Photo Diane Hill
We watch these eagles from our outrigger canoe. They picked a tall tree on an island not far from Gibsons. The wind has kept us off the water for much of the winter. We are hoping the spring will be calmer.
I flew to Terrace last weekend. What a beautiful city, in the northwest, surrounded by mountains, still snow-capped, although the sun was bright and the air fresh, not cold, though. Goodbye parkas; hello sweater-only temperatures.
This weekend, I am travelling to Williams Lake and the BC Historical Federation’s annual conference at the Museum of the Cariboo-Chilcotin. I am speaking at 10:30 on Saturday morning about Always on Call: Adventures in Nursing, Ranching, and Rural Living. The agenda looks interesting, and I am planning on taking in as much as I can.
https://www.bchistory.ca/conference
I always enjoy Williams Lake and the people I meet and reconnect with, so I’m looking forward to it.
Always on Call has just been nominated for the BC and Yukon Book Prizes Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award. . There is a gala to celebrate the nominees on May 22nd in Vancouver. If you can make it, I’d love to see you there.
https://bcyukonbookprizes.com/event/soiree-3/
There will be some notable authors there, I’m sure, as the nominee list is stellar.
I appreciate Michael Gurney’s article in the Coast Reporter. He took the picture after I was relaxing at the music festival after managing to struggle through the piece with my much more proficient group.
The publisher of my Always books has just signed a contract with me for my next book. It has a working title of Bloomsbury to Barkerville: The Life of Miss Florence Wilson. Miss Wilson was a remarkable woman who came on the first bride ship to Victoria in 1862 at the age of thirty-nine. Her goal was not to be married, but to start a business which is how she ended up in Barkerville in 1864. This was a fascinating book to research as I had to find out, among many other things, what she wore, what was expected of a woman of her gentile class, how she survived a shipwreck, how she managed on the three-month voyage with mutiny, running out of coal and poor food, how she adapted to the colony of British Columbia, how the laws affected her, and what was possible for her. I wrote it in the first person as if I was Florence Wilson, so I have to admit that I have been almost obsessed with her. I don’t have a release date, but I’m not expecting it to be published until 2026. I will let you know when I have more information.
It looks to be another busy spring.