Friday

Big news: my student and friend Grace Thompson is on the long list for a non-fiction writing prize. (Link below.) She submitted a story she wrote for my Ryerson class, then worked on with me to read, in a different version, at So True. I'm thrilled for her; she's a talented, vividly honest writer with powerful stories to tell. Fingers crossed that she'll win the prize, which will be announced at the Banff CNF conference. I'll be there, shouting Go Grace!
http://www.creativenonfictioncollective.ca/long-list-carte-blanche-cnfc-contest/

As for me - an hour in the garden yesterday with my gardening helper Dan, pruning, staking, inspecting the back forty - buds! The joy of buds and green shoots poking through. It's too early, but that's the kind of winter it's been. I'm going to miss early spring in the garden.

Richard came over the other night - his television wasn't receiving the channel which shows the new series "The Americans," and he was desperate to watch the beginning of the new season. And since I like to know what's hip and happening, I started to watch with him. After ten minutes, I left to go back to work. It's described as one of the best new shows on television, about two Russian spies pretending to be Americans. I just could not bring myself to care. Perhaps - is it because it's fiction? And I'm being asked to invest in a storyline which means absolutely nothing to me? I do know that I won't watch anything that's scary or even filled with tension; life is scary and tense enough. I can't watch anything cruel; ugly images stay with me forever and haunt my dreams. So I do my best not to watch anything upsetting. This show wasn't upsetting, just mildly tense ... and of no interest.

Mind you, my dear friend Kate was here for a visit today, and she told me her TV only carries the fish tank channel; all she can see, when she turns on, are fishes swimming around. So I'm a TV junkie in comparison with Kate. But extremely selective, even so.

The mountain of departure is approaching - packing, preparing to leave, saying goodbye, getting organized. I've rented my room for one night via airbnb, so have to clean it up properly before I go. I'm mostly thinking about rain, since that's what Vancouver and Victoria are famous for; their winter so far has been especially rainy. Boots, umbrella, ponchos. I will miss my babies. I will miss the patch of late afternoon sunlight I'm sitting in right now. My kitchen. Children. Garden.

Joyfully embarking on a NEW ADVENTURE.

Finally - can't resist - a very good article from the NYT on my least favourite subject on earth:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/18/opinion/no-not-trump-not-ever.html?ref=opinion