks back to school after the holidays are always insanely busy for me at work, as well as getting back into a regular routine at home. Things have been crazy, but not in a bad way.  I’m hoping to get back to more regular blogging soon.  But I figured I should post to let you know I’m still alive.

In the meantime, though work and home have been busy, the writing front has not been totally neglected. I have a few upcoming events promoting By the Rivers of Brooklyn you might want to know about, so hop on over to the book’s website to see what’s happening! (Yes, all three of those links lead to the same place. I want you to have no excuse for missing it!)

Also, I got some good news from Review and Herald recently.  The next novella in the That First Christmas series, a follow-up to this year’s Yosef’s Story, has been accepted and has the green light for Christmas 2010.  I’m not sure what the title will be yet, but it’s my re-telling of the journey of the Magi, and will be out this fall in time for Christmas.

Contest Results

My book giveaway contest ended a few days ago, but this is the first chance I’ve had to post the results. Here are my actual top ten books of the year:

1. Galore by Michael Crummey

2. Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven by Susan Jane Gilman

3. Bringing Up Geeks by Marybeth Hicks

4. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

5. Justice in the Burbs by Will and Lisa Samson

6. Good to a Fault by Marina Endicott

7. Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant

8. Salvation on the Small Screen? by Nadia Bolz-Weber

9. The White Queen by Philippa Gregory

10. The Unlikely Disciple by Kevin Roose

Congratulations to the winners: Diana, Dara, Mojgan, Jacqueline and Jacquie.  Your books will be on their way to you shortly!! Thanks for playing!

Don’t forget the contest!!

Just one more day to get your entry in and win a free book from my favourite books of 2009 list. Don’t delay … enter today!

365 Days in 4 Minutes…

A quick look back at 2009 …

Crow

(Contest is still on … don’t forget to enter!!). And now, for my New Year’s Day thoughts …

Here is a picture of my lovely yoga teacher, Melanie (of Nova Yoga — check her out!), doing a pose called Crow:

And here is a picture of me doing Crow:

I think those pictures illustrate as well as anything the gap between ideal and reality.

I’m posting them for my New Year’s blog post because I believe that if I say: “There’s no point trying to do yoga because I’ll never be as strong, skillful or graceful as Melanie” — or, for that matter, if I say: “There’s no point writing a novel because I can’t write anything as good as Michael Crummey’s Galore” — then I miss out on the wonderful adventure of life.  Fear of trying because we might fail — or we might not be perfect — holds us back so often from challenge and change.