Write Canada and other Summer Plans

by Anita Mae Draper

It's a cold February day and although the sun is still low at its apex, it's brighter than it's been for months. A seed catalogue  arrived in last week's mail. And I'm coming out of a slump that had me hiding through Jan and carried into Feb. But spring is on its way and my Inky blogmates are already talking about this year's conference schedules.

I've made up my mind. I'm going east. Yep, I've decided to take in the Write Canada conference June 11-13 in Toronto, Ontario. Hosted by The Word Guild, Write Canada is billed as Canada's largest Christian Writers' Conference. Several of the faculty members are familiar to me, and I know a bunch of other Canadian authors who will probably go. That helps as this will be my first time attending.

So why did I choose a conference with a couple hundred attendees instead of the two thousand who will be attending RWA in New York this year?

Simple... I get to drive. I get to drive through the beautiful, rocky Canadian Shield where the scent of trees leaves me dizzy with memories. I get to drive through places I love, places I was grew up in, places that make me feel like I've come home.

TransCanada Hwy 1 near the Manitoba/Ontario border, 2013

In Aug 2013 my sister Bonnie and I took a wild ride into Ontario which I then blogged about in Memories of Rocks, Trees, and Lakes. Of course, there are lots of other pics in the post, but that title just about sums it up. Our journey took us 4,000 kilometres (2,500 miles) in 8 days.

This time I won't be rushed. At least, that's not the plan. Yes, I'll stop to visit relatives along the way like I usually do, but this time I will go way farther. At least an extra day travel  - 2 if I stop to take pics. And you know me and my camera...

I'm going to drive past my first military posting at CFB North Bay - it's the place where Nelson and I met, married, and celebrated out first child.

Nelson holding Crystal under the North Bay Gateway of the North Arch, 1979

An hour south, and I'll enter the area where much of Nelson's heritage comes from. Since we've been working on his family tree for our kids, I'm going to use this time to visit as many museums, libraries, and cemeteries as I can. And relatives. At least one cousin has offered their home to me and then threatened me if I didn't stay. I'm getting excited to see her again since it's been at least thirty years since I've been in that area. Yeah, I know... a long time between visits.

Once I'm near Toronto, I would love to make a sidetrip down to Niagara Falls. It was another one of the places Nelson and I visited when we got news of our imminent posting to the West. While looking through the photos of that trip where we hauled around our little Scamper trailer, I saw this one and realized it was our first 'selfie'.

Anita, Nelson, and Crystal Draper, 1979, Niagara Falls, Ontario. 

On Feb 5th I blogged about the 1912 Niagara Falls Ice Bridge over on the HHHistory blog and all that research sure brought back the memories. In this next photo, I'm standing beside the Horseshoe Falls looking downriver toward Laura Secord's homestead - a few miles away. You can see the Bridal Veil, and then the American Falls on the right, and then the Observation Tower. On the left is the Canadian Skylon Tower. Between them spans the Niagara Falls International Rainbow Bridge.

Looking downriver from the Horseshoe Falls with the Bridal Veil and
American Falls on the right, 1979, Niagara Falls, Ontario. Photo by Anita Draper.

I'm showing this because Inkies Barb and Deb both live in New York and we're discussing where we can meet. I hate to admit that I don't know exactly where they live, so Niagara Falls might be out of their way, but it would be a quick jaunt across the Rainbow Bridge - foot traffic - if we decide to meet here. If they're closer to the eastern end of Lake Ontario, that would be okay too, because I'd love another gander at Old Fort Henry in Kingston. Really, it doesn't matter where we meet - I just want to spend time with them.

Here are some other things I'd like to do:
- Ride the Portage Flyer Steam Locomotive, Huntsville*

- Cruise Muskoka or Lake Simcoe in a steamboat*

- Ride a moose on the 1908 Herschell-Spillman carousel, North Bay
- Take a one-day Apprentice Workshop at Black Creek Pioneer Village, Toronto

*This was something common back in the days of Nelson's grandparents, which was often referred to in their letters and in the local paper. A 127 year old steamboat still cruises the Muskoka district, and although I'm not sure what type is on Lake Simcoe, the location has to do with a future story and I really think a lake cruise will help my research. 

There are too many things I'd like to do, and I still need to figure out if I want to do my visiting before Write Canada or after. Usually, I'm too busy before a conference preparing my pitch, paperwork, and wardrobe. Yet afterwards, I'm keyed up and anxious to get back to my writing. 

And it will be a lo-o-o-o-ng way back!

What do you think? Should I play the touristy researcher before or after?

I'll sign off with one more photo I took on that long ago trip to Niagara Falls...

Horseshoe Falls, Niagara Falls, Ontario, 1979. Photo by Anita Draper

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Anita Mae Draper is retired from the Canadian Armed Forces and lives on the prairie of southeast Saskatchewan, Canada with her hubby of 30 plus years and the youngest of their four kids. Anita's stories are set, but not limited to the western prairies. She is blessed to be included in Guideposts Books A Cup of Christmas Cheer collection. Anita is represented by Mary Keeley of Books & Such Literary Management. You can find Anita Mae at  www.anitamaedraper.com

Trains in Snow: Faith Required

by Anita Mae Draper

A Facebook friend posted an eye-catching video that really made me think about the amount of faith we need in our daily work lives. Sure, there are careers where you receive danger pay because that's the type of job it is, but what about all those other jobs that we don't think of as dangerous - until something changes.

You could say that a train engineer uses faith every time he takes a ride. He has faith that his wheels will stay on the track. He has faith that the system controller keeps his path clear of oncoming trains - or tells him when to catch a siding. He has faith that the switches and lights are working along the way.

But what if it's daylight and he can't see the tracks? We know that airline pilots need to rely on their instruments as a matter of course, as do the engineers - to an extent. Engineers, however, rely on the ability to see the tracks night and day. That's what got me thinking about the faith that's required for him to keep that train moving along.

Here's the video that started it all. If you've seen this one, please go on to the next one because once I started looking, I was amazed at what I found on this topic. Although this video is 3 mins long, the best part happens before the 1:30 mark.




This next one is entitled, "Spectacular footage Train plowing through deep snow Arthurs Pass." Although the opening is good, it gets better at the 25 second mark. At least that's when I started wondering if the engineer was praying, or simply going on faith.




Of course it wasn't always like that. There was a time when trains stopped and froze when they hit a snowdrift - as shown in this 1950s video from the United Kingdom.




Or sometimes there's just too much snow for the plows to push out of the way and they have to bring in the rotory snow blowers. The caption for this YouTube video says that due to the height of the snow - packing it in - the train could only go forward a bit at a time and even then it derailed a couple times.




Do you remember your grandparents saying the snow was higher back in the olden day? I even found an 1881 Minnesota photo to prove it...

On March 29, 1881 snowdrifts in Minnesota were higher
 than locomotives. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

And here's another one... from 2015!

2015, Train in Glacier National Park. Courtesy of Parks Canada

What all these videos and photos show is that what we think of as a normal job can take an unexpected and dangerous turn. In each of these incidents one wrong move can be disastrous depending on the speed of the train and how quick the engineer can escape.

What about your job? Is it mundane where nothing exciting ever happens? Are you ready if something changed? Do you have the faith to step it up and blindly do whatever it takes to get the job done? Yeah, it's a trick question because we don't know how we'll react until the time comes, so how about an easier question...

What's a common job...and what could disrupt it so that faith was needed to get the job done? 


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Anita Mae Draper is retired from the Canadian Armed Forces and lives on the prairie of southeast Saskatchewan, Canada with her hubby of 30 plus years and the youngest of their four kids. Anita's stories are set, but not limited to the western prairies. She is blessed to be included in Guideposts Books A Cup of Christmas Cheer collection. Anita is represented by Mary Keeley of Books & Such Literary Management. You can find Anita Mae at  www.anitamaedraper.com